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Fitness |OT| Pumpin' Iron and Spittin' Blood.

In case you guys haven‘t already I can only recommend you to give the Can‘t break me audiobook of Goggins a listen. Holy shit, what he and the fellows he talks about are doing to themselves is straight out barbaric. But it really illustrates what you can accomplish with the right mindset - especially in terms of fitness.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
In case you guys haven‘t already I can only recommend you to give the Can‘t break me audiobook of Goggins a listen. Holy shit, what he and the fellows he talks about are doing to themselves is straight out barbaric. But it really illustrates what you can accomplish with the right mindset - especially in terms of fitness.

I plan on picking this up after I finish Neuromancer. Torn between the written word & the audiobook (since it has such high praise).
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Got a nice load of mats in my “gym” area. Around 6ft by 4ft. Need about three more sets to make it 8ft by 5ft For maximum room. I have the resistance bands on going up to 150lbs and the others up to 75kg. going to see if I can use some scrap in the garage to make some things. We have concrete blocks for parasols they are nice and heavy.
can use them for farmers walk lol.

Have a 4.5 ft by 1.5 ft plank of wood. That I could useful for something.

defo wanting to purchase battle ropes and dip bars. Also me and the wife are doing diet now. That should help shift my weight plus the exercise.
 
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Tesseract

Banned
for me a lot of working out is basic calisthenics over and over throughout the day, every day no rest days no exceptions

higher weights are good to shock the body and jack up, build functional strength with farmers and the like, especially the bench to target specific groups on your back

cardio is cardio, pick what you like and get your heart pumping until burned
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
I suck at pushups. Can't do but maybe 15 in a row. Any tips? Or is it a keep doing it till you get better thing?
Keep performing them 3x per week. I used a lot of eccentric training to get my reps up when I plateaued. You’ll get to 20 in a month or so if you stay on it with persistence, focusing greatly on your diet and rest. It’s when you reach the late 20s like 27, 28, 29, and then reach 30+ when it gets really tough to climb in numbers, assuming you’re truly using optimal form with each rep. Just a lot of grinding, patience, and persistence from there. Sometimes I had to perform 45 minute chest workouts several times before I was able to bench more or knock out 1-2 more pushups than my previous max

-Get your cardio up. Mix it up as well if you can; don’t always rely on one mode of cardio. Improve your cardiovascular endurance
-Practice the movement 3x per week, keeping progressive overload in mind
-Hit chest, triceps, deltoids, back, legs, abs a bit more
-Learn perfect form / eliminate any energy leaks / you want all muscle groups firing and engaged properly throughout every bit of the movement

This is just what I found, but after cardio, warming up, I used to love doing pushups after heavy leg presses superset. They felt incredibly easy after leg press for some reason...but I haven’t done leg presses in a long while, only lunges, hip bridges, squats of various sorts. Supersetting pushups after legs or back always made everything feel so much easier now that I think about it. Definitely consider performing antagonist super sets and see if your max reps increase then. You’d be surprised on your best day at how many more you can bang out in a set
 
ZippyTheOtter ZippyTheOtter


Solid quality and decent sound for around $30. Fit comfortably and include different sized earbud tips. Never have to worry about them falling out during workouts.
So I took your suggestion due to having an Earthbound avatar (obviously a person of good taste), and these didn't fall out at all during my run. Controls for them are a bit clunky, but I don't really use them much, and for $30, I'm not complaining.

Thank you!
 
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Next week the temps drop as far down as 3F, which is the coldest this year for me. We'll see if Michigan goes any colder than that, but 3F is pretty cold in my book. It'll be a test of will but I should be good as long as I'm careful in any wind.



windchill21.gif
 
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So I started doing Ring Fit on the Switch. I reached its version of "planks". These are evil. I was doing well, but I have it on max difficulty, so I was getting tired from them and met with "Great! Only 40 more!".

They're so rough for me I've been doing them daily to get better, and people must hate them, because I'm already on top of the leader board for my friends list on them.
 
So I started doing Ring Fit on the Switch. I reached its version of "planks". These are evil. I was doing well, but I have it on max difficulty, so I was getting tired from them and met with "Great! Only 40 more!".

They're so rough for me I've been doing them daily to get better, and people must hate them, because I'm already on top of the leader board for my friends list on them.

This post speaks to me. I have carpet-burns just below my elbows from doing those planks. Had to remove it from my moveset once I got a higher dmg Yellow attack.
 
This post speaks to me. I have carpet-burns just below my elbows from doing those planks. Had to remove it from my moveset once I got a higher dmg Yellow attack.
So glad I have a rubber mat to prevent that.

I stalled out on a beginner progressive plan for my upper body, started 5/3/1 BBB. Only now adding in supplemental palates do I get comments from people. I'm 85% sure it's just a timing thing, but it makes me sore in a way that BBB does not.
 
I suck at pushups. Can't do but maybe 15 in a row. Any tips? Or is it a keep doing it till you get better thing?

Beginning of the pandemic I challenged myself to do 100 push-ups a day during the week days. You can split those up however you want. Then every couple weeks when are you fresh test your max. I was able to go from 15-20 to 40+ in a few months.

Watch as many YouTube videos as you can on proper form. You’ll make way more gains this way.
 

God Enel

Member
I’m back to training regularly since the last time I posted. Working out like 4-5 times a week. But it’s kinda hard to motivate myself as all I do is working mostly from home. Not sure if corona depression is creeping on me.
Could do more but it’s okay. At least I’m training. Hope that once the gyms are open again that I’m going back to where I was.

Hope you guys are kicking it.

VlaudTheImpaler VlaudTheImpaler is he still alive? Haven’t seen his username in a while. Hope he’s doing alright
 
I am alive.

So... I got some splainin to do.

Unfortunately I had some health issues that came out of the blue which resulted in some mental health issues that where totally unexpected. So I took a step back from the forum for a while. I wanted to wait till we where pretty certain what they where before I said anything.

So what happened... Was one or all of the following. Around the end of November all of these things happened around the same time and due to Covid and insurance crap I wasn't able to get help for the majority of it for months...

1. As all of you know, I've been training for arm wrestling pretty hard core. I have a pretty high pain tolerance so it's hard for me to gauge sometimes how much is too much because I only really feel that I messed up one or two days later. Well, I had started lifting even more and tweaked my back a bit. We started seeing a new Chiropractor who is a friend of ours from school whom just opened their own clinic in our town. They took xrays and everything... Well, I got some bad news that hit me pretty hard emotionally. I have some disks which are close to degenerating and fusing in my lower back. I suspect this was from slipping a disk when I was younger and dealing with all the nerve pain... as well as discovering...

2. I... Overdosed on cannabis. It was pretty much the worst experience I've ever had and that's saying a LOT if you know me. Long story short, I was trying to find something for my back and general soreness in general during my flare ups that wasn't prescription medication. However, even though my wife is an herbalist and health care specialist she doesn't really know anything about psychotropic substances. It was infused in honey and I had been taking small drops every night on some bread to begin with and it didn't seem to be doing much. So on the day it happened I had just gotten done with arm wrestling practice (CNS overload) and was exhausted, getting around to relax after eating a giant ruby red grapefruit that night when she came in with around half a tablespoon full and stuffed it in my mouth... After a couple minutes I started to laugh uncontrollably. I really mean totally out of my control. The muscles on my neck where sticking out like crazy and I was all red. I remember thinking "How long has it been? I can't do this much longer..." Then I realized it had only been a couple minutes and the lady that made it said her trip lasted her 8 hours... That's when I began to panic. I lost control of my emotions and couldn't summon a single positive thought. All I felt was terror. And then it got worse. I started calling friends and family for advice. The first person I could get ahold of was my sister, who partakes all the time and she suggested trying to distract my mind with some hot sauce... That only made it worse. I felt the warmness inside my chest and it made me feel like my heart or some other organ was exploding and like blood was coming out of my mouth... Then suggested a warm shower... I almost passed out in it. At this point I was apologizing to my wife for making this huge mistake and reassuring her that none of this was her fault as if I was about to die. She dragged me to the bed because my vitals had dropped for the first time. (She was monitoring me the whole time with a blood pressure cuff and a pulse ox, she also had my mother on the phone who is a NP who runs her own clinic, both of them are used to dealing with patients who are having panic attacks, thank the Lord for that) I laid in bed, unable to move and time slowed down like every minute was a year and I was reliving every bad thing that ever happened to me. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't even in this dimension. Like I was seeing through the eyes of someone else and feeling their feelings and THEY where seeing through the eyes of someone else... Even sounds stretched out as I came back to the present. My wife would put her hand on my shoulder and rub it so I knew that she was there, but sometimes it sounded like she was rubbing on a shell that I was inside of and it creeped me out. Sometimes when I looked at her face, her eyes where huge and her voice didn't sound like her... This whole thing lasted for 38 hours. No joke. At one point, around 24 hours in, I snapped back to normal and sat up for a couple minutes, thinking it was over. Then I turned to my wife and the first thing I said was, "Now I know." "Now you know what?" She said. Then I asked her, "When you read fantasy, what is always an immortal persons worst fear?" She thought this was really odd and she said she didn't know. "That they would become trapped/encased in something and left to be inside their own head for ages or eternity. And then I went right back into another panic attack, a mild one this time, for the rest of the 38 hours. When I came to I was nervous and super distraught. I thought I'd maybe fried my brain but I felt ok. But then around a week later I started to have a heavy feeling in my chest and coldness in my neck and top of my head. Every time I felt the coldness on my neck, top of head and my butt would start to sweat, nearly every time I ate anything, I'd have an acute panic attack. My life changed totally. Usually I'm able to be a comfortable introvert and I love being self sufficient and able to handle things on my own. During this I just couldn't be alone. I'd freak out totally if I didn't have my wife or a friend nearby. This was a huge problem because my wife needed to work nights and my only close friend I trust who could stay couldn't always stay when I needed. It was hell. Talking with people on the phone helped a lot as well as online sessions in multiplayer games surprisingly. My wife thinks this was a dorsal vagal nerve response. Basically your body goes past fight or flight because it can't do either and goes into a freeze state where it kind of shuts down. I was kind of stuck in that. I got a zoom appointment with my GP and he prescribed Buspar to help with the acute attacks. I'm now on a very low dose of Gabipenton which is helping WAY better than the Buspar and I feel excellent and back to normal.

3. I was eating a chicken nugget one day and broke a chunk off my molar on something hard. It looked really black underneath. Well, I went to a dentists and found out that I had had a botched root canal at some point on that tooth... I didn't even remember this so we found out that it was a LONG time ago, 12 years, around the time I was in a car accident (Which is how I paid for it and my braces). Turns out it was totally botched and the old dentist didn't do it correctly which means that I've been dealing with infections this whole time. They said it was infected all the way up into my sinuses. This explains so much, like why my sense of smell kept going out on me and my constant stuffy nose where at least one side was ALWAYS clogged. (This is actually abating now and I can also smell SO much more). Several months later I was FINALLY able to get an appointment to get it taken out. They didn't put me under and they didn't even give me gas... It was the only appointment I could get that wasn't even more months out. He had a really tough time getting it out. I remember him putting the pliers on my tooth and yanking my head back and forth. I ended up having to hold my head still as hard as I could to help him. He was like, "Well, it sort of moved..." Then he pulled out this saw thing and went to town. It vibrated my entire head. I thought I was gonna break the arms on the chair. It didn't hurt, but it was really disconcerting. Then he stuck some reverse pliers in there and split it in half. Got his pliers again and grabbed one half and started pulling my head around again. Eventually it gave. Man, the way he sounded when he pulled it out... "Dude! What's up with your molar man?!" He put it in front of my face... It was so flipping long. It looked around an inch and a third long and it was shaped like a serpentine blade... The other half ended up shattering and they had to dig it out. Man... As I walked back out to the car afterwards I noticed that the weight that had been on my chest this whole time had completely gone away and the pressure that was on my head had started to dissipate. It was amazing. It must have been impinging a nerve or something. So, right now we really think the tooth was the majority of the issue.

4. I started to have really bad gut issues. Every time I'd eat it would seem like I'd start to have the mood swings and I'd almost get instant diarrhea. My stomach and intestines would churn like crazy. I don't know if this is due to the anxiety or if the anxiety stuff was due to this but we started a really strict diet (the GAPS diet, it freaking sucks but it's worth it) starting with only broths and then slowly adding foods over weeks and I feel WAY better now. No more gut issues.

I feel really good right now. I'm even more flexible than I've felt in ages. I used to have to sit on very specific surfaces or my back would go wild. Well, we got a love seat for the first time since we've been married from my Wife's departed grandmother and I've been contorting myself snuggling, sleeping and chilling on that thing like I was a teenager and I feel amazing. In fact, I've noticed that I've been able to activate more muscle than ever before. I can actually feel my entire bicep now when I contract it. I think my CNS has been overloaded for ages and it was effecting my ability to activate certain things to my full potential. In fact...

I finally did it!

firstwholedeckrqjn5.jpg

firstwholedeck2iakbx.jpg

firstwholedeck3w2k01.jpg

(This is immediately after I ripped it. Please disregard my hair, the wife didn't tell me how fluffy it was even after she watered it down. I didn't want to let go of the cards to do it myself lol)


I finally ripped through a whole deck! It was amazing. I just decided to pick up a deck and see since my hands felt really good. Haven't tried, or worked out for that matter, for months since this all started happening and I'd lost a lot of weight, nearly 15 pounds due to the diet. I got a good grip on it and twisted as hard as I could and I heard a loud pop as the box broke and it ripped half way through in that first burst of torque. My eyes went wide and I looked at my wife and squeaked, "Love look!" She was like, "Well don't stop! Keep going!" Took a couple seconds and I ripped all the way through. Oh my Lord was I so happy. I was bouncing up and down haha. Really goes to show that the type of training that we're doing, building our tendons and endurance before our bulky muscle, really does build a strong foundation in strength that lasts.

Anyway. Sucks that I missed so much around the holidays but I plan on sticking around as my health stays with me. Never stop, brothers.



Also. Thanks DunDunDunpachi DunDunDunpachi and Tesseract Tesseract for the chats when I really needed it. I'm eternally in your debt.

EDIT: And thanks to all of you who where concerned. I can't describe how much it means to be missed or even thought of and prayed for. It helped so much.
 
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Cutty Flam

Banned
Glad you're feeling better VlaudTheImpaler VlaudTheImpaler , sounds like you've went through very traumatic experiences but now your progress in life and in health will be stronger than ever now that you've overcome them all. Would like to share that I too have been dealing with health issues as well, since January 8th, and haven't lifted a single weight since. All I have been doing is walking, and moving around. I've been taking my health very seriously and have adjusted much. Lost 10-11 lbs over that last 29 days through lifestyle changes. Better habits that equate to better health. Switched my diet up drastically; I no longer go all out with the bodybuilding mentality and lifestyle but instead aim to take care of my body and try to only make beneficial decisions that lead up to a better quality of life filled with vitality. Here are some of the things that have changed for me recently, I'm acutely aware now more than ever about what needs to be done health-wise and I'm seeing the bigger picture a bit more

-Cynical of supplements; do not trust them. Real food, organic is best for any goal outcome (I usually glossed over people's posts when they said no supplements and thought it was a joke but now I understand)
-More vegetables, more fruits, more herbs
-Way less meat
-Reduction in calories
-Reduction protein
-Increased fasting
-Omega 3 Fatty Acids are a priority
-More sunlight than before
-Increasing medical knowledge gradually, choosing to peruse through more articles, books, lectures on youtube than in the past. Will keep it up
-ACV w/ water once a day
-Eating only when very hungry and in need of food, no more forcing meals and gorging excessive kcals to meet my target number to reach the surplus to build muscle. Go entirely off feel and necessity
-Antioxidant rich diet to the max
-More probiotics
-More tea, more coffee both decaffeinated to further increase antioxidants. Coffee is great with stevia and the decaffeinated versions leave you content and calm, armed with plenty of powerful antioxidants
-More soothing music, more music in general. It has immense power and can soothe you, can help heal you. Music is healing, and I believe one night in particular it might have saved me from very serious harm maybe even death. Do not underestimate music
-Having more fun, more time relaxing
-Being more in control of decisions that affect attitude. So in my case, less Rocket League, less Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with the mentality that one must always win or try to win. It's about fun, fun with others, and sharing great times with your family, friends, and others who are with you in that game or anywhere you are in life
-Less competitive nature in general, trying to enjoy activities instead of getting locked into the perspective of thinking that everything needs to be a competition
-Less sodium
-Sugar at a minimum, keeping it below 30g per day, probably it has been in the 20s most days, chiefly coming from carrots in vegetable soups
-Alexander the Great was right. Doctors and their care will fail you. Be prepared is the lesson. Knew this long, long ago, but it's still relevant and something to constantly keep in mind
-Treating organs with care, foods that will benefit the heart and the brain are likely to benefit everything. It's all about healing foods that will allow you to be well. Healthy choices and only healthy choices. The best choices you can make every meal
-Raw organic cacao powder is a staple
-Will be training (once cleared to do so and I feel the time if right) with an entirely different perspective and an increased love for exercise, diet, rest and recovery practices, healing and repairing and having fun while lifting / moving

Mostly everyone in here seems to be on the right track from all that I have read, so that is excellent news. I thought I was doing alright but the ultimate reality check hit me unexpectedly. I needed it though. Because now I wont ever forget. Perfect your choices and health should come as a result. Can't wait to start training again, I'm going to make the most of each session. Long live Fitness GAF aka the big dog crew
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
crushing barefooted sprints, shifting intervals

walk to jog to maximum effort until my lungs collapse, then back to reset and a steady jog


How long did it take you to adapt to intense activity barefoot? It took me a good 6-7 months before I adapted to being able to just walk all day in zero drop shoes, after having always used basketball shoes exclusively for everything. It’s interesting to me how terrible every other basketball shoe I have feels after wearing a minimalist shoe (merrell vapor glove 4). Because when I had first bought Kyrie 4s I thought they were the most comfortable shoes I’d bought in years. But after minimalist shoes, bball kicks don’t feel natural or comfortable in the slightest anymore...Maybe the Kobe’s will since they seem to be the closest design to sort of mimic the shoes I’m using currently

I’ve only jogged for short bouts with these shoes before, and it was really only because my skateboard was heading towards a parked car’s wheel a couple times lol. Did you give it a few weeks or months of jogging with them you decided to test the waters with sprints?
 
VlaudTheImpaler VlaudTheImpaler I'm glad you're back in action. Your story seems like an affirmation that the strength-building techniques were sound. I'm eager to hear even more of your progress as time goes on.

Same goes for you Cutty Flam Cutty Flam . I always enjoy reading your info dumps. You're like a mad scientist in the lab, reporting meticulous details to the community, adjusting hypothesis and double-checking your beaker mixtures. Keep up the solid work (and solid info-keeping)
 

Tesseract

Banned
How long did it take you to adapt to intense activity barefoot? It took me a good 6-7 months before I adapted to being able to just walk all day in zero drop shoes, after having always used basketball shoes exclusively for everything. It’s interesting to me how terrible every other basketball shoe I have feels after wearing a minimalist shoe (merrell vapor glove 4). Because when I had first bought Kyrie 4s I thought they were the most comfortable shoes I’d bought in years. But after minimalist shoes, bball kicks don’t feel natural or comfortable in the slightest anymore...Maybe the Kobe’s will since they seem to be the closest design to sort of mimic the shoes I’m using currently

I’ve only jogged for short bouts with these shoes before, and it was really only because my skateboard was heading towards a parked car’s wheel a couple times lol. Did you give it a few weeks or months of jogging with them you decided to test the waters with sprints?
it took me about a month, i started jogging around grassy landscapes and jump roping on concrete

some blisters and aches mostly to do w / injuries, car accident at 16 snapped my leg in half

i tend to go barefoot in most cases when i'm exercising indoors as well, which means burpees and jumping jacks on carpet
 
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crazy story

managing anxiety and stress can be difficult even in the best of cases, good to hear you are on the mend after some health scares

maybe take it easy on the weed, tho
Bro. I can't even look at a honey jar without some amount of anxiety. I'll prob never touch it again.

Same thing with opiates. Back when I almost died from pancreatitis after they super dosed me on opiates for a week and a half I went through some insane withdraw and panic attacks as well. Only other time in my life that ever happened. Since then, the first thing I tell doctors is no opiates.
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
first thing I tell doctors is no opiates.
Wise decision. That’s a hole I hope nobody has to ever go down, opiates are one of the craziest drugs on the planet. I stay away from everything outside of caffeine, the stories alone are frightening enough to have completely obliterated any curiosity of trying anything. Even with caffeine though, I’ve found myself to be slightly paranoid of even the little bit found in cacao powder now when I use it in some yogurt, or some hemp milk, teas, etc.

I know these are not drugs, but I honestly do not trust any supplements anymore either. And I used to be all in. I probably have the most extensive stack ITT but now it all seems purely useless to me. Potentially detrimental, possibly even lethal. No FDA regulation. I don’t know how I could have been so naive up to my current age in w/ the copious amounts I was making use of

There were a few times Vlaud, when I had read that you basically only have a protein shake after a rigorous wrestling practice. I had always thought that was kind of unusual, because your training (as well as Tesseract Tesseract ‘s) is hardcore enough to be written about in some Shonen manga. I assumed supplements were worth it no matter what if they aided in ATP, recovery, etc. But I would find out that limited supps, better yet is none at all, is the correct and safest path to go about when training and recovering; real food reigns supreme. You know what you’re getting with that, in everything you select from the markets and such, grocery stores. A supplement company is probably cutting corners and who knows what fillers are being used to save $$$ and maximize profits. Maybe even with the companies most of us praise. It’s a business without much transparency and that can potentially cause us much harm. You never know if they are putting ingredients in their products without informing the customer, just so it gives them an edge and keeps said customers coming back for the results that their product helped them to achieve. For instance, perhaps a product I was taking had some yohimbe in it without my knowing, because that stuff does work, it’s powerful from my time using it in the past, I know this, but it also nearly gave me a heart attack even in my best health 190lbs walking around athletic as hell. Until I ruled it out and never used it again, that’s when the chest tightness subsided. Possibly, that [yohimbe] was in one of the supplements I was taking. I can suspect it, but never know as a customer, and that’s the danger of supplements...Sorry for the rant, I feel like there is need to be telling others about all this and teaching this to others if possible, because that knowledge and guidance is largely absent in the bodybuilding or even overall fitness world. Supplements can potentially cause a lot of damage I feel, doesn’t matter if you’re young and healthy. The correct course is whole foods packed with nutrition, food items that come from nature that cannot mislead you, unlike supplements
 
Wise decision. That’s a hole I hope nobody has to ever go down, opiates are one of the craziest drugs on the planet. I stay away from everything outside of caffeine, the stories alone are frightening enough to have completely obliterated any curiosity of trying anything. Even with caffeine though, I’ve found myself to be slightly paranoid of even the little bit found in cacao powder now when I use it in some yogurt, or some hemp milk, teas, etc.

I know these are not drugs, but I honestly do not trust any supplements anymore either. And I used to be all in. I probably have the most extensive stack ITT but now it all seems purely useless to me. Potentially detrimental, possibly even lethal. No FDA regulation. I don’t know how I could have been so naive up to my current age in w/ the copious amounts I was making use of

There were a few times Vlaud, when I had read that you basically only have a protein shake after a rigorous wrestling practice. I had always thought that was kind of unusual, because your training (as well as Tesseract Tesseract ‘s) is hardcore enough to be written about in some Shonen manga. I assumed supplements were worth it no matter what if they aided in ATP, recovery, etc. But I would find out that limited supps, better yet is none at all, is the correct and safest path to go about when training and recovering; real food reigns supreme. You know what you’re getting with that, in everything you select from the markets and such, grocery stores. A supplement company is probably cutting corners and who knows what fillers are being used to save $$$ and maximize profits. Maybe even with the companies most of us praise. It’s a business without much transparency and that can potentially cause us much harm. You never know if they are putting ingredients in their products without informing the customer, just so it gives them an edge and keeps said customers coming back for the results that their product helped them to achieve. For instance, perhaps a product I was taking had some yohimbe in it without my knowing, because that stuff does work, it’s powerful from my time using it in the past, I know this, but it also nearly gave me a heart attack even in my best health 190lbs walking around athletic as hell. Until I ruled it out and never used it again, that’s when the chest tightness subsided. Possibly, that [yohimbe] was in one of the supplements I was taking. I can suspect it, but never know as a customer, and that’s the danger of supplements...Sorry for the rant, I feel like there is need to be telling others about all this and teaching this to others if possible, because that knowledge and guidance is largely absent in the bodybuilding or even overall fitness world. Supplements can potentially cause a lot of damage I feel, doesn’t matter if you’re young and healthy. The correct course is whole foods packed with nutrition, food items that come from nature that cannot mislead you, unlike supplements
Vegetables and fruits aren't FDA regulated either, and I'm glad they're not. There are many drugs that are FDA approved that are very dangerous as well. The FDA approves dangerous and even deadly substances on a regular basis. They wouldn't even do anything about the whole talcum powder/asbestos issue and J&J eventually pulled it from the market here because of large consumer lawsuits. They're a corrupt regulatory agency and their approval/disapproval doesn't mean much. Third party certification, like organic, non-gmo project, etc. are more important imo.

And yes there are a lot of supplements with fillers and crap in them, which is why it's so important to choose high quality, 3rd party purity tested ones. We don't buy cheap supplements, anything from China (where there's no outside oversight at all), and stick to food based ones. Even then it's only to fill in the nutritional gaps from food that we can't get due to access or budget. We eat as healthy as possible, but we can't afford all organic everything unfortunately. Gardening has helped a lot with that though. Iodine is one example. It's mostly in fresh seaweed or in foods that contain artificially fortified ingredients (like table salt). If you don't live next to fresh seafood or eat processed food (which we don't) and don't use highly processed sodium, it's difficult to get adequate amounts from diet alone.

Foods (even organic) are grown in nutritionally depleted soil and don't have the same amount of nutrients in them that they did even 100 years ago. They only have a fraction of what they used to. Unless you're getting local from farmers who are composting, not tilling, do cover crops, etc. and really focusing on organic soil health. We grow our own like that, but again, we aren't at 100% of our diet yet.

I think you're on the right path though. I don't really take anything to enhance myself or to try to give myself a biological cheat code so to speak. Rather, I make sure my body just has what it needs according to what I'm doing or want to do. If I know my body is using a lot of something, I'll try to keep up with the intake of that thing. Not exceed it. As my body adapts to whatever activity I'm doing, it will become more efficient at storage, access and so on as long as I'm not clogging it with useless junk or even copious amounts of stuff that it does (or doesn't) need. Which is what I think most people do. This is going to overload/stress your body in the long run even if you can't feel it now.

Now, when I do dabble in something to see if my body reacts positively to it I pretty much do it only one substance at a time and it can't be full of other junk as well, no matter how good the other ingredients seem. And I always start with small doses or portions. Because you never know. Lots of people just see all natural and they think it's safe because it's not as strong as drugs... Well, I knew someone who had a heart attack from just juicing a few beets. He had some minor heart issues and he went to a doc that suggested he juice half a beet twice a day for a certain amount of time or something which would have been fine. But this dude thought he'd just cheat and do it faster by juicing 5 or so beets at the same time and downing them every day.

I don't say that to make anybody nervous or turn them away from all natural diets or lifestyles. I vastly prefer these things and I always will. It really is harder to mess up when just eating super/farmersmarket type organic whole foods and such. But the further you venture away from the norm in both variety and proportions, the more you should be mindful and should really try to know what you're doing. Venturing into these areas can yield huge benefits so I'd encourage people to do so.

I really got super lucky falling in love with someone who loves that world on a very technical level and can help keep me on the right track nutritionally because I myself am inclined towards other areas. I definitely see what you're saying in that the fitness world seems like a huge test cauldron that's out of control and preys on the weaknesses of people with body dismorphia or even just people who have that dream to get ripped, shredded or healthy looking for the opposite sex but don't know that the long consistent road is far better for them than all these "shortcuts" and "cheat codes" people are shoving in their faces all the time.
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
Alright, enough sad crap. I need some positive vibes.

Let me introduce you all to my body building spirit animal.





Now I'm gonna go get a recovery pump.



Eric is one of the best at what he does. Channel is a gold mine too, I remember I was hooked from the start. Workouts, golden tidbits, half hour long Q&A all about training and it's all entertaining to watch too so much energy. Careful with the video posted above btw, he screams like a cat in attack mode at the end lol

I'm surprised he only has close to 200,000 subscribers over the past couple years, thought he'd be well near 600,000 by now. Guy's a fucking tank
 
monstrous grips, way outta my league as i've not done any calculations

i couldn't even wager a guess ...

Thought about it some, and my best guess is 138 lbs of force w/ max grip strength tester

And since that may be underestimating, the Vegeta guess will be 161 lbs
Last I checked at practice I was at 165 Ibs. People say I grip way above my weight.

I laughed out loud when I saw Todd's results. He had to have been wasted from all the training they'd done. Either way, it was a much needed ego boost.

My ego check is my biceps though. Nowhere near the same level as my hands. But I'm workin on em.
 
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jufonuk

not tag worthy
I am alive.

So... I got some splainin to do.

Unfortunately I had some health issues that came out of the blue which resulted in some mental health issues that where totally unexpected. So I took a step back from the forum for a while. I wanted to wait till we where pretty certain what they where before I said anything.

So what happened... Was one or all of the following. Around the end of November all of these things happened around the same time and due to Covid and insurance crap I wasn't able to get help for the majority of it for months...

1. As all of you know, I've been training for arm wrestling pretty hard core. I have a pretty high pain tolerance so it's hard for me to gauge sometimes how much is too much because I only really feel that I messed up one or two days later. Well, I had started lifting even more and tweaked my back a bit. We started seeing a new Chiropractor who is a friend of ours from school whom just opened their own clinic in our town. They took xrays and everything... Well, I got some bad news that hit me pretty hard emotionally. I have some disks which are close to degenerating and fusing in my lower back. I suspect this was from slipping a disk when I was younger and dealing with all the nerve pain... as well as discovering...

2. I... Overdosed on cannabis. It was pretty much the worst experience I've ever had and that's saying a LOT if you know me. Long story short, I was trying to find something for my back and general soreness in general during my flare ups that wasn't prescription medication. However, even though my wife is an herbalist and health care specialist she doesn't really know anything about psychotropic substances. It was infused in honey and I had been taking small drops every night on some bread to begin with and it didn't seem to be doing much. So on the day it happened I had just gotten done with arm wrestling practice (CNS overload) and was exhausted, getting around to relax after eating a giant ruby red grapefruit that night when she came in with around half a tablespoon full and stuffed it in my mouth... After a couple minutes I started to laugh uncontrollably. I really mean totally out of my control. The muscles on my neck where sticking out like crazy and I was all red. I remember thinking "How long has it been? I can't do this much longer..." Then I realized it had only been a couple minutes and the lady that made it said her trip lasted her 8 hours... That's when I began to panic. I lost control of my emotions and couldn't summon a single positive thought. All I felt was terror. And then it got worse. I started calling friends and family for advice. The first person I could get ahold of was my sister, who partakes all the time and she suggested trying to distract my mind with some hot sauce... That only made it worse. I felt the warmness inside my chest and it made me feel like my heart or some other organ was exploding and like blood was coming out of my mouth... Then suggested a warm shower... I almost passed out in it. At this point I was apologizing to my wife for making this huge mistake and reassuring her that none of this was her fault as if I was about to die. She dragged me to the bed because my vitals had dropped for the first time. (She was monitoring me the whole time with a blood pressure cuff and a pulse ox, she also had my mother on the phone who is a NP who runs her own clinic, both of them are used to dealing with patients who are having panic attacks, thank the Lord for that) I laid in bed, unable to move and time slowed down like every minute was a year and I was reliving every bad thing that ever happened to me. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't even in this dimension. Like I was seeing through the eyes of someone else and feeling their feelings and THEY where seeing through the eyes of someone else... Even sounds stretched out as I came back to the present. My wife would put her hand on my shoulder and rub it so I knew that she was there, but sometimes it sounded like she was rubbing on a shell that I was inside of and it creeped me out. Sometimes when I looked at her face, her eyes where huge and her voice didn't sound like her... This whole thing lasted for 38 hours. No joke. At one point, around 24 hours in, I snapped back to normal and sat up for a couple minutes, thinking it was over. Then I turned to my wife and the first thing I said was, "Now I know." "Now you know what?" She said. Then I asked her, "When you read fantasy, what is always an immortal persons worst fear?" She thought this was really odd and she said she didn't know. "That they would become trapped/encased in something and left to be inside their own head for ages or eternity. And then I went right back into another panic attack, a mild one this time, for the rest of the 38 hours. When I came to I was nervous and super distraught. I thought I'd maybe fried my brain but I felt ok. But then around a week later I started to have a heavy feeling in my chest and coldness in my neck and top of my head. Every time I felt the coldness on my neck, top of head and my butt would start to sweat, nearly every time I ate anything, I'd have an acute panic attack. My life changed totally. Usually I'm able to be a comfortable introvert and I love being self sufficient and able to handle things on my own. During this I just couldn't be alone. I'd freak out totally if I didn't have my wife or a friend nearby. This was a huge problem because my wife needed to work nights and my only close friend I trust who could stay couldn't always stay when I needed. It was hell. Talking with people on the phone helped a lot as well as online sessions in multiplayer games surprisingly. My wife thinks this was a dorsal vagal nerve response. Basically your body goes past fight or flight because it can't do either and goes into a freeze state where it kind of shuts down. I was kind of stuck in that. I got a zoom appointment with my GP and he prescribed Buspar to help with the acute attacks. I'm now on a very low dose of Gabipenton which is helping WAY better than the Buspar and I feel excellent and back to normal.

3. I was eating a chicken nugget one day and broke a chunk off my molar on something hard. It looked really black underneath. Well, I went to a dentists and found out that I had had a botched root canal at some point on that tooth... I didn't even remember this so we found out that it was a LONG time ago, 12 years, around the time I was in a car accident (Which is how I paid for it and my braces). Turns out it was totally botched and the old dentist didn't do it correctly which means that I've been dealing with infections this whole time. They said it was infected all the way up into my sinuses. This explains so much, like why my sense of smell kept going out on me and my constant stuffy nose where at least one side was ALWAYS clogged. (This is actually abating now and I can also smell SO much more). Several months later I was FINALLY able to get an appointment to get it taken out. They didn't put me under and they didn't even give me gas... It was the only appointment I could get that wasn't even more months out. He had a really tough time getting it out. I remember him putting the pliers on my tooth and yanking my head back and forth. I ended up having to hold my head still as hard as I could to help him. He was like, "Well, it sort of moved..." Then he pulled out this saw thing and went to town. It vibrated my entire head. I thought I was gonna break the arms on the chair. It didn't hurt, but it was really disconcerting. Then he stuck some reverse pliers in there and split it in half. Got his pliers again and grabbed one half and started pulling my head around again. Eventually it gave. Man, the way he sounded when he pulled it out... "Dude! What's up with your molar man?!" He put it in front of my face... It was so flipping long. It looked around an inch and a third long and it was shaped like a serpentine blade... The other half ended up shattering and they had to dig it out. Man... As I walked back out to the car afterwards I noticed that the weight that had been on my chest this whole time had completely gone away and the pressure that was on my head had started to dissipate. It was amazing. It must have been impinging a nerve or something. So, right now we really think the tooth was the majority of the issue.

4. I started to have really bad gut issues. Every time I'd eat it would seem like I'd start to have the mood swings and I'd almost get instant diarrhea. My stomach and intestines would churn like crazy. I don't know if this is due to the anxiety or if the anxiety stuff was due to this but we started a really strict diet (the GAPS diet, it freaking sucks but it's worth it) starting with only broths and then slowly adding foods over weeks and I feel WAY better now. No more gut issues.

I feel really good right now. I'm even more flexible than I've felt in ages. I used to have to sit on very specific surfaces or my back would go wild. Well, we got a love seat for the first time since we've been married from my Wife's departed grandmother and I've been contorting myself snuggling, sleeping and chilling on that thing like I was a teenager and I feel amazing. In fact, I've noticed that I've been able to activate more muscle than ever before. I can actually feel my entire bicep now when I contract it. I think my CNS has been overloaded for ages and it was effecting my ability to activate certain things to my full potential. In fact...

I finally did it!

firstwholedeckrqjn5.jpg

firstwholedeck2iakbx.jpg

firstwholedeck3w2k01.jpg

(This is immediately after I ripped it. Please disregard my hair, the wife didn't tell me how fluffy it was even after she watered it down. I didn't want to let go of the cards to do it myself lol)


I finally ripped through a whole deck! It was amazing. I just decided to pick up a deck and see since my hands felt really good. Haven't tried, or worked out for that matter, for months since this all started happening and I'd lost a lot of weight, nearly 15 pounds due to the diet. I got a good grip on it and twisted as hard as I could and I heard a loud pop as the box broke and it ripped half way through in that first burst of torque. My eyes went wide and I looked at my wife and squeaked, "Love look!" She was like, "Well don't stop! Keep going!" Took a couple seconds and I ripped all the way through. Oh my Lord was I so happy. I was bouncing up and down haha. Really goes to show that the type of training that we're doing, building our tendons and endurance before our bulky muscle, really does build a strong foundation in strength that lasts.

Anyway. Sucks that I missed so much around the holidays but I plan on sticking around as my health stays with me. Never stop, brothers.



Also. Thanks DunDunDunpachi DunDunDunpachi and Tesseract Tesseract for the chats when I really needed it. I'm eternally in your debt.

EDIT: And thanks to all of you who where concerned. I can't describe how much it means to be missed or even thought of and prayed for. It helped so much.

Take it one day at a time man.
Panic attacks are no joke.
You can get through this just breathe in through the nose and through the mouth. Slow and deep.

take it as this panic attacks are just your body and minds reaction when you have been having to be too strong for a while mentally.

you need to unwind from time to time and let go.
Meditate or if you can take five mins somewhere to chill.

I have a wife , two kids at home and now two dogs. So my quiet place is the toilet hahahaha

Also nice hair man. 🙂
 
Spent a few hours in (sunny) 15F yesterday. 7F right now in the garage and it's forecasted to spike to 20F, so I'm guessing the sun will come out today too. No injuries so far. My hands and my feet are my "antennae" for telling when the cold is getting too bitter and they are getting vascular, pornographically so. I suppose this makes sense, as the body must drive more and more blood to the extremities to prevent cold damage.

My wife picked up on the "ankle weights all day" idea and has been wearing 5lb (pair) of ankle weights plus a 16 lb vest, ALL DAY for the past two weeks! She also does 2-3 miles a day with the 20lb kettlebell and keeps the extra weights strapped on. Mere mortal that I am, I'm typically using only the 5lb pair on my ankles and using one of my medicine balls for various isos. My legs are benefitting from the constant stress and I can feel small gains in all my other leg exercises (like skipping rope and teeps). I got two new pairs of ankle weights coming in the mail. The ones we bought, unfortunately, are already showing frays.

My ego check is my biceps though. Nowhere near the same level as my hands. But I'm workin on em.
I thought you were on that pelican curl game? I've kept at em. Dunno if they build my biceps slower or faster than traditional bicep curls, but two big payoffs for me have been the shoulder / ribcage mobility plus the strengthening of my false grip. I would imagine that exercising your biceps in this way would tie them into the overall range-of-motion/muscle chain more effectively than if you were doing isolated bicep curls. I'm gonna stick with em for the next year to see where it leads.
 
Last I checked at practice I was at 165 Ibs. People say I grip way above my weight.

I laughed out loud when I saw Todd's results. He had to have been waisted from all the training they'd done. Either way, it was a much needed ego boost.

My ego check is my biceps though. Nowhere near the same level as my hands. But I'm workin on em.

Are those grip testers universal? Meaning, if I bought one (amazon?) would it test identically to theirs and yours?
I've been doing a lot of wrist, forearm, grip training, so I'd be curious to see where I'm at.

As for Michael "Let me tell you about all my injuries before I do this movement" Todd, yeah that was surprising low. He obviously excels regardless of those metrics, though.
 
Are those grip testers universal? Meaning, if I bought one (amazon?) would it test identically to theirs and yours?
I've been doing a lot of wrist, forearm, grip training, so I'd be curious to see where I'm at.

As for Michael "Let me tell you about all my injuries before I do this movement" Todd, yeah that was surprising low. He obviously excels regardless of those metrics, though.
I believe they're all pretty close or close enough unless you're really being competitive and need to be super accurate. You can find some for pretty cheap on Amazon, around 20 bucks. Would love to see where all ya'll are at and if any of my hand exercises help, like the rice bucket and such.

Also, keep in mind that I took that measurement right after arm wrestling practice. I keep forgetting to test it while I'm fresh. Might just pick up a grip tester for myself.

Spent a few hours in (sunny) 15F yesterday. 7F right now in the garage and it's forecasted to spike to 20F, so I'm guessing the sun will come out today too. No injuries so far. My hands and my feet are my "antennae" for telling when the cold is getting too bitter and they are getting vascular, pornographically so. I suppose this makes sense, as the body must drive more and more blood to the extremities to prevent cold damage.

My wife picked up on the "ankle weights all day" idea and has been wearing 5lb (pair) of ankle weights plus a 16 lb vest, ALL DAY for the past two weeks! She also does 2-3 miles a day with the 20lb kettlebell and keeps the extra weights strapped on. Mere mortal that I am, I'm typically using only the 5lb pair on my ankles and using one of my medicine balls for various isos. My legs are benefitting from the constant stress and I can feel small gains in all my other leg exercises (like skipping rope and teeps). I got two new pairs of ankle weights coming in the mail. The ones we bought, unfortunately, are already showing frays.


I thought you were on that pelican curl game? I've kept at em. Dunno if they build my biceps slower or faster than traditional bicep curls, but two big payoffs for me have been the shoulder / ribcage mobility plus the strengthening of my false grip. I would imagine that exercising your biceps in this way would tie them into the overall range-of-motion/muscle chain more effectively than if you were doing isolated bicep curls. I'm gonna stick with em for the next year to see where it leads.


I am indeed still doing the pelicans for the exact reasons you mentioned. But I don't focus on them since I get most of the muscle chain activation when I'm on the table. Since I'm doing arm wrestling I'm really trying to specialize right now in very specific ranges of motion and movements off the table, while still not totally neglecting my full muscle chain, which is why I'll do some pelicans every once in a while. I've been prepping for my first tourney, which would have been the Michigan one if not for Covid, then there is one coming up on the 13th which is being organized by a bunch of local legends (My teacher Eddie is reffing) which I'm sadly going to skip due to the health issues I've been having. I've lost so much weight from it and haven't worked out hardcore in around 2 months. I'm just starting to get back to normal (feeling totally amazing today) so I don't want to push it. Especially if it's due to inflammation in my head due to my tooth. I think my body got used to fighting off a constant infection on and off over all these years and it comes in waves.

Just did my first snow shovel session shirtless today and it felt amazing! I adjusted really easily and it was a breeze. So, even after a 2 month pause in the cold training due to the health issues, bundling up and wearing layers and even a heating pad at night since I couldn't regulate my temp for whatever reason (Thyroid wonky due to clogged cns most likely), I was able to get right back into it and my body remembered what to do. That made me happy. My driveway was so friggen clogged my wife couldn't even get out. It was the first time I've shoveled this year. Felt good and the neighbors (and everyone driving down the culdesac) even got a kick out of it. Always love when I can make someone laugh.

Gonna have a friend over tonight since arm wrestling practice is canceled for all those competing and we are going to do a small workout for me. I'm interested to see how my body handles the inflammation on a mental level.
 
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Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
This is intense! You obviously can handle it.

Im not sure normal folks should follow this though. Rest days are important for mere mortals.

As long as they aren’t going to failure or doing full body every day it shouldn’t be an issue. Your muscles need the downtime to heal/repair so with that in mind daily workouts can be constructed mindfully. Average joe probably isn’t going HAM anyway.
 

Raven117

Member
As long as they aren’t going to failure or doing full body every day it shouldn’t be an issue. Your muscles need the downtime to heal/repair so with that in mind daily workouts can be constructed mindfully. Average joe probably isn’t going HAM anyway.
True. But just didn’t want anyone casually reading this thread to think it’s necessary to work out everyday (depending on goals of course). Average folks looking to lose a few pounds could burn out pretty quickly if they are working out every day.
 
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