Exercise is bad for you.......

Age is starting to catch up with us all.

I'm 38 and have been a gym rat for the last 5 years. I caught myself at some bad angles on holiday around 32 and knew it was time to do something. I was going to start a thread offering advice to anyone that wants it. I would like to be a PT at some point in the future, and know most of the best and most trusted do a ton of stuff for free in the beginning to get some momentum.

I had a metal bar go an inch or so into my left knee-cap in my teens, and although it healed pretty well, it occasionally gave me a bit of grief, but now by training my legs with heavy squats and deadlifts, I have built up a lot of supporting muscle. In the pics I'm deadlifting 260kg (yesterday) and squatting 202.5kg (couple of weeks ago). The before and after is at the start, then 2 years later when I went on a mad low calorie period to get as lean as possible. I have put on about a stone and a half since then, but it's mostly lean muscle.

While you recover, exercise is not only going to be extremely difficult, but you'll be really down and in no mood to eat healthily. What's going to be important is for you to increase your protein intake - A LOT! Get lots of (lean) meat in you (oi oi). You'll need it to prevent muscle waste, but the protein will be essential to fuel the repair of your body. You will need to do some form of exercise, and if you want tips on this based on how much you can actually physically move, then drop me a PM. I will start a thread in off-topic offering free advice and tips soon as well.

Oh, and if people are thinking "steroids", I'm 100% natural. No steroids, testosterone, growth hormone.
 

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As a vegetarian I won't be getting my protein from meat :D Eggs and cheese. I have gone a bit flabby, I've hit 16st now as for the last year I've been on and off crutches. I'm 6ft 2 so it isn't that bad!
The only real exercise I've been told to do is cycling, which is very painful... especially going over speed bumps. I went on a planned 70 mile bike ride about 3 weeks ago and had to return after 20. My cardio has totally gone to pot. My problem is my goals are too big.
 
Richard_H said:
As a vegetarian I won't be getting my protein from meat :D Eggs and cheese. I have gone a bit flabby, I've hit 16st now as for the last year I've been on and off crutches. I'm 6ft 2 so it isn't that bad!
The only real exercise I've been told to do is cycling, which is very painful... especially going over speed bumps. I went on a planned 70 mile bike ride about 3 weeks ago and had to return after 20. My cardio has totally gone to pot. My problem is my goals are too big.

From everything I've read, cardio is simply not the best thing to do. Long cardio only makes you better at, well, cardio. It eats away at muscle so you body becomes ever more efficient. I've been going to my gym nearly 4 years, and I see the same people on the bikes and treadmills looking no different now than then. Cardio relies on your body becoming super efficient, which means it won't want all that energy consuming muscle. That muscle is the key to your immune system's well being, your recovery from any sickness, and your long term health. Also, you will aware that cardio is murder on your joints. Muscle burns calories like a mo-fo, it burns calories even lying about on the couch. One of the reasons you've gained weight is because your body has become so efficient via cardio, calories are more calorific once you consume them.

Something along the lines of swimming is going to be a good substitute, then adding things like lying on the floor and doing leg lifts, and squeezing things hard in your fists to strengthen your arms. Anything to avoid stress and weight on joints.

Ok, if you're vegetarian, then figure other ways to get that protein in you, and the main one will be what all lifters like me use - protein whey, as in protein shakes. Per gram of protein it's much cheaper than meat and other forms of protein.
 
That's tough on you man those injuries. I hope all works out for you. Keep positive you will turn the corner.
 
Cheers guys,

stormcab that makes a lot of sense. I've never seen any vegetarian protein drinks though as most of them have whey and beef extract. I've been vegetarian close to 34 years now,so it ain't some choice I've made in my teens for saving the planet bollocks. Although that's not bollocks of course.
I may try swimming again - the main problem is when I kick out the ripple sends intense pain into my ankle joint. also, I'm very wary of others kicking me as they go passed. Honestly, I sound like a right girl but when a Northerner complains of pain you know it's bad! I broke my ankle a few years back and didn't go to the hospital for a few days as I thought it'd just ease off - pain I can deal with usually. But not this :(
 
Doesn't sound good Rich - fingers crossed that the next op sorts it. FWIW - I keep the weight off through cycling, regular rides is the key and they don't have to be far. I do an each way 8 mile commute on average three times a week, which seems to do the job.
 
Richard_H said:
Cheers guys,

stormcab that makes a lot of sense. I've never seen any vegetarian protein drinks though as most of them have whey and beef extract. I've been vegetarian close to 34 years now,so it ain't some choice I've made in my teens for saving the planet bollocks. Although that's not bollocks of course.
I may try swimming again - the main problem is when I kick out the ripple sends intense pain into my ankle joint. also, I'm very wary of others kicking me as they go passed. Honestly, I sound like a right girl but when a Northerner complains of pain you know it's bad! I broke my ankle a few years back and didn't go to the hospital for a few days as I thought it'd just ease off - pain I can deal with usually. But not this :(

So tell me exactly what you won't touch food wise and I'll have a look about. You won't touch whey as it's from dairy? There are many vegetarian and vegan bodybuilders about now in the news as they show off the "see it can be done without meat". You will definitely need to do some form of resistance work, any part of you you CAN move or lift, do it, and add some form of resistance - ankle/wrist weights, exercise bands. It can be annoying thing, but you be glad you did in later life. People seriously underestimate the necessity for muscle preservation.
 
Just anything that contains meat products. Eggs, cheese, milk is fine. Whey contains off cuts of cheese and milk but also has animal products like stomach linings mixed up as far as I'm led to believe. Nothing with gelatin either.
 
Richard_H said:
Just anything that contains meat products. Eggs, cheese, milk is fine. Whey contains off cuts of cheese and milk but also has animal products like stomach linings mixed up as far as I'm led to believe. Nothing with gelatin either.

As a qualified PT, UKA running coach and nutritional advisor, I feel I need to chip in here. I've avoided speaking up before but as some of the above was driving me nuts, I can't sit and read anymore of it, sorry. Some of the advice being given out really needs to be addressed.

There is an awful lot more to being a PT than lifting weights and spending time in a gym. It is effectively (if done correctly with a reputable training provider), primarily qualifications in human biology, anatomy and physiology each above A'Level standard... the Gym work is third on the list of learning, after motivation and coaching skills. Men's Health, runners word and the like have a lot to answer for.. quick fixes, hal arsed articles and poor bullet point advice, sadly these (and the internet in general) are the causes of misinformation.

Joints being damaged by cardio :lol: :lol: , seriously, please read more recent scientific studies before you type out outdated, urban myths. Walking has oddly been proven, in the most recent studies, to actually be more damaging over time, to joints than running, so the nonsense about how bad it is for your joints is simply incorrect... I ran 16 marathons (two ultra distance) last year, no injuries, aches or pains (aside from a bruised toe-nail) and I know a host of guys and girls that did an awful lot more... oddly, no injuries or notable muscle wastage.

The body burns carbohydrates (stored as glycogen) then after they run out, it taps into fat stores; these are not as easily burnt and used (hence hitting the wall in endurance events, you can continue,but at a much slower pace and in some cases the lack of fuel can make you light headed or even delusional), but fat is the bodies second go-to fuel, the body simply doesn't burn muscle. So, when you weight lift for example, a big weight session will burn a big chunk of the glycogen stored in your body and post weights, using a sensible amount of steady state cardio will induce the fat burning element of the workout. Doing a cardio warm up before weights though doesn't have the same effect, as the strip of glycogen in cardio is slower. Looking at it another way: A marathon for example burns c3-3500 calories. Your body stores c2-2500 calories in glycogen (as a normal day to day person), as a marathon runner (or other prolonged cardio exponent, or indeed consistent weight lifter (pending your fuelling techniques of course)) your body will adapt and learn to burn fat as you get better at it, it will not burn muscle.. your body is not actually capable of burning muscle.

NB. Most endurance athletes will take a sugar (carbohydrate) based drink or gel to keep topping up these stores while 'competing' as such they don't get to the point of hitting the wall.

The reason the muscle burning myth exists is that if you don't fuel the muscles with protein beyond its natural need (an when in a state of damage/tears caused by lifting), it will not grow. The body will divert the fuel to functioning muscle rather than growing muscle, making it leaner and often longer, rather than 'pumped', that way the perception is muscle shrinkage; it is not however being eaten; I repeat, your body cannot eat or burn muscle. If you don't train muscle to go into hypertrophy then growth will not occur, it purely becomes functional and as such perpetuates the myth.

Weight lifting thoughts; I totally agree this is the key to strength and fat burning as a prolonged solution, the bigger, denser and stronger the muscle, the more efficient it is at burning the energy in your body, its the only way I can do what I do, but strength and conditioning is why I'm doing it and is the focus of what I'm doing, when olympic lifting and not about building bulk. The post lifting steady state cardio though is what burns the fat.

Any exercise you can do will help with weight-loss, but the comments regards fuelling are very relevant, the better your diet, the better chance of success and eventually, the easier it will be to exercise.. and so the circle perpetuates...

So in summary, to suggest that one is better than the other is IMO daft, the two strands of exercise should work together to get the best results. Specialising and diversifying towards a more heavily weighted (no pun intended) regime of either weightlifting or cardio is fine, but both fail without the other in some form eventually. A bit like the force, balance is the key.

Finally on the Whey question. There is whey that is suitable for vegetarians. The reason its generally seen as a grey area, does indeed involve stomach linings, but to be clear, the stomach linings (as in most cheese production... cue everyone checking if the cheese in their fridge is suitable for vegetarians) is very often used as a filter type material to help strain/activate the whey/cheese production. Below is a link to a website that sells Whey protein that is however suitable for vegetarians:

http://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/impact-whey-protein/10530943.html

Oddly the 'Suitable or Vegetarians' quote is under the suggested use tab.

I've used a bunch of their products and the flavours are pretty good; they are also a decent mix of protein, sugars etc unlike some other brands that are more sugar than anything... Personally I prefer the creamy rather than fruity flavours.

If you want some extra info on training while injured, PM me or contact me via my website:

http://www.stevesavorypersonaltraining.co.uk/#!blog/c24ak
 
Wow a lot to think about there. I agree the Internet is a mine of misinformation and often contradictory. The damage in my case is from twisting and turning, football and squash. The bone deterioration is likely to be bones grinding together due to lack of cartilage and ligaments damaged and not holding things in place. I have no idea if I need more protein. How would I know? I try to ensure I have protein with all meals in some form.
Exercise wise I can't do anything that involves load bearing when standing. Lying or sitting would be fine.
 
Haha, was wondering if there were any PTs on here.

Good to read all that Savory. Glad there is a qualified person on here that can offer to help. In full agreement with whey from MyProtein. That's exactly the stuff I use. I buy the unflavoured myself so I can add stuff to taste if necessary. Once you've eaten "cleaner" for a while, your tastebuds feel like they've come back to life, and you can taste things you used to have to cover in salt or sugar. I'll add dextrose to mine as I take it in the gym.

I am relatively new to the fitness world, but have learned a lot about fitness and nutrition. One thing you will find out there no 2 "experts" agreeing on something, and scientific data being interpreted differently by the "experts". I will never rubbish another person's views as no 2 people will respond to the same fitness or nutrition set-up. One person may genetically do better as a runner, another as a lifter, another as a swimmer, another as a climber. I myself find it very hard to build muscle, and as such, am one of the "slimmest" in my gym, BUT, I am one of the strongest, so I will have different muscle fiber types that others. I only discovered my "strengths" through experimentation "oh right, am getting no where with that, but am doing bloody well with this".

I listened to a BBC health podcast recently that the human race was built to run. We're pretty much hairless, so can run long distance and not overheat unlike any other creature on Earth. In parts of Africa the tribesmen will run after prey on a hunt over vast distances until the prey is exhausted and collapses.

In the meantime however, since the human race spread across the globe, there were lots of adaptions needed to survive in different environments. You can imagine when humans started to cultivate the land and get into farming, there would have been a lot of lifting, pushing, building, hitting etc...

My viewpoint is I'm more predisposed to lifting, and I find it the most bang for your buck in terms of keeping fit. If you hit the gym with the right circuit/lifting program, you can remain extremely fit with just 3-4 45 minutes sessions. But if people prefer running 10k 3 times a week, then their choice too.

How much protein do you need? Again there is debate here too, but the guidelines for men who exercise regularly is 0.8g per lb of lean mass.

A lot to take in, but I guess just get in what protein you can. There is no dangerous amount, the body just excretes what it doesn't use.

Hope Savory can help you out. Very difficult to give fitness advice to someone who is injured.
 
For me the best bit about this thread is it demonstrates that we break the perceived stereotype of star wars collectors.
I love the fact that this community is filled with teachers, builders, technicians, postmen, carpet fitters, plumbers, you name it. We have body builders, marathon runners, karate kids you name it. People of all persuasions and make up.
Star Wars is for everyone. There isn't a stereotype.
I'm off for a run.
 
Jez said:
For me the best bit about this thread is it demonstrates that we break the perceived stereotype of star wars collectors.
I love the fact that this community is filled with teachers, builders, technicians, postmen, carpet fitters, plumbers, you name it. We have body builders, marathon runners, karate kids you name it. People of all persuasions and make up.
Star Wars is for everyone. There isn't a stereotype.
I'm off for a run.

Right on brother. Would be good to know the real diversity of other collector's jobs, and even skills, on here. No doubt be talking about something on here and someone else will pop out "let me just come in here and say I am a quantum physicist and that would simply not happen" :D
 
Richard_H said:
Lee Bullock is a Physicist I believe. :lol:

Lee is a great many things, but yes i do believe that big boy is a Physicist, and a Rock Star!
 
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