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Book Review: Fitness For Geeks
jsuda writes "You would think that geeks would be as interested in fitness as dogs are of TV. After all, geeks already put in hours of finger dancing on keyboards, assembling hefty code fragments, and juggling PHP programming functions. Although intended, in part, as a guide to real physical fitness the book, Fitness for Geeks, entices geeks with what they are really interested in–the science of fitness, nutrition, and exercise. In 11 chapters over 311 pages (including notes and an index) author, Bruce W Perry, describes in great detail the science of fitness and all of its components–food selections, timings, and fastings; exercising of all types; sleep, rest, and meditation; the benefits of hormesis (shocking the body with stresses); and the benefits of natural sunlight." Read on for the rest of jsuda's review.
Fitness For Geeks: Real Science, Great Nutrition, and Good Health
author
Bruce W Perry
pages
336
publisher
O'Reilly Media
rating
6/10
reviewer
jsuda
ISBN
1449399894
summary
shows the hacker and maker communities how to bring science and software into their nutrition and fitness routines.
One of the major themes is respect for ancestral behaviors relating to fitness, as he sees the human body as having built-in "software" (biological and physiological "pathways") regulating its needs for certain foods and nutrients, its affinities for sprinting and intermittent fasting, and a preference for sunlight. These behaviors were evolutionary-based adaptations to their environment which in some ways was much more physically stressful than ours is now.
He argues that modern humans have gotten way too far away from their ancestral roots at the expense of their health and fitness. They would be better served by committing to behaviors which are modeled after those of our distant predecessors. That means large doses of natural sunlight, exercise programs emphasizing high demand tasks like sprinting, food selections high in quality fats and proteins and low in processed foods and sugars, and intermittent fastings. In other words, channel your inner caveman.
He supports his thesis with reference to hundreds of scientific studies. However, he doesn't sufficiently explain why modern human lifespans are so much longer than that of the ancients despite diets high in Twinkies, exercise defined as walking down the hall to the Coke machine, and light exposure limited to LCD illumination.
While the major interest of the book for geeks is in the science, Mr. Perry is also advocating real improvement in personal health and fitness. The author is a software engineer and computer-topic writer and also a serious runner, biker, and outdoor enthusiast. He seems to be a very intense proponent of maximum personal fitness both as an instructor and personally where he tracks and measures nearly every physical thing he does during the day. He monitors and measures macro nutritional ratios (carbohydrates, fats, proteins); micro nutritional consumption levels (vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals); exercise metrics like energy use (Metabolic Equivalents of Tasks--MET's); the times, rhythms, and patterns of exercise program elements; and more.
Like a serious geek, he uses all the latest and greatest hardware and software tools to monitor and measure including GPS devices, motion detectors, smart phone apps of all kinds, and web-based trackers and analyzers. He describes many of the features of apps like FitBit, Endomondo, Fitocracy, and Garmin Connect, including screenshots of configurations, data charts, result pages, and comparison charts. He highlights use of web-based databases especially the nutritional information available at the USDA National Nutrient Database.
Mr. Perry also throws in a bit of food and food marketing politics as he emphasizes buying from local food suppliers, or even better, growing your own food and hunting your evening's meal. He shuns supermarket products, for the most part, even providing strategies on how best to navigate the typical mega markets to avoid being psychologically and emotionally manipulated by marketing techniques which attempt to get the consumer to buy more than they need, pricier items, and the latest junk foods they happen to be promoting that week. Mr. Perry is one serious guy!
I don't think that he is a typical health-concerned person or even a typical geek, although he is an independent spirit with great curiosity about things he's interested in. He seems to be serious about fitness to an idiosyncratic degree. In addition to all of the monitoring and measuring, he experiments with up to four different fasting strategies, goes for cold water swims, and does a variety of push-ups while waiting for boarding at the airport.
His book, I think, would appeal primarily to serious health freaks or competitive athletes who have the time and need to micromanage their eating, sleeping, and physical activities, and later analyzing all of the accumulated data.
The author writes knowledgeably and comprehensively about his topics and provides a lot of detail, especially on the tracking and measuring apps. He includes a handful of sidebar interviews with nutritional and fitness experts, some photos and graphics, and tosses in a few code references like anti-patterns and the random function, among others. What isn't in the book is referenced to websites containing more specific information, data, and videos.
Although he sprinkles some personal anecdotes and humor into the writing, overall, the book, while well organized, is a slow, often mind jumbling read. There is almost too much information, too many options to try out for some activities, and not enough focus. It will not win any literary awards. To some readers, it may be sort of like reading lab reports.
A lot of geeks like reading lab reports and there is a sufficient number of competitive athletes and health fanatics who'll find this book quite valuable and interesting.
You can purchase Fitness For Geeks: Real Science, Great Nutrition, and Good Health from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
He argues that modern humans have gotten way too far away from their ancestral roots at the expense of their health and fitness. They would be better served by committing to behaviors which are modeled after those of our distant predecessors. That means large doses of natural sunlight, exercise programs emphasizing high demand tasks like sprinting, food selections high in quality fats and proteins and low in processed foods and sugars, and intermittent fastings. In other words, channel your inner caveman.
He supports his thesis with reference to hundreds of scientific studies. However, he doesn't sufficiently explain why modern human lifespans are so much longer than that of the ancients despite diets high in Twinkies, exercise defined as walking down the hall to the Coke machine, and light exposure limited to LCD illumination.
While the major interest of the book for geeks is in the science, Mr. Perry is also advocating real improvement in personal health and fitness. The author is a software engineer and computer-topic writer and also a serious runner, biker, and outdoor enthusiast. He seems to be a very intense proponent of maximum personal fitness both as an instructor and personally where he tracks and measures nearly every physical thing he does during the day. He monitors and measures macro nutritional ratios (carbohydrates, fats, proteins); micro nutritional consumption levels (vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals); exercise metrics like energy use (Metabolic Equivalents of Tasks--MET's); the times, rhythms, and patterns of exercise program elements; and more.
Like a serious geek, he uses all the latest and greatest hardware and software tools to monitor and measure including GPS devices, motion detectors, smart phone apps of all kinds, and web-based trackers and analyzers. He describes many of the features of apps like FitBit, Endomondo, Fitocracy, and Garmin Connect, including screenshots of configurations, data charts, result pages, and comparison charts. He highlights use of web-based databases especially the nutritional information available at the USDA National Nutrient Database.
Mr. Perry also throws in a bit of food and food marketing politics as he emphasizes buying from local food suppliers, or even better, growing your own food and hunting your evening's meal. He shuns supermarket products, for the most part, even providing strategies on how best to navigate the typical mega markets to avoid being psychologically and emotionally manipulated by marketing techniques which attempt to get the consumer to buy more than they need, pricier items, and the latest junk foods they happen to be promoting that week. Mr. Perry is one serious guy!
I don't think that he is a typical health-concerned person or even a typical geek, although he is an independent spirit with great curiosity about things he's interested in. He seems to be serious about fitness to an idiosyncratic degree. In addition to all of the monitoring and measuring, he experiments with up to four different fasting strategies, goes for cold water swims, and does a variety of push-ups while waiting for boarding at the airport.
His book, I think, would appeal primarily to serious health freaks or competitive athletes who have the time and need to micromanage their eating, sleeping, and physical activities, and later analyzing all of the accumulated data.
The author writes knowledgeably and comprehensively about his topics and provides a lot of detail, especially on the tracking and measuring apps. He includes a handful of sidebar interviews with nutritional and fitness experts, some photos and graphics, and tosses in a few code references like anti-patterns and the random function, among others. What isn't in the book is referenced to websites containing more specific information, data, and videos.
Although he sprinkles some personal anecdotes and humor into the writing, overall, the book, while well organized, is a slow, often mind jumbling read. There is almost too much information, too many options to try out for some activities, and not enough focus. It will not win any literary awards. To some readers, it may be sort of like reading lab reports.
A lot of geeks like reading lab reports and there is a sufficient number of competitive athletes and health fanatics who'll find this book quite valuable and interesting.
You can purchase Fitness For Geeks: Real Science, Great Nutrition, and Good Health from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
His book, I think, would appeal primarily to serious health freaks or competitive athletes who have the time and need to micromanage their eating, sleeping, and physical activities, and later analyzing all of the accumulated data.
Indeed. This is more for “fitness geeks” or geeks with an interest in the science of fitness than for the stereotypical geek with no interest what-so-ever.
In general, I think for most people (not just geeks) fitness stuff comes down to a matter of time and practicality more than knowledge anyway. Most advertised approaches to healthy living require far more time/energy/money than the average working guy has to invest (and if they had the time, would rather spend it doing something else) or require behavior which is incompatible with current lifestyle (eating 14 small meals a day might be great for your health.. but complicates the work day).
The approach that ultimately worked for me was:
- Learning how to read the nutritional info. You’d think this is simple... but I found this complicated at first. Just knowing what numbers you should be looking for makes things a lot easier. There really needs to be a “non-health nut” guide to this.
- Get into some physical activity that you _enjoy_. This was huge for me. I can’t stand doing a workout for the sake of it. I have little free time and I don’t want to spend it doing something monotonous. Got into a little “for fun” floor hockey thing and loved it. It turned into something I actually looked forward to. From their got into some other stuff.
- Cut out the insanely unhealthy stuff. I accepted that I wasn’t going to be able to go full on health nut with my diet. I like food too much to live off tofu and carrots. I still eat lots of junk but I’ve cut down on or eliminated some of the really bad stuff (soda was a big one.. ).
- Bring in the healthy stuff. A lot of it tastes like crap.. but occasionally you find something that is either acceptable or in some cases better than the unhealthy stuff. It’s a lot of trial an error (mainly error) but every time you go to the grocery run down the health nut section and try something that looks not-terrible. Once in a while you get surprised. Also a lot of that stuff tastes bad on its own, but in a tomato sauce or something it’s indistinguishable.
Pacing was important too I think. I accepted I wasn’t going to go from unhealthy sloth lifestyle to “reasonably in shape” lifestyle (which was my ultimate goal) overnight. I didn’t do anything dramatic. I didn’t vow to live off salad for the rest of my life. I just made a general effort to gradually move in a healthier direction. I didn’t weigh myself every day or obsess in the mirror, I was more concerned with internal health than appearance. Over time all the little stuff adds up.
Also sorry for the novel of a post. I just kinda got on a roll.
My mothers basement has no natural sunlight!
Let's see:
Running to be the first in line for any George Lucas film
Running away from bullies in school
Running to the mailbox to see if their new figurine came in
and the list just keeps going and going
I have a problem with this quote from the review:
" However, he doesn't sufficiently explain why modern human lifespans are so much longer than that of the ancients despite diets high in Twinkies, exercise defined as walking down the hall to the Coke machine, and light exposure limited to LCD illumination."
First of all, our grand-parent's and great-grand-parent's long lifespans aren't a mirror of our lifespans because we haven't lived to those high number of years. Who knows, maybe our bad choices of food and fitness habits will prove to be bad enough to shorten our average lifespans in the long-run.
That segment of the review is just dumb.
As long as I can still lift my coffee cup I am good.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
1) Eat less crap
2) Exercise more
3) Go outside
4) Sleep more
All we need is to add 'but on the internet!' to that list and we have the book summed up.
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
While we love to live in our virtual worlds, we are bound by the constraints of the physical world. Our bodies were not designed to be sedentary. I am a full fledged coder + gamer, but the thing I love most is doing things in meatspace.
Sure, we love to reminisce about week-long coding frenzies fueled by Mountain Dew and pizza, but it has consequences.
I may download this book for my newly acquired Kindle Fire.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
Real geeks read "Advanced Sports Nutrition-2nd Edition" by Dan Benardot and everything else is garbage without cites.
My dog watches TV all the time, but then again he's a Border Collie.
>> His book, I think, would appeal primarily to serious health freaks or competitive athletes who have the time and need to micromanage their eating, sleeping, and physical activities...
Then why is it posted here?
Hell, how many geeks still *buy* books anymore?
http://jezebel.com/5899319/stop-using-cavemen-as-an-excuse-for-your-fad-diet
In video games it is almost always brutally painful to walk around. If LARPing was promoted more geeks would have to run everywhere to maintain maximum accuracy to their genre.
Actually, no.
If someone is morbidly obese, "going for a fucking run" is one of the worst things you can tell them to do.
On the off chance they're actually ABLE to run, the stresses on their joints and muscles will be so extreme they're highly likely to injure themselves. Even jogging is a fairly high impact exercise and can result in unnecessary damage.
For the morbidly (or mildly) obese, the idea exercise would be swimming for low impact full body workouts, but barring that, walking is far better than not moving at all.
Combined with a proper regulated diet in the, say, 2500 calorie range which is still a ton of food (About two fast food meals with 0 cal drinks), the pounds will just drop off. Fast food is hardly the ideal food, but for weight loss all that really matters is calories.
Source: Anecdote from my losing a hundred pounds and going from walking a mile in 20 minutes to running a mile in 7 in the spam of 8 months.
I bought a book today. A real book, it is made of paper.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Clearly you meant "bashing PHP on /."?
I was using this package to track absolutely everything I ate. Its advice was always to eat absurd amounts of fish flakes because fish flakes had something that it thought I was low in. Iron, maybe? So whenever I would be winding down my day and I would ask it what to eat, it would always be something like a pound of dried herring flakes.
I wonder if that's this book's conclusion. The last page just goes something like this:
"tl;dr: eat pounds of fish flakes"
How is geek fitness different than everyone else's fitness? This is the same reaction I had to 'Ethics for Women'
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Perhaps I've been spoiled living in Colorado my whole life, but that vast majority of "Geeks" that I've worked with here are the fittest people in the companies I"ve worked for. From marathon runners, to long distance cyclist, to yogis, to (obviously in Colorado) hard core skiers. Other offices in the company do have less fit geeks but over all I'd say they aren't any worse than the average employee in the company.
I think the perception of translucent/Mountain Dew drinking/Pizza&Cheetoes eating geeks is a little old and incorrect.
I procrastinated for years thinking that some plan (not a magic pill, mind you) was needed to be drawn out to the T in order to make it effective. False. You need to just start getting out there and moving around. I'm all for doing research to make the best out of what you're doing but if you're not suffering from some kind of rare illness or handicap you just need to start doing something. If you're spending more time researching a fitness plan than you are doing actual exercise than you'r doing it wrong.
Oh, and don't go to the gym or buy equipment... if you're not willing to do the stuff you can do for free than spending money isn't going to be a long term motivator.
Weighted mice
Since it's possible to be a "workout geek," the term the title probably should have used is "nerd."
Hell, how many geeks still *buy* books anymore?
I would guess that geeks, on average, still buy more books than non-geeks.
I'm deeply skeptical of attempts to reproduce the "natural" diet, exercise plan, etc. of our ancestors, for a couple of reasons.
First of all, you can't recreate the environment in which humans evolved. You just can't. That world is gone. You could, I suppose, move to central Africa and try to live a life as much as possible like the way you think people lived a quarter of a million years ago, but the environment has changed considerably in that time and in any case, most people in the industrialized world (such as, you know, pretty much everyone who's likely to read the book) aren't going to change their lives to that degree just to get into shape.
Second, who's to say that our remote ancestors even had the ideal environment for their bodies? We're a young species; a lot of our anatomy is obviously best suited to an arboreal lifestyle, and the transition from semi-quadrupedal tree-dwellers to bipedal ground-dwellers isn't really complete -- many of the knee and back problems which even very healthy people tend to develop in old age can be traced to this, as can the not-so-trivial problem that childbirth is more difficult and dangerous for humans than for practically any other mammalian species. It's reasonable to suspect that our physiology, too, is the result of many quick-fix compromises over the last few million years, more so than most animals'.
So the best thing, it seems to me, is not to try to live like our ancestors did in a world that no longer exists, but to come up with diet and exercise plans that work well for us, as we are, in the world in which we live. Weightlifting is an example. No non-human animal does anything even remotely like it, and it's a safe bet that early humans didn't either -- but there's a fair body of evidence that there's no other single type of exercise that carries the same level of whole-body ftiness benefit that repetitively moving heavy weights in carefully planned and controlled motions does. Running is probably the second-best form of exercise in terms of overall benefit, but running with shoes on a concrete or asphalt track is very different from running barefoot (with feet conditioned to it by a lifetime of never even having heard of shoes) through long grass. Bicycling? Again, completely alien to our ancestors.
I'm all for looking at our biology for ways to improve our health, and studying our evolution is certainly one way to do that. But assuming that we're going to come up with any kind of "natural, and therefore healthy" lifestyle based on dim of ideas of how long-ago proto-humans lived in a vanished world is just silly.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Try toilet paper next time. Book paper is generally less absorbent with a higher paper cuts risk in all the wrong places.
I have seen dogs take quite the intrest in TV. useually barking at other dogs on it.
That is all.
Yes, if you can do math, you are socially awkward and must look the part.
Because eating right, taking care of yourself and developing a well-rounded personality is just something I, as a software developer, am not allowed to do.
I'm really sick of stupid fucking labels.
I'm thinking the 6/10 gives the impression that this book doesn't really fit here, but it's marketed to this demographic which is why it got reviewed in the first place.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
it hurtssss ussss
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
I'd rather lose weight by not eating, such as skipping supper, then waste time on a treadmill or bike. Besides diet restriction has been shown (in mice/monkeys) to create a longer-lasting body.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Seriously, if you don't like the idea of going to the gym and doing a death march for an hour or so, convince a friend to go with you! I go to Planet Fitness, and have the membership that lets me drag someone along at no extra charge. I get company, friend gets to go without paying, and we both enjoy ourselves and the exercise. Time flies so much faster when you've got a buddy than if you're just trying to hammer out an hour by yourself. I tend to make it a minimum of 3 trips a week, 1 hour each trip. Going strong since November. Has been working wonders for me.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
+1 Informative.
As someone that's also lost about 100 pounds over the past year through hard work and determination, good job!!
Open Source advocate Dr. Richard Stallman for one. I was listening to an interview he did with Alex Jones, and I was surprised to hear he boycotts the Kindle and other e-readers, and prefers physical books. Read more here:
http://stallman.org/articles/ebooks.pdf
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Looks like the book might be interesting, anybody got a link to the pdf or bittorrent?
Another classic along the same line is "The Hackers Diet". It's more about dieting and motivation than exercise, but well written and often funny (at least I thought so in the early 90's when I read it) http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html
What, all geeks are programmers/developers? I see this all the time, the stereotypical geek is a developer. Us lowly system and network administrators get no love!
I'll add, the gym probably isn't for everyone.. it works for me but if it really isn't your thing then at least try to find some other way to get a little exercise. I see a trend in the PC crowd that tends to divorce what is "you" from your body, and I have to highly disagree. Your emotions and intellect are actually very tied into your physical condition. And we all know how various chemicals, alkaloids, and substances can affect thinking and perception via the brain.
The hardest thing about a fitness regimen is beginning it. Especially if you're out of shape to start. Lifting heavy weights with flabby or scrawny arms kinda makes you go, "Damn this is heavy, I really don't wanna do this!", or if running, "My sides hurt and I'm tired, F this, time to fire up Skyrim!"... the real payoff doesn't happen until you're a ways down the road.. like maybe even a couple of years down the road. I admit it sucks to bust your ass week after week and not really see the big changes you wish you would at first, as it just doesn't happen overnight. However, once you get to a certain state of fitness, it's like your body thrives on it. I noticed a kind of accelerated effect in lifting, the more muscle you have to work with, the easier it is to build more muscle (up until you get to the point of diminishing returns and genetic limits of course), perhaps not unlike the way it "takes money to make money", it takes muscle to make muscle (and a shit-ton of protein). I still think the Arnold is nuts for saying the pump is better than sex, but it ain't too shabby either. It's a like ultra-proprioception.
Losing fat is harder than gaining muscle, for some. For me, not eating isn't actually "doing something", and I always feel like I need to actively do something, so it drives me nuts. (and I love my mead!) Besides, no diet, in and of itself, is likely to work long term. You need to expend more calories than you intake, and exercise is a good way to practically guarantee that. But I will end in saying, having started 3 years ago, I'm in some of the best shape in my life, considering my age (50 in 6 weeks) and it really changes your outlook and mood for the better. Last but not least, I would expect it would extend your life expectancy.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
However, he doesn't sufficiently explain why modern human lifespans are so much longer than that of the ancients despite diets high in Twinkies, exercise defined as walking down the hall to the Coke machine, and light exposure limited to LCD illumination.
What does he say that's not sufficient? After all, most "geeks" are intelligent enough to know all about the lack of scientific medicine available to cavemen than to humans today. Some may even argue that medicine and technology is really what's keeping us alive. As in some people living 10 years longer on a dialysis machine than they would have until they just get so sick of it they go off it voluntarily. Knowledge of diabetes and cancer with medicine, surgery and treatments available that could add multiple decades to ones life.
And there's the whole "not living in a cave" and knowledge about sewage systems and diseases that brings kind of helps. And, of course, not being eaten by a dinosaur, which is the only movie with cavemen worth watching. =P
I agree, i'm interested in the science, but i'm not willing to put the effort into micromanaging my entire life and and analyzing everything in detail.
A geeky friend of mine recently pointed me at the One Hundred Push-Ups program. It appeals to me because it's a webpage, it doesn't require anything complicated in the way of equipment or anything like that, it presents a simple and easy to understand plan with lots of numbers, and it takes place over a specific time period. You follow the plan, and the numbers keep going up till you reach your goal. (Assuming you manage to stick through to the end.) It might take more than six weeks if you have to take some do-overs, but it's definitely a finite period of time at the end of which you should see some definite improvement, something that really appeals to me. (I'm just starting week four myself right now.)
Another site i've used in the past is Calories Per Hour, particularly the BMR and RMR calculator. You can use it in conjunction with an exercise program, or just for setting up a diet plan. There's lots of numbers and math, which appeal to me as a geek, but at the end you have a nice simple number or two which tell you how much you can eat every day if you don't want to gain weight, and how much you can eat every day if you want to lose weight in a methodical and long term manner.
Of course on that note there's also The Hacker's Diet, which similarly takes the fairly straightforward approach that losing weight = consuming less calories than you burn.
You can argue a long time about paleo diet vs atkins diet vs south beach(?) or whatever other fad diet you've heard of, but in the end weight is just a matter of calories in vs calories out. If you want to lose weight you can reduce the calories going in or increase the calories going out. Certainly adjusting the kind of food you eat can make you healthier in other ways, but controlling the number of calories you eat is the first step. And if you start paying attention to the number of calories you eat you'll quickly discover that the healthier you eat the more you get to eat. Even just making the same food at home that you would have gotten at a fast food restaurant will save you a lot of calories than you can then spend on a snack or something. So instead of feeling like you _have_ to eat healthy to fit some particular diet you've decided to subject yourself to, you feel like you're getting rewarded for eating healthy.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I tried the gym, didn't like it (pounding music at high volume, and my headphones didn't help). Gym bunnies abound and those who weren't have odd ... er ... personal issues.
... always likes walking. Fresh air, easy exercise, a happy animal who likes spending time with you ... and it keeps me off the couch. So I'm watching less tv, DVDs, and haven't got the high score on the latest game. Big deal.
But a dog
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
As well as the book, 99% of the posts on this topic are of the form "I have the REAL answer, it's ...."
YOU DO NOT HAVE THE REAL ANSWER. STFU ALREADY.
Advice for Slashdot readers: do not get nutritional / lifestyle advice from Slashdot. Do not get it from books hawked on Slashdot either.
1) Lift weights.
- It saves time: 30-60 minutes 2-3x a week suffice for a decent workout.
- It trains your whole body: Don't waste time on machines, you don't need 'em. Let a good trainer show you the popular full-body exercises and practice with low weights until you can do them correctly. It's all you need to bulk up or lose some kg.
- It's not as gruesome as it sounds: Most of the time is spent recovering from the last set, and the short bursts of pushing yourself to the limit are actually enjoyable, once you get into it.
- Increase weights regularly, change exercises and intensity when you hit a plateau.
- Some additional cardio doesn't hurt, obviously.
2) Fix your nutrition
- Don't eat too much crap.
- If you're trying to bulk up, eat something with protein every few hours.
- If you're trying to lose weight, reduce your calorie intake. Complex carbs will keep you from feeling powerless and low-calorie foods will keep you from feeling hungry. Sure, there's always the sense of "I must eat more", but that's just part of the process.
- Generally, complex carbs, fish/poultry & vegetables are good things to put in your face.
3) Sleep 7-8 hours a night
There's really not that much more to it, unless you're a pro-bodybuilder who's despairing because of a slight asymmetry of his pecs. I've met a dozen folks in the local gym who have used very simple workout and nutrition plans, look great, and still get results.
If you are over-weight, there is only one way to lose weight... Consume fewer calories. End of story. And further, it is preferable that you consume just slightly fewer calories, over a long time-frame.
http://www.muller.lbl.gov/TRessays/22-ThePhysicsDiet.htm
In theory, exercise is an alternative, but really, unless you can force your flabby butt to go run a marathon, you won't even make a dent, and even if you do, your body will crave more calories and your increased food intake may eliminate any gains.
There are no alternatives, there are no short-cuts.
All the diet schemes out there are intended to get you to consume fewer calories, when you lack the will power to just jump head-long into it and do so directly...
Diet pills basically exist to make you feel slightly sick, so you won't want to eat so much. Secondarily, they may do the same thing as taking fiber before eating, causing your body to excrete more of the food you eat before it is digested and converted into calories.
Drinking water before a meal will occupy a portion of your stomach with calorie-free liquid, so you will feel you are "full" before you have consumed your normal number of calories of food. Diet foods work this same way... they have the same volume as normal foods, with a lower calorie count, so it takes more effort to stuff your face. This is similar to diets that reduce sugar... Less sugar means less calories, and also less insulin production may affect how soon you feel "full". The down-side of all of these is that your stomach may simply expand, over time, completely compensating for the reduced calorie intake per-volume of food. A similar problem for those who have their stomach "stapled", but aren't dedicated to maintaining a low-calorie diet.
The last option that comes to mind are single-food diets. They work by basically restricting the food you eat to a narrow subset, so you can consume as many calories as you need, but you'll basically get bored of eating the same thing over and over, and hopefully won't over-indulge on the same boring food.
But they all come back to reduced calories, just indirectly. And IMHO, the best option is just to SLIGHLY reduce serving sizes over time.
You can eat all the same greasy and wonderful fast food and junk food you want, you just have to eat LESS of it. Get the single burger instead of the double burger... Or get the burger you want, and just don't get the sides (french fries, onion rings, etc)... Or get all the same food, and just drink water with it, instead of soda/juice/milk. All of which will reduce your calorie intake, and over time, your weight. And since you're still able to eat all the same food, I believe this is, by FAR, the easiest diet to stick to.
I personally lost about 60lbs with this strategy... First it was smaller versions of the same fast food, and/or fewer side dishes (which saved me a lot of money, too... "super-sizing" FEELS like a good value for the money, but in fact spending less is ALWAYS the better deal).
Then it turned into rotating between a few single-course cheap and simple meals at home... rice, potatoes, pasta, ramen, sandwiches, etc. with just the occasional splurging on a quick run for greasy fast food when I had a craving for it. And that became less and less frequent, too.
As a fringe benefit, as you stay just slightly hungry, your energy level goes up, and you have the URGE to exercise (you don't have to force yourself to do so). And as you lose weight, exercise is also easier, and endurance goes up. But most importantly, the added muscle mass will serve you well in maintaining your weight... If you go back to eating poorly, whether for a short or medium term, the muscle will do a great job of helping your body consume the excess calories, turning it into more muscle, or heat, instead of fat.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need a cookie.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
1: Drink more water
2: Exercise more
3: Eat a little Less
4: Get enough sleep
Elaboration:
1: Drink more water through the day, and also cut back on soda's/coffee and such. This can help you curb your appetite to not overeat, and also allows your body to be pre-hydrated for workouts. A great tip is to drink a full glass of water about 20 minutes before you eat. This way you will eat the proper amount of food instead of overeating and ingesting all those extra calories.
2: Have an exercise plan. Don't just go in with no idea what you're going to do. If you have not done any workout plan, get with a trainer for a few weeks to get your rhythm going and then keep on it. When you are doing you workouts, do it with purpose. Work hard, lift, run sweat, be out of breath as you're moving around. It's hard work, but very worth it.
3: Eat a little less by doing the water trick I described above, but also look at what you're eating. If you seem to have decent nutrition, you can keep that same diet, just a little less. If your diet is something that needs work, then I'd recommend scoobysworkshop.com. Great site that has helped me a lot.
4: This is actually the most important part to loosing weight and building muscle. You'r body needs time to rebuild and recoup. Try to get to the point where you get enough sleep you wake up when you need to without an alarm clock, and subsequently not requiring coffee to be a functional hominid.
This coming from a guy who was one of the super skinny IT guys. I was 125 pounds (28 years old BTW) of scrawny dude at 5'9". Now I'm over 163 and lifting more weight and running faster and longer than I ever did in college. Have at it people.
Mmmmmm... Bacon....
http://www.hormelfoods.com/newsroom/brandinfo/HormelBaconFS.aspx
This review is posted on Amazon as the foremost review of the book, with one difference:
"(FTC disclosure (16 CFR Part 255)): The reviewer has accepted a reviewer's copy of this book which is his to keep. He intends to provide an honest, independent, and fair evaluation of the book in all circumstances.)"
Can we get the courtesy of the same disclosure here on Slashdot?
Were you really surprised? The problems are obvious, though he missed one advantage of real books: you can come back to a real book after ten years and be very confident that the content hasn't changed.
Nothing like a little bit of code, followed by Systema sparring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbEGgZ86Ci0 -- Minus the code, though most of the folks I know who take Systema are actually geeks.
I'm wondering how this compares to The Hacker's Diet, which I found to be quite good.
For aerobic exercise, there's a free treadmill simulator called "go jogging" right outside your front door. If you want lower impact exercise, bicycling to work will save you money on your commute and give you a lot of exercise for a small marginal cost of time. (If your automobile commute is 20 minutes but your bicycle commute is 45 minutes, you'll get 45 minutes of exercise at a cost of only 25 minutes.)
For weight lifting, $200 will buy you an exercise bench and a set of adjustable dumbbells. You can exercise just about every muscle group that way.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
don't forget to read slashdot at the gym
1. Don't skip meals. If you skip tea, you won't sleep as well. Bad for your health. If you skip breakfast or lunch, you'll have insufficient energy to do your daily tasks. It's not good for you. Eat smaller meals. And exercise - it'll burn more calories.
2. If you are overweight, then you really should exercise. Extra weight will put more stress on your joints. Losing weight helps, but you also need to strengthen your muscles.Skipping meals won't do that. Exercise will. You'll be really glad you took this advice when you're 45 or 50.
3. Also will help your blood pressure and cholesterol. You'll be really glad you took this advice when you're 40 and go to the doctor for a check-up.
I have a great metabolism, never been overweight, always looked in good shape, even though I didn't exercise. Felt fine. Went to a doctor when I turned 40 because that's what you're supposed to do when you turn 40. I felt fantastic going in, spring in my step, nothing wrong with me. My blood pressure was through the roof and I ended up in hospital. It took two years to get my b.p. under control with medicine to the point where it was even safe for me to work out, and then I started exercising. Three months later they cut my b.p. medication in half, and congratulated me on how dramatically my cholesterol had dropped.
You don't have to go rabid - you only need a relatively minor amount of exercise to keep your body healthy. It's not just about losing weight, it's about your muscular fitness, mitigating joint and bone degeneration that happen with age, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.
Find something you like. Go swimming. Get a friend to go on a bike ride with you. 30 minutes, three times a week. Make yourself do it. Otherwise you might die before you turn 50. I'm not kidding. Please don't do that to your family.
How is 2500 kCal "a ton of food"? At 193 cm tall and weighing in around 84 kg I generally consume 2400 kCal on rest days, on days when I go to the gym (4-5 days per week) I up this to around 2600-2800 kCal.
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
A geek is always with a computer. Then why not exercise in front of a computer. http://www.redbeep.com
Wow you completely missed the point.
For about 5 years, I have had a goal to become fit. I'm still in my 20's, and didn't want to hit 30 with my beer gut intact. At first I tried the Hacker's Diet, which boils down to calorie counting and exercise. While I did lose weight from calorie restriction, I was always hungry and not really fit. And the weight came back pretty quick. I then found out about Crossfit, and did that on and off for a couple years, really enjoying the Olympic lifting part of it (despite never being athletic before), but I didn't get much out of it until a year ago, due in part to my lack of commitment to it. In the past year, I burned off 60 lbs of fat, and added 10 lbs of lean muscle mass. While Crossfit has been a huge help, it didn't kick in to high gear until I stopped eating so much grain, be it cereal, bread, pizza dough, etc. It was surprising how much of my diet was based on starches, which are just sugars without the fiber you find in fruit. At the same time, I stopped caring about calorie counting, and just focused on eating better, and eating whenever I was hungry. I still eat grain, and drink my fair share of beer (I'm a homebrewer, so I don't think I can ever give it up), but significantly dropping how much grain I eat per week has been HUGE to burning off fat. Thishttp://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/why-the-campaign-to-stop-america-s-obesity-crisis-keeps-failing.html article appeared in Newsweek, focusing on the obesity epidemic, and processed grain diets. It's interesting reading. I know personal experience is anecdotal, but after a year of some exercise, I weigh in at 155, and got my first muscle up this past Tuesday.
Open Source advocate Dr. Richard Stallman for one.
Eeek! I think you mean "Free software advocate Dr. Richard Stallman...". The distinction is important as the term emphasises the social benefits as well as the engineering benefits of being able to inspect and improve such systems. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
I hear about it so often in the news these days that it made me misread the book title as "Fitness for Greeks". Opa!
I love books- new ones, old ones.. it's part nostalgia, (I actually like the musty smell of old hardcovers) and part holding it in your hand, knowing that if power goes out or a battery dies, it wont matter, the words aren't going anywhere. There's something about a library, shelves filled with books, that appeals to me. It's also nice to be able to physically flip through the pages and browse or jump ahead that way, and it's easier to hold your place at one page with your thumb and finger while cross referencing another page than it is with an Ebook, I feel like I have a little bit more "control".
The downside to real books is, the search feature is manual.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Please stop perpetuating that myth (a calorie is a calorie). Carbs act completely different to other foods. The glucose, fructose and starch react completely differently. Fat reacts differently because insulin is not involved. They go through completely different biochemical cycles. Even combinations of different foods do different things. So, please if you have any experience in fitness, you know nutrition is very important. Not just calories what kinds of foods.
There are a lot of things you can do to loose weight and be healthier, more energetic, etc.
But most people are not obsessive and don't have time/energy/willpower to do 10 different things, 5 different things, or most of the time, even two different things.
So do just one thing, start eating a good amount of vegetables and low calorie fruits (strawberries, canteloupe, and the like). At minimum eat something in this category at the start of every meal.
What's a good amount for you? See how you feel. The goal of eating is to feed and nourish your body and your body will tell you when you're not doing it right. The amount of fruit and vegetables that feel right will initially not be all that high, you'll get gassy etc.. but over time, assuming you don't have any medical conditions making your tract unusually sensitive, it will adjust and then you'll be able to comfortably eat more, and displace more of the garbage calories in your diet with this better nutrition. Your body will thank you.
In the old days of CRT and early HD, dogs couldn't see 60hz or slower raster. 120 hz they can see just fine. Mine get their morning entertainment barking at the dogs on the adoptable dogs show. If we leave them alone, we leave it on the National Geographic channel or whatever's running Dog Whisperer.
That comment about dogs not being interested in TV made me think that they don't respond to music reproductions either. Except for one interesting album that I know of: Live Peace at Toronto 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band. Side one is just John jamming out some tunes, but side 2 is where he sez, "Uh, now Yoko's gonna do her thing." By the time Yoko gets really revved up I can pretty much guarantee that any dog in the room will be yelping and trying to hide. Seen this effect on more than one dog. Actually, seen this effect on most people. Me, I thought it was the most raw form of rock n roll EVAH and still like it. Years ahead of its time :)
Uh, carry on.....
they usually have at least one strong wrist
Source: Anecdote from my losing a hundred pounds and going from walking a mile in 20 minutes to running a mile in 7 in the spam of 8 months.
Wait. What? You lost 100 pounds and ran faster by sitting in a tub of spam for 8 months? Or did you mean you run a mile in 8 month-old spam? Like, you put it in your shoes or something? Please clarify. I knew all this talk about exercising and eating right was crap!