MadSlav

Annoyingly, things have fallen by the wayside this time around, due to hens and MadPict being ill. Will restart next challenge when the new coop is up and everything's running normally.

Bald and shy isn't exactly how I like my chicks, but they seem to like us and to like each other so I'm sure they'll relax and open up over the next few days. Innuendo over, we have rescue hens.

1: Muscles weigh more than fat. 2: Check if the fat is soft and loose or feels hard and under the abs. The first is water retention. Water retention in women is perfectly normal based on hormonal cycles or when you're on a high-carb diet. The second is visceral fat or inflammation. Consider an elimination diet as you may have a food intolerance. Throw out all junk food for a while and see if it's visceral fat. If it's not either, I haven't a clue. Pregnancy? Tumor? Monstruous gas buildup? Alien? 3: If you've ever had an eating disorder or been diagnosed with BDD, you may need to consider that your perception is altered. Start using a measuring tape to check your progress. 4: Ignore scales. Seriously.

1. Is it possible to lose weight AND gain muscle? I checked out the Muscle and Strength.com forums and the gist of the matter seemed to be that you had to do one or the other: bulk while building muscle, then cut to give it shape. I ask because, while I was still going to the gym regularly with my friend, we were doing what seemed like both (incrementally more weight, low reps, and the workout was capped with a High Intensity Interval Run or Bike). If it's not, which would you recommend a person start with? Yes, it's possible. Fat loss can even be anabolic in and of itself, due to hormones restabilizing. Some find it hard, though. It may be easier to focus on eating clean, high-protein food and go low-kcal and low-carb or low-kcal and low-fat to lose body fat 1/4 weeks or so, or cut at the end. In theory if you're going all-out with the weights and eating clean you shouldn't get any fatter, even if you get heavier. If you're already overweight you don't need to bulk particularly. Just keep the protein flowing in, take a multi-vitamin if you're not sure and fast from time to time to encourage your body to use its reserves. But all this is hypothetical. You know what you've got to do first? Pick a diet and follow it. I'd say have a go at eating to meet but not exceed your needs. If you find yourself gaining masses, cut back. If you find your gains stalling, eat more. Tweak your diet as and when you need it. We're here to help when you hit a hurdle. But you've got to get your feet on the ground and start running first. 2. In keeping with my goals, I'm looking for a workout routine. But before I can start on those proper, I need to overcome some limitations that I currently possess, namely my inability to do a pull-up or push-up (I'm fairly weak in the upper body). Any recommendations for exercises that might alleviate these limitations? Inability to do pull-ups: fix by doing negative reps. Jump up, try and hold yourself in the "top" position, slowly lower. Rowing can also build the same muscles, but it would have to be built up to a decent weight/resistance. Inability to do push-ups: knee-push-ups and incline-push-ups. High reps a few times a week and try and fit in 10-20 over a day the rest of the time. You'll get up to speed soon enough. 3. I realize that Nerd Fitness isn't exactly big on supplements, but are there still some that you would recommend? The other forum I checked as mentioned above gave a daily intake chart for everything from whey to nitric oxide to vitamins, but I feel like there may be ways around that. Or would you just recommend not worrying about that until much, much later? 3a. If you are pro-supplement: what is your opinion on vegan or vegetatian supplements? Do such supplements exist aside from creatine and whey? What would you recommend, if anything? If you choose to gain muscle first and cut later: don't worry. If you choose to diet and workout: keep an eye on it, multivitamins may be required. When you're living off your fat for energy, to a degree you're living off what you used to eat (simplified, yes), so if your diet was very poor in vits and mins, you may need to supplement when your kcals drop very low. Vegan: take sun chlorella. You won't regret it. 4. This is for much later in my progression: how can one maintain gains for a long period of time? I've heard Elliot Hulse expound on this by stating that gains tend to start waning after about two weeks of no stimulus, but is there a way to maintain them with minimal effort? If so, what is that minimum? Most quick-fixes are liable to fall apart. The bigger and stronger you get, the harder work it will be to maintain. A physique like Arthur deVany's, on deVany's body, requires only 30-90min in the gym a few times a week and a moderately active life. A physique like Jamie Lewis's, on Jamie Lewis's body, requires constant attention. And, of course, we have biomechanical and biochemical individuality, which is a whole other can of worms. Short form: you'll have to do some work to keep your mass. How much you do depends on how much mass, your own body's ability to keep it and how lazy you are in general.

Wound up not doing weights yesterday. Ran out of time and spent the afternoon walking up steep slopes with 10kg on my back. Not excatly a replacement, but, short form, I really wasn't feeling it. Will workout properly tomorrow. And today feels like a reduced food or a fast day, so no healthful pork and rice. Caffeine always allowed.

Yup. But being a pedant comes naturally to me. Besides, I'm sure that deep down you need to know the logic behind everything, not just "do this, don't do that", right?

Neglected the log in favour of more awesome stuff such as getting ready to keep hens, lifting, writing, etc. But worry not, I am returned. Kept on top of the diet fairly well. Rice pudding is becoming a regular breakfast, seeing as morning carb-binges do nothing to performance throughout the day. Will dig up my weights logs and post them later. Got a small workout tonight. Confusingly, my shrugs do well on high reps, compounds on doubles and the back-press likes 4x4, but who am I to argue with what my body wants? Rows increasing, form holding, speed holding, inverted grip solved all elbow problems that I had at the start. Also I have been living off pork and rice, so I may need to load some veg in later. Must remember to update the challenge, it's been long enough...

Yeah, small doses are fine even if it does bother you a little. I'm just being a petty, pedantic Devil's Advocate. Unless you're bent over in agony and emptying your guts 4-8 hours after eating it, you could eat it every day. It's more optimal to limit it and have it a few times a week instead, but it's not going to turn into an Alien and burst out of you if you abuse it a little, especially if your diet is generally good and you're active. The human body's an amazingly resillient machine. Also soaking it before boiling will reduce what are commonly known as "anti-nutrients" and consuming it cold or cooled, then warmed as opposed to piping hot provides resistant starch, which is awesome. And you're right not to waste food.

Thanks to all of you. I will apply and see what happens. It's highly likely my wrists are a bit weak as well as tight, so I'm icreasing my weighted carries as of Sunday.

Just be careful with the iron. Nutritional yeast is good stuff. What do you take for your B12? Just asking because Sun Chlorella is sometimes avoided due to expense, but it's probably the most bio-available, natural vegan source of B12 there is.

On gut transit: Firstly, the gut isn't a pipe. The main motivator of gut transit should be peristalsis. Unless you have a form of diverticular disease, then your peristalsis should be able to move everything through at a steady pace, regardless of what or how much you've eaten. Secondly, I was also talking about certain irritants present in the husk (phytic acid, for a more commonly-known-of example) that the plant naturally developed to stop mammals such as us eating all its chances of offspring. And yes, they are irritants. They enter through Peyer's Patches and can even cause allergy if they trigger a histamine response. These irritants are less present in the seed itself. Thirdly, there are better and worse fibres relative to your diet. Insoluble fibre isn't bad per-se, the same way omega 6 isn't bad per-se, it's just that we eat too much of it. It irritates your intestinal lining, which isn't bad in small quantities, but in large quantities can provoke early bowel movements, leading to more liquid or lumpy feces and poor absorption of certain nutrients that are usually accessed after the bacteria in your large intestine have digested them. On top of that, these bacteria become unbalanced because you're feeding them excessively with the insoluble fibres, which can lead to cramps, twitches and gassiness. Ironically, when you cut back on these fibres you can get constipated because your whole body is out of whack. Finally, human digestive transit is perfectly stable on soluble fibres, which are like the omega 3 of fibres. Not better than the others, but with all the simple sugars and insoluble fibre in the modern diet we often neglect to balance it out with more soluble fibres, such as those found in oats, fruit, berries and root vegetables. In fact, to play Devil's Advocate, humans have daily, regular, healthy bowel movements on all-meat diets, which contain no fibre at all. If you want a healthy gut, shoving the biological equivalent to a bog brush down there, causing excess mucus production to "slide" the blockage out, and unbalancing your gut bacteria is a patch to a problem that should only be used in emergencies. To address the root of it, you'd need to cut back on all major irritants and sugars and focus on resistant starches instead. On not getting fat: Again, Devil's Advocate, but people manage not to get fat on many diets not involving insoluble fibre or involving very little of it. Whatever you need to do to keep energy up, control your appetite and curb cravings will do that. Finally, all the potential benefits of consuming insoluble fibre or micronutrients in brown rice are marginal, especially when you factor-in the irritation, potential toxic load, etc. It's far more efficient and healthy to eat white rice and vegetables than pat yourself on the back for eating brown rice.

A) Front squats. B ) Dumbbell or kettlebell or goblet squats. C) Jump squats. D) Rock climbing. E) All of the above.

Without soundlike like an emo **** (do we get banned for swearing here? can't recall), I squat and deadlift in Chuck Taylor converses. Good grip to the soles, tight on the heel and ankle, looser at the toe, doesn't dig in anywhere, easy to walk around in if needs be.

Omegas, most vitamins, iron, zinc, selenium and magnesium? *thumbs up*

Yesterday involved gardening, lots of walking and getting up early for some reason... Oh yeah, bank holiday work. Ate piles of pork, HellminceTM, potato, rice and chocolate. Started today with rice pudding. Rice, evaporated milk, sugar. Mmmm, carby.