DoogieT

I wrote an article for Canada's National Post about my personal struggle with games and whether or not they're art and they ran it today. Yay! http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/03/15/douglas-trueman-video-games-level-up-to-become-modern-art/

Hey, all. I used to be pretty into jiu-jitsu back in the day. I took it for six years and made lots of friends but then my teacher left and I lost my drive. Last year at this time I joined NF and got into the best shape of my life I've sinced moved to a new city (Toronto) and want to get back in shape and meet new people, but I can't seem to decide which to do (I can't do both due to financial reasons). My problem is that if my heart isn't into it completely (some would say obsessively, as I have OCD) I tend not to do. I was 20 or so when I started jiu-jitsu the first time and now I'm 38...but I'm much stronger, having joined NF, and I don't have the panic attacks on a daily basis that I used to have. (I used to let people choke me out to end the panic attacks when I was training, so people thought i wasn't as good as I could have been. i'm also not sure which gym to join, etc., etc. I keep going around in circles and can't make a decision. In the meantime my stomach seems to be growing and I'm starting to hate my photographs. Anyone have any advice? doogiet

My biggest dislike about my body is my stomach. I'm trying to eat better and have lost about six pounds, but every few days my stomach starts to hang out a bit. I found if I do a back plank and a front plank x 3 every odd day, it seems to tuck back in. I'm wondering about doing them every day when I get up before my shower. Is this a good idea? D

Wow, this is great! Thanks, everyone. Seriously, Nerd Fitness is awesome. Now only if this !@$#ing cold would go away, I'd be able to work out again.

Hey, all. I'm a terrible cook (I really just can't be bothered) so I bought a slow cooker. You take your ingredients, dump them in, come back in a few hours and bang, you have a meal. I'm just wondering if there's a way to assess a meal from a recipe book, or if there are any healthy recipe books out there for them. My latest meal I was going to try was sweet and sour beef. You basically take your beef cubes, shred some carrots and then (here's where it gets dicey) pour an entire bottle of sweet and sour sauce into it. By my calculations, that's 330 calories in the sauce alone. I'm putting weight back on and I'm thinking this is probably why (this would be my fourth meal with it). But I've also gotten sick and have stopped working out temporarily. There's also a recipe in my book that I have (101 Things to do with a Slow Cooker) that's a "tater-tot casserole" which made me think what I'm eating isn't so healthy. I *can't* return to my former weight, I'd rather die...

I tried P90X for a while but gave up because I had almost zero strength and couldn't keep up with them. I was also completely exhausted after finishing a workout (like, dead) and this always ruined my day. Things might be different if I were to try it again now, though. Also, the women have bad technique in the karate section. Most of them would break their wrists if they tried to punch anything for real.

I agree that NF is awesome. I had never even heard of a deadlift before I got here and I've been slowly adding them to my workout routine. I started with two 45 pound plates a side and now I'm up to 195. If you can grab the square step-thingies to get the bar at the right height that should help a lot. Better to ease into them slowly and properly than to rush it and hurt yourself.

Going on Plenty of Fish dates and having multiple women tell me I had a belly. Realizing, after years and years of denial that the gut that I had was not because of my spine (though I do have scoliosis) but because I was eating fast food all the time and drinking Sprite and Coke like it was water. One of the women in my class wants to be a nutritionist and she finally convinced me of the truth of what I was eating (I don't know why wouldn't accept it for so long, I would always rationalize it). I quit soda cold turkey and haven't gone near any of my old stand-bys like pizza and chicken wings since. I got a personal trainer at the gym and have put on more muscle than I thought was even possible for me. I refuse, refuse, refuse to go back to who I was. I want to date beautiful women and if I need to make myself a beautiful man to do that, I will.

Are these all American brands? I just moved to Toronto so I'll be needing a Canadian brand, or at least one I can get here. Quaker's available pretty much everywhere, right?

Hey, all. More than a few people have told me about oatmeal so I bought a variety pack and tried to make it (apparently the guy who plays the head wolf in True Blood is a fan). I tried following the directions of one packet, 2/3rds a cup of water and 75 seconds in the microwave, but it came out with the texture of a bowl of snot (or like that gross stuff the guys on the ship were eating in the Matrix). I couldn't finish it. The wolf guy apparently eats two packs, so I tried that with a 2/3rds a cup of water and 75 seconds but it's this kind of coagulated goo. I'm not exactly sure what the end result is supposed to look like or taste like. I couldn't finish it either. Little help? D

Is it true that if one is trying to burn fat, one should do cardio on a relatively empty stomach, like first thing in the morning, or before eating? Someone mentioned to me that if you do cardio while your stomach is full you just burn the energy it contains and not the stored fat on your body. I didn't think this was true but then I looked up the guy who plays the lead wolf on True Blood (who I'd kill to look like) and apparently his trainer does the same thing with him. I've got fat around my waist that doesn't seem to be going away, so maybe this would help?

I'm not sure that I could ever get to 10% body fat. I have flab around my waist that just doesn't seem to want to come off. I've overhauled my diet and am working out harder than ever but still it persists.

If I stand in the mirror and flex my abs pretty hard I think I look halfway good. But if I relax my abs I look kind of "meh." Is there a way to get a flexed look all the time? I used to do the P90X ab routine but there were some things I just couldn't do. Then I started doing a weighted ab crunch machine at the gym but I could never tell how to set it and what weight to use (if I was cheating by using my arms, etc.) So right now all I'm doing is lying on my back and raising my feet with straight legs so they're at about a 35 degree angle and holding them. I'm not sure if this is an official "move" (a plank of some kind?) but it makes my abs burn. I'm doing 3 x 1 minute sets. Is there anything here I could be doing that everyone agrees on? If I were to try the rotating plank of doom (RPoD) how long do I hold each plank for? It's not so much my abs that start to give out but my arms. D

Awesome, I think I'll go to Sport Chek and look around...

Genius idea, now I just have to find a store that sells them.

The lightest weight for the gym I go to is 5 pounds, so if I want to increase and keep the bar I'm using balanced, I'd have to put a 5 pound plate on each side, thereby increasing the weight 10 pounds. I could put a 5 pound plate on only *one* side, but then the bar would be imbalanced and this is probably a bad idrea, right? Determined to get to 200 pound bench press within 1 year... D

Just to clarify, I'm not trying to jump from 165 to 200, though that would be awesome. 200 is the long term goal but it seems forever away. I'd be happy with 170 right now. I'm *trying* to do 3 sets of 6 reps, but what happens is usually six reps, then five, then five, then I stop. I can't increase the number of reps but I *could* increase the number of sets. I could probably do 5 x 5. Should I do this? Maybe I'm not burning out my chest enough? I try to do it three times a week.

I can currently bench press 165 (60 pounds a side) and it's the heaviest I've ever been able to lift, but it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. I'm getting lots of rest between sets (and days working out), drinking my protein shake after each workout (and occasionally before going to bed) but I seem to be stuck here. I usually manage 6 reps, then 5, then 5. I'd love to be able to hit two 45 pound plates a side, but it seems so impossible now. Does anyone have any words of advice? Should I be having more protein shakes? I use one scoop of the Optimum Whey with water after a workout... doug

Not that I know anything about the science of this, but why would it only apply to teenagers? Sleeping has been the bane of my existence. I lie in bed for hours without sleeping and usually don't start my day until about 11:00 because I'm always out of sync. I was thrilled to learn there's a condition for this so it's not all in my head...

Yeah, that was me. It's not what you think. After the tussle I was chatting with her on Facebook and said, "is there something going on you're not telling me?" and she replied, "no, you just have one of those punchable faces." : /

No worries. Tragedy + Time = Comedy. It was terrible when it happened, but now it belongs in a movie.

Okay, so knees/hamstrings, then back and lift. The reason I ask is I tried this once before and here's what happened: When I was about 22 my girlfriend at the time (and first girlfriend ever) invited me for a romantic evening at her parents' place because they were out of town. This was before I had started working out and was basically a 99 pound weakling (I still have the emotional scars). I thought it would be just like in the movies. I wanted to pick her up and take her upstairs but she didn't think I could manage the staircase, so she suggested I wait until the top. We got to the top of the stairs and I picked her up and awkwardly struggled to get her into her bedroom. Instead of gently (and romantically) placing her on her bed, my arms failed and I dropped her on the bed from about a foot above. She bounced off the bed, hit her head against the headboard in mid air, and crashed to the floor. Instead of the "sweep, carry, gently place" that I had envisioned, it was more of a "drop, bonk, *thud*. I'd like to avoid something like that again. Celidah, why is your heart ice?

A woman I'm involved with is coming back from a trip in a week. How does someone pick up another person in the classic "crossing the threshold" Hollywood movie scene? Assuming she's standing straight up, where do I put my arms/hands, etc? I'm assuming I stand at a 90 degree angle to her, bend my knees like for a squat/deadlift, place my arms behind her knees and her shoulder blades and then stand up? I'm 195 and she's 110 and I've been working out pretty hard, so I don't think strength will be a question, more a matter of technique. I wonder if my gym has a heavy bag I can practice this on... D

Saikyo-Ryu says: FATHER!!!