Ok guys, I’m all for being healthy (preached not practiced) and trying to keep yourself in whatever shape you choose, but there are a few things to watch out for. Of which are the crazy “bootcamp” exercises and of course, the protein calorie blasts (ya know, the powder stuff that tastes like strawberry drywall). While the pursuit of good health should be encouraged, there are a few things out there that boast results without regard to what happens, well, after.
This is kind of representative of myself… while I never quite made it to step too there, I came to realize the detrimental health effects of trying to do hardcore type exercise with the powder junk were way too high for my tastes.
See, a lot of those “beef out now” and “bootcamp” type exercises are extremely high impact. This means that they can really injure your joints, and with me at least, it totally hurt the heck out of my knees… so that was the end of that. The better solution would have been to take the weights a little easier and just focused on low impact type routines.
And don’t get me started on that powder… uhg! While it’s alright on paper, ya know, the more you work out the more protein/calories you need, thus it helps… The issue starts because it’s an unnatural imbalance of nutrients. Which, as we all know, it’s all about balance. But while I was taking in ridiculous amounts of this putrid powder, I did some research and it turns out the stuff is very harsh on your body. As in, it can harm your kidney and liver kind of bad. Sooo… I decided to pull the plug on that one!
So what can ya do? Well, probably cardio is like the best thing ever! Low impact and keep the heart rate up for half an hour and you’re good to go! Sure, if you want to look a specific way it will take different variations of other techniques, but just be sure to do the research, because I for one don’t want to sacrifice longevity and my joints just so I can make my pecks dance.
Moral of the story, stay healthy and do your research! Also “no pain no gain” works only for the short term… just sayin… you can work hard without it causing damage.
First time seeing perspective on the whole Exercise and Powder issue and it is completely true. Having had to do exercise everyday for 4 years (My job required it) I can say that the Bootcamp way is like walking into Hell. I never tried the powder but then again, being catious of what I put in my body (Besides alcohol and Nicotine) it seems more of a health hazard then anything as I think only about 4 actual brands have the side effects on the label. Best exercise is just, lift a couple of weights if your just watching TV, punch a punching bag when in anger, and go for a walk every now and again. The simple exercises are the ones that also make great stress relievers.
yeah, doing some simple things is the best. high impact like boot camps will really mess your joints up!
lol, and man, I shudder to think what that powder did…
I think you summed it up fairly neatly in your post…. But I do like to add a wall-o-text regardless :3
I’m surprised at all the unhealthy “health tips” that is constantly around in media (at least here in Sweden, but I guess it’s similar in all industrial countries). Most of it is about how to lose weight and more or less each week there’s a news placard along the lines of “the best diet evar!!!, loose 600 kg in two hours!!!! *trollface*”. The ads for powders and whatnot exists, but is generally found in “health” magazines and in gyms and not on placards. What surprises me is that it sells and that people actually believe in all the crap despite that research have shown that it only works for like a week or two, then it becomes ineffective, unhealthy or even dangerous. Though instead of taking responsibility and only publishing truths, I guess there is more cash to earn by first selling magazines with crap instructions and then sell magazines showing the danger of said instructions and then sell magazines with “new and improved” crap instructions and then rinse and repeat. The supplements remain roughly the same and there are a few big brands which have been going for years and some smaller ones which changes name every year or so to when the old name gets discredited – although many of them have been shown to not even be healthy supplements for the elite athletes.
The consensus of the research is that there are no health shortcuts that work in the long run. The only way to really be healthy is to:
• Eat a varied cost. That is, eat a little of everything and mix as much as possible. A good rule of thumb is to eat a lot of vegetables and to only eat candy once in a while - not the opposite around.
• Keep roughly the same energy intake as energy output.
• Do any kind of exercise 10-30min a day or 1h every second day or 2h every third day to stay in shape; add more to reshape the body. Any exercise works, but it’s best to mix in order to achieve balance.
• Letting the body recuperate in between heavy exercises is quite useful in order to make it last longer.
• Not stress too much; a little stress can sometimes help getting things done but a lot of it will only burn the body. Getting enough sleep is important.
Although I guess telling the public how to put up a long term health plan won’t sell magazines or powders. If the headlines are any indications, I assume people would want to eat a diet pill each day for a week and then be perfectly healthy for the rest of their lives without any extra effort…
And speaking about what to eat, there really is no need for supplements as long as one eats a little bit of everything. Carolina Klüft, one of the best track and field athletes, has openly said no to supplements and has claimed to mainly eat “husmanskost” (Swedish traditional everyday dishes). I don’t know whether it is the food, good genes, good training or a combination of the three, but she has won a heap of medals and is currently holding the EU record in.
lol, no matter how much they try to troll the ads, the old tried and true “food pyramid” holds up as the best diet plan. but I guess you could always apply electrodes to your muscles and shock your way to health! that seems legit!
I’m not really sure what I think about TENS. I mean, the way to build muscles is to use them and whether it’s an internal or external electrical signal that causes the muscles to work shouldn’t matter; i.e. TENS ought to work just as well. Although, in my personal opinion, I find exercising to be a good way to refreshen my head, provided that I’m the one that exercises the muscles; having a machine exercise the muscles for me while I watch TV seems like an incredibly boring way to do it.
And I noticed that my last post fell one word short. It should say that Klüft holds the EU record in heptathlon.
I think there are some issues with those TENS things… for instance, when lifting weights, it’s not about just the lift (the electrical contraction) but the use of stabilizing muscles. You’re also supposed to be focusing on the extension of the muscle as well. It’s all in the resistance, not the contraction alone.
And I’m not sure how I like jolting the heck out of the muscle anyways. Sure, it’ll make it move, but it’s like trying to turn on your gameboy by shoving bare power cords from the wall onto it’s circuit board! I wouldn’t recommend doing that… Anyways, the beauty of the body is that it’s wonderfully complex, so while trying to target that muscle, there’s a whole network of other nerves you’ve got to power through first… so jolting all of it might not be the best of ideas.
and looking at the wiki for TENS, it seems like 90% of the people should not be using it based on the “what not to do”… cause I’m sure somebody has put it on their spine… or eyes… or *cough*… just for the lolz.
then again, it’s not like this has really been out for all that long (all things considered), so maybe in a few decades, this will be how everybody exercises!
Eh. Never even considered such a thing. I’m perfectly fine staying healthy. My only muscles worth of mention are the ones on my legs(due to running away from punks a lot and being late to everywhere constantly) and on my abdomen(so I don’t collapse like a ragdoll after a punch or two in case I took the wrong turn). Just enough for a geeky guy like me. Does the trick for the least effort possible:)
XD you’re a crazy man!