Healthspan Blog

Here’s an article that talks about some exercises for strengthening the core. These are done in addition to ab isolation exercises like crunches and in addition to glute activation work and are said to improve core strength, posture, and physique:

The goal of glute activation work isn’t just getting the glutes firing; it’s actually fixingthe postural flaws that cause lack of glute firing, most notably excessive lordosis of the lumbar spine and anterior pelvic tilt (APT).

So we’ve all heard to do cardio after weightlifting to burn fat. We’ve all heard to drink a protein shake after lifting to build muscle. But what if we want to drink the protein shake to build muscle and do the cardio to lose fat?

Two ways of looking at the problem: drink the shake after lifting weights and you burn the protein during cardio (wasting protein and preserving your fat). Drink the shake after cardio and you risk breaking down muscle while you’re on the bike or treadmill or whatever.

Interesting post here from a guy who seems to know what he’s talking about.

60-90 minutes preworkout, have a solid, balanced meal:

Protein = 0.25g/lb TBW (target bodyweight)
Carbs = 0.25g/lb TBW
Adding fat at this point is fine, use your discretion as long as it fits into your macro goals. Note that this meal is skipped if you train 1st thing in the morning.

[OR]

30-0 minutes preworkout – (and/or sipped throughout the workout), have a liquid or easily digested meal:

Protein = 0.25g/lb TBW
Carbs = 0.25g/lb TBW
If you were going to train for close to or more than 2 hours continuously, it would definitely benefit you to have this extra preworkout meal either immediately prior to, or sipped during training. Keep the fats here incidental & not added if you’re prone to gastric distress during training.

Within 30 minutes postworkout, have either a liquid or solid meal:

Protein = 0.25g/lb TBW
Carbs = 0.25-0.5g/lb TBW, depending on how carb-restricted your diet is.
Amount of fat here doesn’t matter as long as your daily target is hit.

Post-postworkout is simply your next sheduled meal, whether it’s 1, 2, or 3 hrs later simply doesn’t matter – especially if your immediate postworkout meal was designed as above.

So assuming weights plus cardio is gonna put you at the 2 hour mark, it seems you want to eat protein and carbs 90 minutes before weight training. During weight training you want more protein and carbs (though if you really want to lose fat I would experiment with aminos instead). This guy says to do the meal 90 minutes before OR the protein/carbs during the workout. But he also says 2 hours means the intra workout protein and carbs becomes extra so that would be in addition the meal 90 minutes prior. I feel confident that going either way will be fine depending on goals / workout intensity.

I think I might personally try some Gaspari Size On for creatine / carbs (never tried it and am curious) plus some aminos for my intra workout shake. Twin labs Amino Fuel has aminos and carbs seems good so I think I’ll try mixing that with my Sizeon. If that seems like too many carbs and I can’t lose fat this way it’s easy to switch to Purple Wraath, Intrabolic, Xtend, or another Intra workout drink that has aminos without the carbs / calories. With any luck I can stretch that drink for the weight lifting and cardio session.

So meal 90 minutes before weights. Aminos (or protein) and carbs during weights / cardio. Then after cardio it’s time for a protein shake. Then a shower. Then a meal.

Before cutting the suggested carbs before, during, and post workout – try trimming your other meals as much as possible. The nutrition around workout time is the most important for building muscle. For losing fat it doesn’t matter as much where you cut the calories so cut them from the meals further away from your workouts. But if you’ve already done that, then like I said you might try aminos during the workout instead of protein / carbs. Good luck!

Interesting article here on how Uggs and similar boots hurt your feet by not supporting the arch or the ankle.

Here’s one case where they failed miserably. Sometimes people laugh when you ask for medical advice online or whatever but the scary fact is that we have to be responsible for our own health because we can’t necessarily trust doctors to do what’s best for us.

Sure when we get sick they’ll talk to us for 30 seconds and then prescribe some medicine but where are the doctors who will plan your healthcare with you? You might just be on your own, just like the woman in the article linked above suggests women at risk for breast cancer need to insist on a mammogram.

This is a friend’s story: I have a bridge because of dental malpractice. I had a cap put on a tooth due to a bad cavity. The dentist then told me I was good to go. He had put on a TEMPORARY cap, never saw in his files in return visits (checkups and cleanings) that the cap was temporary, never notified me of its temporary status nor did in anyone in the office, and let me go on with it.

It finally fell out 18 months later while chewing a Starburst. He then exclaims “Whoa! It was a temp! Man my handiwork is good if it lasted 18 months!”.

Having such shoddy, temporary work in my mouth that long allowed for a vicious gum infection above the tooth. I had the gum infection worked on twice — apparently, this involves cutting into the gum and scraping it out — before the oral surgeon said “there’s nothing we can do, we have to yank the tooth to get to the infection”.

Its a newer procedure, as its a false tooth that attaches to one side of the surrounding teeth, not the cap that goes over the surrounding teeth entirely.

No attorney would take the case because dental malpractice is “impossible to win in court”. I called a crazy number of attorneys before I gave up.

This article concludes with the obvious “vary your workout routine for best results” but it does survey some interesting research on rest time between sets. For a few weeks you can spike testosterone and HGH with shorter (1 minute) rests between sets. However the difference declines by 5 weeks into a routine. Over 10 weeks, a 2.5 minute rest would show better gains.

This is a decent article, though the facts are somewhat disturbing. Anabolic steroids you inject are safer than all the methylated prohormones you swallow. Yet the safer option is illegal while the more dangerous option is not.

Prevention is the best medicine.

This argument makes sense to me:

“Why would it drive private insurance out of business?” Obama said of the proposed public option. If private insurers “tell us that they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.”

The Republican counter-argument I have a problem with:

The Republican National Committee released a cable-TV ad saying Obama’s insurance plan would result in “putting government bureaucrats in charge instead of patients and their doctors.”

My problem is that even now we have bureaucrats deciding who gets what treatment. We all know that private health insurance companies want to make money. Sometimes that means denying certain treatments because they are expensive.

Pretty tough finding information on Vin Diesel’s workouts. Ive gathered online that he likes free weights, compound movements, yoga, and pilates.

I also found that he has trained in MMA, specifically Kali.

Q: What is your Riddick workout?

VIN: The Riddick workout started before I went up there. I was training with a UFC guy, Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter. I got up there two months early and started training in a fighting style called Kali, which originated in Spain and was then brought to the Philippines by Spanish traders. It’s a fighting style that’s just now beginning to catch wind. It’s a fighting style that calls for ambidextrous, two-handed fighting. And that’s what we studied. I went up two months early to learn this fighting style.

Seems to me that this will help with he chiseled look cause you burn lots of calories training combat sports and Vin Diesel obviously has low bodyfat for that physique. I don’t know what he did to build muscle and proportion his body but I’m still looking.

To me, Vin Diesel’s body is not all that different from Ross Enemait’s body.

This guy is a trainer who also likes free weights and compound movements. I have all three of his books and recommend them.

This article on how many consumers are misled by supplement companies seems to be indirectly making two suggestions:

1. The author trusts Consumer Lab – they don’t test everything but they test some products and find ones that are dishonest about labeling or whatever.

2. The author trusts Dr. Scott Connely, inventor of MetRX. He has recently launched a new supplement company.