Exercise?

I don't watch calories or weigh myself or worry about body mass index.

The best indicator is to measure the waist because we gain and lose muscle in our lifetimes depending on activities. Also, you gain and lose a lot of water depending on tissue salts which retain water and, on the other hand, loss through perspiration.

So, I admit that I watch my weight but not through anything else but a measurement.

Walking................lots and lots of walking........................

Occasional jumping jacks too. The walking sorta works as some sort of mediation-related thing for me. I often feel most at ease during these walks.

coeus wrote:I try to add in a bit of bike riding for variety. No weights though. I'm against it.

Why are you against it? I am against bodybuilding to excess, big time. I think it's dumb, harmful to the body's joints. And, if you get big enough, you are at risk for stroke because the muscles are so big they actually constrict the flow of blood in the veins. No joke, someone with a degree in kinestheology told me that.

Here's also what I know (and I'd love it if others would pitch in more comments and keep this thread going):

Also, a lot of weight lifters jerk weights (not in a full range of motion), so they are only building the "belly" of a muscle. Meanwhile the ends of the muscle are still weak where they attach to tendons. And, these tendons are underdeveloped in proportion to the muscles. Most lifters concentrate on big muscle groups such as chest, biceps and latisimus dorsii muscles in the back. They do this for show and ignore some of the smaller, but oh-so-important stabilizer muscles such as transverse abdominals, or hip flexors. Overall, this is a bad situation for putting stress on joints and pulling muscles.

The trick is, in any sort of resistance training regimen, to use a fuller range of motion, lighter weights and more reps (kind of like how are bodies operated in nature for thousands of years as hunter-gatherers). That's the difference between weight training and power lifting/bodybuilding. It's all in the duration and amount of weight.

I find that swimmers, dancers, skiiers, skaters, avid hikers, etc, might have as much muscle mass as some weight lifters but when you watch them move, they are graceful and loose. Meanwhile, most of the heavy weight lifters are all bunched up and blocky looking. Their shoulders don't hang properly most often. Most of them have seriously shortened muscle lengths due to just overbuilding and not stretching much. They can weigh a lot so their knees joints can suffer because of this.

As the martial artists say, weightlifting "traps the chi."

I am against bodybuilding to excess, big time. I think it's dumb, harmful to the body's joints...No joke, someone with a degree in kinestheology told me that. ...As the martial artists say, weightlifting "traps the chi."

This is interesting....I wonder if there are any studies on this? I've heard different arguments - strength training is good for you because you lose ~0.5 lbs muscle mass per year and this can help you retain that. But I'd be interested in what the martial arts perspective too.

How does weightlifting trap the chi?

bruceselfhelpguy wrote:This is interesting....I wonder if there are any studies on this? I've heard different arguments - strength training is good for you because you lose ~0.5 lbs muscle mass per year and this can help you retain that. But I'd be interested in what the martial arts perspective too.

How does weightlifting trap the chi?

Losing muscle mass when we age is natural. Sure, it's great to keep up our strength into our old age but, at a certain point, I think we have to let our bodies do their natural thing and lose muscle mass. Basically, to be building muscle all the time, in attempts to look younger than our years, takes a great whack of energy from our bodies and, as we get old, we need that energy for other stuff, like just digesting our food and eliminating toxins. So, to maintain a certain level of strength is good, I believe, but even that, after time, becomes too hard on us. Then, we have to face facts and "be ourselves" if you ask me, and do the best we can with what nature provides us.

I should repeat this: I'm against power weight lifting and bodybuilding as opposed to "weight training" which uses lighter weights and more reps. Cripes, I know of a guy who was a competition bodybuilder who used to oil himself up for judges. Now, in his 50's, he walks like he's in his 70's. He mangled his elbows and his knees. Permanently. He lives with chronic pain now.

Duhhhhhh... sometimes I think these guys need barbells for their brains which must be atrophied.

Also, there are different kinds of muscle and there's nothing wrong with working on maintaining our slow-twitch (endurance) muscles more than our fast-twitch (power) muscles. I know that a lot of people are worried about bone density these days too, but I've heard that a lot of that fear is mongered by doctors who give bone density readings to people while their in the hospital after having been convolescent for weeks. If we don't walk, our bone density goes down. That's another debate, anyway.

Also, just as an aside, it's interesting to note that we're born with different percentages of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscles, hence the reasons why genetics plays a huge role in athlete's performances in certain sports (i.e. the short stocky Turks and Hungarians win the power lifting competitions while many of the long distance races are won by people of African descent, especially Ethiopians). I've found this out, according to a fitness instructor I've talked to; this fact is from doing biopsies on people's muscles.

Anyway, back on topic ---------------->

I think a lot of modern "fitness" is based on image more than health. Like, I've been saying, a lot of weight lifters (and not weight trainers) move very oddly if you look closely, compared to the natural and flexible, toned bodies of people that do a lot of exercise but haven't overbuilt short, bulging muscles. I've observed people who've done big weights, have big bulky muscles just doing something simple like walk into a room. Clunk, clunk, clunk, bonk, bonk, bonk, they enter almost like robots. Then, they go to reach up over their head for something and their arm stops short, trapped in muscle-bound tightness. Then, I watch basketball players on t.v. move gracefully with long, lean and toned muscles who can reach for what seems like endless lengths. Or swimmers walk out of the pool. Or speedskaters fly around the rink. Or, even people who weight train sensibly with good stretching and cardiovascular training as well.

Where would you rather live? In a place of discomfort, inflexibility and unnaturally musclebound joints? Or, in a flowing, supple, fit body that can move with grace?

What I want is long, lean muscles and I want all of my muscles developed instead of just a few big bulky ones.

And, finally, Bruce, to respond to your inquiry about "trapping the chi." Well, first of all, what is chi? Essentially, it's energy or lifeforce. A way to discover the "chi" in our bodies is to do Tai Chi or Chi Gong which are ancient Chinese practices that fortify our chi. One thing a Chi Gong master from Hong Kong taught us in a Chi Gong class was to stand with our arms dangling comforably at your sides, then bend your elbows at 90 degrees, and with outstretched hands shoulder width apart and at belly button height. Then, imagine a large golden ball in front of you, and hold your hands like you're holding this big ball. Breath in and out deeply but not hard. After time, maybe a few minutes, you can then push your hands closer together and you'll feel chi/energy between your hands. It can feel like it's hard to push your hands together. You may also feel heat or tingling. Congratulations, you've found some chi that has emenated from your own forcefield in and around your body. It's the same chi that martial artists can store and use to throw a lethal punch.

So, we're all walking units of energy (physics tells us this too, that when we go small enough into the microscopic, everything is really moving around a lot, even this desk in front of me, on a molecular level has got a lot of movement going on).

When we do something like Tai Chi Chu'an, we feel so great afterwards because we've eliminated a lot of blocked chi in ourselves.

On the other hand, when we pump too much iron, we create blockages in our chi. On some level, our energy is trapped, the same energy you probably felt inbetween your hands if you tried the invisible ball excercise that I've outlined above.

Trapped energy/chi = illness. Ask any Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor.

So, a lot of heavy weight lifting is, causing a certain amount of illness. Now, due to different genetics, some of us seem to do better with heavier weights and others with lighter ones given their natural body types, and this is also a factor in all of this. My fitness instructor also told me about all the men who come in with slender body types who literally blow out their shoulders lifting too much weight.

And, yes, I know weights also do a lot of good, but, we need to find out what our bodies really thrive on and what makes us feel our best inside our bodies, because, afterall, where else are we going to live?

Wow, thank you Jerril. I've always had a nagging feeling that "too much" weightlifting could be bad. But I guess it's more about the kind of weightlifting you do. I was thinking of taking up tai-chi or kung fu, and now I'm even more tempted.

I've observed people who've done big weights, have big bulky muscles just doing something simple like walk into a room. Clunk, clunk, clunk...

Ha ha, I've observed that too, but it's funny the way you put it.

Bruce, I've been tempted to take some form of self-defence class for a long time, too.

I did take a couple of semesters of Tai Chi a long time ago. It's great, makes you feel really calm yet rejuvenated; it's highly benificial to health. The downside, is if you want some self-defense, Tai Chi takes eons to get enough moves to defend yourself.

I did speak with a Kung Fu instructor once, when I was on holiday. He said that you should ask whoever is giving classes if the course includes grappling. Without it, he said, if a strong bully gets ahold of you, you won't know how to get out of a hold. So, then I emailed my old Tai Chi instructor (who also teached Kung Fu) and he said he agreed with this advice. So, a lot of people get classes in a form of martial art, they spend countless hours learning to punch, kick and block, but they don't know how to get out of a hold and that is no good. Another piece of advice was, before you join a group, ask if you can watch one class from the sidelines, and if the instructor says "no" then that is not a good sign.

A lot of martial arts are great workouts too. Very fortifying. But, if I'm paying good money to take them, I want to be able to feel more confident about defending myself as well as getting exercise and learning some basic moves. I've watched a class in Tae Kwan Do before and I didn't like the egos in that room (not to say that all Tae Kwan Do classes are like this), and they don't teach any grappling or wrestling. I mean, come on, if a guy grabs me with steroid, ape arms, I want to know how to get out of it -- fast! And, if he takes me down and is on top of me, I want to know how to get out of that -- really fast!

And, as an ex-Golden Gloves boxer said to me (not verbatim), "If you go lookin' for a fight, or if you think you might get into one, you will..." He said fighting is 90% in your head.

Anyway ---------------------------------------->

I'm really enjoying my exercise routines right now. It includes walking (1 to 2 hours/day), swimming 2X/week (for a half hour at a time, fairly vigorously), and then mat exercises 2X/week that tone my stomach, transverse abs, chest, hips, buttocks, and back. The swimming works my arms and shoulders enough, I feel. So, I walk every day, lighter on some days, but enough to keep my metabolism stoked. Then, I swim one day, mat exercises the next, day off from those, then swim 1 day, mats 1 day, then two days off from those.

Feels good. It's a low impact regimen but I'm building endurance and I also feel strong as a result.
But, yeah, Bruce, a self-defence course would be a nice too.

Why is this topic (exercise) in the "Fun" forum?

Because it's fun to see what others are doing for exercise.

Up until July when I was in the Air Force I was big into staying fit. I don't really care about what I eat. I can eat anything and stay 140 lbs whether I'm active or not.

Anyways I'd run for an hour. If there were other ppl on the track it'd make me run a lot faster but I tried to burn myself out by the end of the run. That was 3 times a week. When spring rolled around I started training for a marathon. it was my 2nd week and I was pacing myself around 10 miles in an hour, 5 days a week. On the weekends I'd hike 3 hours into the mountains and then jog back down. Then I screwed up my knee trying to sprint at the end of a long run on week 3.

After that I couldn't compete because my knee was killing me, even to walk. I picked up smoking from other stresses in my life and havnt really gone back to being active. Although I started doing situps and pushups again this morning