OCR Fitness Club/Competition?

[Bahamut]

On my end, it's been about 4 years since I've trained consistently or done regular martial arts and gymnastics... but, I've missed it, and as of a few weeks ago I'm getting back into it. I agree with Taucer - push yourself, but don't kill yourself.

As to the diet, a few simple rules to follow will make a HUGE difference:

1. Avoid sugar. Sodas, candies, sweets, etc, just avoid it. Get the sugar-free versions of whatever you can that you still feel you need to eat.

2. Avoid breads and potatoes. Lots of starch and carbs that really don't do a lot nutritionally there... just avoid it, and you won't have to work off that extra fat. Try hot dogs without the bun, for example.

3. Lots of meat, lots of veggies. Period.

Incidentally if any of y'all are in the Syracuse area, I'm thinking of starting up a little informal Capoeira group there for training, come Spring of 2012 - http://www.syracusecapoeira.com. I still have to work a lot of rust out of my own system before I'll personally be ready, but it could be a lot of fun.

- Mazedude

Actually, it's not really about avoiding carbs - it's just cutting down on portions in general. Avoiding candy & soda and the ilk is of course good. If you exercise regularly though, you need the carbs, or your body then starts to become more taxed as it tries to break down fat & as a result you do less and get less from workouts. Contrary to popular belief, unused carbs don't convert to fat, but glycogen for ready conversion back into sugar for the body to use. It is very important to replenish glycogen after workouts so you can get the max out of your next workout!

Otherwise I agree though .

[Garpocalypse]

Mazedude is from Syracuse!?

I'm an hour from their! We'll go get lunch at the dinosaur pit! After that teach me everything you know about production!

When I'm not being an OCR hopeful, I'm a bit of a fitness fanatic. After reading this post, I'm really concerned for the health of some OCR'rs.

First the Gomad. STOP THAT! You are flooding your kidneys with CALCIUM which WILL harm you! The only thing you should be drinking a gallon of a day is WATER if you are active.

Any bulking program is a short term plan of 3-4 weeks and during this period eating more variety will help you make gains faster. This month for me was my bulking up month and I didn't make a whole lot of changes to my Bruce Lee Diet. I enjoy one loaded shake of milk/2 squares of dark chocolate/Avocado and Museli and I eat a ham/cheese/egg/spinach sandvich every two hours (on top of my usual meals of vegetables and lean protein).

The problem is that everytime you eat your body oxidizes. So the more you eat the more you rust. You can counter some of this with tea (i drink around 5-6 cups a day)among other things but really it's the best reason to not pig out all year 'round. Get what you need, and that's it. You'll save money in the long run too!

If you insist on doing stupid crap like Gomad then these next two words will help you see what a bad idea that is. Stop reading now if you want to continue enjoying your sugar puffs in the morning.

Cow Mucous. What? You think there's just milk in that milk that you got?

Milk is a great bulking up food but you need to be careful with it. I put around 3-4 cups in with my shake and that's all you need.

Avoid potatoes but eat a hotdog? With all due respect and love of course, WTF?! Potatoes are a perfect food versus a processed food like a hotdog. It's backwards logic like that that has plagued the fitness world for the last several decades. "Buy this garbage! We have the word "Fit"or "Supplement" on the box!" Most of your shopping should be done in produce and a little bit in meat and dairy. Followed by a quick trip to beans and grains. 80% of the store you shouldn't even need.

EDIT: Forgot to mention. I'd recommend taking 1000 IU of Vitamin D a day in pill form. One of the very few supplements that I use and I have had alot of success with it so far this year. Of course, that's on top of an already well rounded diet with some sun time. Actual Sun. Not Tanning. GO OUTSIDE!! Then come back in and work on music!

I'm starting to rant so anyways, back to a more musical discussion.

So I put a compressor on every track in my mix and everything sounds really 2d for some reason, even with all the reverb I crammed in there! Can anyone tell me how much reverb I need to apply before my mix sounds good?

[Vivi22]

Everyone seems to be hung up on GOMAD, despite the fact that I never actually said just go out and start drinking a gallon of milk a day. Seriously, I agree you don't need a gallon a day, especially if you're eating enough in addition to drinking the milk. All I'm saying is adding a few glasses a day is easy and effective. Hell, being Canadian I didn't even realize exactly how much a gallon was until I looked it up. I thought it was a bit less than half of what it actually is for some reason.

So can we all take our panties out of a twist and move on?

[Garpocalypse]

Everyone seems to be hung up on GOMAD, despite the fact that I never actually said just go out and start drinking a gallon of milk a day. Seriously, I agree you don't need a gallon a day, especially if you're eating enough in addition to drinking the milk. All I'm saying is adding a few glasses a day is easy and effective. Hell, being Canadian I didn't even realize exactly how much a gallon was until I looked it up. I thought it was a bit less than half of what it actually is for some reason.

So can we all take our panties out of a twist and move on?

http://stronglifts.com/gomad-first-week-experiences-side-effects/

I don't think anyone was blasting you but this program sure needs a good harrassing. Another huge problem with the program is that milk contains casein. A type of protein that forms a gel in the stomach and digests very slowly. While marketing "geniuses" coin this as "slow absorbing protein" if you flood your system with it you'll be taking a significant step on your way to a good case diverticulitis(got colon?) among other digestive problems.

One more thing to say before I can rest easy. Workouts and bulking up diets tend to produce large amounts of acid in your body. take a ph strip and test your saliva. Hopefully you will be right around 7.0. If not your Teeth, blood vessels, heart, bones, and brain are all decaying faster than they should be because of this acid. Eat and drink things that are naturally alkaline. Water, Green and White Tea, SPINACH, and many fruits(not bananas and dates) all help to keep the acid in check.

If you take care of yourself you can do whatever you do better. Overuse injuries are fairly common among musicians and these are the steps to help prevent them outside of proper technique for your instrument.

That's enough. Sorry. Time for a sandvich.

[Soul Splint]

Alright.

It's about the time when people get into their resolutions full steam ahead, so if anyone's interested, let's lay our foundations out for others to see along with our goals and current progress.

I'm doing mine because I wanted a head start on beach season, but it syncs up with resolutions, so...

Started P90X-2 two weeks ago. I've been trying to gain good weight for so long that I gained a little fat around the hips, so I'm nailing a hardcore diet with the program at first to get rid of that. So far I've lost 9.7 pounds and am already looking more defined. My goal is to stop losing in another two weeks then start eating about 3,000 calories a day of nothing but muscle-building goodness. I'll be finished with PX2 in late March, and am looking to be about the same weight as when I started, but a much lower body fat percentage. Then I can start a heavy lifting program.

Anyone else?