Wow, so he's a tough guy? ;-) Good friend to have if you ever piss off the wrong guy, hehe.

Damn, if I only had room for a huge tire and access to a truck. Fascinating.

...oh, and he plays guitar and sings, and he's good at that too.  Also directed the construction of his website, multiple blogs, twitter, facebook, Myspace, etc. since I met him in 2007 and he now has 4 or 5 gyms that carry his name.  Also won instructor of the year in 2009, very good teacher, very approachable.

Really the 1% of the 1%, imo.  And yeah, tough, extremely good wrestler, and has even won a few MMA fights, in case anyone thought he was a pretty boy:) Honestly, the swimming part impressed me quite a bit.  He's a fish. 

>Good friend to have if you ever p##s off the wrong guy
heeheh I indeed have an entire crew of cauliflower'ed eared Brazilians that would come to my rescue with one phone call:)

And I've met some of those Brazilians...genuinely good people.

oh, yeah, you did meet some of those guys while you were down here, I forgot!

here's some spartan training:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24zbu_pablo-popovitch-training-for-adcc_sport

...and on the beach in Brazil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVhJRfOub5Y

...as you know, the house he shows in his video at the beach was demolished in the landslide that killed his mother earlier this year.  Thanks to those that pitched in to help his father, who survived and was able to keep his leg.

Quote from: dogboy on April 16, 2011, 07:07:09 PM

- drink ice cold water because you will not only end up hydrated but if it is ice water, your body will burn significant calories to heat it up to your body temp.

Actually, you absorb cool, not cold or hot, water the fastest, so that's usually what you want. The caloric effect is minimal. It takes  1 calorie to heat 1 gram 1 degree celsius. So let's say you're drinking a LOT of water - 2 liters per day, all of it ice cold.  Ice water will be 0C. You will heat it to 37C. So that's 37,000 calories per liter, or 74,000 calories per day for 2 liters. Dietary calories are kilocalories, so that's 74 kcal per day.  That's not minor, as that adds up to about 8 pounds of weight loss per year, assuming your body doesn't actually have other cooling needs. But in hot weather, drinking cold water or using other means to cool your body (air conditioning, carrying ice in your hands, dunking your head), will actually decrease metabolic demands (so recently they've done tests on runners holding ice while they run and find that it increases endurance and reduces fatigue.

Anyway, I would imagine the temperature aspect is worth at most 2-4 pounds per year, whereas dropping one 16oz (almost half-liter) sugared drink per day will make a difference of about 30 pounds per year (not to mention the health benefits of avoiding the sugar, weight considerations aside).

If you're struggling with weight, you can get tons of ideas on how to cut calories even easier than drinking cold water from a book called Mindless Eating. It's a fascinating read no matter what, but if you're on the weight loss track, it's an absolute must. He has concrete suggestions from their studies on how to shift from mindless eating to mindless dieting. Things as simple as put your large plates in storage and you could lost over 10 pounds per year just from that one action.

Quotedo more exercises that don't require props. Weights just ad bulk and most people end up with odd looking bodies

[edit]Just watched the video you posted and that exemplifies what I mean by "machines" versus "props" - I don't know about that think with all the cables and wires, but the other stuff is basic human movement that people have done for thousands of years, just instead of pushing SUVs they were pushing rocks for construction.[/quote]

I would say "machines" rather than props. My feeling is that with some exceptions I avoid exercises that involve sitting or lying down and target exercises that do involve moving my torso. So leg press and leg curls involve sitting and lying and neither puts my torso in motion. Deadlifts and single-leg squats happen on the feet, and do move my torso. They mimic real activity that humans used to do before gyms were invented. Pick sh## up off the *ground* and move it (deadlift). High-step on a log and step up (single-leg squat). Weights, tires, logs, medicine balls, sleds, climbing ropes, stability balls, chinup bars (or tree branches) are all great "props" and you can find many of them (trees, rocks, logs) while out in the woods. Sometimes if I'm out for a run, if I see a rock, I'll just stop and pick it up and drop it a few times. Basic stuff.

All that, however, means nothing up and against the key principle of health: something is better than nothing. If what turns you on is going into the gym and doing preacher curls, and you're just going to hate any other form of exercise, well, get off your a## and go to the gym and do preacher curls. It's better than going to the living room and doing television and chips. That's the 80%. The rest of this discussion is about the 20%

So how are you all getting on? I'm back down to 160kg thanks to cutting back on carbs. Time to get back to the gym...

Well I started getting lazy and at the point I didn't go a single day for a week, I had to recommit. It's so easy to take a day off here and there and before you know it, you went once or twice (or never) in a given week.

I've been 5 days/wk the last two weeks, and while I'm still stuck at 210-211, I'm losing bodyfat so I'm on track. The more I go the better I feel and healthier I am, so it's been great.

I have 3 more weeks before the beach vacation and want 15 more days straight (assuming the gym is open memorial day), hope to shed 5-6 lbs. by then. Diminishing returns is definitely hitting though so I'm trying to switch focus to bodyfat instead of the total number. (Target weight for my height is 200 lbs.)

>It's so easy to take a day off here and there and before you know it, you went once or twice (or never) in a given week.

Spot on Dras. It's a down ward spiral., If you miss out a few times, it's so easy to miss another day and then one and suddenly you haven't done anything for a few weeks and feels like being back to square one. Then you get soar and it's even worse.. Focus!

About a month ago I caught a virus which made me sick for several days, during that time I couldn't do much of anything.  I started to feel better and then went to the gym once.  This caused a relapse.  So, I was afraid to go to the gym for a while and ended up taking a total of 14 days off.  I did stick to my diet though for the most part but wasn't eating enough,

During this time I got down to 200 lbs, but I dropped the weight the wrong way and it bounced back to 202 in a couple of days after getting back onto the gym.  Like I said before, every additional pound drop has been a lot of work after the first 40 lbs, so I know that's how it has to be.

The good news though is that I'm back into 34 inch pants, which is the size I wore in high school. When I was my fattest I was in 40 inchers.

Just saw a bit of this on Facebook:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1jMyzmtiI4&feature=player_embedded#at=99

Its been a while, so how are you all doing these days? 

I've gone full Atkins, for a while.  I have a personal goal to make by my 40th birthday at the end of this month.  Going low carb is interesting.  I definitely feel the difference in the gym.  This is the first time I've done deep Ketosis, keeping my carbs at around 20 grams for the last two weeks. 

I've been putting more carbs back in my diet and slacking a bit on the working out. Since very low carb isn't healthy and I'm over the hump, I'm getting to a comfortable norm.

We bought some new bikes (pedal kind), hybrids. A mountain bike style handlebar with road bike frame. We have a local railbed that's  been converted to a bike/pedestrian path that leads to a nearby city. Roundtrip is 21 miles through the back of downtown through the woods to a little town with a hardware store converted to a cafe. It's fun, relaxing and great exercise all at once. This caused some drop off from the gym, but it's more enjoyable.

In the gym we took a free workout with a trainer and did a lot more exercises with lighter weight and no resting.  Basically you get cardio and resistance at the same time, so no cardio machines except for warmup. It was fun and different so we incorporated the style into our workout. We're doing less overall but can be in and out of the gym in less than 30 mins. In a rush, I've done 12 sets in 12 minutes. Gets me back in the office quickly.

So, overall, my weight loss has basically plateaued at 212-215 for now, and I still want to get to 200 or so. But, I'm in no hurry and I'm making progress as I'm still building muscle while staying the same weight.

Doing pretty well here too. Seems I'm exchanging fat for muscle, however at a rather low pace, but getting stronger and doing more weight/reps. Started doing 30 mins of intensive cardio every 2nd workout which seems to shed some fat as well.

Body weight is still in the 100+ kg and wants to get below 100 before Xmas. Not in a hurry, but like to see some improvement to keep up momentum.

Still finding it hard to stay off too many carbs, but doing a lot more meat, fish and chicken and cutting the "whites" as much as possible.

Feeling better all around tough.

I was 117kg a few months ago - now 97kg

Done with aid of 4 week crash diet and a change from insulin to liguratide (insulin is a bastard for making you put on weight)

... have also bought a secondhand bike to get a bit more exercise (amazing bargain from ebay, £24 for a 21 gear Hybrid bike - in good nick too )


We are thinking of moving to Morecambe, and spending quite a bit of time there checking it out - they have an amazing network of 'proper' cycle paths that stretch all the way to Lancaster.

I really like Atkins as it is very structured.  You "step" up to add more carbs, and it tells you exactly what foods to add next.

I'd like to see a picture of you in your 40 inch pants, Little...sort of like the subway guy pants picture...then I'd like to see you in your 34 inch pants..

I know you don't like posting your picture...but perhaps in the IC?