For BG fitness fanatics, a question..

[Weiing]

Well first off, that's a healthy/normal body fat %, I can see why it may be so tough for you to lose that extra fat.

Thing is, you can probably cook the way you do for a household of four, yet not eat exactly the same, or the same amount, as them. I can understand how perhaps being Asian and eating low carbs (rice/pasta/bread/etc) may not compute... I don't know how you cook, but for me, it's always been all the main dishes paired with a bowl of rice. When I stopped eating tons of rice (even brown rice), I'd get weird looks when eating just the dishes.

I know people on here love their brown rice and "complex carbs", but try eating less (not completely stop, because that could be too radical a change for you) rice and pasta for a month and see, if you want. I have found that when I ate minimal grains while eating more protein and fat, I was able to lose a bit more body fat. This isn't to say I don't eat brown rice/quinoa/sprouted bread/rolled oats/yams at all, but just on very rare occasions.

[Atreides]

brown rice and white rice actually have the same glycemic index, so brown rice is only better for you in that it doesn't have the bran and germ removed from the rice kernel, meaning it has a lot more fiber and nutrients for about the same amount of calories. It's a big difference between the difference between whole wheat and white bread, since the two of them have a much different effect on your blood sugar level.

So yeah, cutting carbs is a good idea, but if you're going to have starchy carbs you want to pick something with the highest nutritive value, so that's why people go with brown rice or other grains like quinoa.

In case anyone was wondering, white rice sold in the US (I think it's an FDA regulation actually) is almost always enriched to replenish some of the vitamins/minerals lost when the bran/germ are discarded. It's not quite the same (white rice doesn't contain magnesium, for example) and they don't add fiber, so it doesn't really solve the problem. Brown rice expires on the shelf because the fats in the bran/germ eventually become rancid, whereas white rice lasts a lot longer... but I think a big part of the reason why white rice is still so popular is that people are used to the taste/texture.

[sephir]

So I just did a Vo2 max test with a less than stellar result. I think the part of the test that killed me was the fact that I had eaten a large amount in the 48 hours leading up to the test - big mistake. At the official weigh in I was 5 pounds heavier than I should have been.

I know the max wattage I achieved, the weight at the time, and my Vo2 max number. So I'm curious if someone knows the formula to calculate my Vo2 max at my "normal" weight.

[Weiing]

but I think a big part of the reason why white rice is still so popular is that people are used to the taste/texture.

Agreed with everything you say for the most part. And if you need starchy carbs for energy, some yams are delicious.

But yeah... nothing beats white rice sometimes for that nostalgic taste and texture.

[Atreides]

by the way... has anyone ever had Amaranth grain? You see it a lot at health food stores, it's a south american grain that dates back to the aztecs. I've been really interested in trying it, since it has as a huge amount of protein (9g of protein per cup, for comparison brown rice is about 5g), but I'm not sure how I should prepare it besides steaming/boiling.

edit: oh apparently they're seeds, so I'm not really sure how to cook them lol. One site suggests popping them like popcorn or making a porridge if I'm not going to use amaranth flour

[Kiro]

This makes me feel like a bitch, but I'm really considering leaving my gym solely based off of the fact that they play fucking HORRIBLE HORRIBLE music. All fucking day it's Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, shitty techno junk and whatever pop icon is popular at the moment. It's goddamn horrible.

[Atreides]

bring an ipod or suck it up

sometimes I catch myself walking along to the beat of the music, but I'm gay enough to pull that off

[Kiro]

I bring my iPod but I don't have one of those.. carrying strap things you put around your arm so I have to put it in my pocket when I'm doing most of my exercises.

THE GYM IS FULL OF MEN WHY IS THIS GARBAGE PLAYINNNNNG. I need to go to Gold's Gym, they play metal and hippity-hop.

[Zoolander]

This makes me feel like a bitch, but I'm really considering leaving my gym solely based off of the fact that they play fucking HORRIBLE HORRIBLE music. All fucking day it's Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, shitty techno junk and whatever pop icon is popular at the moment. It's goddamn horrible.

haha, my gym is the same. I always lol whenever I first walk in and see a bunch of people working out with Your Love is my Drug playing. I would have already left if I didn't have an mp3 player, music is an essential part of my workout.

[Weiing]

Yeah. I hate my gym's music but I never focus too much on it. I almost never realize it's playing in the background. You can't just ignore it? Perhaps just buy a strap?

@Atreides -- I'm sure you can eat it like rice (as you've said), but can also make it into pilaf or substitute it in a tabbouleh recipe, for instance. I've wanted to try amaranth grain/flour for awhile but haven't gotten the guts to buy it. hahah. Should try amaranth pancakes! :D

[Meat]

I'm so happy! At the gym this morning, some guy came up to me and said I have one of the best squat forms he's ever seen! Even though I was squatting light, but am really focusing on my form and squatting as close to ATG as possible during these beginning phases of StrongLifts. It just made me happy because I have never been sure if my squat form was good.

how tight were your pants????

[Meat]

I bring my iPod but I don't have one of those.. carrying strap things you put around your arm so I have to put it in my pocket when I'm doing most of my exercises.

THE GYM IS FULL OF MEN WHY IS THIS GARBAGE PLAYINNNNNG. I need to go to Gold's Gym, they play metal and hippity-hop.

get an older generation shuffle, one that can clip on anywhere. i just go to craigslist and buy used ones for the cheap, juse about every few months i get careless and drop some weights on em.

[Belkin]

haha, my gym is the same. I always lol whenever I first walk in and see a bunch of people working out with Your Love is my Drug playing. I would have already left if I didn't have an mp3 player, music is an essential part of my workout.

Yeah, they play some pussy shit all the time at Planet Fitness...But then again, it's pretty much a girl's/fat person gym so I guess I understand.

Get one of those elastic armbands (not the ones with the straps, shit looks retarded) that holds an iPod then just rock out to your JAMS.

[Meat]

lol i got "banned" for a planet fitness a few weeks ago for grunting to psych myself up

[hopefulki]

lol i got "banned" for a planet fitness a few weeks ago for grunting to psych myself up

lol'd, gotta do what u gotta do!

[Gustave]

Well squats are still gonna be a ways away. I did a set of 135lbs and I could feel the pressure in my lower as soon as a stood up with it. I completed one set and changed to goblet squats and they felt much better. It makes me sad considering I was squatting mid 400~ to 500 in high school I also did a few back extensions which made it feel great.

I'm going to stick with the goblet squats ( low weight high rep) and back extensions for a while. Other then stuff like laying on my stomach and raising adjacent arm/leg is there anything else to target that area?

I guess I'm really aiming to strengthen the muscles around the spine to try to pull that disk back into position? (L5-S1 herniated disk btw)

[richardd]

lol i got "banned" for a planet fitness a few weeks ago for grunting to psych myself up

you cant be serious. i was actually considering leaving LA fitness to go to PF just because of the cheaper rates, and the fact that its almost a ghost town there. I love ghost towns. i can pose in front of a mirror and make kissing motions w/o ppl lookin' at me weird, son


edit: oh ya, and the weights. cant forget about the availability on whatever weights you want.

[Meat]

100% serious, some fat old bitch complained and this whole shit whet down where an alarm went off.

Dont join. i only joined because my gf goes there.

They cut the ends off the leg press so you cant stack the weight, so i used to have my gf get on the top and use her bodyweight as resistance and they yelled at me.

The dumbells only go up to 75lbs, You cant chalk up, drop weights or make any noise, sometimes they discourage deadlifts

it's a shit place that discourages any sort of serious lifting.

[richardd]

maybe its that one place lol. i grunt all the fucking time lol. you pretty much have to with the way we lift. but i never got any shit for it. i liked the gym since it was 10 bucks cheaper and there were only like 15 other ppl in there using the "help me" machines out in the front with only 1 other lady at freeweights lol. i LOVED it. absolute freedom, and it was at like 7 pm lol

but if its how you say it is, ill stick w/LA. the dumbells here dont go passed 75 either, but again... i thought it was the place itself. i dont know if its an actual rule lol (talking about PF, LA has much more variety)

[Meat]

according to youtube, it's universal. it's called a "lunk alarm"