quick tips for better health (at any age)

[leonidas]

Don't know if any of you are familiar with this website. I've enjoyed it over the years and they have some solid and at times hilarious articles on manliness. And for Ann, it is a great site to get your "man" to read as it teaches men how to be more manly in a good way.

The 5 Switches of Manliness: Physicality | The Art of Manliness

I'll paste the simple everyday living suggestions here:


Every little bit helps. Even fidgeting is believed to up your fitness level. Remember, small and simple.

• Take an evening walk after dinner. This is great if you’ve got a baby–it gets you moving and out of the house and keeps the baby quiet and occupied. Ahhh.
• Get a dog so you have to go take walks.
• Bike to work.
• Make dinner yourself and wash the dishes by hand.
• Do a set of push-ups right after you get out of bed.
• Make household repairs by hand. Change your own oil or air filter.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Purposely park your car far from the entrance to stores.
• Work standing up. You can buy a stand-up desk or place your laptop on the counter.
• Garden.
• Heat your home with a wood-burning stove and split the wood you need for it yourself.
• Pace back and forth when you’re talking on the phone.
• Do household chores, like raking the leaves, mowing the lawn, and shoveling snow yourself, instead of hiring someone to do it for you.
• Get up from your desk every hour and do 25 squats or push-ups.
• Install a pull-up bar in your door and crank out some reps every time you walk through it.

I would have cut and pasted the whole article, but there are other links and advice I recommend checking out.

 

[Clockwork]

That last one about the pull up bar works great. I find myself doing 50+ on an average day just because I see a pull up bar whenever I walk by my bathroom.

 

[leonidas]

No doubt! And there is a reason pull-ups are so difficult and hated - they really work if you consistently stick with them. within the past few monthly we put one up and I do the same even though in the beginning I could only manage four full pull ups.

My new pull up and lunge rule became "if it hurts and you hate doing it, it means you should be doing it and often!"

 

[Clockwork]

Any exercise that engages multiple muscle groups is good for you. I've noticed that I "feel the burn" in my back a lot more than I do in my shoulders and my arms, which isn't terribly surprising due to the number of push ups I have to do at PT on a regular basis. I really love bicycle crunches for this reason and I want to buy a weight bar and 135lbs of plates so I can do the abdominal exercise from the '300 workout' but planning for a wedding right now has me cutting spending.

The exercise I'm talking about is laying on your back while holding the 135lbs directly above your chest with your legs directly in front of you on the floor. You alternate bringing both legs up and touching the left side of the bar, back down to the floor, then bringing them both up and touching the right side of the bar with both legs and that completes one rep. You complete 50 consecutive reps of that for one portion of the 300 workout.

 

[leonidas]

Any exercise that engages multiple muscle groups is good for you. I've noticed that I "feel the burn" in my back a lot more than I do in my shoulders and my arms, which isn't terribly surprising due to the number of push ups I have to do at PT on a regular basis. I really love bicycle crunches for this reason and I want to buy a weight bar and 135lbs of plates so I can do the abdominal exercise from the '300 workout' but planning for a wedding right now has me cutting spending.

The exercise I'm talking about is laying on your back while holding the 135lbs directly above your chest with your legs directly in front of you on the floor. You alternate bringing both legs up and touching the left side of the bar, back down to the floor, then bringing them both up and touching the right side of the bar with both legs and that completes one rep. You complete 50 consecutive reps of that for one portion of the 300 workout.

So the movement crunches the side obliques, right? This is interesting. I've tried similar with a medicine ball that is probably 20 lbs (which was enough to get a burn in my shoulders, arms, and chest after 100 reps). You keep referring to the "300 workout" is there a website (maybe you've already posted this)? I've used the term 300 workout to connote at least 300 various core reps (crunches, leg lifts, etc) combined with at least 300 various body reps (100 push ups, 100 pull ups, 100 squats, etc). I'm trying to find a great workout that requires minimal tools and can be done in a small space - you know, like when you have to stay in a hotel overnight, or you're at a someones house for an extended period.

Oh, and you're getting hitched?? Congrats!! I assume this is the same girl who was around when you got back from the sand box.

 

[Clockwork]

So the movement crunches the side obliques, right? This is interesting. I've tried similar with a medicine ball that is probably 20 lbs (which was enough to get a burn in my shoulders, arms, and chest after 100 reps). You keep referring to the "300 workout" is there a website (maybe you've already posted this)? I've used the term 300 workout to connote at least 300 various core reps (crunches, leg lifts, etc) combined with at least 300 various body reps (100 push ups, 100 pull ups, 100 squats, etc). I'm trying to find a great workout that requires minimal tools and can be done in a small space - you know, like when you have to stay in a hotel overnight, or you're at a someones house for an extended period.

Oh, and you're getting hitched?? Congrats!! I assume this is the same girl who was around when you got back from the sand box.

The 300 Workout is the workout that actors used to get ready to play Spartans in the movie '300'. It's intense, you can find it by searching on YouTube for it.

Yeah! Same girl. Thanks!

 

[Wolfwood]

That last one about the pull up bar works great. I find myself doing 50+ on an average day just because I see a pull up bar whenever I walk by my bathroom.

im afraid i'd whack my head on the damn thing. i already have trouble with ceiling fans and light fixtures.

good tips, and a funny site. i actually stumbled across it looking for pointers on talking to a girls dad about marrying his daughter.

 

[DBDawg]

The 300 Workout is the workout that actors used to get ready to play Spartans in the movie '300'. It's intense, you can find it by searching on YouTube for it.

Yeah! Same girl. Thanks!

I thought they did something like P90X to get ready for that movie.

 

[M. Sage]

That last one about the pull up bar works great. I find myself doing 50+ on an average day just because I see a pull up bar whenever I walk by my bathroom.

I tried it, wound up with an injured elbow that took almost a year to heal. So take these with a grain of salt.

 

[ArielT]

I tried it, wound up with an injured elbow that took almost a year to heal. So take these with a grain of salt.

This is true of almost any exercise. Some people seem to get themselves injured at squats or deadlifts and the like, but they're not inherently bad exercises, per say. Often it's about trying to figure out what your body can take.

 

[TheDan]

I tried it, wound up with an injured elbow that took almost a year to heal.

Didn't anyone tell you? You have to be in shape before you can start exercising

 

[TexasRedneck]

2-year old string....someone's trying to set up some spamming....

 

[bwalker]

Awe, come on TR, he's just trying to be sociable. Besides, this thread has potential. I've found that regularly practicing with my shotgun helps out a lot. It doesn't weigh a lot but it can get tiring for someone that doesn't get much of the more traditional type of exercising. (My boss wouldn't approve of a pull-up bar invading the decor of her home.)