Comic collecting and health

[The Black Hand ®]

I'm been interested in healthy living for a while and have had my share of surgerys and such. I eat healthy and exercise. My question to the comic collector is what's your BMI, Body Mass Index? And what's more important, your health, or completing a run?

[richnerd]

With my Mom recently suffering a heart attack I would say health is more important. Thats why when I now go to my LCS I run there.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course its only 1/2 a block away....

 

Just kidding. I do stay fit, I need to to keep up with my kids. Also I want to be around to see them fight over my Spawn #1 when its worth $30,000

[Darrell F]

I go to the gym 4 times a week normally. I have been working 60+ hours a week for the last month so I have cut back. I consider myself to be in good shape. I entered in a few powerlifting meets last year and won my weight class.

[ninanina]

I've been going to the gym on a regular basis for about 6 years, at 52 have a resting heart rate of 67, am able to jog for about an hour at a rate of 4.5 miles an hour and have spent many hours walking on a tread-mill while reading comics. It's a great way to pass the time while doing something rather boring.

[The Black Hand ®]

I use my treadmill as an excuse to watch old episodes of Bonanza. I walk four to six mile a day and enjoy my outdoor walks more when the weather's good.I eat a very healthy diet but don't deny myself.

[whetteon]

6'5 and weight 238 pounds. I go to the gym to lift 3-4 times a week. About 1 hour session during lunch and sometimes when I feel retarded I even go after work. My goal is to be able to take my shirt off and get some "oooo's" from the ladies at this summer's company volley ball match.

[Scheradon]

I've worked out most my life and enjoy playing sports. Our team just won the Yokusuka Captain's Cup Dodgeball Championship today by the way.

 

I've been pushing pretty hard to be in great shape when I return to the States in August. I haven't seen a bunch of friends or family for awhile and don't want to come back out of top form. It's been tuff to balance wt. gain with my bench press goals. I have a number I'm shooting for, but everytime I approach it my wt. exceeds what I'm comfortable with.

 

With the birth of my daughter, I've been thinking a little more towards being leaner and healthier than just bigger and stronger also.

[Scheradon]

I go to the gym 4 times a week normally. I have been working 60+ hours a week for the last month so I have cut back. I consider myself to be in good shape. I entered in a few powerlifting meets last year and won my weight class.

 

Man, this post just descibes my best friend. He's in the same boat with balancing OT/work and working out (he always tells me how one month he had to cut back due to work, etc). He's done 305lbs. on bench at 145lbs. I personally don't know how he does it. He won't let anyone give him a lift off either. Even at my wt. (about 215lbs.), I like a lift off with that kind of wt. if I can get one. The most I ever did at 145lbs was 265lbs as a junior in High School.

 

Did your contest do Bench, Squat, Deadlift? That's what most that I've been to do. Just curious.

[RedRaven]

BMI of 20.1

Resting Heart Rate of 44-48.

 

I do cardio training and work out for 1 hour in the 160-170bpm zone 4 times a week. Mainly on an incline treadmill.

My health is many times more important than completing a (comic) run.

[GL13-migration]

I go to the gym 4 times a week normally. I have been working 60+ hours a week for the last month so I have cut back. I consider myself to be in good shape. I entered in a few powerlifting meets last year and won my weight class.

 

I used to compete a few years ago when I was in high school and college. The deadlift was my big lift back then, I hit 445 @ 165 at Nationals and won. That was my last meet as I started competing in UFC-style fighting. Now that I'm married with kids I go to Jiu-jitsu once a week (retired from competition) and still lift concentrating on my bench, I did 340 @ 185 last year....

[krighton]

I'd like to know how long people really do extend their lives by doing healthy living eating etc...my grandmother didn't work out a day in her life, did moderate her eating some but lived to be 95...grandfather smoked a pipe for decades, never worked out, lived to be 85. There are people that work their butts off in the gym, eat healthy, and drop dead at 35.

 

I'm guessing heredity has a bit to do with it.

[Scheradon]

I'd like to know how long people really do extend their lives by doing healthy living eating etc...my grandmother didn't work out a day in her life, did moderate her eating some but lived to be 95...grandfather smoked a pipe for decades, never worked out, lived to be 85. There are people that work their butts off in the gym, eat healthy, and drop dead at 35.

 

I'm guessing heredity has a bit to do with it.

 

I hope heredity has something to do with it as my Grandma lived to be 107. Heck, when she moved to Oklahoma, she came in a covered wagon and it was still a territory. She lived in three different centuries...1800s, 1900s, and 2000s.

 

I think there are different types of working out or healthy lifestyles. The best would be eating healthy and keeping yourself at a respectible lean wt. Unfortunately, while I am active, my working out has centered a lot on strength and less on cardio. You really need to be in overall shape I think to extend your life. In fact many bodybuilders have slightly elevated BP and sometimes carrying on heavy lifting can lead to a heart attack. Many ex NFL players have very short lifespans even though they were very strong guys and played an athletic sport at a professional level.

 

I'm 33 now, so I'm reaching the cross roads in terms of what is more important to me. I'm beginning to focus more on overall health (eating, cardio and maintaining a decent muscletone) rather than trying to pack on muscle pounds and pure strength. It's hard though to give up strength you've worked hard to get, to cut the down to achieve the healthier body fat and wt.

 

I keep telling myself..."ok, if I get this wt., I'm done and will lean up", but then you always think you can stretch it a bit more.

 

One quick question for anyone here. Has anyone ever used Creatine and if so what was you're experience with it?

[johnenock]

Creatine=bad for long-term kidney function. I've used the liquid form of creatine because you don't have to load for a week. For me, it helped pack on a few extra pounds on the bench. It basically just makes the cells in your muscles expand and take in more water...that is if I remember correctly.

 

As for the question...I'm 6'4" and hover anywhere between 210 and 215...been trying to get up to 220 for about a year and just can't eat enough, I guess.I run about 3 times a week about five miles per and lift 3 days a week. I work a ton but fortunately the hospital has a workout facility so I run down there during the slow periods. I'd rather be healthy than complete a run though it's a close race between the two.

[The Black Hand ®]

About three and a half years ago I changed my eating habits and started walking 4-6 miles a day. My blood pressure went down to a really healthy level and my choleserol and tryglcerides wnt doen to a really healthy level along with my cardiovascular risk. Before diet and excercise ...high... after diet and excercise... low. Unfortunately in the past year I've had Hernia surgery and shoulder surgery and and a few years ago I had a very large health issue that some men will encounter but was succesfully treated . Of course the diet and excercise had nothing to do with any of these, the hernia was detemined when I was born, and the shoulder was fifteen years in the making.

The thing about walking as an excercise and why I chose it is that it's something that I'll be able to do well into old age... my grandfather walked into his early 90's and ate very lean and healthy with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables from his garden. The biggest change I made diet wise was to give up all fast foods and sodas and cut my sweet intake in half. Large healthy breakfast, small lunch, small to medium dinner with snacks between breakfast and lunch.. fruit, yougurt etc. and no food after 6pm. I'm never hungry and I've maintained the 35 pounds I lost. Frpm 213 to 176. So while getting old still sucks and good genes make a big difference, diet and excercise can too. Moderation is a big key here.

[richnerd]

Creatine=bad for long-term kidney function. I've used the liquid form of creatine because you don't have to load for a week. For me, it helped pack on a few extra pounds on the bench. It basically just makes the cells in your muscles expand and take in more water...that is if I remember correctly.

 

 

As for the question...I'm 6'4" and hover anywhere between 210 and 215...been trying to get up to 220 for about a year and just can't eat enough, I guess.I run about 3 times a week about five miles per and lift 3 days a week. I work a ton but fortunately the hospital has a workout facility so I run down there during the slow periods. I'd rather be healthy than complete a run though it's a close race between the two.

 

This is right.

 

I use to compete in natural bodybuilding(no steroids) Biggest weight was 250 pounds with 5% body fat..I hated it. Trying to get the bodyfat that low really sucked. But I love to lift. I'm 42 now and still lift 3 days a week. My goal was to someday bench over 400 pounds and at age 32 I had a friend put me through his new program he designed for a couple college football teams and it turned me into a lifting monster. I was 210 pounds..benching max 420, squat 580 and in a leg press contest (on a 45 degree sled) I pressed 1200 pounds to win the contest. Now I'm not near these weights now as I'm working more on cardio and indurance wanting to get under 200 pounds for the first time since 1982.

[adamstrange]

And what's more important, your health, or completing a run?

 

Both. I just completed a four-mile run last night.

 

This topic of health has been on my mind for a while as I've got a neighbor in his 60s who has trouble getting out of a chair or going up and down stairs. I decided that I did not want to have those difficulties in my 60s, especially when folks can generally expect to live into their 70s and 80s. I don't look for physical fitness to help me live longer, but to live easier.

 

From what I've read, you can make improvements in your physical condition through training at any age, but that folks that start out in great shape will still be able to handle themselves wel,l even though they decline. It also appears that the last big chance for you to get the body in great shape is in your forties, so that meant that now was the time to start.

 

I've been running regularly for the last decade so cardio is no big deal for me, but I've never done any serious weight training until I started in a program with a personal trainer a year and a half ago. I got someone that was degreed (has her Masters) and that would understand that I was serious about what I was doing. My goal was to get fit without using any chemicals and without forcusing exclusively on mass or power -- I'll leave those goals to the younger pups.

 

Geeting fit has turned out to be the hardest goal I've ever set for myself. After 40 years of neglect, the body does not want to change it's habits, nor does the testerone flow like it used to when I was 20. I've hated every weight training session I've done and have been sore every single day since I started, but I'm in the best shape of my life and getting better. Besides mixing in a tremendous variety into my weight-training routine, my trainers (I switched half-way through) work me on isometrics, pliometrics, flexibility, and pushed me into more variety on my cardio (is there anybody that likes the rowing machine?).

 

I helped my brother (we're the same build) move some furniture last Thanksgiving and, though he's been lifting weights since his teens, he was the one breathing heavy, not me. Two weeks after the visit, he called me to help him revise his routine.

[RedRaven]

I'd like to know how long people really do extend their lives by doing healthy living eating etc...my grandmother didn't work out a day in her life, did moderate her eating some but lived to be 95...grandfather smoked a pipe for decades, never worked out, lived to be 85. There are people that work their butts off in the gym, eat healthy, and drop dead at 35.

 

I'm guessing heredity has a bit to do with it.

 

As far as exercise goes I think it is more of a 'quality of life' people gain from it rather than extending their actual lifespans.The only action that we can take to increase lifespan seems to be severe calorically restricted diets.

[Darrell F]

I go to the gym 4 times a week normally. I have been working 60+ hours a week for the last month so I have cut back. I consider myself to be in good shape. I entered in a few powerlifting meets last year and won my weight class.

 

Man, this post just descibes my best friend. He's in the same boat with balancing OT/work and working out (he always tells me how one month he had to cut back due to work, etc). He's done 305lbs. on bench at 145lbs. I personally don't know how he does it. He won't let anyone give him a lift off either. Even at my wt. (about 215lbs.), I like a lift off with that kind of wt. if I can get one. The most I ever did at 145lbs was 265lbs as a junior in High School.

 

Did your contest do Bench, Squat, Deadlift? That's what most that I've been to do. Just curious.

 

A 305 bench at 145 is amazing. I can't remember when I weighed 145. I am 6'0" and 225. To answer your question about the contest, yes it did have all three but I have a bad knee so I entered the Bench Only contest. I won my class with a 425 bench. It was also a drug free class so I wasn't going up against the juicers.

[Darrell F]

I go to the gym 4 times a week normally. I have been working 60+ hours a week for the last month so I have cut back. I consider myself to be in good shape. I entered in a few powerlifting meets last year and won my weight class.

 

I used to compete a few years ago when I was in high school and college. The deadlift was my big lift back then, I hit 445 @ 165 at Nationals and won. That was my last meet as I started competing in UFC-style fighting. Now that I'm married with kids I go to Jiu-jitsu once a week (retired from competition) and still lift concentrating on my bench, I did 340 @ 185 last year....

 

Good job on the 340. I have always loved the UFC fights and have often thought about doing it myself but I am not quick enough. Keep up the good work.

[buttock]

I'm a doctor, so I hope I know what I'm talking about (if not, I should be able to lie fairly well). For general longevity and overall health, the best thing you can do IMHO is cardio in ANY form. Walking a distance is about the same benefit as running, only it takes longer. Swimming, gardening, anything that gets your heart rate up consistently for a period of time is excellent. The thing to keep in mind is not to be sedentary. Allowing your muscles not to be used in some form or fashion is terrible for your health. Weight lifting doesn't have much added benefit over what it does for your heart rate.

 

That being said Genes are Genes, and there isn't anything you can do to change it. I have patients who do little and will live to be 80-90, while others have MIs in their 30s while living a healthy lifestyle.

Hari (heartened) can probably chime in here, a lot of the medical interventions we do with pills make a 1-3% overall difference in outcomes over 3-5 years, despite aggressive therapy.

 

Bottom line is: exercise, eat right, be happy, when you have a heart attack - get a stent.