Azdak Member

The discussion is not whether creatine has any benefits. It’s about whether it is indicated for use in the OP’s case. We don’t know the OP’s actual issues other than a single, not particularly sensitive lab reading. So there is no reason to blindly recommend she take creatine. In any case, using creatine in this case is…

No, you should not be taking any supplements. You should not overreact to a single blood test. Your doctor is giving you the correct advice. This could be a temporary anomaly that requires no intervention whatsoever. It’s easy to “overread” medical articles. When they mention “low muscle mass”, it’s in the context of a…

This is one of those “yes, no, maybe” questions. Your doctor has given you the basics. I think using the word “overtraining” is misleading, as heart enlargement can be a fairly normal result of following an endurance training program for a number of years. The training does not have to be excessive for that to occur. There…

If you have lost 17lb, you body fat % would have to change. The loss of a dress size kind of confirms that your fat levels have decreased. For your body fat % to stay the same with a 17lb weight loss, you would have had to lose 5.5 lb of fat and 11.5 lb of lean mass. That would be unheard of. Even people who have done HCG…

Not commenting on the OP since I have not seen her nor have I measured her. But, in general, 38% fat at that height and weight is not out of the question. That would represent a lean body mass of about 100lbs. Average I have seen at that height is in the 103-108 range. So, a little low, but definitely not rare.

This looks like an older set of instructions using a single frequency BIA device. The body fat classification numbers look older as well. That being said, the pre-test instructions are still in use (although not to that level of detail). There are a lot of claims and anecdotes thrown around about BIA. There are differences…

It’s not the fault of author, but the headline is unfortunate. The article is fine—it points out that the differences in heart function are due to the principle of specificity of training. The physiological demands of swimming result in a different adaptation. That’s why there is no point claiming that athletes in one…

Always good when you can ask and answer your own question. 👍🏻

Yes—switch to dumbbells 😂😂😂😂 While I have other physical skills (like, I’m gold on scapular retraction/stabilization), I have yet to master the art of “zero G” kettlebell shifting during those exercises. Many bruises and one destroyed watch finally convinced me. Which sucks because they are great exercises—IMO, the best KB…

Just to add: there is more to calorie balance than just food intake. It is a consistent pattern that people lose weight for a certain amount of time and then plateau. Part of that is that, over time, we tend to bring our entire lives back into an energy balance. Whether it’s relaxation of eating habits (and “regression to…

I just threw up in my mouth

Give me a break.

This is as good as any: https://youtu.be/4zWu1yuJ0_g Its from Concept 2. Also, note the damper setting ;)

I have a sticker on the flywheel of our C2 ergs that says the most efficient damper setting is 3-5. Whenever I walk by and it is set higher, I always change it (and it is almost always set higher). Two days ago, right after I changed it, one of our trainers walked over and set it to 10 for her client. It wasn’t the time or…

The ideal duration for a VO2 max test is more like 8-12 min, and lactic acid is no longer consider the “fatigue factor”, but the overall gist of this is correct.

“Runners knee” is a vague term used to describe a number of issues. In most cases, it should also not be considered a permanent condition, rather something you are being treated for or are rehabbing. So depending on your specific problem, there might be a number of things you can do in a gym, both for general conditioning…

I don’t think the situation you describe in your last paragraph is in the same vein as the rest of the discussion and, to me, does not fall into the “unsolicited” category, even though you may not have been directly asked. It’s one thing to see someone obviously “lost” doing a setup and offer to help. We are talking about…

While I truly sympathize with your intentions, 2 things will happen: 1)people will ignore your signs. 2) you try to give quizzes to members on how to use equipment and your gym will close in a week. I have my own little guerrilla war with members over the concept 2s and I do put up signs, but it’s mostly just to annoy…

Thank you for the setup. If you are thinking of giving unsolicited advice: 1. You don’t know as much as you think you do. There is at least a 50-50 chance that any advice you give will be wrong. 2. You don’t know anything about the person or why they are doing the exercise the way they are doing it. You don’t know their…

I did not read this through to the end, but I have found this site to provide good information for injury treatment. I have used a number of their recommendations for other injuries with clients and have found them helpful. https://runnersconnect.net/peroneal-tendinitis-tendonitis/

Just doing the same exercise over and over and trying to increase the number of reps, you are going to plateau more quickly and not progress as much. For pushups, that means increasing endurance by doing multiple sets, or by doing higher reps at a lower resistance. How do you lower the resistance of a body weight exercise?…

It’s not as much as you think. Regardless of your perceived exertion, those exercises are in a low MET range and the intermittent nature of circuit workouts erodes the burn a little more. I’m not saying that workout does not have benefits, but it is not a big calorie burner. The numbers involved are relatively small, so an…

When people say “too much cardio can interfere with strength gains”, they are making the common mistake of taking advice meant for people who want to achieve maximal genetic gains and misapplying that to the average person who is looking for “gains”. The average person, especially the average person just starting out, can…

I’ve addressed this before and I try to be scrupulously honest and calibrated in my responses since there are a lot of opinions on this topic. First, I don’t have any actual numbers on how many people fall outside the “normal” range of BMI. I have my own bias in that I have the education, experience, and tools to measure…

I think whoever invented BMI is stalking this topic and hitting “disagree” with any comment that doesn’t worship BMI. Your comment was perfectly reasoned on all fronts. Anyone disagreeing is either a willful troll or someone who is not qualified to sit at the adult table.

Maybe. While the actual numbers are not necessarily super accurate, they may represent patterns that can be useful. For example: when I wore an activity tracker I learned over time that if I kept my total activity above 3200 calories a day and kept intake below 2000, I steadily lost weight. The rate of loss didn’t match…

My question in reading the OP was that most HRMs rely primarily on heart rate to estimate calorie burn. They can’t really measure specific workload. That’s why you get the big burns from things like hot yoga or sitting in a sauna. Plus, because of body position, heart rate is often lower when swimming for the same MET…

The voracious need for "content" by companies/orgs etc trying to attract an audience means that too many sites push "filler" stuff that is not being vetted. I work for a large healthcare corporation--one of the largest in Illinois. It's embarrassing to read the crap they publish in their daily "health emails". They are…

Others have pointed you to some specific exercises. Basically you want to work hard on glute isolation exercises, but not progressively overload the legs. This gets into perhaps more detail than you would like, but I find it one of the better references for those who gain muscle more easily in the legs.…

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