Best health, fitness & dieting books according to redditors
We found 35,417 Reddit comments discussing the best health, fitness & dieting books. We ranked the 9,446 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 35,417 Reddit comments discussing the best health, fitness & dieting books. We ranked the 9,446 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Historically, you have about a 15% chance of dying due to violence. In the last century, despite two world wars, the chance is 3%. We live in objectively the safest world that has ever existed.
Edit: Source.
Well this seems like a good opportunity to post a few of the lessons I learned in my 20s.
To my former self:
If you're depressed, here's how to turn it around
Fap less, and never to porn
Gratitude
Wealth
Theories
Girls
Career
Flow
Meditation
*****
Edit:
To answer some requests, here's my list of resources.
Wealth/Metaphysics
This audiobook has the best summary I've found of how wealth works
Lifting
How Procrastination works:
How Business works
What innovation actually is and how to do it:
How economics works:
How to get things done:
Task Management tool:
Spiritual Books
How to be a man:
Audiobooks (most of these can be found on audiobook):
Frame Control (Anytime you feel like you're trying too hard or begging for something, you lost the frame)
This is my favourite book of all. They talk about the new type of conscousness which is really really interesting to me. May not apply to all people.
If anyone find this book interesting I'd love to talk about it:
How the world works:
/u/everythingisforants, PM me if you're in the US and would like me to mail you, from Amazon, a copy of my favorite book about meditation. (Free, no strings attached.) :)
Edit: Wow, I didn't predict this enthusiastic of a response! I didn't list the name of the book because I wanted to offer a gift to someone, not be salesy. :)
The book is "The Mind Illuminated" by Dr. John Yates (Culadasa). There's a whole Reddit dedicated to the book at /r/TheMindIlluminated. Many of his students answer questions in the Reddit and offer assistance. Also check out /r/StreamEntry and /r/Meditation. If you're interesting in learning about the nature of suffering, the causes of suffering, and the way to end suffering, check out /r/Buddhism.
I don't think you need a book to learn how to meditate but getting good instruction is critical. Meditation is like any other skill—playing the piano?—without good instruction you have no guarantee of success. It can be the difference between sitting on the cushion for twenty years and not getting anywhere versus a decent chance of becoming enlightened withinin several years. A good teacher in person is best, but failing that a good book can be of great use... whether this one or several others. "The Progress of Insight" is also worth a read.
Edit part deux: Holy Inbox Batman!
I also just remembered that two of his students are teaching a 6-week video intro course online:
PM me if you want more details.
Welcome!
You could probably benefit from reading the wiki.
This is my /r/fitness guide for people with generic fitness goals. It isn't the only way to go about it but everything in it is frequently recommended by people in /r/fitness:
Stronglifts is a beginner program designed to maximise your strength gains in a relatively safe way and increase the chances you'll follow the program by being relatively easy to learn and follow. It isn't meant to be followed forever though.
Progress guide to Stronglifts:
Ignore anyone who tells you at what weights these things should happen. Just follow the program. Your body can do what it can do, trying to match an average or macho idea of what you "should" be able to do instead of what you can do will just get you injured and/or stalling.
If you want to track the changes in your body measure your weight, shoulders, biceps, calves, chest, forearms, hips, neck, waist and thighs, flexed and/or unflexed or whatever combination of those you care about.
Learn to ignore the daily measurements - they will mislead you as to your actual progress and send you on an emotional rollercoaster. The weekly trend tells you what's what.
People often regret not taking enough photos of their progress. Take photos from more than one angle regularly in consistent conditions (lighting, time of day, clothing, pose).
Useful form videos:
Bench Press
Deadlift
Squats
Pendlay/Barbell Rows
Overhead Press
A few requests:
A good compliment to this is Jonathon Haidt's The Righteous Mind.
Also, the article said:
> That’s exactly what Americans did after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. People began flying less and driving more. The result, estimated Gerd Gigerenzer, a German risk specialist, was that 1,595 more Americans died in road accidents during the 12 months after 9/11 than would have otherwise.
I don't think more people are driving merely because they are afraid of terrorism. I hate flying now because of all the stupid security theater we are now subject to. I much prefer to get in my car and drive versus going to the airport two hours early, get felt up, make sure all my bottles are tiny, etc. I have made several long car trips because I simply didn't want the hassle of flying.
The book "Becoming a Supple Leopard" has a number of great mobility exercises, as well as sections on the theory and how to correctly perform exercises. Highly recommended if you'd like to dig into a book that feels like a textbook.
https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-2nd-Performance/dp/1628600837
In English:
"I started with a weightlifting routine I got form a popular book by Mark Rippetoe called 'Starting Strength' and sort of jumped around routines. I kept away from exercises that only work out a single muscle at a time (and instead decided to perform lifts like squats that work out groups of many muscles once, called compound exercises, as advocated in Rippetoe's book and elsewhere). However, I did keep doing bicep curls, an isolated lift."
If anyone here doesn't know just how scary ebola is, I highly recommend reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Probably one of the most terrifying books I have ever read.
Link here
There is a book called The Body Keeps the Score
It talks distinctly about how sometimes talk therapy can open wounds rather than heal them. Sometimes the body is so caught up in the wounds that the mind isn't ready for traditional therapy. It makes a whole bunch of suggestions on how to deal with trauma in other ways. Perhaps this may give you some of the relief that you desire.
You have every right to be angry. I hope that no-one judges you. And if they do, then they obviously haven't the foggiest notion what you have been through.
The world is way more peaceful and prosperous than it has been at nearly any other point in human history. Take for instance Rwanda. Two decades ago it was engaged in one of the worst genocides in human history. Now it is run by a very efficient government that has banned tribalism and is presiding over some of the fastest gains in human development in the world.
That doesn't mean that there aren't areas where things are getting worse, but the overall trend is generally positive.
Edit: A lot of you are making valid points that there are some important trends moving in a negative direction: climate change, environmental degradation, the fraying of the international liberal order. While it is still true that humanity has never been more peaceful than it has today (this is objectively true across a wide variety of metrics), I agree that these are pressing problems that if not addressed quickly, threaten our survival as a species in the long-term. But, I want to push back against the deep despair that I know many of you feel, because humanity has survived worse.
Around 70,000 years ago, humanity faced the greatest crisis in its history. A volcanic explosion of gargantuan proportions caused global temperatures to drop as much as 20 degrees in many places. This change caused a massive decline in our population to as few as a few hundred or thousand individuals. But we endured, despite having virtually no recognizable technology to aid us. We bounced back and 60,000 years later, we were building cities and had colonized almost the entire planet. We are now facing the second greatest threat our species has ever seen, but now we have something we never had before: we have science. We have technology. And we have governments that can harness the wealth and intelligence of billions of people to serve our collective will, if we choose to use them. I am not saying that will be enough, but it is a much better starting point than that faced by our ancestors. If I were to make a bet, I'd bet on our survival at a minimum, as humanity has already survived worse with less. I'd even say that given all that we have to fight climate change, that we will probably suffer nowhere near as much as we did then.
Edit2: Thanks for the gold!
Beginner meditation is simple. Pay attention to your meditation object (eg sensations of breath at the nose), and when you notice that your mind has wandered off somewhere else:
(1) Take a moment to appreciate the part of your mind that informed you that you are no longer paying attention to the meditation object. This strengthens and encourages this useful faculty of your mind.
(2) Gently, without judgement, redirect your attention back to the meditation object.
(3) Strengthen your grip on the meditation object by engaging with it more fully.
Some further tips:
(Source)
Nice related book by a very readable author:
> The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, Steven Pinker
>
> Believe it or not, today we may be living in the most peaceful moment in our species' existence. In his gripping and controversial new work, New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows that despite the ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism, violence has actually been in decline over long stretches of history. Exploding myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly enlightened world
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010/
Brother you have discovered the truth of our devotions and achieved enlightenment. Attention is the only reason we lift. Health? There is nothing of health in 600lbs upon our shoulders as we drop our asses within inches of the floor but the attention this brings...
Clothing does not fit our strange proportions , our look is that of Shrek and we say amongst ourselves that they 'mire but do they? Nay, brother, they do not yet still we have their attention and that is enough
We posses the strength to lift a Wagon of whey yet lack the stamina to change a tire. Does this concern us? Nay, brother, not at all. Changing a tire is of no consequence to others yet lift a Wagon and they will pause
Those who bear the cross of fit understand this truth inherently but they lack our physical attainment. To compensate for this they never SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY! JESUS CHRIST WE GET IT!!... ahem... forgive me for i am a man of passion.
It is your time , Brother. Depart with pride and form a temple of your own. Spread the word as written in the good book
They are pages from the Strength Training Anatomy book: http://amzn.to/fvrM8R (my affiliate link).
Here's the direct link for the affiliate-link-phobics: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0736063684
It's a very good book. I highly recommend it.
*Edit: here's the third edition: http://amzn.to/eqvleS ( http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736092269/ )
Well then maybe you shouldn't read this or this. I am terrified of smallpox and ebola/hemorrhagic fevers thanks to Richard Preston.
Huge congrats! One book I STRONGLY recommend that you read in your next steps down this plant-based journey is "How Not to Die" by Michael Greger. It really digs into the science behind the benefits of plant based diets and makes some great recommendations.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
"In defense of food" and "Game Changers" started me down the path, but this book solidified in my mind that plant-based is truly the way to go. It will change your life, I guarantee it.
Ok, we'll do it your way!
I don't want to get 'buff', I just want to gain energy, lose a bit of weight around my midsection, and just feel better overall.
Your goals sound to me like you are a person, who would benefit the most from running, cycling or something simillar. In short: You are a cardio guy. But since you already joined a gym we want to make sure you get the most out of it!
How you ask? With free weights and compound exercices! Whats that you ask? Starting strength is the answer!
But Toxicchimip i dont want to get big and strong like these bodybuilders!
Dont worry little friend i have your back! You wont get super buff, you'll only get stronger, more confident and a more athletic look.
But the book wont arrive in time. In want to go tommorrow!
no problemo, just google starting strength and you will find enough material for some decent information. As soon as the book arrives you can use it :)
What about my beloved treadmill?
Fuck that shit. Concentrate on the lifting and add some cardio in about a month or two. This way you can learn proper technique and you wont give up early, because honestly: Treadmills ans stationary bikes suck.
Didnt you say im a cardio guy?
You are but right now you are a meathead. You can be yourself in summer, when you can go out and run in the sun.
Is there more?
Read the FAQ again.
It has gotten better.
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510024329&sr=8-1&keywords=the+better+angels+of+our+nature
Yes!!!! Like the other post says - unless you're an athlete protein isn't really a concern, assuming you eat a fairly balanced, healthy diet. If you are an athlete I can't recommend this book enough. Actually, all of his books are great.
I went vegan over 4 years ago and have never felt better or been healthier in my life! Plus it's nice to know that I'm doing my part to help animals and the planet. Here's a list of some other books/resources that have helped me immensely along the way, for anyone else who might be considering the transition:
Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease
Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss
The Forks Over Knives Plan: How to Transition to the Life-Saving, Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure
Oh She Glows (Food Blog)
Keepin' It Kind (Food Blog)
It takes work and is difficult at first, like most things in life that are worthwhile, but I promise you that it is very, very rewarding once you understand that you have made the commitment to live in a healthy and kind way. :)
> This is why politics fails often, people can not let go of their dogmatic views.
It's not necessarily that their views themselves are dogmatic; it's often that their underlying premises are inflexible. For example, someone who holds the view that the U.S. should deport all undocumented immigrants may think that their position on the issue is fixed, but what's more likely to be fixed is their underlying moral philosophy, such as
In other words, their beliefs on individual issues are slow to change no in themselves, but because they're consistent with a much less fluid set of underlying epistemic preferences. Jonathan Haidt makes a similar case in "The Righteous Mind" -- that political liberals and political conservatives disagree because they have different sets of moral "taste buds."
The world is getting less violent, it's mostly the media that makes it seem worse. Here's a book on it: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010
I don’t know if anyone can say what your body could look like since everyone distributes muscle and fat differently. All you can really do is diet and exercise in a way that is in line with your goals. For building a curvier, more muscular butt and legs I recommend r/StrongCurves. This is the program created by Bret Contreras and there is a Book by the same name. I am on week 5 and have noticed growth in my hamstrings and booty already. Good luck!
Strength training is an effective way to burn off fat. I've been doing it for 6 months along with eating pretty healthy and I've lost 30lbs, though I'm much bigger than you. Look at this book for a good routine.
A much more comprehensive and practical explanation of this (including exactly how to do it, not just 'keep meditating') can be found in The Mind Illuminated by John Yates, PhD (aka Culadasa).
I know this isn't an easy road, but I want to congratulate you for bravely stepping onto it. Feeling alone, outcast, and alien is a near universal symptom of trauma...just wanted to let you know you're not alone.
r/ptsd
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537026534&sr=8-1&keywords=the+body+keeps+the+score
​
​
Hey guys, producer for Star Nation here. Justin just got back from Europe a couple weeks ago shooting Dream Hack and a lot of footage with WhiteRa. On arriving back into town, he's been putting together a short doc for Complexity because they helped to get us out to MLG Anaheim. Keep an eye out for that. Some of that footage will be good for the feature.
I've been wanting to post a blog on our website about the issue of "relevancy." Numbers-wise, I believe that the majority of documentaries shoot long before release, and most of the time the subject matters are fairly niche. Star Nation isn't a documentary about current politics, so timeliness is less of an issue. We're also not a journalism organization, so it's not critical to have "breaking news" nor release our film immediately after an event.
Take the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil as an example. I'm not sure that their story would be any worse if released any later, and we also hope to be able to find a timeless story for our doc. You may argue that Anvil's topic matter isn't getting as much media coverage as StarCraft/eSports to make it irrelevant. Maybe. If that were true, then I would then point you to the last feature documentary I produced, DMT: The Spirit Molecule.
CASE STUDY
DMT is one of the strongest known psychedelics, and it was also relatively unknown even in the drug community when my director first started shooting the doc in 2005. While we produced the film, ayahuasca (active chemical being DMT) started becoming a huge topic in general media being covered by CNN, TIME, Hustler, reddit, and many more (don't have time to link them all). While a lot of people were discovering DMT in their everyday news and entertainment sources, it absolutely wasn't making the topic matter irrelevant. In fact, it was making DMT all the more relevant to more people. More and more people became fans of our doc's Facebook page as they became aware of our film and topic matter through the media and through fans of our film. Our film didn't particularly have that much more information than was already available to the public especially since it was based around a book, but the film format is just much more easily consumed than other formats (books, articles, etc.).
Since irrelevancy wasn't an issue, DMT:TSM got picked up in 2011 by Gravitas and sublicensed to Warner Bros to get in 100M homes. We become third most popular documentary on iTunes for about 3 weeks. We also became the top most streamed film on NetFlix for a little over 3 days. I regret not screen capping those bits, so you'll have to trust me on those figures. However, I hope that we can get Star Nation in front of that many eyes also.
That said, I agree with HRvi that the pure eSports information in Star Nation may not be news to you guys, but hopefully the documentary footage and story will show you another perspective that you will enjoy while we push eSports out to a much broader audience.
War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (and talk on it here)
I haven't got around to reading these books yet, but they seem to say that when you look at the historical archeological evidence, the % of people who die in conflicts has been going down, and societies that killed each other with clubs, poisoned arrows, etc. actually killed a higher % than current societies do with high powered weaponry and bombs. I think the problem is that there's news media reporting everywhere these days so you might get the impression that violence is everywhere/getting worse.
From the video of the talk I linked to, this slide is pretty interesting: http://www.edge.org/images/sp-Slide011.jpg
New Rules of Lifting for Women can give you a template plan for building strength unless you are already beyond that sophistication-wise. That emphasizes a lot of compound movements so the workouts aren't by upper and lower body days.
The squat is so hot right now, but the deadlift is the most "functional" lift you can do.
Starting Strength is a great book for learning how to lift weights.
My wife had similar thoughts at first mention. I had her pick up this book from the library: http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/1583333398/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320934295&sr=1-1
The New Rules of Lifting for Women. Lift like a man, look like a goddess.
It says toning doesn't exist and women can lift weights with all the benefits just like a man. She's much more receptive to it after reading.
No, it is not a valid reason. I am socially insecure as well and had some (what turned out to be invalid) fears about lifting weights.
I joined a gym 11 months ago with the intention of doing cardio for 3 months and then adding weightlifting to my routine. I was worried of not knowing what to do and looking like a dumb ass, so I just kept putting off the weights. I bought Starting Strength and started reading it (good book and I'd recommend it to you). I did my first weightlifting workout on Wednesday of last week and my second this morning.
The basic premise of Starting Strength is that you are weak and inexperienced. It gives you a routine through which you will rapidly gain strength if you follow the program. It will guide you in determining the amount of weight with which you need to be working and it will tell you how to recognize when you're doing too much weight. If you don't do too much weight, then you won't really need a spotter.
Your first workout should be not much more than determining your working weight. You'll start with the bar, empty, and do some squats. Then you'll add 10 lbs and do some more. Then you'll add 10 lbs and do some more. The bar will get "heavy" quickly. Somewhere around 85 lbs for most people, you'll start to slow down. This is your working weight. Pound out two more sets at this weight and you're done.
Then you do an overhead press, starting with the bar. Add 5lbs and do s aset. Add 5 more and do another set. Again, the bar will get heavy and this is your working weight. Pound out two more sets.
Repeat for deadlift, but start at 95 - 135 lbs instead of just the empty bar. Add 10 lbs and do another set. Add 10 more and do another set. When you slow down, you've found your working weight. DON'T do another set. You're done.
The next time you do squats, you'll start with just the empty bar and work your way up to your previous working weight (which was 85 lbs) plus another 10-20 lbs. You always start with just the bar, and you'll always work up from there. A year from now when you can squat 225 lbs, you'll still start with just the bar.
You'll build confidence, and you'll learn your limitations. You'll know if and when you'll need a spotter.
Be careful with people "correcting" your form. The gym is one of the places where everyone is an "expert". If you're worried about your form you should buy a book or hire a legitimate weight lifting coach to teach you.
May I add: maybe read a fucking book.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010
I just read the book "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel Van Der Kerk and found it immensely helpful. You mention an abusive childhood, the effects of which are covered extensively in the book and include anxiety and depression (particularly of a kind that simply trying to reframe your thoughts cannot help). Traumatic events leave their mark on our bodies as well as our minds and hearts. I highly recommend checking it out. It's even on sale on Amazon right now: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143127748/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_3HRqDbJ8YCPFA
(33F here. I have similar feelings)
Yeah, /u/Electr0freak is correct. I have both CPTSD and ADHD. The ADHD presents as my inability to focus on tasks, auditory processing issues, inability to schedule, think or plan for the future, frequent forgetfulness, and inability to manage time. The CPTSD, on the other hand presents as my inability to be in close proximity to people for very long (minutes at a time, tops), due to an instinctive protective mode from blows from others, an acute inability to self-regulate emotions such that if I am having an attack, I hit/punch/elbow, choke, scratch, bite and pull my own hair. I tell people curious about it that the sensation is a hot "cold sweat" and the internal sensation of being held down against my will, and to escape I will do anything, and my body interprets that as "Skin yourself alive. Cut your own throat. Choke yourself to death." That's not ADHD. My brother, also diagnosed with ADHD did not have these symptoms growing up either. I am now taking Lamictal to counter these symptoms, which is an anti-convulsive med used often to treat people with BPD. This is all very recent, the new med is about 3 weeks in and I have never felt better, I never get the body sensations that I was getting causing me to react like that. I'm 29, and have been doing these things since I was 6 or 7, and my father left when I was 5, which I attribute the majority of my emotional self-blame to, followed closely by corporal punishment as a child. Read the book The Body Keeps The Score. If someone thinks CPTSD is not a thing, they're wrong.
This is not about thinking. There have been studies showing that education can make you better at defending incorrect information.
We spread and defend incorrect information because it reinforces a pre-existing bias, often subconscious. Information that is shared virally tends to align with one of humanity's trigger points:
When we focus on intelligence, we are demonstrating the Democratic bias toward rules. Education = competence = success. The Republican brain wants to reward personal exceptionalism. "I succeeded, not because of how hard I worked, but because of who I am."
If we don't understand these triggers, we will continue to be manipulated by them.
Edit: thanks very much to my anonymous gilder, but the ideas are cribbed from Jonathan Haidt's work. Highly recommend you check out either his book or his TED talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind
https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777/ref=asc_df_0307455777/
Becoming a Supple Leopard.
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588#
dat dere mobility
Best I could offer off the top of my head would be The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. He's been doing some particularly interesting work with the psychology that makes up the differences in liberals and conservatives.
I'm so so sorry, this is a tough thing to go through. As others have said, the biggest thing is finding some professional help. Be patient with yourself, there is no magic thing that will make this less challenging to walk yourself through. But you absolutely will, and you are not alone.
Reading your post was like something I could have written myself a few years ago. I'm still working on it. Learning to have respect and patience for where I was at in the process was a thing I really struggled with, because I just wanted to be done with it and put it behind me. When I couldn't afford therapy, I read a lot of self help books and these two really resonated with me: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk and Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman. Please feel free to PM me any time if you want someone to talk to.
Hey bro/sis,
I will give the same advice to men and women here. Get a weight lifting program and some podcasts.
Why podcasts? It will help you get motivated to learn while you lift. Get some TWIT.TV podcasts, maybe a history podcast (The Thomas Jefferson Hour, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History), and something funny or political (The Joe Rogan Experience, No Agenda Show).
Why weight lifting? For guys, you will get big and feel good. For women you will get tone and your butt will look great. Why the difference? That magical chemical called Testosterone. Guys have it and get big, girls don't have it (at least not so much) so they don't get as big.
If you get a complete program, make it simple with big lifts, Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans, Overhead Press, and Bench. DO not get a complicated workout plan from a magazine, they are mostly just filler and worthless, except for those people that are genetically gifted with short recovery times and have hours to workout at the gym.
I went from a 135lb squat to a 235lb squat (3x5) in about two months. It took me another month to get to 260lbs. I feel super great, I enjoy physical activities a lot more, and feel way more confident.
How do you get started?
I used a program called Starting Strength, it's very effective. There are a lot of other exercise programs you can try (Google: Mad Cow, 5x5, or 5/3/1). But Starting Strength is extremely simple and effective. Most of the other big and simple programs are based from Starting Strength.
The biggest change for me was having a predetermined plan, "I am going to start lighter than I think I should, and add 5lbs every time I do this lift." I had a workout notebook and a spreadsheet, this is where I want to be today, this is where I was last week.
Starting Strength Caveats
Resources
Starting Strength Calculator
Starting Strength Book
I've since moved onto a "lighter" program, Jim Wendler's 5/3/1, it gives me more time to pursue jiujitsu and cardio. When you are ready to move on, look at sports specific exercises, bent over rows for a bow draw, and the stair master for hiking.
EDIT
Seriously check out Yoga for Regular Guys as well. It's a very simple non-bullshity yoga routine. It will help with mobility issues and it's a good low-space cardio routine.
EDIT2
Great advice below:
Reasons to meditate from iamadogforreal
> It's just not talked about much.
Good news doesn't sell, and people are sometimes outright hostile to it. Look at the reception to Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature. A great number of people have a visceral what-the-hell reaction to that book. Also try bringing up, in a discussion on "rape culture" in the US, that rape has dropped 85% since the 1970s.
For some people, interjecting good news is tantamount to saying that everything is perfect and thus we shouldn't try to improve anything. Good news takes the edge off their outrage, and in an outrage-driven culture it can get mistaken for apathy.
Can confirm, I'm a girl, I bought Strong Curves, it is all about butts. The first half of the book is basically "Butt this, glute that, you need a great butt, general fitness, butt butt butt". Well.. it worked, my ass got much perkier after the first programme. I had a nice round bottom. Then running season restarted and I've run most of it off :( Can't wait to restart into my butt training for winter! :D
> There's no great cheat codes for your body. Just stick to CICO.
There aren't cheat codes, but there are nuances beyond CICO.
Eating certain vegetables and fruits can offer specific phytonutrients that aid in fat-burning, or carb-loading, or whatever. The human body is incredibly complex, and depending on the nature of the calories you're consuming, you can find it easier or harder to change your body shape. I don't have the book handy, but in Greger's How Not to Die, he describes a study where people ate a few extra fruit-and-but bars (like Larabars) per day above their normal diets for months and they did not gain any weight - despite increasing their caloric intake by some 350 calories per day. The hypotheses that were offered had to do with the type of sugar (date sugar usually) absorbed into the bloodstream and its effects, the nutrients given from the nuts (cashews, walnuts) in the bars and their effects on the digestive system, etc. They effectively had no extra fat despite eating more calories because the micronutrient content of the calories they were eating had microbiological effects on their bodies' ability to retain fat.
This virus is scaring the hell out of me, especially after just finishing The Hot Zone. I picked this book up as the virus started being reported on in the news, and it now has me obsessed with viral outbreaks. The downside is that I have also become extremely paranoid. Fuck Ebola Zaire, fuckin bitch. I wouldn't wish this horrible contagion on my worst enemy. I really hope the brilliant scientists and doctors around the world get this thing under control ASAP.
Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Sports/dp/0736092269
I've got a copy, it's really good.
You might be interested in The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt which has to do with the moral psychology of the left and right.
The main gist of the book is that people have several different hard wired foundations for morality... things that we are predisposed by human psychology to see as good vs. evil. He tentatively identified five of them as: Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, and Sanctity/Degradation (and he later added another: Liberty/Oppression). He ran a variety of studies to get people to rank how important each of these foundations were to them and discovered that people on the left prioritized Care/Harm over all others (Fairness/Cheating was also important to leftists but less so... the other three were not important at all). The right surprisingly was almost as compassionate ranking Care/Harm only slightly lower than the left did but they ranked all others much higher to the point where all five (and later six) moral foundations are ranked roughly equally in the right wing world view. In instances where left and right disagree there is almost always one or more of the other moral foundations which the right is balancing against compassion and which the left is disregarding as unimportant.
The book is of course much more involved that that discussing where and how he came up with his thesis, the experiments he did and his speculation about the social utility of each of the moral foundations and why they appear to be hard-wired in our heads and changes he made to his theory along the way. It's definitely worth reading.
SS, also known as Squat Syndicate, is a best selling gothic fantasy novel written by Mawk Reppetits. The plot resolves around a religious group of heroes, called the AssGuard Companions. They travel across the lands, preaching the ways of their deity - Brodin, and teaching quarter-rep high bar barbell squats to their followers.
^^^It's ^^^this ^^^book. ^^^you ^^^might ^^^want ^^^to ^^^read ^^^the ^^^faq ^^^----->
Ajahn Mun and Xu Yun were two monks that had claims of their enlightenment written into their biographies. Thich Quang Duc, of Rage Against the Machine album cover fame, was also arguably one such being, amongst many others.
But, really, if you're worried about evidence that the Buddha's path is true, the only way to remove all of your own doubt is for you to try it for yourself. Those without trust in the great teacher will never feel satisfied with anecdotes and proclamations of attainment; only going through the motions will allow you to see. Thankfully, there are markers along the path that are not as "far away" as enlightenment, and looking out for those during the journey should be more than enough to dispel those lingering doubts that what he taught is achievable in the current lifetime.
I recommend The Mind Illuminated for contemporary, clear instructions about the journey.
Edit Passive voice.
Don't worry about getting judged in the gym, everyone is doing their own thing and people are happy to help you out.
Take a look at the FAQ of r/fitness. Especially the diet section. Learn about macro- and micronutrients. This is good as well
Free weights are better than machines. You don't need a squat rack to do bicep curls. Use a weight that's appropriate, you are not there to impress anyone.
You don't need a fuckton of supplements, fix your diet first. Instead of spending your cash on testosterone boosters and fat burners consider buying the Starting Strength e-book. Even if you don't want to do that program, the book is great and it explains the essential lifts in detail. Take the diet advice with a
grainrock of salt though.Track your weight, wether your goal is to gain or to lose. Weigh yourself every morning after taking a piss and take a weekly average, weight can fluctuate on a daily basis. Also track your calories (buy a foodscale). Even if you don't want to do that forever, at least do it for a few weeks so you actually know how much energy the food you consume provides. People claiming they can't lose or gain weight because of their metabolism are lying.
Track your lifts. Don't create your own program. Build a habit of going to the gym because motivation will come and go. Take progress pictures because the mirror will not show you the minor changes you make on a daily basis. More is not always besser. Use your rest days for stretching, light cardio and rest. You will have bad days in the gym. It happens. A bad workout is still better than no workout.
Relevant subreddits:
Lifts (start with the empty bar)
Useful apps for your workout are the stronglifts5x5 app (if you are doing that specific program) or JetFit if you want to enter your own workout. Great apps to track calories are myfitnesspal or fatsecret.
oh man.. just read /r/AskTrumpSupporters.. its depressing.
It really doesn't matter what arguments you make at all. Their intuitions come first, arguments come second. Intuition says Hillary is snobby/rich/evil and Trump is not, end of story.
There are people justifying Trump Jrs collusion with Russians! Anything can be justified with enough mental contortion and denial.
Really, the sooner you realize critical thinking means nothing to a huge group of people the better. Arguments don't form opinions, they are formed after the fact to justify them. Social pressures (what do my friends think?) & intuitions inform opinions.
EDIT: If this is interesting, checkout The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Its where i stole most of this from. Theres also other related stuf in behavioral econ & psychology - Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. Its the tip of an iceberg
Hey, no problem: Here's a couple I really enjoyed that helped me learn how to really articulate what I think and understand what others were saying about politics in those sorts of discussions:
Thanks for the link.
I bought the book on Amazon for $12 (shipped) earlier this year, but it's at $14 now. Price Fluctuation
Having a PDF of it, I can look at it on mobile without having to carry the book around.
I'm neutral to the Gary V. inspired 'hustle' 'grind it out' attitude.
Reality is that your baseline socio economic status gives you your set point, both with physcological wiring and also resources, skills, networks, mentors and life lines (read: poor people = none)
My mom is dead. And my dad is a dead beat living with a crack head who has 3 children in subsidized public housing. My 'step mom''s 3 kids, to no fault of their own, are all fucked. I watched them go from 10 years old - 20 years old, and get into drugs, jail, deliquency. When people at your housing project are regularly in jail, it's normalized. When your mother and father are drunk all the time it's normalized.
You know the strangest observation I've had? Poor people don't have desks, they have couches (because why would they need to sit at a desk? That's for learning, or creating, or reading, or getting organized)
Now I have rich friends. Centi-millionaire rich. Also I live in nice areas of Vancouver and have friends who are young yuppies / lawyers. Guess what - half their parents are also lawyers.
What wonderful advantages you can provide your kids. Even if it's not financial, it can be psychological resilience.
I don't know how I got so lucky, because my siblings all had similar struggles and didn't make it out okay. I guess I had the right set of factors to still be positive enough, but also be really fucking pissed off.
I do yoga every day, otherwise i'm too angry. Vipassana did a lot for me too. I've done three 10 day silent retreats, and certainly overdue to do another. For anyone traumatized as a child, or with rough upbringings you gotta sort it out because the market - the world doesn't care (I care- I want to help you, but it's a difficult problem to solve)
This book changed my life in finding a more peaceful way of living (all emperical up to date scientific literature on a tough subject:)
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Reading a lot helps too.
But also, I'm YMCA + Public Library + Canned Tuna proof. I have been so bitterly down and out, I have no fear of failure. Some people can't make cold calls becuase they are nervous. Or they are afraid of confrontational high tension conversations HA. FUCKING HA. What a joke, I'll fucking steam roll you if you can't pick up a phone and make someone like you then give you money (but I learned how to do it)
Look at this guy. In a library late at night, learning something - doing something. Not getting 100 emails a day. Using free public services. Big consolidated blocks of time to explore. WOW. If you shower at the YMCA and eat canned tuna, you can do this (more complicated with kids though). But failure, the worst case, is in a way liberating because you're free again to explore:
https://imgur.com/a/wWC3swP
Also one note - if you TRULY go hard, every year you should be getting poached. I've turned down multiple offers to be CMO or director of marketing over the years. The offer rates go up. Headhunters make loose offers for 400k comp packages to parachute in as CEO to a different company (FUCK that, it's so easy to discount domain expertise, I would be a terrible CEO in any industry but this one, for the time being) But it's just itneresting.
So, what makes me think I can sell Dildos better than anyone else? Because I'm a fucking monster.
​
I've slept on concrete floors outside gas stations, dumpster dived to eat, hitchhiked. I put myself through university playing internet poker. I ate canned tuna and wonderbread for as long as I can remember. I've worked every New Years eve and Christmas for the last 15 years. Because I've been bootsrapping since I was 15, and I have no backup. No parents basement. And now I have a daughter and a family, so I have to double down and I cannot let them down.
But also not so much having a chip on my shoulder, I have overwhelming gratitute most of the time. Especially for everyone on our team. I love our team and respect everyone equally. I'm more lenient and generous with our bottom staff and a lot harder on people the more they get paid, but we have no willful turnover, and most people say this is the best most exciting job they've ever had and they are just grateful to be part of the ride.
AND, at least in sex toys - there's not a lot of competent executives in this industry. Not many people have put in the requisite 10,000 hours in the industry AND done so from a systems perspective but also been in the trenches picking up customer service phone calls and talking to 1000's of customers
​
I searched for some older threads that might help you:
One
Two
Three
Four
There are more out there.
Read the WPATH SOC if you haven't already. Past versions of the SOC gotten people killed and many people are hostile toward WPATH, but the current version is alright IMO. I am still bitter though because I feel that past versions contributed significantly to ruining my life.
In the past, I've been really turned off or upset by doctors that didn't have a good understanding of how to properly do HRT (i.e. refusing my request to have my hormone levels checked via blood test, using nonstandard medications before mainstays, setting arbitrary max dosage limits such as 100mg spironolactone), that didn't understand the effects of HRT (i.e. being told it would change my sexuality to only liking men, being told it would give me a maternal instinct), that commented on my appearance (I was told that I will never pass), and that knew nothing about what being transgender is.
A lot of trans people become extremely anxious when going to the doctor. If the clinic you're at is gatekeepy, things are going to be 100x more difficult as far as building rapport goes. I could never trust a doctor at a clinic that didn't follow the current SOC and that had gatekeeping measures in place.
It might a good idea for you to familiarize yourself with trauma if you aren't already familiar with it just because so many trans people have dealt with it or are dealing with it. The Body Keeps The Score is a good book on it.
> a book that has pictures for each movement, the way Strong Curves does, so he can work on form.
Regardless of whether you like the program, Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training is invaluable for learning the compound lifts.
Ok, before everyone gets all high and mighty here (too late) maybe you should consider the fact that for the VAST majority of our evolutionary history there was no advantage to a girl who slept around indiscriminately. It carried a huge burden (potentially 9 months of pregnancy and single-parenting) for almost zero likelihood that her genes would be any better off. In fact it was more likely they were worse off. It made much more sense for her to be choosy and find what she considered a high-value mate, or at least someone who she could expect to say around and help raise the child.
In that same time period it made significantly more sense for a guy to sleep around (if he was able) because he would have a better chance of ensuring the spread of his genes, though not necessarily the same success as if he chose a monogamous relationship and had several kids. It was just a valid competing strategy, whereas for women it was not, because it's inherently disadvantageous for them.
It continues to exist today despite radical changes in society/technology. That doesn't make it right but don't act like it's some arbitrary shit that exists for no reason.
I suggest The Red Queen and
The Selfish Gene
for further reading and many more insights.
Evolutionary psychology is not infallible by any means... but it can offer a lot of insight by examining the time period where we spent most of our evolutionary history (which is huge compared to the comparatively tiny amount of time we've spent in the modern world...or even the last few thousand years).
The most insightful/mind-blowing book I've read in the past few years was "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt. It was phenomenal and challenges the long discredited in academic debate idea of cultural impact on our genes. How the success of certain religions/ideas/cultures has directly altered our genes in a far faster manner than had previously been thought.
The book also does a phenomenal job at describing the fundamental moral differences between the most divided people out there today in such an amazing way.
Highly recommend.
For body weight exercises, like pull-up, chin-up, dip, push-up the best route is do negatives at first, and slowly increase number of reps. Basically all of these have the same program (with different numbers) that will lead you from not being able to do single rep, to doing more than enough.
Have a look at:
http://www.50pullups.com/ - for pull-ups
http://www.onefiftydips.com/ - for dips
http://hundredpushups.com/ for push-ups
For clean, jerk and other olympic lifts, you'd better to start with something like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts 5x5 and after finishing it, go from there.
If you're looking for a solid beginning meditation guide, The Mind Illuminated is one of the best.
There's 50 days worth of "daily meditations" at this point, each ~10 minutes long, plus 16 extra lessons ranging from 3.5 minutes to 29 minutes. Judging by the previous newsletters, he tends to add somewhere in the range of 1-5 new lessons or daily meditations every week.
A better bang for your buck might be a copy of The Mind Illuminated plus a free app like Insight Timer or similar.
I found the New Rules of Lifting For Women to be really approachable. The writing's engaging with lots of references to studies and science and the exercises are all well explained (with pictures!).
It's been around long enough that you can find videos of each workout online, as well as excel spreadsheets to track your workouts/calories etc in.
(Caveat - I mostly ignored the nutrition chunk of the book so I can't say much about that part.)
Religion probably served a really important evolutionary function, as well, by ensuring social cohesion around a shared set of beliefs and identities, allowing for tight group bonding which gave some groups a selective advantage. Of course, in today's world this can actually become harmful- particularly when the shared beliefs require a suspension of the sort of objective and reasoned thinking necessary to function in this modern society, or when they inform or motivate antisocial economic or political activities- but I'm not sure it's fair to say that humanity would be better off without it. Maybe on net today, but it's also possible that we may have relied on it in our evolutionary past.
Source, a wonderful book which can really aid in understanding those with whom our worldviews disagree.
\> I know they say you have to be okay on your own before you can be in a healthy relationship- but it seems like a tall order if you have no support. Just wondering if anyone else can relate.
I used to believe that you have to be okay on your own, but now I disagree with statement. Based off of my personal experience and information knowledge of trauma and attachment, I've revised my belief: Even if we don't need one (1) human to be our other half, we need the right social circle and the access to the right resources to have a solid foundation in order to have the skills, motivation, and support make progress toward their goals, feel secure, and be happy.
While I'm not a professional psychologist, what's working for me is trying to be vulnerable but being careful about who I do it with. There needs to be some thought about who I share it with, like what am I trying to do by sharing it with *this* specific person. Am I feeling some inner pain that I believe this person can ease? Am I sharing an experience that I think they will understand? If they don't understand, am I sharing this because I still trust them and I want to bond with them?
I believe healthy relationships is a balance of *relying* (as opposed to needing) on the *appropriate* people depending on the situation (as opposed to relying on the same person for every situation). Sometimes we will take risks and be let down. Over time by doing so, you refine your radar to know who is the best person for a feeling, situation, or experience.
Wishing the best in your healing.
That is a great question, but I doubt that it will. (Again, not a virologist, but personal opinion with some research done)
Its weakness is that it's really good at immobilizing and killing people. It usually does this pretty quickly (minus the 2-21 day incubation[pre-symptom] period, during which the patient is not contagious) so its transmission is limited if quality quarantine procedures are used. It's also not an airborne pathogen (except for transmission via droplets from coughs, sneezes).
The Filoviridae are ancient
bacteriaviruses(I typed it up in a hurry, sorry) so they've had plenty of time to mutate into a deadly strain. That's not to say that they won't, but they are very different from the viruses that are more readily transmitted such as the flu virus.Opinion: I don't think Ebola will ever be as deadly in total deaths as the flu. Ever. Its mortality rate is high and scary, but it isn't as transmissible as the flu or a cold and I doubt that it ever will be. Any first world country using appropriate quarantine measures would be able to prevent any serious spread of the virus fairly easily. Part of the reason it spreads so easily where it does is that, even in the midst of this local epidemic, people are still attending funerals and handling the bodies of the dead in a manner that is not conducive to containment.
I'm sure people see this any time the Ebola comes up, but The Hot Zone is an excellent book on the virus and the Reston, VA incident. I love the book, and there's a lot of pretty solid science in it.
EDIT: I accidentally called it a bacteria...
Hello and welcome! Here are my recommendations for getting those nasty watchtower cobwebs out of your head, in other words, here is what I did to de-indoctrinate myself:
Take some time to learn about the history of the bible. For example, you can take the Open Yale Courses on Religious Studies for free.
Read Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman
Also read A History of God by Karen Armstrong
Next, learn some actual science. For example - spoiler alert: evolution is true. Visit Berkeley's excellent Understanding Evolution Website.. Or, if you're pressed for time, watch this cartoon.
Read Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne
Read The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins
Learn about the origin of the universe. For example, you could read works by Stephen Hawking
Read A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Learn about critical thinking from people like Michael Shermer, and how to spot logical fallacies.
For good measure, use actual data and facts to learn the we are NOT living in some biblical "last days". Things have gotten remarkably better as man has progressed in knowledge. For example, watch this cartoon explaining how war is on the decline..
Read The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
Another great source is the youtube series debunking 1914 being the start of the last days.
I wish you the best. There is a whole world of legitimate information out there based on actual evidence that you can use to become a more knowledgeable person.
You may still wonder how you can be a good human without "the truth." Here is a good discussion on how one can be good without god. --Replace where he talks about hell with armageddon, and heaven with paradise--
Start to help yourself begin to live a life where, as Matt Dillahunty puts it, you'll "believe as many true things, and as few false things as possible."
It's documented in his book; DMT: The Spirit Molecule.
>From 1990 to 1995 Dr. Rick Strassman conducted U.S. Government-approved and funded clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.
In order of importance:
Book|Author|Forum|Notes
:--|:--|:--|:--
The Mind Illuminated|John Yates|/r/TheMindIlluminated|Sometimes too technical, otherwise, perfect.
Mastering The Core Teachings of the Buddha|Daniel Ingram|Dharma Overground, /r/streamentry|Most times, too arrogant. Still valuable.
Opening the Hand of Thought|Kosho Uchiyama|r/Zen, Local Zendo|Zen leaves too much to the reader to figure out
A Path With Heart|Jack Kornfield|--|Doesn't give the how, but the Why for many people.
To give you an idea from a technical meditation standpoint, The Mind Illuminated cuts this into ten stages, like a cooking recipe, or a college degree.
Thanks for the feedback!
***
I am a Zen Buddhist, with heavy influences from Theravada and Vipassana.
>I've read the FAQ and most essential pieces of info here on fittit, though I find not much seems to apply to me since I am so short and skinny and honestly weak, and my metabolism is very high and I'm vegetarian etc
Bullshit. My nine-year-old brother can only overhead press 25lbs, bench press 35lbs, squat 65lbs and deadlift 85lbs (all for 5). He's still training with a barbell. Don't use the fact that you are currently weak as an excuse to stay weak. You're fighting against yourself.
If you want to be strong/weigh more you need to train consistently and eat. As a vegetarian, things like rice, beans and potatoes are your best friend. They're cheap and can be bought in bulk. Eat A LOT. Buy Starting Strength. Read the hell out of it. Pick a novice program (Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5x5 or Greyskull LP) and follow them and become bigger and stronger.
Good luck. I wish you well.
Edit: Formatting
Is this version better or is the updated version better?
Seconded. While absolutely not the ultimate compendium of exercises it does label muscle groups with a good anatomical drawing and what exercises works what, does give suggestions on alternative grips, cautionary warnings. It is a very good book.
amazon linky
source: I own a copy
The Book Starting Strength
Childhood sexual abuse and assault, like he experienced, is often a huge issue for people's sexuality later in life. Especially when their body responds to the sexual stimulation as a child, even if they didn't consent to it (and that is extremely common)
It can be harder for boys, because of societal beliefs that they should be happy and grateful for this kind of sexual attention from adult women.
There are a lot of therapists who help people heal from sexual trauma like this, and some great self help books out there too, if he wants to go that route.
Edit:
This is my go-to list of rape recovery and sexual abuse recovery self-help books, including some of the precious few books for male victims, as well.
The Rape Recovery Handbook: Step-by-Step Help for Survivors of Sexual Assault by Aphrodite Matsakis
​
The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse by Wendy Maltz
​
Healing Sex: A Mind-Body Approach to Healing Sexual Trauma by Staci Haines
​
The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Laura Davis & Ellen Bass
​
Allies in Healing: When the Person You Love Was Sexually Abused as a Child Laura Davis
​
Coming Home to Passion: Restoring Loving Sexuality in Couples with Histories of Childhood Trauma and Neglect by Ruth Cohn
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
​
Victims No Longer: The Classic Guide for Men Recovering from Sexual Child Abuse by Mike Lew
​
Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuseby Mic Hunter
​
Don't Tell: The Sexual Abuse of Boys by Michel Dorais
That's an appeal to futility. Best way to stop people unethically killing animals is to stop giving them money to do it. Very simple: just walk through another isle the next time you go grocery shopping. You don't even need to give up your hot dogs or hamburgers, because there are great-tasting vegan versions that are getting better every year as people perfect the recipes. Don't like one brand? Try another!
Throughout history many things have been a part of culture. Slavery, racism, the thinking men were superior and not equal to women, gay people going to jail for being gay... the list goes on. That stuff was a deeply entrenched belief in people's minds. It took a few people to stand up and say that stuff was wrong. A bunch of people thought it would be useless too. That society would just stay racist and sexist and homophobic forever. But just fast forward a few decades and here we are! Not a perfect society, but a better one. And we can keep getting better! I think that's the best anyone can do in life.
Don't you tell me this cruelty is gonna be permanent whether we fight it or not, because I know that it won't be. It never is. Because we are fighting it. And it may take decades or more, but eventually we'll grow from our small beginnings enough that our voices will be heard. A voice for the voiceless among us. And we don't even have it as hard as the people before us had it with their cultural revolutions. Because all we gotta do is walk through a different isle.
Just watch Earthlings (alt link). Or if you like reading and wanna know some health reasons why you should go vegan, read How Not to Die. Or if you wanna listen to a speech by every vegan's favorite scary grandpa, you can listen to Gary Yourofsky.
Be a little curious and take some time to see what vegans are always going on about eh?
Everything you need to know about a plant based diet (there is also a cook book)
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
If you you want to make absolutely sure your body is getting everything it needs, use https://cronometer.com/, free for pc & phone.
Basic Barbell Training 3rd ed. by Mark Rippetoe
And there are great "How To" videos from
AaronAlan Thrall on YouTube.Well. Like humans that we are, we do human things. Some of us make fun of creationists here, and some of them make fun of us at /r/Creation.
I try to be civil, as I like to be nice, and hopefully get someone with an opposing view to read what I write, but like most IRL debates, one side swaying the other is very rare.
Beliefs do not occur in isolation - see the foundationalist or coherentist models of knowledge, for example. To change one, often it is necessary to also change other beliefs.
For example, to change one's views on gay marriage, one may need to change one's beliefs on biblical inerrantism and whether sex is dualistic or a spectrum.
To change a YECer's point of view, again, it may be necessary to change their view on biblical inerrantism/belief that Satan in in charge of this world, clouding scientist's eyes/what the context and purpose of Genesis 1&2 is.
To flip my view (back to creationism), YECers need to change my beliefs on the evidence, purpose of Gen1&2, and biblical inerrancy, amongst others.
This is difficult as this is complicated by confirmation bias and the backfire effect which are very real phenomena.
In addition, although we think we are rational, we [are not] (https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777) ; our passions direct our beliefs to a great extent.
I love Jonathan Haidt. His book "The Righteous Mind" is, I think, one of the most important books written in the past century and should be required reading for all high-schoolers and then read again yearly for anyone going into the social sciences or humanities.
A meme is a cultural idea that spreads between people, not a picture with silly text (Dawkins, 1976). A motivation poster fits well with within that definition, since it's a well-known and established unit for carrying cultural information.
You're describing an "internet meme;" however, since we are communicating via the internet, I suppose it's fair to assume the OP was suggesting that his GF created an internet meme for him. In that case, I'd have to agree with you.
Anyway... keep on track and get out on that trail!
May not be exactly what you're looking for, but I read this book (The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion) over the summer and it really helped me get into the heads of people with different ideologies than my own (liberal). Worth a read!
Bought this book today; Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition
. I'm excited to receive it on Sunday and enhance my lifting.
I turned my life around in my 30s - abuse by family of origin, mental illness, depression.
It sucks, but it will get better. Find a job, then find a therapist who can help heal from the PTSD. Maybe find a support group for other men with trauma.
The Body Keeps the Score is a helpful book on how to heal from PTSD... at least it helped me a lot.
It's not too late. Keep healing.
This thread has been around for a few hours so I'm afraid this comment might get buried, but since nobody who has commented so far on this thread is actually Catholic, I'll bite.
There are a few fundamentals that need to be cleared up before I can progress to considering the four questions you posed.
Firstly, I am not sure as to whether or not Catholics are actually required to believe in the existence of a literal Adam and Eve. Though in Humani Generis Pius XII wrote that the faithful were to affirm the historicity of "a sin truly committed by one Adam," John Paul II made no mention of a historical Adam and Eve in his "Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Evolution" (typically when a pontiff disagree with previous pontiffs, they do not call them out directly, but rather omit that with which they disagree from their own teaching).
The story of Adam and Eve is meant to implicate all humanity: before the fall they do not even have proper names but are rather referred to in the Biblical text simply as "man" and "woman" (seriously, go take a look). It is, then, entirely correct to affirm that these two literary characters, this primordial couple who disobeyed the will of God represents all humanity. Whether or not we can therefore claim that the story is completely allegorical and that Adam and Eve as such did not exist is beyond my competence, but for my part I do not think that the belief that they exist is technically required.
Secondly, original sin is a descriptive term for the fact that human beings are born with something deficient in their wills. This fact is obvious: human nature includes a desire to seize, possess, to advance the interests of the self over the interests of others, to elevate the ego (as Augustine observes in his Confessions). This, I think, is indisputable, and this deficiency, this willingness to prioritize the self over other people and over the good, is precisely what the term "original sin" means. The word "sin" in the term "original sin" does not mean that people are born with personal sin, that people enter the world already guilty of wrongdoing; rather, the word "sin" refers to a condition in which not everything is as it should be, in which something is lacking.
Perhaps the greatest revelation that Christianity brought into the world, the greatest "religious innovation," so to speak, is this notion that God is love. God wishes us to be united with him in love and does not wish to punish. Yet love to be real must be freely chosen; a love that is forced is by its very nature not love. If God allows us to participate in his being by loving, he is required to give us the choice of not loving.
Thus I think the "sin" component of "Original Sin" is entirely coherent. The difficulty lies instead with the "original" aspect—how exactly is it that previous sin entails that the rest of us also enter this world in a state in which something is lacking in our wills? I am not entirely sure (and the Catechism itself says that "the transmission of original sin is a mystery"), but my personal theory is that any sin, by its very nature as a turning-away from God, effects a separation between the physical and the divine realms such that when sin entered into the physical world, the physical world became imperfect. If this realm of existence has become tainted, we who come after the tainting enter a world of imperfection, of lackingness and thus are conceived in lackingness. Something—some element of salvific grace proper to the divine realm—is missing.
Perhaps the point at which human beings became capable of obeying or disobeying God was the point at which one of our ancestors was capable of giving him- or herself fully away, of surrendering himself not for his own good (and not for the survival of his genes either; as Dawkins brilliantly observed before he dabbled into fields beyond his competence, it is the gene that is truly selfish and thus we can observe seemingly "altruistic" behavior in animals like bees, who sacrifice themselves to protect their kin and thus perpetuate their genes even though they die) but rather for the good. The point at which a human being was able to surrender him- or herself for a good cause simply and exclusively because it was the right thing to do seems to be the point at which true love becomes possible, and thus relationship with God as well.
Says Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI:
> The clay became man at the moment in which a being for the first time was capable of forming, however dimly, the thought of "God". The first Thou that—however stammeringly—was said by human lips to God marks the moment in which the spirit arose in the world. Here the Rubicon of anthropogenesis was crossed. For it is not the use of weapons or fire, not new methods of cruelty or of useful activity, that constitute man, but rather his ability to be immediately in relation to God. This holds fast to the doctrine of the special creation of man ... herein ... lies the reason why the moment of anthropogenesis cannot possibly be determined by paleontology: anthropogenesis is the rise of the spirit, which cannot be excavated with a shovel. The theory of evolution does not invalidate the faith, nor does it corroborate it. But it does challenge the faith to understand itself more profoundly and thus to help man to understand himself and to become increasingly what he is: the being who is supposed to say Thou to God in eternity.
-Ratzinger, In the Beginning...
Firstly, God is timeless. Therefore the span of time between the creation of the universe and the appearance of the first rational/moral agent is of no consequence.
Secondly, it appears that this universe is unusually conducive to life. Now, I'm a theologian, not a physicist, and so I may be talking out of my ass here, but as Martin Rees writes in Just Six Numbers there are six fundamental constants that "constitute the 'recipe' for a universe," such that if any one of them were even slightly different, this universe would be utterly incapable of producing the advanced forms of life capable of rational inquiry and moral reflection that are relevant to our discussion. For example, the value of the fundamental constant ε is 0.007, and "if ε were 0.006 or 0.008, we could not exist." Thus I don't think we can say that this is the case of a "laissez-faire" creator; rather, it would seem that this creator ensured that rational beings would eventually come to exist in the universe that he created and that we were thus intended.
Thirdly, God does not disappear from the scene at the point at which beings are capable of acknowledging him. He makes his presence known and is active in history (and with the incarnation he even enters history).
Asking redditors to explain conservative goals and values is the perfect political Turing test. The answers are always awful.
The more time I spend online, the more I keep agreeing with Jon Haidt's research. He's a self-described liberal that uses his moral foundation theory to explain the underlying moral values of each party, and why it leads to the "Conservative Advantage" - that conservatives are way better at understanding liberals than vice versa. In other words, conservatives generally think liberals are naive and misguided, while liberals generally think conservatives are evil, insane, etc.
He wrote a whole book about it called The Righteous Mind, but this is a good intro if you're interested in learning more. I've never been able to look at politics the same way after reading Haidt's work. He was a life-changer for me.
> There is no evidence of repressed memory being a real condition, and it can in fact be dangerous to believe so.
You're wrong about this, please don't spread this kind of misinformation to abuse survivors in this sub. Repressed memory of abuse is real and has been documented extensively. --
"There have in fact been hundreds of scientific publications spanning well over a century documenting how the memory of trauma can be repressed, only to surface years or decades later. Memory loss has been reported in people who have experienced natural disasters, accidents, war trauma, kidnapping, torture, concentration camps, and physical and sexual abuse. Total memory loss is most common in childhood sexual abuse, with incidence ranging from 19 percent to 38 percent"...
..."[Dr. Linda Meyer Williams] interviewed 206 girls between the ages of ten and twelve who had been admitted to a hospital emergency room following sexual abuse. Their laboratory tests, as well as interviews with the children and their parents, were kept in the hospital's medical records. Seventeen years later Williams was able to track down 136 of the children, now adults, with whom she conducted extensive follow-up interviews. More than a third of the women (38 percent) did not recall the abuse that was documented in their medical records, while only fifteen women (12 percent) said that they had never been abused as children. More than two-thirds (68 percent) reported other incidents of childhood sexual abuse. Women who were younger at the time of the incident and those who were molested by someone they knew were more likely to have forgotten their abuse."
~ The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, pgs 192-193.
This book is an excellent resource and I encourage everyone with any kind of interest in the subject to read it. https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Citations included in the above text:
B. A. van der Kolk and R. Risler, "Dissociation and Fragmentary Nature of Traumatic Memories: Overview and Exploratory Study," Journal of Traumatic Stress 8 (1995): 505-25
J.W. Hopper and B.A. van der Kolk, "Retrieving, Assessing, and Classifying Traumatic Memories: A Preliminary Report on Three Case Studies of a New Standardized Method," Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 4 (2001): 33-71
J.J. Freyd and A.P. DePrince, eds., Trauma and Cognitive Science (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2001), 33-71
A.P. DePrince and J.J. Freyd, "The Meeting of Trauma and Cognitive Science: Facing Challenges and Creating Opportunities at the Crossroads," Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 4, no. 2 (2001): 1-8
D. Brown, A.W. Scheflin, and D. Corydon Hammond, Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law (New York: Norton, 1997)
K. Pope and L. Brown, Recovered Memories of Abuse: Assessment, Therapy, Forensics (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1996)
L. Terr, Unchained Memories: True Stories of Traumatic Memories, Lost and Found (New York: Basic Books, 1994)
E.F. Loftus, S. Polonsky, and M.T. Fullilove, "Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Remembering and Repressing," Psychology of Women Quarterly 18, no. 1 (1994): 67-84
L. M. Williams, "Recall of Childhood Trauma: A Prospective Study of Women's Memories of Child Sexual Abuse," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 62, no. 6 (1994): 1167-76
L.M. Williams, "Recovered Memories of Abuse in Women with Documented Child Sexual Victimization Histories," Journal of Traumatic Stress 8, no. 4 (1995): 649-73
edit: formatting
Well this is a very dear topic to me, as schizophrenia has completely shaped my life. My dad was diagnosed paranoid shizophrenic when I was very young and my relationship with him was mostly via periodic long distance phone calls. His story is basically the same as A Beautiful Mind, just a different Ivy League school. Most of my life has been consumed by the fear that one day my brain would turn on me, feeling like a ticking time bomb that could go off any moment, particularly when I smoked a lot of THC I went to very bad places in my head and could literally see the line, if not crossing it for moments.
Having vomited all that out, a few questions:
In the book, Dr. Strassman explains studies were making headway in the 60's before a ban on all hallucinogenics shut down the research, even though it occurs naturally in the human body.
I like to think of it as like a valve to the dream world, if you do too many hallucinogens, or simply have shortages of regulatory brain chemicals to keep the DMT under control, I feel this is the most logical explanation. For example, when your brain releases it while you are asleep, your mind and body are prepared so this is normal... but if that same chemical was leaking into your mind while you're awake, couldn't that explain the hallucinations occuring and how they seem so real?
NOTE: I know virtually nothing about chemistry, brain chemistry, biology, psychology or anything, so I'm sure some of this stuff can be easily dismissed, these are just the best explanations I've been able to come up with in my own research. Would love to hear from someone more knowledgable from a science perspective as well.
Losing weight is more about changing your diet than exercising. Of course, exercise helps, but you MUST get your diet in line. Go download My Fitness Pal and start tracking your calories.
If you don't like cardio (I hate it), go lift instead. Get the book "Starting Strength" and hit the weights 3 times a week. If you do that, while keeping your calories in line, you will lose weight with no trouble at all.
Hit up /r/fitness and /r/progresspics to get some good info and inspiration. Best of luck!!
Edit: fixed links
Alright, it's not a "convervative" resource, but I read Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind and it made me less politically angry. What I previously saw as callousness and bitterness I now see as responding to different moral cues. Here's the TED talk summarizing part of the book, and here's the Amazon link.
Welcome!
You could probably benefit from reading the wiki.
This is my /r/fitness guide for people with generic fitness goals. It isn't the only way to go about it but everything in it is frequently recommended by people in /r/fitness:
Stronglifts is a beginner program designed to maximise your strength gains in a relatively safe way and increase the chances you'll follow the program by being relatively easy to learn and follow. It isn't meant to be followed forever though.
Progress guide to Stronglifts:
Ignore anyone who tells you at what weights these things should happen. Just follow the program. Your body can do what it can do, trying to match an average or macho idea of what you "should" be able to do instead of what you can do will just get you injured and/or stalling.
If you want to track the changes in your body measure your weight, shoulders, biceps, calves, chest, forearms, hips, neck, waist and thighs, flexed and/or unflexed or whatever combination of those you care about.
Learn to ignore the daily measurements - they will mislead you as to your actual progress and send you on an emotional rollercoaster. The weekly trend tells you what's what.
People often regret not taking enough photos of their progress. Take photos from more than one angle regularly in consistent conditions (lighting, time of day, clothing, pose).
Useful form videos:
Bench Press
Deadlift
Squats
Pendlay/Barbell Rows
Overhead Press
This book helped me build a meditation routine that did all you mentioned and more.
The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501156985/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4qqMDb71WRQ5Y
Starting Strength:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0982522738/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
Even before 1949
At 17 years old, you're too young to safely fast, per the co-author of the Complete Guide to Fasting, who also co-hosts the Fasting Talk podcast and is considered by many to be a leading authority on the subject.
Also, the age issue comes up here a lot (these are all from the last 2 weeks or so):
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/69p53n/for_anyone_under_18_years_of_age_interested_in/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/6a7k8e/im_16_and_i_want_to_know_if_i_can_water_fast/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/6a58ma/ive_been_eating_once_a_day_for_a_month_when_is/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/6a25a0/should_i_start_a_water_fast_diet_under_the_age_of/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/6a12ul/im_17_can_i_do_fasting/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/69vmkz/fasting_as_a_teenager/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/comments/69mbn9/fasting_as_a_16yo_male_really_dangerous/
Far be it for me to discourage anyone from a physical regimen, but the article draws its citations from Kelly Starrett. In the interest of fairness, here's a particularly damning review of Starrett's book.
The Perilous State of the University: Jonathan Haidt/Jordan B Peterson
>I recently traveled to New York University to talk with Dr. Jonathan Haidt about, among other things, disgust, purity, fear and belief; the perilous state of the modern university; and his work with Heterodox Academy (https://heterodoxacademy.org/) an organization designed to draw attention to the lack of diversity of political belief in the humanities and the social sciences. Dr. Haid is Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business and a social psychologist. He studies the psychology of morality and the moral emotions. He has been described as a top global thinker by both Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines. Dr. Haidt is the author of three books: The newest is The Coddling of the American Mind: How Bad Ideas and Good Intentions are Setting up a Generation for Failure (http://amzn.to/2AN87a6). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (http://amzn.to/2yOOQnU) The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (http://amzn.to/2hJ0TzT) His writings on diversity viewpoint for the Heterodox Academy are at (http://righteousmind.com/viewpoint-di...)
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding/dp/0684857219
I own his book, and honestly the illustrations of women are a little disturbing to me. They are frequently shown topless and even when wearing sports bras their nipples are regularly showing through. I mean, I'm all for showing accurate anatomical drawings, but I'm not sure how a careful illustration of a woman's naked breasts is supposed to teach me which muscles are worked in a deadlift ...
I'm sure every subscriber here has already read it, but the top book has got to be The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Reading it really opened my mind to how evolution actually worked in a way that my teachers at school never had. Even if later on when I started learning about social insects I had to start questioning some of those ways of looking at an "individual".
Back on topic, I'd recommend Matt Ridley's Nature Via Nurture, Genome, and The Red Queen, as each are accessible yet still highly informative looks into various aspects of evolution.
For those interested in human evolution there's Y: The Descent of Men by Steve Jones and The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes.
All of those fall more under the category of books that should be read between high school and college if you are interested in studying Biology. Once you get to grad school level books might be a neat introduction to a topic, but any real learning would come from primary literature. I've read lots of fantastic papers but they start becoming so specialized that I would hesitate to put forward specific suggestions, because what might be fascinating to ecologists will probably be dire to molecular biologists. I know that as someone with a focus on zoology, most of the genetics papers I read left me more confused that enlightened.
I can't recommend this book enough, it's called Strength Training Anatomy, it goes through each lift and tells you what muscle it primarily works and secondarily works.
http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Edition/dp/0736092269/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375129750&sr=8-3&keywords=weightlifting+book
LIFT HEAVY SHIT.
If you want a good, toned body, you have to lift in some fashion or another. Period. There is no other way. It's how our bodies (and physics) work. The best results will come from lifting the heaviest shit.
Want a nice legs? do Power Cleans. A nice ass? Squat. Nice arms? Bench.
Females who lift look like Hope Solo (NSFW), not this (NSFL). In order to look like the body builder you have to take testosterone and other supplements. No woman's body can look like that naturally.
LIFT HEAVY SHIT
Buy this book to learn how to lift heavy shit.
Se está interessado em se aprofundar no assunto de por que violência aumenta ou diminui. Sugiro ler esse livro do Steven Pinker que é referência mundial no assunto.
O livro foca mais no cenário global como um todo. Aonde a violência está diminuindo na média. Mas reconhece que em alguns focos na América latina violência está indo em direção contrária.
O livro é extremamente extenso, a explicação não é simples, são diversos fatores diferentes. Mas uma das teclas que ele bate bastante e nos parece bem familiar no Brasil, é um Estado ineficiente na área de segurança. Apesar de alguns políticos populistas estarem apelando pra sugestão de que deveria ser responsabilidade de cada indivíduo se defender sozinho. O que o livro mostra é que historicamente a evidência é bem forte de que quem faz segurança é a polícia. Os estados brasileiros aonde a polícia está mal paga, com greves, paralisações, é justamente aonde estão os piores focos de violência.
Yes there are loads of critiques.... generally from Marxists who can't stand the fact that the research isn't supporting their religious doctrine.
Pinker's book The Better Angels of Our Nature was one of the most well received science books of the past decade and although it's intended for a lay audience, Pinker went to incredible trouble to read and source hundreds of studies.
That doesn't mean that Pinker's infallible. Only that I find him infinitely more credible then the tired old Marxist academics who continually take pot-shots at him.
Edit: Just looked at your links - 'truthout.com' and 'dissidentvoices.com'. I think it's fair to say that both these sites are in the business of writing highly politicized criticism of Western culture.
FIRST: You will never do everything perfectly. Luckily, that's not necessary in order to improve.
The trouble is, that there are a lot of great resources full of a lot of bad information. There's too much information swirling around and everyone is an expert. The only thing that worked for me was to read everything and believe nothing. If you read six or seven articles, you will get six or seven different theories. Most of these magazines/web sites need new information every day/week/month, and the truth is, there isn't that much new information. The only way to be sure of something, is to see what EVERYONE is saying. Nobody who has a "secret" has your best interests at heart.
That being said, if you have some free time, I have heard good things about the Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.
The fact that no one said Starting Strength... I am surprised... Yes it's great for beginners, but I think it's good for anyone wanting to learn good form and why.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
Munchkin - $29.99
Apron - $29.71
Lifting for Women - $14.44
----
$74.14 - all are highest or high priority from her bomb list. :)
Better fitness and movement patterns. Walking 20 miles a day for 6 months while putting all your weight on your passive body structures will fuck you up, yo. I suggest reading Becoming a Supple Leopard for general movement patterns, and then Training for the New Alpinism to understand how to get in shape (though from the sounds of it, you probably won't have time for the latter).
If you are looking for gear knowledge, I'd suggest first laying out your gear on GearGrams or LighterPack. Asking "what do you wish you had" doesn't give us much useful to go on, since it doesn't tell us what you are bringing already; and as MadMaxHeadroom said, what you don't bring is just as important as what you do. Using one of these websites to list your gear will give you a useful way to tabulate weight, and will make your gear list easier to share and easier to read.
Once you've done that, I'd suggest posting to one or a few of the long distance hiking subs. I can't find one specifically for the CT, but here are a few, in descending order of activity:
That's an impressive 19-week transformation, great job! Here's a piece of advice you can choose to ignore; instead of avoiding squats for fear of your knees, start doing squats, and use them as a method to fix your knees. That said, don't straight out start squatting like a monster. I'd suggest taking a look at Becoming a Supple Leopard, stabilization and torque, seeing a physiotherapist or doing all of them before getting into it.
Also, if you're going to do the above, it's important to think of it as rehabilitation rather than working out. I had some pretty nasty hip/ass/groin-issues (allthough if you'd asked me before I found out, I'd blame the hips and knees) due to bad form and lack of stretching during my years of thai boxing. Perfect form, slowly increasing resistance (starting very low) and constant awareness of what your body is telling you is what you should be aiming for.
Disclaimer: I'm just a regular guy who doesn't know shit about what kind of problems you're having with your knees.
I don't think your legs look big at all. As said by previous posters, I think your doctor is biased. You mentioned your quads are very tight. I don't know what your issues are specifically, but have you tried mobility work (I know crossfit is big on mobility. I don't do crossfit, but KStar (physical therapist and crossfit coach) wrote a really awesome book about technique and mobility that has helped my joints and functioning in general.
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588
As a nutrition researcher myself, I also have high standards for information sources and get so frustrated by all the bullshit out there. I've worked on all sorts of protocols, including keto ones, and there's few benefits and some harm to be had from following keto diet if not epileptic (yeah- go ahead and shoot me now lol) but somehow it's become commingled with fasting for health. Anyways. Some science for you:
https://www.amazon.com/Fasting-Eating-Health-Medical-Conquering/dp/031218719X
(Great overview of why fasting)
https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Diet-Intermittent-Fasting-Healthy/dp/1780721676 (by one of the first doctors to publicize fasting)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1501140183
(More like funny memoir of experience with fasting and a layperson's understanding of the science)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ourbrokenplate/our-broken-plate/rewards
(In a few months should be available- brilliantly researched)
Documentary https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihhj_VSKiTs
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
(Not solely on fasting but so comprehensively researched that I highly recommend it - everybody should read it. Truly and literally life changing)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684131/#!po=27.9661
(Not a book, but some good info)
Ignorance??? I don't know, but it's messed up that people don't know more about a Whole Foods Plant Based diet.This book saved my dad's life. He is no longer diabetic and his hypertension is controlled now.
Two things will greatly help improve your memory:
For the first, I highly recommend the book The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa (and the accompanying subreddit r/TheMindIlluminated). Practicing meditation in this way will develop extremely powerful mindfulness, allowing you to be very aware of what is happening in your experience at any given time. As a side-benefit, you also get enlightened, so that's nifty. :D
For the second, there are dozens of books on memory techniques. My favorite is The Manual. I haven't practiced it much, but to give you an idea, a basic memory trick beginners can learn is to memorize an entire deck of cards in order. These techniques are amazing for studying in school, especially for things like biology or language where there is a ton of memorization involved.
Also if you smoke a lot of marijuana, that will also not do you any favors. Reducing your consumption will help your memory a lot, as one of the effects of pot is loss of short-term memory, and what doesn't enter your short-term memory has no chance of entering your long-term memory.
There are also a number of supplements ("nootropics") that help with memory, the choline family especially (look up CDP Choline and Alpha GPC and experiment for yourself).
For those interested:
> strong curves
https://www.amazon.com/Strong-Curves-Womans-Building-Better/dp/1936608642
This slideshow is essentially the same thesis as Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature. A great book.
As someone left of center and an environmentalist.... Free markets and enlightenment values have lifted humanity out of squalor and superstition into modern day lives of plenty and comfort. Check out Steven Pinker's works if you don't believe me.
As long as we bring both to Mars with us, we'll be fine.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is one of the more recent NYT bestsellers that is also a pretty good biology read. The Hot Zone is a classic, and although it is dated, it will probably regain some of its formal popularity due to the [current ebola outbreak] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_outbreak). I would recommend Creighton if you want a "fun" read, but his works are fictional, predictable, and often infuriatingly inaccurate.
Absolutely. It is a topic that was covered extensively in our adoption education training as adoptive parents. Regardless of age when adopted, it is a traumatic event and can lead to a lot of feelings of loss/grief throughout life. I haven't read this book personally, but I've heard a lot of people recommend The Body Keeps the Score on the topic.
Deeply sorry to hear about your struggle. This sounds like a monumental amount of effort to deal with. Id highly recommend checking out this book to get a better understanding of trauma. Do you have a good support system?
In "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined", Pinker talks a bit about honor culture and how it's persisted in the south and how that effects violence.
If I remember correctly there was one study that showed that southern employers are more forgiving of candidates who murdered someone for retribution than of someone who stole cars, whereas for northern employers it was the opposite. Kinda crazy...
We have one of if not the freest healthcare market in the developed world. The systems that are much further from free market health care are the ones that are 1/2 the cost with better outcomes. When you can only fathom applying more of what doesn't work, you're stuck in an ideological bind.
"Watching politics" is about the least accurate way of understanding why people act the way they do. You might try reading moral and political psychology where they actually study why people believe and push for the things they do with scientific methods. I highly recommend picking up a book like The Righteous Mind or Moral Tribes if you want to begin to understand current political realities more deeply.
https://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736092269
For anyone interested in source or more drawings. Excellent book.
Bench works the anterior (front) delt.
OHP works the anterior and lateral (middle/side) delt. If you are able to do a back version of it that will work the posterior (rear) delt. If you find this an uncomfortable range of motion try it with dumbbells.
Bent over lat raises target the rear delt.
Standing lat raises target side delt.
Bent over and seated rows target the rear delt. Upright rows target front, side and rear.
If you want to learn more I highly recommend picking up Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0736092269/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474814537&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=strength+training+anatomy&dpPl=1&dpID=51mZtLjh1zL&ref=plSrch
I can't believe nobody has mentioned the Strong Curves book yet.
Yes, a lot is genetic, butt! you can get a more shapely ass with exercise too!
I would recommend that you read
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012/
And
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1771641258/
These books contains links to a lot of the studies that answers your questions in depth.
Absolutely. Check out the book Becoming a Supple Leopard it's a great resource.
Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett. Thank me later.
Mobility. Check out Kelly Starrett's Becoming A Supple Leopard
If you want to get her a book, I suggest this:
https://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/1583333398
New Rules of Lifting for Women
It's got a lot of good information in there about differences between men and women. It also goes pretty well into how women can train and not "bulk up" like a man unless we work really REALLY hard at it.
XX here, Stumptuous has been the absolute best site for me. Krista, who runs the site, has many great things to say and blogs on everything from squats to "feminine problems" to realistic body image and is generally awesome the entire time!
If your girlfriend like to follow books, the new rules of lifting for women isn't bad. I read through it and it mostly tells you that compound exercises are awesome and diet is important. Plus, there are photos of a woman doing all the lifts so your gf can see proper form.
As for myself, I'll say that the 6 weeks I've spent back in the gym after a long hiatus have really made a positive impact on my attitude and body. I've lost noticeable amounts of body fat, gotten stronger and have more energy. Squatting your own body weight is such a trip and being able to bench it... well maybe that'll happen sometime! (hoping to lose a bit more weight along the way so it's a lower number :P)
Good luck!
The first thing you need to do is to get to work, son:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
Insight Timer is better (and free). Also (serious) The Mind Illuminated
The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook helped me with my anxiety.
It's not exactly a self-help book, but The Mind Illuminated has helped me learn more about meditation and mindfulness.
If you're genuinely interested you should check out the book "How Not to Die" by Dr. Michael Greger. The book goes over each of the 15 top causes of death for Americans and discusses how diet affects your odds of dying of a particular one according to the latest medical literature. It is easy to read and he cites over a thousand studies. If this doesn't convince you then nothing will.
My vote
1)It's huge and makes an awesome coffee table book
2)It's packed with info (see #1)
3)You will always read its text in Arnold's voice.
No! Not from a dead hang. Keep a little tension in your arms so they don't go completely straight. Leave a little bend in your arms. The extra few degrees is not going to impact the exercise any. Going completely straight can cause tendinitis in your forearms. If you are worried that a few degrees amounts to cheating, then hang some weigh from a belt and do weighted pull-ups.
edit:
locking our your elbows at the end of a pull-up can cause tendonitis of the distal tendon of the biceps brachii where it inserts at the radius. see. eg. Strength Training Anatomy, by Frederic Delavier
While these videos are very good at explaining real experiments and citing them, I'd like to point out that they vastly simplify the psychology of beliefs.
For further detail you should check out Jonathan Haidt's book "The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion", or for a tl:dr, check out his interview with Stephen Colbert.
Technically, it's not a straight copy/paste. (it's a slow day at work so, let's compare!)
From the IG post:
> I didn’t write this in the book because it happened while I wrote the book. The last six weeks of writing the first full draft of ENOUGH, I had hundreds of hives all over my chest and abdomen when I started to write for the day. Four times my lip swelled up, along with half my face, so I had to stop to go to the clinic, the emergency room, the fire station, to make sure I wasn’t in danger of losing my breath. It always calmed down after an hour or two away from the computer. I had allergy tests, specialists looking at me, and it all came up with no answer. It was terrifying, again.
❤️
At least 8 or 10 times I’ve had occasions like this, mostly focused on severe abdominal pain. And most of those times, there was nothing wrong, at least on tests. I never had anyone suggest it could have been the trauma in my body talking to me.
And, from the "Leaving LA" newsletter:
>I didn’t write this in ENOUGH because it happened while I wrote the book. The last six weeks of writing the first full draft, I had hundreds of hives all over my chest and abdomen when I started to write for the day. Four times my lip swelled up, along with half my face, so I had to stop to go to the clinic, the emergency room, the fire station, to make sure I wasn’t in danger of losing my breath. My body calmed down after an hour or two away from the computer. I had allergy tests, specialists looking at me, and it all came up with no answer.
>
>At least 8 or 10 times I’ve had medical mysterieslike this, mostly focused on severe abdominal pain. And most of those times, there was nothing wrong, at least on tests. I never had anyone suggest it could have been the trauma in my body talking to me.
I bolded the differences. (I love that one of the differences has a typo, too!)
The next paragraph IS 100% copy/paste.
IG:
> My doctor, a wonderful woman who trained under the doctor I mention in my book, sat me down about a month after my manuscript was in. And she told me that idiopathic uticaria (hives for no reason) is generally stress, deep body stress. My body, hardwired to protect my mom and keep the secrets, was trying to make me stop writing. I persisted.
Newsletter:
> My doctor, a wonderful woman who trained under the doctor I mention in my book, sat me down about a month after my manuscript was in. And she told me that idiopathic uticaria (hives for no reason) is generally stress, deep body stress. My body, hardwired to protect my mom and keep the secrets, was trying to make me stop writing. I persisted.
The last two paragraphs have only one slight difference:
IG:
> She diagnosed me with complex PTSD from my childhood. She put me on an SSRI for the first time in my life. And I started a deep dive into reading (please read @nadineburkeharris”s book and The Body Keeps the Score) and acting on what I know now. I’m still learning how to take care of myself. I will probably write about this journey too.
❤️
I know how to admit to myself when I have had enough now. When I found my jaw was clenched most of the time in LA, I knew it was time to come home.
Newsletter:
​
>She diagnosed me with complex PTSD from my childhood. She put me on an SSRI for the first time in my life. And I started a deep dive into reading — if this resonates with you, read The Deepest Well and The Body Keeps the Score — and acting on what I know now. I’m still learning how to take care of myself. I will probably write about this journey too.
>
>I know how to admit to myself when I have had enough now. When I found my jaw was clenched most of the time in LA, I knew it was time to come home.
The Selfish Gene. We reconciled natural selection with altruism in the 70's.
The idea that this is the least violent time in history comes from a book called The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker, which purports to show that violence has been decreasing over time, and we live in the least violent period in history. That is not to say that our world is not still too violent, but rather that it is not as violent as it once was.
I'm sorry? Wars in the past were way more horrific and casualties were significantly higher than they are now, we are living in one of the most peaceful eras in history.
https://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010
Here is a good book that discusses this exact subject.
you're so eager to be offended you can't even hear what is being said. A smaller percentage of the population dies violent deaths due to wars and homicide than in the past. Steven Pinker writes extensively on this. The geography of the commenter has nothing to do with this fact.
Hello and welcome! Here are my recommendations for de-indoctrinating yourself:
Take some time to learn about the history of the bible. For example, you can take the Open Yale Courses on Religious Studies for free.
Read Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman
Also read A History of God by Karen Armstrong
Watch this talk from Sam Harris where he explains why "free will" is likely an illusion, which debunks the entire premise of "the fall of man" as presented by most Christian religions.
Watch this video on the Cordial Curiosity channel that teaches how the "Socratic Method" works, which essentially is a way to question why we believe what we believe. Do we have good reasons to believe them? If not, should we believe them?
Watch this video by Theramin Trees that explains why we fall for the beliefs of manipulative groups in the first place.
This video explains why and how childhood indoctrination works, for those of us born-in to a high-control group.
Another great source is this youtube series debunking 1914 being the start of the last days.
Next, learn some science. For example - spoiler alert: evolution is true. Visit Berkeley's excellent Understanding Evolution Website. Or, if you're pressed for time, watch this cartoon.
Read Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne.
Read The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins.
Watch this series where Aron Ra explains in great detail how all life is connected in a giant family tree.
Learn about the origin of the universe. For example, you could read A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Learn about critical thinking from people like [Michael Shermer] (http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_on_believing_strange_things?language=en), and how to spot logical fallacies.
For good measure, use actual data and facts to learn the we are NOT living in some biblical "last days". Things have gotten remarkably better as man has progressed in knowledge. For example, watch this cartoon explaining how war is on the decline.
Read The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker.
Watch this Ted Talk by Hans Rosling, the late Swedish Statistician, where he shows more evidence that the world is indeed becoming a better place, and why we tend to wrongly convince ourselves otherwise.
I wish you the best. There is a whole world of legitimate information out there based on actual evidence that we can use to become more knowledgeable people.
You may still wonder how you can be a good human without "the truth." Here is a good discussion on how one can be good without god. --Replace where he talks about hell with armageddon, and heaven with paradise--
Start to help yourself begin to live a life where, as Matt Dillahunty puts it, you'll "believe as many true things, and as few false things as possible."
I'm not sure about those "poor results"?
Violence is lower than ever. Unless you count exceptions like Baltimore, which we are not allowed to talk about.
I think abortion should be legal and widely available. But it's at an all time low. Birth control is getting better.
It's not a study so much as a thesis that analyzes many different studies, but I would highly recommend Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature as a jumping off point.
First, thank your father profusely for being awesome. Second, don't abuse his generosity by ordering the entire Rogue catalog - start with the bare essentials for full body strength.
Get the book immediately and actually READ it. All of it. You can do this while working on finding the gym equipment. As far as the exact pieces of equipment, just remember that it didn't have to be "the best", just better than you are right now.
Continue to ask questions and do your own research. Good luck!
http://www.amazon.ca/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738 this book, as much as i disagree with it as an oly lifter, is ground zero for any kid who wants to start moving some daddy weight. Mark rippetoe will say things you disagree with, but if you follow what he says, You'll be glad you did.
I'm a psychology major (on top of dealing with my own trauma issues) and I mostly became interested in body-oriented work through some practice-oriented classes I had on "focusing". It's a technique developed by Gendlin. Focusing is something you do with two people. One person is focusing, and the other guides the experience. While focusing, you pay attention to your body and zoom in on what's grabbing your attention the most. Then you focus on this experience and find a way of expressing this feeling (like in an image or something, not in "rationalized thoughts"). You can read a bit more about it here. You can also focus on a specific emotional topic. I recently finally made the decision to take a 2-day course which now allows me to focus on my own, with a partner who also took the course. You don't need to have a psychology degree to be able to do a focusing course and find a focusing partner, although when you're going to focus on something trauma-related I would suggest to try it out with a licensed therapist (at least the first few times), in case you would get triggered.
After having this experience with "focusing" during my own studies, and having some problems with CBT, I explicitly looked for a therapist stating that she did body-oriented work. I think the method that my therapist uses is developed by Albert Pesso. I hadn't heard of it before I met her, but a quick google scearch brings me to this website. I'm now also starting emdr with my therapist. They're not really sure how emdr really works, but I think that they assume that on a neurological level it also engages the body while thinking about the trauma.
The body keeps the score should also be a good book about the effects of trauma on the body, although I haven't read it myself.
I generally feel that a lot of different therapeutical views agree on the importance of the body on a theoretical level. However, apart from focusing, emdr and the method my therapist uses, I haven't found any therapies that use the body-oriented work in relation to themes you really struggle with. CBT has mindfulness for example, but -in my opinion- they don't really use it on specific themes. It's more like "be aware of your body and accept it", while with focusing and the method by Pesso, you're looking into how your body feels when thinking about something specific and what might "help" you in that situation. Although, I do believe that mindfulness has some merits. I use an app, Youper, who has mindfulness (and CBT exercises) in it. There's one exercise that I like where you try to create a sense of gratitude and pay attention to how that feels in your body. You van also track your daily emotions, and even trauma-related symptoms with Youper.
I'm finishing a PhD on how we process emotions, and the role of paying attention to the body... So from a theoretical point of view I could keep on discussing this :-) But I think these resources will probably be the most interesting if you're looking for something you can apply.
Edit: sorry for the long post. I just get excited when I can talk about this
Hey bud, I know you said you're struggling without a support network right now, can you find some low/no cost meetups with people who enjoy doing what you do? There might even be one for emotionally traumatized people (https://www.meetup.com/San-Diego-Emotional-Trauma-and-PTSD/).
Like you said, arguing is a coping skill for you, to cover/deal with whatever particular blend of emotions you might be dealing with in the moment. I also tend to trigger my wife when I'm triggered, and it's been a huge learning curve for both of us to deal with each other and be able to be present enough to not instantly react to each other with our respective dysfunctional coping mechanisms.
I saw you mentioned Body Keeps the Score in the other thread that one's good. There's also CPTSD from Pete Walker. My personal favorite though is Healing Developmental Trauma by Laurence Heller. It seems to be the most systematic, step-by-step explanation I've been able to find of what's necessary for us to heal.
I posted a semi-review/explanation of Laurence Heller's theory of developmental trauma here.
Other poster mentioned
>This place has treasures but you've gotta find them
Totally agree with that. Be patient, read, and engage in discussion like what you're doing, what don't expect any miracles from the sub.
>Unfortunately in the unfair real world no one really cares for damaged obnoxious underdeveloped underprivileged peopleThat is society. I don't know how you haven't learnt this yet, perhaps you are privileged race and gender and otherwise, but this is soemthing that you just need to accept.
A very harsh truth. Perhaps you haven't been able to accept this because you haven't be able to accept and grieve your own losses yet. If you do have DTD, you've had many things taken from you, including childhood innocence. It's a rough place to be, but healing is possible; just very, very slowly. It's a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back situation.
Yes. This was my first Haidt content ever - and I'm into his work ever since. I also highly recommend the book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.
I found this. Is that the same thing?
Edit: Legit purchase.
New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Amazon link.
You might be interested in Jonathan Haidt's Moral foundations theory and his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. He finds that both progressives and conservatives value fairness. Here's his TED Talk if you prefer that.
I experience this as well occasionally, but it's been a side effect of intensive meditation. I'd like to reply later in more detail, but for now you can consider checking out Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha or The Mind Illuminated for a framework on the second-by-second nature of subjective experience, and how meditation can develop and work with it. You can also check out /r/streamentry or /r/TheMindIlluminated.
Super, super sketch. If there's hope that it's actually going to work, there are easier ways of getting the info... The site lists these "factors" that result in having a smaller butt: 1. Hormonal imbalance during time of puberty, 2. Low fat genetics, 3. Low muscle genetics, 4. Natural body shape, 5. Physical activity, 6. Diet, 7. Lower body strength
Well, these actually boil down to the things we already know:
First, genetics can't really be controlled... with time and effort, you can look like the very best version of you. (You can't make yourself look fundamentally different, but you can fulfill your genetic potential.) If you think you have a hormone imbalance keeping you from having a bigger butt, seeing a doctor might help.
Second, muscle is awesome. Check out strength-building programs such as Starting Strength or NROL4W if you have access to a gym with free weights. The compound lifts work multiple sets of muscles at once, and the basic lifts are squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead (military) press. Or look into Convict Conditioning if you want to use your body weight. These programs are balanced. These are well-researched. These are non-gimicky. If you follow the program, you will get stronger.
The complete list of movements to build glutes are listed here at EXRX. They boil down to two main lifts - squats and deadlifts.
The way to build strength and muscle mass is to lift heavy enough that the 3-5th repetition is really hard, and keep lifting more each time. If you never increase the weight, your muscles won't adapt to lift more. Progressive overload builds muscle.
As an aside, doing lots of abdominal work can build your abs, which may make your waist-hip ratio smaller. If you're shooting for a killer butt, overdoing it with extra ab work (on top of the stabilizing work your abs do on heavy lifts) can't help you much in this quest. Spot reduction is a myth. See the "Brittany Spears Effect".
Finally, in terms of diet, you can build muscle if you get enough protein. If you need to lose fat, eating enough protein and cutting out "junk" calories might be enough. If you need to gain fat, eating plenty of calories while you're lifting may be enough. If you don't need to lose fat, just focus on getting enough protein and eat sensibly when you're hungry.
As you build strength in the posterior chain, you'll fill out looking like a goddess with "dat ass".
TL;DR: No need for gimmicks - squats and deadlifts.
Actually, lifting heavy won't make girls bulky. Build as much muscle as possible and your arms will still look no where near as built as Cameron Diaz! (unless you're like 5% body fat) Just start out slow and build your way up. This is a great resource, though it's pretty much just an eating plan (which I found useless) and exercises you can find online. But it also explains the science behind girl vs guys and heavy lifting, how our hormones don't really equip us to build huge muscle. Good luck!
No it’s not sinful to break a fast. God is happy that you’re even trying, a lot of Christians don’t fast even though the Bible tells us to. I believe there’s a difference between fasting with God and fasting for him, and when it’s with him, Grace is there to help you and to empower you. There is no way I could’ve done the fasts that I have except by his grace!
I have a podcast episode i did on it if you want the link message me. Give some tips on what is helped me. Most of all I recommend this book called The Complete Guide to Fasting written by Dr Fung. It’s very informative!
Also fasting is not to get something it’s to become someone. You’re already close to God by the Blood of
Jesus. Don’t use fasting as works, it doesn’t get us stuff. It helps us to learn who we are by the finished work.
Cool Chad is actually Dr. Kelly Starret, author of Becoming a Supple Leopard and Ready to Run. He also is the main guy behind MWOD. This is /r/fitness, the whole point here is to share information.
Great progress! A few unsolicited thoughts on how to break through your road block. This advice comes from stuff you'd find in /r/fitness or /r/startingstrength.
The reason a strength training program (specifically a barbell program that uses compound movements - squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press) is so effective is because it gets your body to squirt out all of these good growth hormones. It's the hormones that trigger all of the changes. It drives this cycle: stress -> recover -> adapt.
Essentially, if you lift 3 times a week and put just a little more weight on the bar each time your body will adjust and be able to do the load for several months without having to change your program.
The gym is the stress part, the food and sleep is the recovery part, and doing both will result in your body adapting to being able to lift more weight.
In so doing, everything gets stronger: your muscles, bones, ligaments, cardiovascular system... you name it. Even your VO2 max goes up, which means you'll be able to run further and faster without even doing cardio in the first place.
As a companion to that whole idea, I'll leave you with this article: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie.
Congrats on the progress thus far! Best of luck crushing your goals!
I swear by supple leopard by Kelly starett. To get a taste of it, check him out on YouTube
Becoming a Supple Leopard 2nd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600837/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ZqPhzb5XQWVAD
Check out The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell if you have not already! It's actually mentioned in the second paragraph in the Wikipedia article you linked. It's one of my favourite books of all-time.
As for why we seem so naturally/innately receptive to these narratives, personally in my opinion I think to some extent we think that's true because of confirmation bias. "Oh look at how so many people love Stars Wars." I think if we look we can see a number of narratives don't follow the Hero's Journey. But for those that do, I think the hero's journey is still so engaging because from one POV it can just be summarized as: a protagonist has a problem, the protagonist goes to solve the problem, they experience challenges in doing so, they receive help as well, and then finally they solve the problem. A story's gotta follow those broad strokes.
But great book from Joseph Campbell nonetheless!
Edit: Whoops, just noticed you asked about other universal plot structures, you didn't ask to read more about the hero's journey. Unfortunately I don't know of other universal plot structures off the top of my head. I'm still gonna leave this comment.
Jeez, why is the burden of proof always on others? Why not try doing some of the legwork yourself? Also, can you name me any nutrient or nutritional property that is specific to poultry or fish, that is unavailable from other sources?
Why not try googling? If you're unmoved by the ethical and environmental arguments (eating seafood is detrimental to the environment, though there is an argument to be made for mussels, clam etc). The new research shows that seafood is definitely not the champion of nutrition once thought, and chicken is definitely not healthy. The tired response is 'well, everything in moderation', but this is horrible dietary advice to live by. We don't recommend cigarettes in moderation, meth in moderation, licking lead paint in moderation, etc. Many studies/organisations will recommend eating chicken/fish over red meat, but these recommendations come from a recognition of a lesser evil. 'Poultry and fish' are often recommended to be eaten over red meats, processed meats, etc, but only as a way to 'reduce your risk' over meat types which are definitively carcinogenic. Health recommendations are made with the status quo in mind and it is very well recognised that a shift towards plant based would be viewed by the masses placated by the status quo as 'extreme'. It is very well evidenced if one is to reduce the most risk of diet related disease, the optimal diet is a plant based one. It is well studied that the primary sources for saturated fats are animal products https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/top-food-sources-of-saturated-fat-in-the-us/ and modern chicken is regularly 'plumped' with sodium water and other additives. Many studies touting the 'healthfulness' of meat do not compare their results to a non-meat eating population, the ones that do show decrease in all-cause mortality when meat is excluded from the diet.
Here are some studies
Mercury and Fish
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3991460/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12227935
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20821440
Fish, Shellfish and Chemical Pollutants
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25486051
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242017/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21541848
Shellfish and CHD
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19631050
HCA Production in cooking of Meat and Fish
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15072585
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20374878
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11894761
Cancer and Poultry
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26898200
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3132069/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3923154/ http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/6/1142.full.pdf
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2016/12/13/poultry-workers-suffer-while-industry-uses-chemicals-to-disinfect-your-chicken/
Poultry and Saturated Fat
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3975875/
All cause mortality rate in vegetarians/vegans
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048091/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4073139/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/5/1627S.long
Meat and dairy consumption is overall significantly linked to all cause mortality and to preventable deaths by diet related causes, including diabetes, CVD, obesity, cancers etc.
There's a ton of research out there, but unfortunately my experience with people saying 'if you can prove x to me, I'd go vegan' is that they have no interest in going vegan whatsoever and will continue in perpetuity to make excuses for every well evidenced argument brought forward. If death and suffering isn't enough to change your mind, nor environmental devastation caused by inefficient resource use and such fishing methods like bottom trawling, nor scientific nutritional studies or the humanitarian reasons for going vegan, then there isn't much point in bringing forward further arguments. If you have a genuine interest in nutrition, I would recommend the book How Not to Die for a deeper examination of the current research in the field of nutrition and dietary science, and then review your position.
If you're interested, there's a book called, "How Not to Die", which basically is a fairly rigorous look at some of the evidence in support of the health benefits of eating plants.
It appears that your main motivation may be ethical, but if there are health benefits as well, then even better!
Maybe show her some videos from nutritionfacts.org or buy her the book How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger if she's not even willing to watch a totally non-graphic, health-focused, plant based diet documentary like Forks Over Knives (my favorite) or What The Health.
I understand what you mean when you say you feel like you're dieting when on keto. I was on keto for about four months and while it yielded great results very quickly, I was upset that I wasn't able to have oatmeal or apples or bananas, which are healthy themselves but not keto friendly.
A healthy diet is ultimately subjective to the person as everyone has different goals, but as a general idea, everyone can agree on a couple of different points. First off, having a large amount of vegetables and whole, unprocessed foods is healthy. This thread on this sub is a good starting point. It is up to you whether you believe dairy, meat, eggs are healthy and want to continue adding them into your diet.
I would also reccomend looking into How to Not Die by Dr. Michael Greger. In my opinion, he gives a scientfic and unbiased way of how to eat for your most optimal health. It is a thick book because he provides so many sources and different sides of the arugement.
Ulitamtely, a healthy diet is whatever makes you feel your best while maintaining some sanity. I eat health 95% of the time (healthy for me is lots of fruits, vegetables, oats, lentils, beans, etc.) while allowing myself to have "unhealthy foods" (sugar-filled processed foods, alcohol) 5% of the time when I'm out with friends because as compared to keto, being healthy and happy is a lifestyle, not a diet. Balance is key and your happiness has to be considered and heavily weighted. :) If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me!
Good luck on your journey and congrats on the 50 pound weightloss!
I was in the same boat as you when I got started and I found that using a good guided meditation app provided a solid starting foundation.
I have personal experience with Ten Percent Happier and Waking Up. Both are fantastic but should not be relied on for too long; it should only take a few months to form your own practice based on the techniques you’ll learn.
I’m at the point where I’m getting comfortable with my own daily practice after using each of those apps for a few months. One widely recommended book which I might look at soon is The Mind Illuminated. Another book I discovered recently, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, is written by respected meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein, who also narrates the intro guided meditations for Ten Percent Happier.
Edit: Waking up has a companion book that discusses what consciousness is and how to avoid the faith-based dogma that is often associated with meditation.
You're in luck.
Strength training is the best exercise you can do for fat loss. More muscle tissue = higher TDEE. Hit those weights and hit them hard. I suggest Starting Strength as a beginner program. Best twenty two bucks you'll ever spend.
It seems a lot of people have a misperception of what mindfulness meditation is/does. Many seem to think the goal is to focus on your thoughts when that is the exact opposite of what you're doing depending on your practice.
If anyone is genuinely interested you should check out r/meditation. From there, I found a great book -- the mind illuminated -- that gives insightful tips about meditation.
There's a ton of published work and literature out there that you can stick your head into and grasp a firm understanding of what it does to one's brain once they begin their regular practice.
Researchers have found that it can be more beneficial than a vacation.
There is a section about posture in Becoming a Supple Leopard.
while standing:
You threw your money away to begin with, when you fell for the "cleanse". Cleanses are bullshit. You lose a lot of weight in the first 1-3 days, because your body dumps 4-10lbs of water weight you were retaining. Thos IG models photoshop the LIVING SHIT out of their pictures. A lot are also on low doses of winstrol (a more mild steroid that women use to lean out, but not look bulky). Their workout programs, and supplements are bullshit as well. I'd suggest something like strong curves, getting your estimated bf% measured, and using something like a tdee calculator to know what you need to lose fat.
Hi! Everyone is talking about this book by Bret Contreras. It's a great resource for everything you need to know and also has a workout routine designed for those that don't have access to a gym!
You can also find a TON of articles Bret has written on his website. I also follow him on instagram, he posts regularly and I find it helps to keep me motivated.
Hope this helps!
I've been weight lifting for bulk for the last 4 months or so and I eat as much as my stomach can handle and it's still not quite enough.
I've never been a heavy person but if you want to lose weight and still eat progressively loading barbells is the way to go. Takes a ton of calories to grow muscle.
I don't understand why so many weight loss programs push the cardio, that method totally works but just lifting weights for strength building seems like the far easier routine with lots of bonuses.
please read The Selfish Gene. It's an incredibly interesting book.
Dawkins talks about social insects (ants, termites, bees) and why they do things "for the greater good".
While individual ants are not acting selfishly, their genes are. If there are two competing alleles. One will (all other things being equal) will cause the worker ant to sacrifice itself for the colony and the other will (all other things being equal) cause the ant to have a sense of self preservation.
Since the worker ants don't send their genes on to the next generation (that is the queen's job), self preservation genes won't necessarily get passed on. If a queen gives a "self preservation" allele to all the worker ants, then the colony will be in danger. The queen will not be protected, and the colony could die off.
If a queen gives the "greater good" allele, the worker ants will protect the queen and the allele will likely be passed on.
So while all the individual ants are acting altruistically, the genes inside their bodes are acting selfishly: sacrificing expendable (genetically) dead end bodies for the one vehicle that can actually propagate the gene (the queen)
That’s a nice fairy tale, isn’t it? The fact that you insult over me saying something completely reasonable doesn’t put you in a very good position.
I didn’t say they were actors or anything was staged. You’re arguing a point I never made. Nice job.
Brooding about our “sick society” doesn’t pass the shit test, unless you’re a C+ college freshman. I have a suggestion for you. Or this one. Why read when you can dismiss arguments with pictures of tin foil hats, though, right? We all know how smart 16 year olds are...
Your life isn't pointless. Right now you may be at a low point, even the lowest point you have been in. I believe that struggling in some way, or being sad/depressed/angry/hurt/etc means that you care about something. Something feels like it's not right to you and you want it to be better. Even if it's a vague feeling, or you are struggling because you actually feel nothing at all, this says something. I'm not sure what you are going through since you didn't post many details (which is totally fine), but I wanted to let you know that there have been many times that I have struggled greatly. Due to my past trauma I've had terrible physical problems, emotional problems, dissociation, anxiety, depression, difficulty making and maintaining friendship and connection with others....and on and on. There were times when I was in so much pain (either mentally, emotionally or physically) that I couldn't get out of bed or even barely move for long periods of time. That is a very desperate feeling. I have felt utterly and completely alone in this world, as if I had nothing and no one, and that I would be broken forever.
One thing that really helps me is reading. It was a long journey for me to learn to recognize my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. There are still some areas where I can struggle with this, but I have made so, so much progress it's almost unbelievable to me when I think back to the person I once was. I couldn't identify my own emotions or thoughts, but when I read about scenarios and other peoples emotions/thoughts in certain situations, I could tell when it felt right. Like, "Yes! That is how I felt when _____ happened to me." A few books that really helped me are The Body Keeps Score, and Running On Empty. Other resources that have helped me immensely are hypnosis (one in particular was Michael Mahoney's IBS Audio Program 100 (this cured the IBS I had had for ~25 years, since I was a child)), and Annie Hopper's Dynamic Neural Retraining System. The very first book that I read that gave me hope that I could change my life was The Brain that Changes Itself. I read that book 9 years ago and it set me on a path of real change. It gave me inspiration and hope and the belief that I could really change and improve my life. If you want any other book recommendations let me know, I've read a lot of books and I have even more favorites that have helped me.
There are still areas of my life that I am working to improve, but I am nowhere near the person I was before I started reading and learning. Working through this stuff, and figuring out how to even do it, are very challenging and difficult tasks. But it is so, so worth it. I wish I could really show you and explain to you the profound changes we can make as people. Every epiphany I've had about myself and my life has been amazing and life changing. To me it almost feels like the essence of what it means to be human. I'm not sure if people who don't go through trauma get the chance to experience such profound epiphanies, realization, and change. Maybe I'm just rambling now, but I want you to know that there is hope. You may not have it, but I have it for both of us right now. Read. See a therapist. Learn. Practice. Journal. Seek support. Seek out ways to make a change. It doesn't have to be profound or monumental. Go at your own pace, just be sure that you are going.
My favorite resource is thriveafterabuse.com. Dana has been through it herself and speaks in practical terms. She has a Youtube channel too. On the site there are support groups and reading lists.
Lisa Romano is also on Youtube and another good resource.
The books that really resonated for me when I realized what was going on were about self care. The Body Keeps the Score was very helpful. So was Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving.
It takes time. You will be ok. Take care!
Perhaps you could quantify what you mean by 'a lot of muscle'.
IME, the most effective (and, sadly overlooked) way to gain control of one's weight is to become stronger. And, for most people, this means a lot stronger - modern sedentary life has made them vastly weaker than their bodies are meant to work.
And the most effective way to do that is through weight training. So, when you say 'a lot' stronger, what does that mean? Can you do regular sets (ie 5-8 reps) of bench/squat/deadlifts approaching (75-100%) of your own (lean) body weight?
http://www.stronglifts.com is a good start for beginner weight lifters, as is the Rippetoe's Starting Strength, on which it is based. http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
And no, this won't turn you into the incredible bulk. Anyone who suggests that to you knows as much about fitness as a meat eater asking you where your protein comes from :)
And no, running a lot and cutting calories without getting strong first is an slow, painful, grueling and ultimately grossly inefficient way of losing weight, when it works at all. Most people give up, or try on and off for years and years, without seeing much of an effect. My wife trained for a half marathon, in the hopes of losing weight, and lost nothing. You really have to be strong first.
For time under tension, nobody really knows. People argue all day long about stupid shit like this that probably doesn't even make a 1% difference in your muscular development in the long run. As long as you are doing the reps you will get most of the benefit.
As for type of curl, you should do hammer curls along with at least one type of regular curl. Hammer curls isolate the brachialis more than any other type of curl, whereas normal curls mostly isolate the biceps brachii. Source: Strength Training Anatomy.
Please take this down, unless you got permission from the author of the book these are taken from (Strength Training Anatomy, by Frederic Delavier) You can use the "Look Inside" feature of amazon to verify.
The book is very good; I have a copy- there are hundreds of such diagrams. One of the better 10$ fitness investments I've ever made.
Do you want pity or advice?
If you want pity, this isn't the place to get it.
If you want advice;
This is very true. It has one of the lowest injury rates of any sport according to Starting Strength.
You would find [this book] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748) fascinating. I highlighted so much of it! It changed the way I think about my PTSD and body. I can't recommend it highly enough.
You can't get it for anxiety. You can probably get diagnosed with PTSD though if your anxiety is a product of trauma. Recent thinking is way more people have PTSD than previously thought so I'm not telling you to lie: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3VNXGWZSQI8T5&keywords=the+body+keeps+the+score&qid=1573084604&sprefix=the+body+%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-2
The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk MD. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Religion is basically a virus, like Smallpox. Europe has had much more time to develop an immunity to it. Thousands upon thousands of years. The US is the New World, this is still practically our first exposure to it.
To read more on this perspective, check out "Guns Germs and Steel" which talks a lot about how viral immunity came about in Europe, as well as "The Selfish Gene" by Dawkins.
van der Kolk notably the author of The Body Keeps the Score, best selling book on CPTSD.
edit: more personal note; I dealt with abuse and emotional neglect in childhood, also some physical and sexual abuse from classmates. What is interesting is that I am transgender but at a certain point in childhood I somehow forgot and stopped understanding this about myself. I previously thought that I might have CPTSD, most specifically because I often deal with depersonalization and derealization, but it turns out that is extremely common in gender dysphoria. And more importantly, childhood trauma causes that splintering of the personality, or impairment in describing emotional states and their meanings. That is to say, for many years I could no longer recognize that gender dysphoria I was experiencing came from being internally female, rather than arising out of apparently nowhere.
There is a whole new branch of mental health treatment taught through qualified and well-trained yoga therapists who specialize in trauma. If you're interested in it, the current gold standard for trauma treatment is laid out in some books:
The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Koch, MD
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity by Nadine Burke-Harris, MD
Overcoming Trauma through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body by David Emerson
Yoga for Emotional Balance: Simple Practices to Help Relieve Anxiety and Depression by Bo Forbes
It's becoming apparent that yoga is actually a massively useful tool in rooting out and treating trauma, which is often at the root of mental illness.
I get that you were making a comment about the way people tend to dismiss the pain of mental illness by saying "suck it up", but yoga therapy really is a great course of treatment.
Think about how breathing acts during bouts with anxiety or panic. Practicing yoga conditions and trains your body to slow down and bypass the trauma triggers and subsequent bodily response to keep you breathing instead of passing out or going into panic mode. And that's just one small benefit of practice.
Trauma is just now beginning to be understood by the greater medical community, and yoga with a trained therapist can make a world of difference.
Programs like this one are beginiing to help millions of people.
So the "get over it" part can go fuck itself, but if you suffer from anxiety, depression, or trauma-related mental illness, you really should keep hydrated and do yoga.
Please don't take this post from me as aggressive, I just wanted to point out a few things about your post.
You make a few mistakes early in your post. One is you're making the No True Scotsman argument. Essentially you're arguing that the bad Christians you assume we've met or are the cause for us leaving the church, aren't real Christians anyway. I think we need to trust people. If they say they're a Christian, I believe them.
Also, things aren't that bad here on the Earth. We've got some issues, but the things you mention are actually better now than at any point in history. Allow me to point you toward a great, great book about this, Steven Pinker's Better Angels of Our Nature. It's a great book about this exact topic, I think it may allay some of your fears.
Also, why is this life not enough? Why do you deserve more than this life? You're saying that unless you have the potential at eternity, this life isn't worth living. Why not? I've got an amazing wife, and I choose to spend some of my limited time with her. She's so great, that makes it worthwhile. I've got two great kids, my daughter is going to turn 5 in a few weeks and she's super fun to be around. I've got a 1.5 year-old son. He's crazy, no fear, always wants me to pick him up and throw him around through the air. I like to do woodworking and make really, really nice pieces for my family and friends that I just give away. I love looking at the beauty in the world. There's no intent behind it, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful and awesome. Why is that not enough? Why do you need more?
You also forget that your third option also includes a place of eternal torment for people like me. You sincerely believe that I am going to burn in Hell forever. I try to be a good person, I put a TON of effort into thinking about ethics and philosophy. I like to help people, give away my time, and just generally do what I can. But as I'm sure you know, the Bible says that we aren't saved by works. So in spite of all my efforts, because I am unable to have faith, I have eternal torment to look forward to.
It isn't Christians that made me an ex-Christian. They were largely just people where I grew up. It's the religion that I reject and everything about it. Just food for thought.
As loathe as I am to broach the subject given the general lack of credible research, the book every molly lover cites is "DMT: The Spirit Molecule"
You can also find some articles on in by Steve Burkle and P.D. Newman (alternately credited as Philip or Danny or Daniel) on Piettre Stones; especially concerning the poorly structured arguments that the MM degree is an instruction on extracting DMT from acacia (which one, as not all of them contain is never approached).
Are you sure, you couldn't convince your WM for a better topic?
I second /u/vhalros recommendation for going through the FAQ and also would recommend Starting Strength.
I would follow that up with finding a friend and/or trainer/training mentor who can help you dial in form on these lifts. These barbell lifts can all be adjusted to everyone's individual body styles and no two people are built exactly the same. You'll need someone that understands the lifts enough to help mold them to what works for YOUR body. That's not to say that if you can't find a training mentor you shouldn't try.... the Starting Strength book is a great place to start.
Best of luck.
The usual answer for beginners is to get Starting Strength. From what I can tell, it's basically the bible for lifting. I only just got it yesterday so I haven't read it. I started off on a lifting for women book first and now am reading it for general info.
I'd also seriously work on getting a gym buddy/group to work out with. Or, depending on your finances and self motivation, you may want to think about a personal trainer. I have an illness that quickly turned my life very sedentary and I found it was very difficult to keep on a workout schedule without having some other person whom I was committed to meet, and none of my friends (girls) want to do lifting. A good trainer can help both with teaching you the correct ways to do things, and can tailor a workout to your specific goals. Also, spending money can solidify your commitment and make skipping a day less likely. With a "gymbro" you both will keep each other going to the gym, push each other to keep at it when there is tough days, and can make the experience social and fun on top of immensely fulfilling to watch your body morph and overcome obstacles you never thought possible.
Do it. A year ago I got a puppy, both for cuteness and to be forced to exercise everyday. At the beginning I could barely walk around the block without getting tired and sore. I started going to the gym and now I am lifting, can walk much further without hindrance, my energy is up, and I'm overall happier. My looks are only a small part of what I've gained from lifting.
Please do not interpret what i'm about to say as me being an asshole (although I often have been accused as such). I'm trying to help, rather than bullshit you with the equivalent of a participation trophy or a motherly pat on the back.
I'm stating this with love (although it is tough love): If I've ever seen someone that needs r/TheRedPill, its you my friend. I'm not saying that you should become an asshole or be disrespectful to women, but rather that you should focus on building yourself up in the same style. There is absolutely the capacity to be an alpha male within you. And that's what women will find attractive consistently. I'm not saying you should become a macho chump poser that demeans and disrespects women (that's not what a real alpha male does anyway), but rather that you should identify and adopt the characteristics of an alpha male that women find attractive and craft your own new persona. Root out the JW mindset and adopt a new one. Got me?
Its time to work on yourself rather than working on trying to get laid. Its time to grow a pair of balls. Now, rather than simply saying "grow a pair of balls", let me try to help and give some recommendations of how you might go about doing that.
Get a gym membership (maybe check and see if your university has one that you can use free), and try the Starting Strength program. See here: https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738/
Starting strength will make a man out of you. One tip: Don't use the smith machine. Use a real squat rack. Yes, its required. Yes, with barbells.
Read this book too, its a real eye opener for reading people (including women): https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Book-Body-Language-Expressions/dp/0553804723/
Read up on affirmations, how to make them and use them, and start using them DAILY, maybe even more often than once a day. You probably don't need a book to research this, a simple google search will do. Harness the power of positive self-talk.
The words you say to yourself in your head or mutter to yourself quietly when nobody else is listening have a huge effect on how you view yourself. And by extension, others (especially women) can sense how much value you perceive that you have, and often will treat you in accord with that value you project.
>My date was kind of rude as she actually took a phone call from her male friend within the first 10-20 minutes of the date, I think she was even flipping through Tinder as we were talking.
This should have been an early warning signal letting you know that she wasn't worth your time. She didn't value your time and presence (and that is likely because you didn't establish your own value to her).
>Of course my problems only make me feel worse as one of my roommates is like extremely fit black young Hugh Hefner. This guy fucks all the time, like weekly.
That is fucking hilarious lol, but I really sympathize with you. I'm sure its torture that he's getting laid every night and you have to listen to the fucking. Is this guy friendly towards you? Is he willing to help with your issues? You never know, he may take some pity on you and help you to work on yourself a bit. Even if he isn't, pay attention closely to his attitudes and interactions with women and with others wherever you can. Don't try to be an exact copy of him, but watch for attitudes, words, and actions that he manifests that feel right for you, and that you could adopt into your own new persona.
>I feel especially shitty as "technically" I'm not a virgin because I fucked who I thought was going to be a women through MeetMe, but it turned out to be a transgender dude, my fault I guess as further inspection of the photos made it more obvious. I was going to leave but I was persuaded by an offer of a blowjob. I figured this was the first time I was offered anything sexual and I was under a lot of family related stress at the time so I said fuck it and got a BJ, and had to reciprocate him in the backside.
This is some 4chan shit right here, so allow me to present the appropriate meme: http://www.lememe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/55556666.png
Don't beat yourself up too bad. Its behind you, and you never have to do this again if this type of hook up is not your style.
>So apparently finding a dude that wants to fuck is incredibly easy, finding a women in my case is like hunting for the holy fucking grail.
Yes, that's the honest to god truth when you don't project enough value to others. The only people you attract are people who are as desperate as you are.
>Don't get me wrong that all I want is sex, yes sex would be awesome, but I'm not afraid to be in a relationship, but at the same time I'm not going to turn down a hookup.
This screams desperation. You need to drop this mindset immediately. (Again, affirmations will help with this)
>My philosophy is just honoring whatever dating arrangement I agree to with a person, I have no religious reasons.
Again, desperation, compliance, submission. These traits will not attract women - at least not desirable ones.
>I tried talking to some women at parties, asked one to dance and she said no, even though she was standing against the wall not doing anything...
Again, you projected a lack of value, she judged you on the surface because of the lack of value you projected, and shut you down.
>...asked another how she was doing and she said good and that was it, and I had a little more luck at my last party as I got to help a girl with her Microsoft Access homework, we high-fived and were both wasted. I asked her if she was single and she said yes, but that she was just visiting and was going back home in a couple of days, so I just shook her hand and said it was nice we met.
That didn't mean she wasn't DTF my friend. She may have just been waiting for you to move on her. Lots of times, women are waiting for a man to confidently take charge when it comes to initiating sex. I'm sure nobody ever told you that (hell, nobody told ME that!!), but it is often true :)
>I'm giving this college thing one more semester before I call it quits. I'm not going to get another degree if it requires me to be miserable and single for another 3 years. I mean I'm charting into 30 year old wizard territory at this point and it scares the shit out of me. My friends have been trying to get me to move to Florida and I just may take them up on the offer.
Changing your location without changing your mindset is not likely to make a significant change to your circumstances. Although, it could offer you the opportunity to a fresh start, which could be helpful :)
>Any advice would be appreciated, I just feel the cult has taken a huge chunk of my life away when I was supposed to learn valuable social skills. I feel like a fucking child or an alien learning how to be human, even though I have been out of the cult for quite some time now, but have really only been away from toxic family for four months.
Yes, that's probably what happened. And its up to you to change it. Nobody else is going to do it for you. So stop wallowing in your own misery and change it. (Respectfully, with tough love, man to man.)
>My plan for next semester is
joining some clubs, going to bars, and going more parties, and trying to strike up more conversations with women in classgetting a gym membership, working on your self esteem and your ability to project your value to the opposite sex, and learning how to interact with women in a way that makes you attractive.>If nothing happens in the second semester I'm just going to say fuck it and move, I'm at a point in my life were I'm tired of going out to eat by myself, shopping by myself, watching movies by myself, and doing everything else by my fucking self. All I did this Thanksgiving was sleep and get drunk. I've read all those articles about "loving yourself first", this isn't a problem about loving myself, I didn't do anything wrong. I'm just so fucking sick of being alone, I don't have a family, I have no one close to me.
I feel your pain man. Now is not the time to give up, but it is time to change your approach.
I was a total neckbeard for most of my life up until the middle of high school. I never had a beard (still can't grow one) or a fedora, but I pretty much only wore baggy white t-shirts and a pair of green sweat pants, my entire social life revolved around videogames, my local comic shop, and Magic: the Gathering. I was always the kid who could draw the best in school, so I did make a few friends because of that, but I had zero self-confidence due to my disgustingly fat body. Then one day I was walking around with my friends and out of nowhere one of them loudly proclaims, "illcoholic, you have man-juggs!" For some reason that comment just pushed me over the edge. I didn't want to be the kid with man boobs anymore, so I started going to the weight room with my friends (most were on sports teams) and did whatever they told me to. It wasn't easy at first, but the initially shitty feeling of physical exertion started to feel really good after a few months. I dropped a ton of weight, got broader shoulders, a haircut (eventually) and people started to notice.
I've never had a "real job" (tattooer/book illustrator here) so I can't offer advice on interviews and stuff like that, but what I can recommend is:
A) Shave the beard (if you have one)
B) Burn the fedora and flame shirt collection (if you have one)
C) Pick up a copy of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, join a gym, and follow the routine.
D) Throw out the junk food/sugary drinks and replace them with chicken and vegetables and water and shit like that.
I really hope some of this helps. I'm rooting for you along with a bunch of other people in this sub. You'll make it, buddy.
This will help with the weights-
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
Counting calories is also a great step. I use Myfitnesspal.com.
The most important thing is to incorporate this stuff into your lifestyle, and feel good about it. You'll never keep it up if you think of it as a punishment.
Good luck!
For a longer version of that story, read the Hot Zone
Been meaning to order Arnold's Encyclopedia for some time now. Although I'm sure it contains a hefty dose of broscience, the reviews are glowing and it's still 800 pages of the word of Arnold. Thanks for the promo code!
I would recommend mindfulness meditation, I find it synergizes quite well with microdosing, at the same time it goes deeper and is longer lasting
If you have 9 minutes to spare, listen to this: https://soundcloud.com/samharrisorg/mindfulness-meditation-9
If you have another 26, listen to this: https://soundcloud.com/samharrisorg/mindfulness-meditation-26
The absolute best book on the subject matter in my opinion is The Mind Illuminated, it reads like a college text book and the process is laid out nicely and is easy to follow.
I have found mindfulness to be an important tools in my life toolkit.
I have a couple questions:
Am I putting myself at risk lifting in my running shoes?
Did you ladies who used the New Rules do all 7 stages as listed in the book or did you mostly use the book to get you started?
How much cardio do you do? I don't want to give up running, but I also don't want to overdo it.
Juice fasting?
Can't help you.
Water fasting?
Easy answer.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
A person would have to write an book to answer all the questions. Dr. Fung has done just that. Complete Guide to Fasting
I highly recommend this book! https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
Your questions are thoroughly addressed with studies to back up the claims.
For those who already use lacrosse balls and are looking for some other options, or potentially more effective items, here is my list of most effective items for different areas.
I also highly recommend checking out the book "[Becoming a supple leopard] (https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-2nd-Performance/dp/1628600837)" By Kelly Starett. (as mentioned in another comment below)
IT Band / Quads/ Shins -[triggerpoint quadballer] (https://www.amazon.com/TriggerPoint-Self-Myofascial-Release-Massage-Quadballer/dp/B000LCC780/ref=pd_sim_200_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QV9B5KT15B1DGX2DW947) This is significantly more effective then a traditional foam roller..... but that also means it sucks 1000x more while using it.
Calves/ankles/ hamstrings - [Medi-Dyne ProStretch ] (https://www.amazon.com/FootSmart-SmartFlexx-Stretching-Fasciitis-Tendonitis/dp/B005BWG7JA) - Foam rolling has never worked well on my lower legs.. but this is incredible for stretching my calves.
**Chest, abs, Upper back, lower back, delts, triceps* - [rumbleroller foam roller] (http://www.rumbleroller.com/) {I just noticed they now have knobbed balls, so I imagine these would be ideal for neck, arms, shoulders, chest} - The knobs on this roller literally feel like they are tenderizing my larger muscles. It can loosen me up in a hurry.
Glutes, lower back** - [small hard medicine ball.] (http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_1514727_-1?cm_mmc=pla-_-Sports+And+Leisure+Fitness+Accessories+Hand+Exercise+Equipment-_-Google-_-BCG+Medicine+Ball&sku=103368094&gclid=Cj0KEQiAk5zEBRD9lfno2dek0tsBEiQAWVKyuKCbg3HpbBH95wzqTRral6KvXGSc5I-6QBj35NTtRnkaAptr8P8HAQ&kwid=productads-adid%5E104478168558-device%5Ec-plaid%5E263066970473-sku%5E103368094-adType%5EPLA)
lacrosse balls work fine for your glutes, but I feel like it is better used in supplement to something that's able to loosen up a wider area first.
Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett
First things first: There is no magic bullet. Training well requires a multi-prong approach; commitment to a program - any program!(especially commitment to appropriate rest and supplemental exercise!), individual-specific nutrition, technique/skill building. These are all critical to discovering maximum potential.
That said, if you're only ever going to buy one climbing training book, make it this one: Climb Injury Free. Everything else is just icing. This is the most important thing a dedicated climber needs to add to their arsenal. Climbing stresses the body in a lot of really unusual ways and making sure you support the underutilized parts of your body, as well as the over-stressed ones, can make or break your progression. Fucking shoulders, man, take care of them.
An even deeper, though less sport specific, dive into taking care of your body is Becoming A Supple Leopard. Goofy title, best book.
That said, if you want to go further, there are plenty of options for delving deeper and no single book, or routine, is the end-all-be-all.
Rock Climbing Technique, by John Kettle - support your strength by being efficient. Quality movement also helps reduce your chance of injury.
Self-Coached Climber - helping you learn how to learn.
The Rock Climber's Training Manual - great routines and a really solid section on theory, so you can better understand the why's instead of just throwing you at a program. It's mostly geared toward
Big shoutout to the Training Beta Podcast as well. I've listened to the first 50 episodes so far and it's been an incredible learning experience that has taught me so much. If you want to dig in and get to the best information, I suggest you skip most of the interviews with pros (though they're all really interesting) and stick to the interviews with trainers and non-famous individuals who have done something really interesting. Favorites so far include the Anderson Brothers, Jared Vagey (Climb Injury Free author - he's done several episodes), John Kettle, Tom Randall, Steve Bechtel, Justin Sjong, Adam Macke, and Bill Ramsey.
I think I'm missing one that was heavily focused on training with minimal time, but these are a great place to get started.
Find out what he uses as his water source, if it's tap or he manually buys distilled/R/O water, consider getting him a 5 stage reverse osmosis filter, that one's $89 which is a very good deal imo.
As far as books go, this one from Greg Green is recommended by many, as well as this one by DJ Short, a decades long professional grower. Lastly is one of the most recommended books I see posted, by Jorge Cervantes.
Otherwise, I'd try to familiarize yourself with his setup, maybe take pictures if possible and I could try to suggest things you could buy as improvements :)
>Combatting depression
Quoting a recent comment of mine:
>You might want to look into cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), if that isn't what you already did.
>Recommended books:
The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and
Unshakeable Freedom.
>Also: Recommended Post.
>Philosophy and Stoicism
Apart from the Enchiridion and the Meditations, the primary reading list includes letters and essays from Seneca as well as Cicero or the fragments from Musonius Rufus. Modern books include How to be a Stoic, A guide to the good life and Stoicism and the art of happiness. The FAQ has a nice list which is worth checking out.
>Books about changing the way you think (false thoughts vs. truths)
This might not be Stoic, but you might be interested in Thinking fast and slow.
>Identity
Might not be exactly what you were looking for, but reading The mind illuminated and implementing meditation as a practice, changed the way I think about myself and my thoughts on a daily basis.
>The ego
A favourite of mine is the eight page-long article by urbanmonk.
A good starting point for thought provoking and self-help books is the sub /r/BettermentBookClub. If you search for thought provoking articles, /r/Foodforthought or /r/philosophy is the way to go.
My first suggestion is to recognize that you are holding onto a belief that a relationship is to some degree necessary for your happiness or contentment. The next step is to question this belief. Try this thought experiment: Imagine that you can be perfectly content in your life without a relationship. You go through your days fulfilled, wanting for nothing. You enjoy whatever activities you choose to engage in fully. You have all you need. Now a relationship becomes available. Do you take it? Maybe yes, maybe no. If the benefits outweigh the costs, perhaps it's a "yes." If not, you walk away, because after all why pay the cost if it's not worth it? You certainly don't need it.
I would like to suggest that this is completely possible. The first step here is to stop holding onto the belief that you can't be happy without that. As long as you believe that, you make it true. Any such fixation becomes self-fulfilling. You obsess over the thing you don't have and make yourself miserable.
You say you have a history of mental health problems. Well let me tell you, a relationship won't fix them. It's common for people to believe that the solution to their problems is something external to themselves, but in situations like yours it is never true. Until you address your problems internally a team of supermodels taking turns riding your dick wouldn't help you. It'd be fun, sure, but once the initial thrill wore off you'd find yourself back in the same emotional space with the same problems.
How to get there? I'm not aware of any single one-size-fits-all solution, but it would be worth considering therapy if that appeals to you. To me meditation is a must. If you're not doing that I'd say make it a priority to develop a practice with the intention of making it lifelong. The best book of which I am aware and the one I'd recommend for this is The Mind Illuminated.
Beyond that try to work on your emotional health. A book I highly recommend for this is The Presence Process. Another good one is The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion.
Read these books, apply them, and live them diligently and consistently, and I predict that in a year or two your outlook on life will be completely transformed. Once you get to that point, maybe a relationship will happen, or maybe it won't. You'll be fine either way, and that's more valuable than any pickup technique.
Links
Here, I found you this book.
I can give you more advice on a routine if you tell me your goals. For a weight training beginner who's looking to get stronger, you can't get much simpler than Stronglifts 5x5. If you're interested in a little more hypertrophy work, something like Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 (basically Stronglifts + accessories) or any of the Strong Curves programs are also good.
If you want a single trustworthy place to look for information about weight training and nutrition, I can't recommend strengtheory and anything written by Greg Nuckols highly enough. Very informative, clear, science-backed, no bullshit, and the Art and Science of Lifting ebooks, if you're willing to put down a little cash, are the best all-in-one resource for someone looking to "keep track of it all" that I know of.
Buy this...
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372545317&sr=8-1&keywords=becoming+a+supple+leopard
3 hours and no recommendation for Becoming a Supple Leopard?
here's a start
Buy Starting Strength. It has in depth explanation of the basic barbell lifts (Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Overhead Press, Power Clean). Your form is probably incorrect all around (At 230 with correct form you should be able to bench more than 100 untrained).
It also contains the routine to follow. No more machines.
A good read on the latest research by Dr Jason Fung
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
Here's a short bit from Dr. Jason Fung's book "The Complete Guide to Fasting".
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
Well worth the money.
>When food intake goes to zero (fasting), our body obviously cannot take BMR down to zero—we have to burn some calories just to stay alive. Instead, hormones allow the body to switch energy sources from food to body fat. After all, that is precisely why we carry body fat—to be used for food when no food is available. It’s not there for looks. By “feeding” on our own fat, we significantly increase the availability of “food,” and this is matched by an increase in energy expenditure.
>Studies demonstrate this phenomenon clearly. In one, fasting every other day for twenty-two days resulted in no measurable decrease in BMR. There was no starvation mode. Fat oxidation—fat burning—increased 58 percent, from 64 g/day to 101 g/day. Carbohydrate oxidation decreased 53 percent, from 175 g/day to 81 g/day. This means that the body has started to switch over from burning sugar to burning fat, with no overall drop in energy.
>In another study, four days of continuous fasting increased BMR by 12 percent. Levels of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline), which prepares the body for action, increased by 117 percent, keeping energy levels high. Fatty acids in the bloodstream increased over 370 percent as the body switched over from burning food to burning stored fats.
Jason Fung also runs https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/ which is worth checking out.
I recommend reading this...
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
>The university says the courses will be geared to both home growers and those looking to get into the burgeoning commercial industry.
>
>He said the course will include growing basics, including lighting and irrigation systems, pest and disease management, and post-harvest curing and packaging.
This seems a bit too introductory to be very useful in industry. There's a huge difference between growing four plants in your closet using a soilless medium and forty-thousand plants in a greenhouse using hydroponics. I'd be interested in a course aimed at large scale commercial production. For home-based growers, save yourself some money and pick up a copy of Jorge Cervantes book.
​
>Guelph will also offer a course in January about cannabis regulations and quality assurance.
Now this could be a bit more useful for those looking to get into the industry.
A lot of people here love Starting Strength. Get the book and learn.
My first workout was the 20 Minute Circut Workout from military.com. It was a great start to simply START. A springboard.
Don't expect to learn everything at once. Pick one thing to focus on each month (or week).
Maybe you'll like Couch-2-5k to learn about running (a lot of people struggling with depression and anxiety love running). The first week, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other to move at a faster than walking pace. The next week, you might want to learn about running shoes and why certain shoes are better than others. The week after that, research something "awesome post run stretches".
Track your workouts. Some like myfitnesspal, some like fitocracy. These tracking apps can be further springboards to try out new things and are great progress bars to your goal. Make small goals ("be able to do 10 push-ups") under larger goals (sign-up for Tough Mudder next year). Experiment, play, and find what you like.
	
	
	
Starting Strength Wiki:
---
>
The title "Starting Strength" has two distinct meanings. Firstly it is Starting Strength The Book (View On Amazon) by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. Secondly it is Starting Strength The Program also by Mark Rippetoe and widely referred to as "Rippetoe's." It is this second meaning of "Starting Strength" that this wiki primarily addresses while acting only as a supplement to "Starting Strength" the book. If you've been hearing about the Starting Strength program and the prospect of increased strength, musculature, bone density and overall wellness is something that you are willing to work hard for, consider this a first step on that path.
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Nonsense. Did he tell you to get in the kitchen & make him a sandwich after he dispensed that advice?
If you can squat (or can work up to it), you should - regardless of gender.
"There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat. In the absence of an injury that prevents its being performed, everyone who lifts weights should learn to squat, correctly." - Mark Rippetoe in Starting Strength.
Exhibit A.
Exhibit B.
Even if this is supposed to be a part of something larger, it should have its own arc. You know what's supposed to happen as the author, so maybe to you, it seems like its fine. But you need to look and craft these things from the perspective of the audience.
I'll use, say, Cowboy Bebop as an example. It's almost entirely a series of self-contained episodes, save for a few episodes that touch on this relationship between Spike and Vicious. But, the self-contained episodes are often iterating and riffing on some of the same overall themes that these connected episodes are built on. Or, when they aren't, they're carried on pure entertainment value. They feel good. They're flat out fun to watch. Or they revel in the absurd, which ties into the show thematically and also rides pure entertainment value.
Fallout: New Vegas does this as well. Side-quests seem self-contained, more or less, but they build on your understanding of the world and they often build on this theme of nostalgia for the Old World, or Old World Blues, as the game eventually puts it. All of the companion character side-quests riff on this theme of clinging to the past or moving forward, the factions all follow in this theme (whether its the major factions modeling their selves after Old World powers or the Brotherhood of Steel finding that they don't belong in the world anymore, so they either need to adapt or cling to the past and die). All of these side quests are self-contained, thus having their own arc and feel satisfying to complete, but also they build on the overarching theme of the game and give the player something to think about once everything is said and done.
You can do this with your own work. You can figure out what it is that you want it to be about and make build on those themes, even just from the start. If you have ideas and themes you want to explore, you can explore them from the start in whatever way you want, and tie it all into something more grand later if you're telling an overall story, or just keep riffing on them in different self-contained scenarios. The main, best thing to keep in mind though is that if this is intended for an audience, you need to write it with the audience experience in mind. Your ideas could be incredible, but the audience would never know it if you've written it to be impenetrable to them, or just so boring that it's unlikely they'll continue to read to get to the good parts.
As an example, I love the show Eureka Seven. Somewhere towards the middle of its run, it has a small arc with a couple of characters named Ray and Charles that culminates in some of the best TV I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. But, I can almost never recommend this show to anyone. The first ~10 to 15ish episodes are a chore. The show sort of acts like you should know who all the characters are already, or doesn't give you a whole lot to work with in terms of giving you something to come back for. For this reason, it took me from when it aired back in 2005 all the way until 2014 to finally finish the show from front to back. There was a ton of good there, but it was so, so difficult to get to it through the start of the show.
So, Entertainment value. Have you read Fiona Staples' and Brian K Vaughan's Saga? The very first panel of the very first page oozes entertainment value, while also giving some great banter to help establish the characters and introduce us to the world. This is a strong opening, and even if there is some lull to the comic afterwards (which there may or may not be depending on your tastes), its given you a taste of what it is and a promise of what its capable of delivering. This is a really great thing to have. If you're aware of Homestuck, it's the GameFAQs FAQ that serves as the end of the comic's first Act that suddenly shows you how the comic will format itself: Lots of nonsensical goofing around until hitting an emotional climax that re-contextualizes the events you had just seen. This isn't at the start of the comic, but entertainment value carries the comic until that point, assuming you're into programming jokes and goofball shenanigans. But, this scene comes so comparatively late that it's likely you've already dropped the comic before getting to the "good part" if these jokes didn't carry the comic for you.
Actual Advice and Critique
Comics are hard, because, unless you have a writer or have an artist to partner with, you're doing both jobs, and the quality of the thing depends both on being well-written and well drawn (or at least some balance between the two that makes it palatable to read). I think that if you think in an actual episodic way, you could improve your writing a ton. With this comic, the arc would be "how did Lasereye become Lasereye?" It's potentially a pretty good premise, right? You'll establish a character and have plenty of chances to create entertaining scenarios because... It's your story! Lasereye became Lasereye in whatever way you decide he did. Go crazy, tell us a story! How did some young, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed kid turn into some dude in a slum with one eye glowing brighter than ever and the other dim and jaded? Telling this in three pages would actually be a great exercise.
Your art is rough in that it looks like you could use learning some base fundamental things like human anatomy. Your palette and the food stand itself reminds me of Kill Six Billion Demons though, which is great. You've created a good atmosphere in panels 1, 2, and the last panel on the last page, despite the artwork itself being rough. That's great! You know how a thing should feel. That's a great thing to have down pat that will only continue to be a boon as your technical skill improves (and it will if you work at it!). I think that if you buckle down and grind through learning how to draw, you could make very great, visually appealing work.
There's a problem in page flow on Page 2. Here I've shown how your page directs the eye with red lines. The way the page is laid out, you end up reading the fifth panel before you read the fourth panel, which will cause a reader to have to double back to read things in order. You don't want that. You'll wanna keep an eye out for how your pages read in the future. Just give them a once-over and ask where the eye would naturally go following the lines on the page.
So, if you aren't currently, learning human anatomy would be a great place to start placing effort. If you have access, figure drawing classes and the such would be a great way to start working on that. It helps immensely to have others around who can help you if you aren't sure what you're doing at first. Books on comics in general would be a good place to go as well. Understanding Comics and Making Comics, both by by Scott McCloud, are good introductory texts. Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative by Will Eisner and Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist also by Will Eisner would be good as well.
For writing, Dan Harmon's Channel 101 guides will be great tutorials as he's one of the best working writers today in episodic TV. I'm aware this isn't directly comics, but the best writing advice is rarely going to come from a comics-focused book. Will Eisner will tell you how to use visuals to your advantage in telling a story, but the nitty-gritty of actually writing will have to come from somewhere else. The Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Cambell may help you understand structure further. This is what Dan Harmon is riffing on and working off of with his Story Circles, but adapted slightly for the sake of episodic television. Film Crit Hulk, an online movie critic/ the Incredible Hulk has a screenwriting book called Screenwriting 101. It's invaluable. I highly recommend it, even if it isn't directly about comic writing. You'll be able to adapt the advice as you work in your own medium.
Weight is a combination of diet and exercise, but that doesn't mean that they share an equal part. Most of your weight gain or loss is going to be governed by your diet (think 80%). Keep in mind, you can't outrun your fork.
That's okay though, as eating well is frugal. Start here.
If you don't know what your goals are, you'll likely never change your behavior. Find your maintenance calorie intake, eat at or below this while fulfilling nutritional requirements (MyFitnessPal isn't a bad way to track this), and then use exercise (body weight or otherwise) to increase your calorie deficit even more.
Keep in mind that lean body mass (LBM) will burn more calories than that fatty stuff, so doing body weight or dumbell exercises is always a good path to take. Head over to /r/fitness for some good workout advice that will meet your goals and budget.
Good luck, and if you need a little extra help and motivation, /r/loseit isn't a bad subreddit to frequent.
Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces?
/u/phrakture is a bit harsh, but he's right. At perfect conditions a male can gain 1-2lbs of muscle mass per month. You gained more than that, and you're a female — considering females don't gain as much muscle mass as males, you simply got a lot fatter. It's a sad truth, but it's the truth.
What you could do is:
Have fun!
Lift heavy things. Starting Strength is good, but if you're a bit intimidated and/or want something geared toward women, I like the New Rules of Lifting for Women. If you're a student, you may have gym access. If you really can not afford a gym (and some offer $20 per month memberships), Convict Conditioning may be the way to go.
The best I ever felt was when I was lifting 3x a week. Now that my schedule has improved I'm going to go back to it. For anyone looking to get started, I highly recommend The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler. He also has a new one called Strong that's supposed to be good as well.
ETA: Just in case anyone is thinking you need a gym membership to lift, if you have a little space and a little cash you can often find used weights cheap on Craigslist.
Hey! You should check Dr. Greger new book (released December 8th) How not to die. Part 2 of the book is about his "daily dozen" food that he recommend to eat everyday. Enjoy!
>There's a ton of issues with the choice of sources in the documentary and there's decent critique of them all over the place, as an example check out this Quora post.
If we're going to do that, then let's look at James's post (i.e., the first post) as well.
>Looking at the big picture meat isn't a big deal for greenhouse gas emissions. In the US currently all agriculture, including the plants we eat, only represent about 8% of our total emissions (so meat might be 5-6% of that):
Here, IMO, you’re failing to take into account that you need to include pasture degradation and land usage when calculating this figure; please correct me if I’m mistaken. When you do, Livestock’s contribution to climate change, in CO2 equivalent, accounts for approximately 18% of total emissions. That said, I would consider this compelling considering that the transportation industry, which we primarily focus on when discussing how to ameliorate global warming, is responsible for 13% of all GG emissions. Moreover, when taking into account Livestock and all aspects of their byproducts, it appears as though they account for 51% of worldwide GG emissions, which is astounding.
>And when we compare the amount of water needed to produce a kilo of meat compared to producing a kilo of a plant-based protein, like tofu, we see that the numbers aren't that different. It's about 1.5-6 liters per kilo for meat and ~2 liters per kilo for tofu. Tofu also contains less protein, about 10% compared to 20-30% for meat, so you'd have to eat 2-3 times as much of it.
Here, you’re failing to take into account other plant-based protein sources beyond soy, which there are a plethora, that may require less water to grow.
>The biggest problem in the US is likely that the method used [we] choose to produce meat, especially beef, is more water intensive. Here's a comparison of water use between the US and the Netherlands for different meats.
Taken directly from the Abstract of the paper which you cited: “The study shows that from a freshwater perspective, animal products from grazing systems have a smaller blue and grey water footprint than products from industrial systems, and that it is more water-efficient to obtain calories, protein and fat through crop products than animal products. Ergo, IMO, your argument here is moot.
>And you're not going to live longer just because you cut out meat. Vegetarians doesn't have lower overall mortality than meat eaters (6% higher relative risk in vegetarians, but not statistically significant):
There is plenty of great research out there which elucidates how incorporating more plants into a diet has statistically significant health benefits. Further, there have been studies done on “blue zone” populations (i.e., a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives) and one of the common traits among these groups is that the majority of their diet is plant-based.
I wouldn't claim that conservatives are universally logical and rational, but all people resort to emotion. We're more or less built to deal with morality and politics via intuition, not reasoning (see The Righteous Mind). And I'd say this applies to liberals quite a lot as well.
I grow up in Reston and the lab that discovered it was later turned into a daycare center which many of my friends attended. As a nerdy fifth grader I listened to the audiobook of the [The Hot Zone] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Hot-Zone-Terrifying-Story/dp/0385479565) a book about the virus and learned about the virus and the lab in Reston. As any good fifth grader I told all my friends that went to that daycare center that they have Ebola and will die soon. I think I own them an apology.
Highly recommend the book [The Hot Zone] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Hot-Zone-Terrifying-Origins/dp/0385479565/ref=sr_1_1/186-9120780-8703741?ie=UTF8&qid=1408833773&sr=8-1&keywords=hot+zone+book) which came out almost 20 years ago but is a fantastic read. It is part historical, part scientific, and just a well written account of the history of the virus as we know it.
I'm not sure how many know that the virus has already appeared in the US back in 1989 as a pathogen to monkeys but not humans. It also details the appearance of Marburg virus in German cities in the late sixties and is closely related to Ebola as it results in viral hemorrhagic fever.
Anyway, good read, pick it up if this is something that interests you.
You might want to look at The Better Angles Of Our Nature by Steven Pinker;
http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010
I’ve been an emotional mess all week. Two months after going no contact with my personality disordered parents. There is no end to my physical health ailments.
Have you heard of this book? Might be something you’d be interested in:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
In case anyone is interested: DMT, The Spirit Molecule
40 y.o here.
I've noticed that while I'm able to squat large amounts (>300lbs), run, hike, go up and down stairs with no problems, I had the same issues as you.
I've remedied it by being conscious of what muscle groups I use to get up from a 100% squated position. If I consciously tell my glutes and quads to move, no pain in the joints or discomfort. If I'm just picking up toys or the laundry or whatever; I'll squat down and have a hard time getting up because I seem to just rely on the muscles around those joints to move. But if I consciously engage my glutes and quads to stand, it's not so bad.
I'm not sure if it even makes any sense, but it's worked for me.
Also, I've changed the way I do squats where I really go down deep. I spread my legs wider that I've used to and angled my feet out farther. Check out "Starting Strength", helped me with my form and changed how I thought about the muscles you use for most actions.
I've trained in Judo, Aikido, and Ninpo Taijutsu. Been in one, the other, or both for about half of the last 20 years.
Your weight does not preclude your participation in most martial arts, as I'm sure you've seen just about every martial art under the sun suggested here. And I definitely recommend that you choose an art that appeals to you and go for it.
Having said that, if I were in your shoes I'd add a year of conditioning to my weight loss program before I joined any art. You'll simply get more out of the art itself if you show up in shape the first day. Also, if you are 346 pounds, right away you are choosing an art based on your current physical condition and not based on what you think the art can do for you long term. Remember, quality martial arts are a lifetime pursuit. They will still be there waiting for you in a year.
As for the conditioning program: Running and Lifting, via C25k and Starting Strength.
Normally I'd recommend you plow through c25k and get to running a couple 5k's a week, then maintain that while you spend the rest of the year working through Starting Strength. You may find that at your weight, it's not a good idea to start running yet. Certainly make sure you do it on a treadmill if you decide to do it first since that will be easier on your knees.
While you are working on your conditioning programs, spend the next year researching your options for martial arts. Find out what is locally available, which of those options interests you, go and watch a class from each of the candidates. Take your time and try to assess the quality of the instructors, quality of their students, whether the dojo is a blackbelt factory, etc. Learn the issues.
What I have described will keep you very busy for one year. I'm not saying this is a prescription for what you should do, or that it is superior to any other plan you might come up with. I'm just giving you something to think about, how I would approach this from my perspective. I like to have long and short term goals that dovetail together.
EDIT: Another benefit to having a non-martial art conditioning program in place before you start training your art is if you get injured, you have running and/or lifting to fall back on while you are recovering.
Ok, then I would suggest the following. I'm just throwing this out there for you... you may already have a program picked out but I'll give you my personal advice anyway.
I'm more than happy to help you out if you want it. There's no reason to pay for information that's out there for free already.. the biggest challenge is wading your way through a lot of bullshit before you find the best sources of information.
Not the most comprehensive from a nutrition standpoint, but if you're getting into lifting and want to know more about form and anatomy, Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is the place to start. Endless detail on the compound movements, how to perform them, and why they work.
buy "Starting Strength" and do what it says
To expand on the exercise/lift advice:
Strength
---
Buy Starting Strength and/or check out their wiki, their videos and the Art of Manliness playlist for Starting Strength. I personally also recommend some core work each session. Try progressing from 3 sets of 90 second knee-planks, to full planks, to 3 sets of 15 hanging knee lifts to hanging leg lifts and ab roller work.
Once your 1 rep max for the main lifts reach intermediate level or your progression starts to stall after at least 3-6 months, switch to Candito's 6-week Strength Program. You can calculate your 1 rep max via exrx's handy calculator.
Endurance
---
Try the Couch to 5k running program. They also have a free app for iOS and Android. You should be able to run a 30 minute 5k in 2-3 months.
The lifting takes 3-4 hours a week. The running takes 2 hours a week. You'll get great results.
Starting Strength.
If you're into original research, you should also check out (lots of PDFs)
Seeking Truth
Do your best to stay away from YouTube reactionaries or YouTube Personalities, the truth is rare there and often distorted.
Some other recommendations:
​
“It’s hardly possible to overstate the value of placing human beings in contact with other persons dissimilar to themselves…Such communication has always been one of the primary sources of progress.” — John Stuart Mill
There are a few titles I really love. I hope you like a few things on the list, if you have any questions let me know.
You could start with The Greatest Show On Earth by Richard Dawkins. It's a pretty easy read and it covers a wide range of the current evidence for evolution across different fields of science.
After that, The Selfish Gene also by Dawkins, is awesome. In it, he talks about evolution from the perspective of a gene.
Both should be pretty layman-friendly. He certainly has a compelling way of delivering his arguments.
I think this book might help sort out political differences.
Trump was surprisingly cogent during the election. He mentioned that the US economy was in a bubble. He pointed out that not provoking war would be a good thing. On the other hand, his energy policy and circumlocution on climate change should have made him a non-starter for most humans. He tapped into the despair and sense of betrayal that many Americans rightfully feel.
But then he started bombing Syria without adequate proof, applying reverse Robin Hood policies, and rolling back years of hard fought environmental regulations that protect the greater populace.
You might be able to get through to your SO. I mean Trump is probably collapse-aware on some level (esp. with Bannon on board), so maybe talking about collapse topics would be fruitful. If he's a climate change denier and can't fix that after an intervention, it suggests a level of infantile stubbornness that will be a challenge in other areas.
Bottom line, is this someone you want to raise a child with? If you listen to your intuition and the answer is no, move on. If yes, perhaps it's a viable project.
I'm not sure if this would work or not, but I would try redirecting people who have conservative or right-wing leaning views at least toward better thinkers than Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson and toward optimistic views of the future of society, to cull some of the us-vs-them and zero-sum thinking that plagues these discussions.
Sometimes it feels like men, especially, feel existentially threatened by other modes of thought, so being at least sympathetic to the good bits of their ideas and offering something similar but that promotes openness and liberal ideas may help.
Hans Rosling's Factfulness presents a pretty optimistic view of the world. It's all getting better! Seriously!
Jonathan Haidt (and Greg Lukianoff for the first book)
I had worried that the first book would be a reiteration of right-wing talking points around safe spaces, but I was surprised to find it a good listen so far. It mentions several cognitive distortions and how cognitive behavioral therapy can overcome them as well. The second book is sympathetic to conservative views and gives a good tour of moral psychology. Really recommend.
Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined is also good. Seriously, the world is getting better! Pinker is heavier on the nature side that most lefties, so knowing that may make people more receptive if they won't receive an gender argument without some mention of biology.
I've been doing a lot of reading trying to figure out this election and why the heck we are so divided as a county:
https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Resentment-Consciousness-Wisconsin-American/dp/022634911X
https://www.amazon.com/Complacent-Class-Self-Defeating-Quest-American/dp/1250108691
https://www.amazon.com/Glass-House-Economy-Shattering-All-American/dp/1250085802
https://www.amazon.com/Colony-Nation-Chris-Hayes/dp/0393254224
https://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Twenty-Lessons-Twentieth-Century/dp/0804190119
https://www.amazon.com/Even-Worse-Than-Looks-Constitutional/dp/0465031331
https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777
According to Steven Pinker's book, The Better Angels of our Nature, violence has been on the decline over the millennia, and we're living in the most peaceful times in human existence.
However, he says:
>The decline, to be sure, has not been smooth; it has not brought violence down to zero; and it is not guaranteed to continue.
Pinker presents five forces that favour peacefulness over violence, but there have always been people fighting against them. They are:
We should be very concerned when leaders fight against these forces, because these forces are what make humanity better.
I highly disagree, if anything the last 10-20k years of human history has shown our capacity to be extraordinarily kind to each other.
Here is Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of our Nature" lecture on this subject. If you don't want to watch hour long lecture, here is a 20 minute segment by him on the same subject.
I highly recommend the book itself though.
What is your opinion on the decline of war in the world? Because iit turns out we live in the most peaceful time in human history.
Here is a video summary of my argument, easier to understand, but I have transcribed the important parts here.
This chart shows deaths in wars by millions since 1950
This chart shows the increase in world population, which is going against the trend in deaths in war
If war was getting worse, these two charts should be in line with each other or at the very least, maintain their respective ratios. Instead what we see is that as population increases, deaths by war go down, meaning the percentage of people dying directly because of a war is declining.
The following maps show conflicts that were ongoing in the years 2013-2014.
This is a map of countries that have had conflicts that led to the death of more than 10,000 people.
This is a map of countries in orange where there were conflicts that killed more than 1,000 people
This is a map of countries in lighter orance where there were conflicts that killed more than 100 people
A lot of conflicts had to do with colonial rule or taking back control from another country who had usurped the rule for an area.
This is a map from 1845 of areas that were under colonial rule
This is a map of today of areas that are under colonial rule today
Having countries govern themselves takes away a lot of tension and potential for conflict. Additionally, most wars of the 19th and 20th century were fought for resources, including land. However, nowadays, it's more profitable for countries to negotiate trade deals instead of entering into wars over resources.
If you still don't believe that we live in the most peaceful period in human history, you can check these non-partisan, non-religious links to studies into the subject.
> everyone knows america is basically a gun-crazy failed state at this point
Tell me, where have you visited in the US, specifically?
The media has done a fantastic job terrifying everyone. You're something like 100,000 times more likely to witness violence in the media than in real life, according to Dr. Steven Pinker. With a population of 325,000,000 people and news being disseminated at light speed, things are bound to look worse that they are. You know what doesn't make the news - nothing. Nothing, as in mundane life. Violence will make the news, however.
The media has got everyone living in fear and clutching their rosaries, so to speak.
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LGPIXvU5M
I loved biomedical pop-sci with a passion when I was in high school. "Stiff" was on my bookshelf for sure. Didn't read Atul Gawande's stuff until later, but enjoyed them very much. My favorites from when I was a teen were:
and others, such as The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down. All are great reads.
> ebola is -RNA. can that mix with the flu?
Yes. It already did in a viral lab once.
Read "The Hot Zone" for a truly scary true story about a close call with an ebola pandemic.
I always point people to this book when they blow off vaccinations or contagious diseases:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Coming-Plague-Emerging-Diseases/dp/0140250913
The other book? Preston's The Hot Zone.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hot-Zone-Terrifying-Story/dp/0385479565
Both of those scared the ever living shit out of me, and they're also why I hate Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy.
For anyone who doesn't know, Arnold has written a well respected book on body building where you can get all his tips.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding-Updated/dp/0684857219
Ortho Essentials
Books I've read and/or am reading.
If you're going into a 5/3/1 program, Jim Wendler has books on that. Most programs have a good write-up somewhere so try and read the rhyme and reason behind what you're doing, as well as investigating the core concepts if they're not explained well (linear progression, progressive overload, and periodization are all concepts that most programs are based around. PM me if you have any other questions.
Here's a fucking link
The Body Keeps the Score
This might be of interest to you:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
There are also some good presentations from Bessel Van der Kolk on Youtube on the same subject.
Peterson is missing the elephant in the room, IMO. The real enemy is not neo-marxism, it is neo-calvinism. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote about this to some extent, and I think it is culturally in America's collective blindspot. Here I am defining neocalvinism as the idea that "work will set you free," or similarly "work will get you to heaven." JBP pushes this as "sort yourself out."
Notice that JBP never talks about Wilhelm Reich or his ideas. Adam Curtis covered this issue in the century of the self. Reich wrote a book The Mass Psychology of Fascism which, in a nutshell, talks about how fascism/authoritarianism is a fear-driven attack on sexuality. Notice how in US politics, since the cultural/sexual changes in America driven by them damn librul hippies on the left, the right has gone increasingly more insane, fanatical, disconnected from reality, authoritarian, and violent.
JBP's solutions to psychological troubles are usually about establishing more order through willful action and understanding. This is one version of "work will set you free." Notice the nazis had "arbeit macht frei" (the same phrase in German) at the gates of Auschwitz. Thanks to folks like Peter Levine,Lowen,Perls,etc., the psychotherapy world is now understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of the phrase "lose your mind and come to your senses." JBP once stated that catharsis does not heal old wounds, coming to understand what happened is what heals. That is the basis for his self authoring suite. The problem there is that the catharsis piece is necessary, as that brings memory fragments from the hippocampus into consciousness in the frontal cortex. See Bessel van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score.
The point of all this is that JBP seems to be politically and ideologically on the right, as are his followers. Notice how he attracts Trump supporters, far right types, nazis, etc. He disowns the nazis but doesn't seem to try to understand why this happens. The nature of his work is repressive of vulnerability, of existential terror of mortality, of sexuality and spontaneity.
Notice how the right believes so much in rugged individualism, "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," "I'm not responsible for my fellow americans because everyone should be personally responsible for themselves." Humans don't work that way, humans are social, our nervous systems respond to other people's pain whether we are conscious of that or blocking it, we need social contact. "Sorting oneself out" requires a positive relationship with another person (see Carl Rogers, object-relations theory, Allen Schore, etc) yet JBP and his followers seem to think they can think their way out of this by themselves, and that any particular "truth" is more important than getting along with others. Using "the truth" as a cudgel to attack/berate others is a particular pattern that Freud would have recognized, and seems common among JBP and his followers.
The literature suggests that it is exactly that - being in a good place and a secure/healthy relationship - that is allowing you to deal with the sexual impacts of the trauma now. Embrace it, its a good sign, I think.
As others have, I strongly recommend enlisting the help of a therapist as soon as you can deal with it financially. If you're going to go it alone, I'd recommend the following additions to your library:
Amazon: The Body Keeps the Score
Amazon: The Courage to Heal
Amazon: Healing Sex
Sure thing! The great, and not so great, thing about learning about evolution is that there is so much information out there it can be a bit overwhelm at times, and it is not always easy to know where to start. The best place to start it probably a university class, but that is not always an accessible resource. In lieu of that, I will strong recommend learning from biologist Richard Dawkins. While he is currently well-known for his stance on religion, he has devoted his life to teaching about evolution to the public. I'll give you a few of my favorite references of his. They are arranged in terms of the length of time they will probably take you. Also, so that you won't be intimidated, they are not references in which he explicitly denounces religion or anything; although, as you will see, he does explain evolution in contrast to some of the claims of creationism. I hope that is not a problem, as it is kind of necessary to learn why biologists take one view as opposed to the other.
Anyway, here are the references! =)
This video (5 parts, 10 min each) is a great introduction to some of the basic concepts of evolution, and was really eye-opening for me.
This lecture series (5 episodes, 1 hour each) goes into much more detail than the above video, gives much more evidence, illustrates some of the arguments, and has many fun and beautiful examples.
The Selfish Gene is a book that answered a huge number of questions about evolution for me (e.g., how can a "survival of the fittest" scheme give rise to people being nice to each other? The answer, it turns out, is fascinating.)
The The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution May be the book you are looking for. This book clearly lays down the evidence for evolution, complete with wonderful illustrations. It is very detailed, and very readable.
There are many other great authors besides Richard Dawkins, but this is a great place to start. You are about to go on a very beautiful and moving journey, if you decide to take it. I envy you! I would love to do it all over again. Enjoy!
Yeah, whoever that idiot was... who told you that... perhaps do not get that info from him.
Read this:
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-Revolutionary-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/0892819278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411401115&sr=8-1&keywords=dmt+spirit
DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Rick Strassman.
Pretty much ALL the subjects of the experiment at an American university reported contact with "intelligent entities" when they went away from their bodies.
It would probably be more productive for you to check out some instruction videos and texts first and try to apply them before soliciting feedback on your form from random people.
Here's a good video explaining the differences between two common styles of squat, high-bar and low-bar. Candito Training has a bunch of videos about squat form on his channel as well. Starting Strength is a comprehensive textbook on lifting form with a large chapter devoted to the squat.
I do highly recommend buying the book Starting Strength. I started the program based off research I did online - read up a bit and watched a lot of youtube videos, and then just jumped in the weight room and tried. I finally bought the book 6 months later and immediately began fixing things! All the big lifts are broken down and explained in a way a beginner should be able to teach themselves from scratch. It's a much-loved program on r/fitness and r/xxfitness due to its effectiveness, but the types of lifts are sometimes a bit intimidating when you are new to it. You will find no lack of encouragement on xxfitness though :)
As mentioned, NROLFW is also highly regarded, and I also followed Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer for a while with success and it doesn't require the use of barbells if that is a concern. Just make sure you are ready to up your calorie intake when you start lifting! Woot!
Congrats on the weight loss!! You have a large community waiting with open arms for your next steps and I'm excited for you :D
For health, How Not to Die. For cooking, Thug Kitchen.
It's actually a really interesting book, explaining how plant foods prevent and can even reverse some diseases. It's a thick scientific read, with 150 pages of references.
I'm not sure if you're fully up to date on nutrition literature or news, there's an insane amount of info and scientific peer-reviewed articles proving the health benefits of a plant based diet.
This book is LOADED with studies and science, over 100 pages are all of the sources he cited throughout the book: How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250066115/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_A1agybCHSQYJZ
You can listen to this book for free using the audible free month trial, if interested. You can cancel before the month ends and the book is yours to keep :) but also his website is free and there's more than enough info on there.
Here's a quick video answering your question/request directly, id suggest perusing through the videos on his channel or visiting his website: https://youtu.be/30gEiweaAVQ
Kevin Bass, Evelyn CarbSane, Mic the Vegan, maybe Christopher Gardner. I like looking at presentations for different medical professional gatherings. Most still represent a very anti keto style. Nina Teicholz has been disinvited from an event because others didn’t want to be associated with her.
Anti-Keto/Contrarian Viewpoints
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Core-Teachings-Buddha-Unusually/dp/1904658407
Or
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985
Daniel ingram, author of the book in the first link, is a PHD medical surgeon and a self declared arhat. He touches on the DNotS often and often speaks to how treatment of it is something that our medical community should pay attention to in the future.
That book has a ton of information on the subject and will deepen your practice in so many other ways. The book is mostly concerned with the jhanas and will take you through the 4 rupa jhana into the 4 arupa jhana. I believe it discusses the ninth jhana as well(it does i just googled it).
He also runs a website with a ton of information on the DNotS. https://www.dharmaoverground.org/
Overall its a great book and one can spend perhaps a lifetime on that work alone.
the 2nd one is just as good for different reasons. Check out the amazon reviews.
But bro i think you just gotta push through it. Keep meditating.
Good luck to you.
The Mind Illuminated.
Which has it own forum at /r/TheMindIlluminated
Try taking up meditation! It can really help you stop, take a step back, realize when and why you're craving, and deal with those feelings instead of giving in. I highly recommend "The Mind Illuminated" as the best no bullshit, no religion, science based, practical meditation manual. https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985/ref=sr_1_3?crid=VFY2JW8DLREG&keywords=the+mind+illuminated&qid=1570291925&sprefix=the+mind+Illuminated%2Caps%2C127&sr=8-3 edit: and the related subreddit /r/TheMindIlluminated
You could also try some supplements. I find that magnesium supplementation (get lysinate/glyciante chelated form, not oxide, that will just make you poop and do nothing) can help. Supposedly Kudzu can also help reduce your desire to drink. Some people have great luck with Kratom to quit drinking, it's very powerful, but be careful if you try it -- some people have dependence/withdrawal problems using it.
A ketogenic diet can also do a lot for you. For me it decreases desire to drink, makes me sleep better, gives me more energy, keeps my head more clear, and eliminates energy "crashes" throughout the day. Check out /r/keto if you're interested. It also helps that beer is entirely incompatible with a keto diet so if you do drink on it you have to drink dry wine or liquor which helps remove the temptation of delicious beer.
Hope that helps!
You have talent, keep working and you'll be fine.
The harshness,
You're making simple verb-tense errors all over your piece. Is it taking place in past-tense? he fed small grapes into her mouth
Or is it taking place in present-tense? she pouts to him, before he looks to her with an icy scowl
Both are acceptable. I personally prefer present-tense because I feel it adds immediacy and tension, but that's entirely a personal thing and should have no bearing on your own choices, but you need to make a choice and stick with it.
You need to format your writing properly before you show it to people. Things like paragraph breaks and indentations for lines of dialogue, and there are a couple of sentences where meaning completely breaks down, To an outside observer, he might seem slightly schizophrenic with his self affection, and quite considerably moronic of Strel, there was an observer. I have no idea what the second part of this sentence is supposed to convey.
There are a few points where your sentence construction gets a little clumsy, where the words get in the way of meaning or feeling, Strel made a vicious grin as a robed and turban-bound being huddled where it once was. (Made a vicious grin? Where what once was?)
wild were the actions of the people enamored with it (Enamoured with the market? How were their actions wild?)
However, there is a clear sense of creativity in your writing and a sense of determination to put words together in interesting ways that is impressive for someone of your age. If I were your English teacher, and I teach High School English, I'd be encouraging the hell out of you to keep writing because I think there is a lot of potential here.
Right now my suggestions would be to read everything you can. In particular, look beyond fantasy to books which are highly regarded for their literary merit. I'd strongly recommend Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses), Orhan Pamuk (My Name is Red), and Hillary Mantel (Wolf Hall).
As a fantasy fan there are things to really like in all of these books, and they're all examples of what writers at the absolute peak of the craft are capable of doing with language.
The second thing I'd suggest is to practice writing short pieces. It's all well and good to leap into a novel, but the ability to structure a beginning, middle, and end to a story is vital. If you can get classic story-structure skills mastered at a young age you're way, way, way ahead of the curve.
Finally, read The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It's a non-fiction book about what Campbell calls "The Monomyth." A classic mythical story-structure repeated over and over and over again in mythic tales from around the world, and utterly essential reading for anyone who wants to write Fantasy.
So, everyone telling you to do cardio is wrong. Objectively so, but they're not doing it out of spite or malice... they're doing it because they don't know any better either. They did what they did, and for a lot of them it was good enough, but the real question is... was it the best and most efficient thing to do? "Cardio," as it's commonly referred to, is really slow, steady-state aerobic training or exercise. It is absolutely not going to help you for two main reasons: 1) You are overweight and deconditioned and 2) you are going into a job where being able to run 10+ miles is NOT a significant factor. Being able to move quickly, hand-to-hand, load bearing equipment/duty load, carrying or moving heavy objects or people, movement to contact runs, getting into various positions, shooting, moving yourself through a three dimensional environment, etc. ARE all tasks you face.
​
So what should you do about it? Well, to start off you should get strong. As strong as you can, and do so while eating enough to maintain your training (but NOT enough that you don't slowly lose a LITTLE body fat). Body composition, not body weight, is important. The BMI index is garbage past people who never do anything physical and use their diet to manage their body fat. They're the mopeds of the metabolic world. You don't want to be a moped... you want to be a fighter jet. Not only will the ability to produce force help you across damn near every single job task you have to do (including helping keep your back/joints from being beat to shit before you're 30), but it is the adaptation that takes the longest to attain with the most dedication of energy and resources (time, food, rest). Once you get strong, and as you approach your academy date (2-3 months out), start to titrate in your conditioning load to your strength training. You should focus most on HIIT for your conditioning, as this will be the most effective use of your time. The majority of adaptation for conditioning happens at the cellular level, so you will probably be in tremendously good condition for any law enforcement or military physical fitness test in 8-10 weeks. The strength you gained ahead of time will allow you to run faster, bear more load, subdue people more easily, control situations by physical presence and confidence and will also assist your conditioning work as an important component of endurance.
​
I hope you take my recommendation seriously. If you would like explanations, examples, studies, etc. I can provide them, but know that while I do not have law enforcement experience I did spend a LOT of time in the Marine Corps working for a particular community. I know that strength works, and I know that HIIT conditioning works. Mostly because I did it every possible way you could think of, and in retrospect I would throw every other thing I ever did out the window and strength training with conditioning as a supplemental. Strength served me best, in every capacity, through multiple deployments to Afghanistan as a Marine and civilian contractor, on fitness tests, on the range/shoot house/MOUT town, etc. If you're ready to stop exercising, stop wasting your time and energy, and start training... I recommend you start here. I am also training to apply for FLEO, so if you would like an accountability partner let me know. I cannot mentor you with police stuff, but I do have friends in law enforcement who do everything from large SWAT teams to CSI to FBI Special Agent.
​
Edit: I screwed up some words.
Sure. But so can having the most commonly asked questions and misconceptions explicitly and simply written down.
Thousands and maybe even millions of people start the journey alone every year and they have even less information.
This book describes the important exercises and programming a beginner would need in detail.
Buy this book
read it.
do a basic 3x5 (3 sets of 5 reps) alternating the two routines in the book (squats, dead lift, bench AND squat, overhead press, cleans)
forget everything you know, and start from scratch.
its harsh advice but you look young and its better to learn it correctly and do it right than practice building crappy patterns and trying to relearn that sometime down the line.
you don't look like you're very mobile and you're clearly not comfortable getting below parallel. you should fix that and begin to work on your mobility.
here is a great resource for that: http://phraktured.net/starting-stretching.html
Some other good resources are:
https://www.youtube.com/user/athrall7
https://www.youtube.com/user/kabuki07
http://www.canditotraininghq.com/about-me/
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738 ($10 on kindle, pretty cheap)
don't give up or get discouraged. work at in consistently, figure out what works and what doesn't, and keep pushing when set backs do happen.
if you or your parents are willing/financially able seeing a professional would be a great option here. whether it's a physical therapist, a strength and conditioning coach, or a certified crossfit trainer.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0982522738?pc_redir=1397432776&robot_redir=1
Wheymen.
Hi, 31M, fighting depression, acute social anxiety disorder and suicidal tendencies. I am doing good now. Had a scare a few months ago when a close family member fell really ill, and I really started to put in the effort to turn my life around. It is a work in progress, but I am doing well. My advice:
Some more reading: If you want to know how meditation helps the mind, read the best book on cognitive therapy:Feeling Good | David Burns.
For instructions on breathing and mindfulness meditation, there are many great resources online. Also check out /r/Meditation.
I leave you with this song: Get up! Be good. PM me if you need anything.
A few options here:
Best wishes
It's difficult to study exercise technique/form in quite the same rigorous & scientific way as we do with medications & diseases. Or perhaps more importantly, people haven't put nearly as much effort & money into the (proper scientific) study of exercise.
Having said that, it's not a data-free zone. I'd recommend Kelly Starrett's book Becoming a Supple Leopard as a fairly comprehensive book that covers proper form for many exercises.
It's not referenced, but Starrett is knowedgeable & widely respected, and the book is excellent.
https://www.amazon.com/Strong-Curves-Womans-Building-Better/dp/1936608642
Nu glumeste, eu tin o saptamana la vreo 2 luni in mod regulat si o zi in fiecare saptamana nu mananc nimic. Maxim am dus 9 zile si am mancat din reflex, m-am asezat cu sotia la masa seara, dupa munca, ea manca, si fara sa imi dau seama am inceput si io sa mananc. dar nu imi era foame deloc.
Prima zi e aiurea, in special daca mananci de obicei carbohidrati (nu esti keto sau low carb). A doua zi deja nu iti mai e foame, dar ai constant senzatia aia "ba, toti mananca in juru meu, ala o shaorma, ala o aluna, io ce fac aici?". Cam din ziua 3-4 asa deja nu mai ai nici o problema.
Ca idee, poti bea cafea sau ceai, nu doar apa. Evident, fara zahar sau lapte in ele. Singura recomandare pe care ti-o fac e sa mananci sare zilnic, ca altfel o sa te deshidratezi si nu e fun deloc. Fara sare o sa ti se faca si frig destul de tare cam din ziua a 3a si din ziua 5a-6a pot aparea deficiente serioase care sa duca la crampe musculare. Asa ca linge cateva grame de sare pe zi.
Daca vrei sa citesti despre fasting: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
Daca vrei video mai light pe youtube, iti recomand canalul astuia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UShUs1Wb_k sau https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojt9PmqAfhA
Daca vrei video mai in detaliu pe yotube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Aw0P7GjHE&t=25s
Daca vrei sa citesti mai mult in romana, uite aici. E despre intermittent fasting, dar se aplica aceleasi idei, evident cu diferenta ca nu mananci deloc.
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-2nd-Performance/dp/1628600837
Stronger by Science books. Their squat, bench, and deadlift manual are probably some of the most in depth and well-researched books out there on the squat, bench, and deadlift.
Juggernaut Training systems books. I personally own the Scientific Principle of strength training, and it really is a great book.
In terms of mobility and rehab work, you can check out the Becoming a Supple leopard, which comes highly recommended by my physio.
Although honestly, most of the information available in said books are also available as free articles on their websites. With citations you can actually follow. Plus, most of the core information in there is already incorporated into the sub's wiki.
Wait. No web links. Nevermind, disregard said advice.
Whatever you do, remember this. Cheap seeds almost universally means garbage genetics. Don't fall for pollen-chuckers like Crap King Seeds. Do your research, pay the extra coins, and get good DNA. Personally I'm a fan of Barney's farm, but there are MANY fine reputable breeders. Welcome to the club.
If you're a reading type, I highly recommend
https://www.amazon.ca/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X
Or his other book, marijuana basics. Jorge is the godfather of all growers in north America, working in the field since the early 70s. Directly responsible for introducing "sinsemilla" cannabis to us, which is why we don't need the garbage bags of pot our parents needed to get high in the 60s and 70s before his teachings spread.
Jorge Cervantes' Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible.
It is an exhaustively researched, well-written book that covers all imaginable aspects of cannabis horticulture. I don't know if there's a more recent edition, but the only complaint I would have is that the one I have (now a few years old) doesn't cover the most recent advances in LED illumination.
> How to you keep the smell under control?
If you have a look at the homebox diagrams you'll see that all air is pulled through whatever type of fan you have attached to the vent at the top. Attach a scrubber to an inline fan and you win.
> Do you use a cloning system?
No, but if I were interested in producing a shit ton I certainly would. I've toyed with setting up a veg room and a flower room to serve this purpose, but I never have.
> I'd like to do this in a way that I'd be able to produce about a ounce a month.
There are some excellent books and resources out there to help you get to that "perpetual harvest" you're talking about. Grasscity is absolutely amazing - full of grow journals, howtos, etc. Also I'd reccomend picking up Jorge Cervantes' Marijuana horticulture, it's got some excellent how-tos.
Yes!! I've been lifting for a few years and it all started with the book the New Rules of Lifting for Women: http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Rules-Lifting-Women/dp/1583333398
SUCH A GREAT RESOURCE, comes with programs for 6+ months of efficient and effective training that varies depending on your goals. I recommend everyone start with that, or at least have it in their library as a good resource. Once you have a hold of the basics and good form, then it's a lot of fun cruising around bodybuilding.com's complete (and free!) programs and simplyshredded.com's female interviews, which include the interviewee's favorite programs. I would definitely start with the New Rules of Lifting, though, since it will create a solid strength base which will give you the confidence and good form to be able to play around with your programming later.
Also, Mark Rippetoe's book "Starting Strength" (pretty popular, you can probably find at the library) is dense but very very clear as to the proper mechanics of every basic lift and has a good beginner's program outlined towards the end.
FINALLY, while you don't need to look at those programs, you do need A program and to write down what you do every time you go in. This will prevent you from overworking/underworking certain muscle groups, help you keep track of strength progress, and also allow you in a few weeks/months/years to remember what worked for your body and what did not.
Good luck!!
It sounds like you don't do any strength training at all, so I'd say the easiest way to improve your physique is to eat more protein and lift heavy weights. Go to a real gym and do weighted compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, pullups, and bench presses--or if you don't have access to a gym, you could at least start doing pushups and squats at home.
This will help increase your metabolism and therefore decrease your body fat, and it'll also make your waist look narrower in comparison to your shapely ass and shoulders. :)
It's hard to get enough protein as a vegetarian, but try to add more low-fat dairy, tofu, tempeh, and other non-meat protein sources to your diet, and try to reduce your consumption of grains to compensate.
This book really helped set me on a good path toward my fitness goals: http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/1583333398
No. Intermittens fasting is fine. I have done it for years as an easy way to not gain weight, without counting calories.
But you don't get autophagy from it. That takes longer than 16 hours, and even the smallest amount of calories or protein stops autophagy.
One thing to be aware of if you do 16:8, and is low fat, is that there is an increased risk of gallstones. But for people on keto that should hardly be a problem.
I strongly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
It is the most precise book I have read on the subject. The author also has a plethora of youtube videos. like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9Aw0P7GjHE
Dr. Jason Fung is one of the leading researchers on the subject. If you want to dive into some of his analysis, his website is intensive dietary management
he also has published a few books. the complete guide to fasting is a good starting point.
Jason's Fung bible on practical fasting...
skipping meals is our society's brainwashing saying thats the worst thing to do. the body has plenty of fat stores to get energy from.
if she gets to be over the top, just eat something ketogenic like an egg/cheese omelet with vegetables. that way your body will still be burning fat and she'll be appeased since you ate breakfast.
get this book
The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600012/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_L6FSzbEV05VXJ
I'm a big fan of this book
While technically not a book on sports massage, it is great for doing self myofascial release.
This book might be useful. It has a ton of stretches depending on what issues you're having. Some of it is geared heavily towards the CrossFit crowd, but the stretches, explanations, and pictures are useful.
Get this book.
Jorge Ceventes may do some self serving, craptacular AMAs on Reddit but this book will have most all your answers.
Start slow. I actually recommend diet and walking. Just try to walk more every day. Maybe 500 meters the first day, than 600...etc
After you have lost a bit of weight and can walk 5k, start on the couch to 5k program and starting strength
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe can’t be beat. My husband and I did it together a few years ago. You build muscle super fast. It was so much fun keeping a notebook together. Rippetoe breaks down every lift so thoroughly, there’s no gimmicky shortcuts, and he takes a sort of whole body approach that’s way better than “targeting” certain muscles. He’s lasted the test of time when so many other coaches and programs have had their trendy moment and fallen into obscurity.
How long have you been eating and exercising at these levels? How much protein are you getting as a part of your diet?
Getting "defined" means lowering your body fat percentage. This needs to be approached from two directions: dieting to lose body fat and building muscle to reveal when your body fat is low enough. Here's a visual guide of different body fat percentages. At the moment you are on a very calorie restricted diet for the amount of exercise you're doing. That may let you lose weight, but you could be losing a lot of muscle at the same time--you'll get smaller, but not more defined. If you want to focus on revealing muscle, you will probably want to cut back on the cardio, focus on a weight training program, and make sure you're getting enough protein to maintain your muscle mass.
You can still eat at a deficit to lose weight if you're working on a program like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts, but you need to get at LEAST 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass and preferably closer to 1g of protein per pound overall. This will allow your body to keep its muscle and gain strength, which will help you look more defined as you lose weight.
When it comes to TDEE calculators--use them to estimate your sedentary TDEE. Cut 10-20% of this number to choose a healthy calorie deficit for weight loss. On days when you're working out, add back the calories you've burned in your activity. (Don't go crazy on estimating your calories burned, cardio machines and MFP tend to give much larger numbers than are realistic. 300-500 calories is what I normally add on my hard workout days.)
I do starting strength. http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738 www.startingstrength.com
Compound lifts can be worked into a five day split routine like yours. That is not SS. It's worth taking a look at the SS Wiki, the Fittit FAQ, and even reading Starting Strength to understand the reasoning behind the program. SS is specifically a 3 day/week full-body workout as opposed to a split, and takes advantage of a novice's ability to respond rapidly to progressive overload; the rest days are there to allow the trainee's body to maximize it's response and adaptation to the stress applied. Especially as a new trainee there's little point in training for size over strength -- you can't get bigger until you've got a basic level of strength to allow the larger workloads that are optimal for hypertrophy. Later, once your body has adapted to a heavier workload by becoming stronger, a more sophisticated split or periodized workout scheme will be necessary to make further progress, whether you focus on strength, size, or other athletic goals.
If you're committed to a five day program then adding compound lifts is still a great idea and will help your total body development, but it's worth looking into full body routines like SS, Strong Lifts, or Greyskull LP while you're still fresh enough to take advantage of "newb gainz." Take a look through the FAQ and good luck!
Subtle dullness is a meditation obstacle that arises once you subdue mind-wandering, gross distraction, and gross dullness (sometimes described as drowsiness or mental sinking). The problem with subtle dullness is that it can fool you into thinking you've attained single-pointed concentration when in fact you're in a very subtle fog. It's considered a very dangerous state, and meditators can waste their lives that way.
I know of at least two meditation traditions that talk about subtle dullness. I first learned about it in Tibetan Buddhist meditation instruction. Here's some instruction from Pabongka Rinpoche as transcribed by Trijang Rinpoche, who was one of the Dalai Lama's two main tutors. In this case he's talking about using a visualized image of a Buddha or mandala as the meditation object:
> There are two types of dullness, subtle and coarse. When you recall your meditation device, its image may be steady but unclear. This is coarse dullness. Subtle dullness is as follows: you have not lost the retained features of the visualization, you even have steadiness and clarity of image, but the force of your retention has slackened and its clarity is not intense. Subtle dullness is the main obstruction to meditation. [From Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand]
Culadasa (my main meditation teacher) also talks a lot about subtle dullness and how dangerous it is. It Here's what he says in The Mind Illuminated:
> This new level of stable attention is precisely what makes us more vulnerable to slipping into a deeper state of sustained subtle dullness. That's because the mental agitation that stimulated the mind and helped keep us awake in earlier Stages has subsided. As subtle dullness deepens, it causes both peripheral awareness and subtle distractions to fade. If we don't recognize this as a sign of subtle dullness, it can easily be mistaken for the strong, exclusive focus of Stage Six... Without guidance, meditators often confuse a deeper state of subtle dullness with having achieved the more loft states of later Stages.
He goes on to say:
> We can sustain this type of subtle dullness for very long periods. It's often described in these kinds of terms: "My concentration was so deep, an hour seemed only like minutes." Or, "I don't know where I went, but I was just gone, and felt so peaceful and happy."
If you're meditating just to relax, I suppose that's OK, but both Culadasa and the Tibetan tradition warn that spending a long time in subtle dullness will just make you stupider over time, like a burnout. And if you're meditating with the goal to perceive higher truths, subtle dullness is a terrible trap:
> When the pleasure of dullness is particularly strong and our peripheral awareness of thoughts and sensations fades completely, our meditation can even seem to fit the description of a meditative absorption (jhana). We can quickly get attached to such experiences, prizing them as proof of our meditative skills. Yet, relative to the practice goals in this book, they are complete dead ends. It's crucial we learn to recognize and overcome subtle dullness to progress in your practice.
That's the default state of mind. Your practice is simply making you aware of that state.
Unfortunately, there's no way to simply turn off thinking. That's like trying to turn off hearing. For brief stretches of time, with powerful concentration, you can absorb yourself in an object other than thought, such that the thinking recedes into the background (and depending on the depth of your absorption may appear to cease altogether), but that's a difficult practice.
Alternatively, through insight meditation, you can follow how your attention moves between thoughts (or mental objects) and the objects of your senses, moment-by-moment. Through that, you'll see how thoughts are constructed, always dependent on some other thing that has arisen, and you'll also see how thoughts pass away, like all other things.
Through this process of investigating the mind, you'll also see how experience is always unsatisfactory in some way, either because you're experiencing something unpleasant that you want to go away or because you're experiencing something pleasant, but you're anxious about losing it.
As the mind begins to understand this, it begins to naturally become less enchanted by all experience, and the quality of "equanimity" is developed, a sort of peaceful balance, where all experience -- for better or worse -- is allowed to arise and simply be as it is, without that added layer of constantly pushing it away or clinging to it, which is what generates stress or dissatisfaction.
With a more advanced practice, there may come a time when the mind ceases completely, a state called "cessation," which can lead to very powerful insight into the nature of mind, but also has the very practical benefit of seemingly re-wiring the brain in such a way that the volume and frequency of certain thoughts seems to subside to an extent.
All of this, though, requires exceptional commitment and effort. You alone own the practice.
Some helpful resources if you're interested: My teacher website, which talks about the practice I've engaged in and found helpful. Also, I'd recommend The Mind Illuminated, which is the best meditation manual I've read and discusses some of these concepts.
It is a very common, almost universal, phenomenon at the transition point between total beginner and "starting to get it". See it as a stage, it will go away as you keep sitting. It will probably come back regularly almost every time you sit for some time.
Culadasa calls it "Grade I piti" in his book The Mind Illuminated.
Daniel Ingram calls it second nana, or Knowledge of Cause and Effect, in his book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha.
Try reading this book on the interactions between diet and common human health problems. Everything in the book is based on evidence-based medicine and there are tons of cited sources to follow up on. It's a great primer on the worst and best foods for you.
How Not to Die is another excellent source of information. It has great discussions of how specific foods as well as overall diet patterns can be used to treat a wide range of diseases either without drugs or minimizing drugs.
Here's a video that discusses these effects. OP, additionally, it's certainly not the case that mental health issues are "very separate from your nutrition," and there's a substantial amount of research on the links between the two. You might check out the book How Not to Die for details (incidentally by the same doctor who made the video—he spends a lot of time summarizing nutrition research for laypeople).
Part of growing up is getting used to the idea that what you choose for yourself, who you are, and how you live your life, are not always going to be understood and accepted by others. That is especially difficult when those people are ones we love and respect.
Try to have a good understanding of what you need to be healthy and strong through adolescence. Talk about it with your mom, so she doesn't get freaked out when your grandfather calls with his concerns. See if you can have a consult with a dietician/nutritionist, who can talk to you about making sure you're getting what you need. Then you or your mom can reassure your grandfather that you have consulted a profession on the matter.
If you grandfather is a reader, maybe get him a copy of one of the plant based nutrition books. If he like documentaries, then maybe you can get him a copy of one that looks at plant based diets. Or, even better, get the book/video for yourself, read it, then loan it to him so you can discuss it.
Finally, if you are struggling with depression talk to your doctor. Be proactive about doing what is necessary to be healthy. Depression that is treated (not necessarily w/ medication) in adolescence is less likely to re-occur throughout adulthood.
The best proof that you can give your grandfather that a vegetarian diet is good for you, is to be healthy and happy.
How Not to Die; Forks Over Knives or the FOK Video -- check you local library for copies
To those intrigued by the prosaic notions of awakening discussed in the podcast (e.g. - how one relates to the contents of mind having cultivated a deep practice) look no further than The Mind Illuminated. Given the assumption of Sam's crowd being rigorous and scientific, this book should have great appeal to many of you: it guides the practitioner through stages consisting of various exercises that progressively lead to powerful concentration. This is almost purely a technical manual with only brief quotes from suttas, and includes interludes that express the author's hypothesis of how meditation affects the brain's processes (he has a PHD in neuroscience).
This book is also good for those who have held a basic practice of following the breath and returning upon distraction for a long while, but feel lost having practiced just this for a period of time.
Finally, I strongly recommend buying the physical copy over the digital one, since the book consists of tables, diagrams, and images better suited to print.
I hope this will be of use to you all, as it's accelerated my own practice by leaps and bounds. If you apply yourself rigorously to this curriculum, you will see tremendous benefit within the course of a year (but obviously sooner too, given the skills you'll acquired as you go along).
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486053969&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mind+illuminated
Do you have the concentration to read a book?
There are two routes: Guided meditation on youtube. Early meditation is usually body scans, counting meditation, and walking or generosity meditation (paying attention to every muscle as you move slowly while doing a chore. Two birds with one stone.)
Most kinds of meditation, when done right, will increase concentration, making it effortless and enjoyable to do things that were hard or stressful before.
If you have the time and concentration The Mind Illuminated is the go to book right now. 10 out of 10, it's good.
And yes, your awareness will go up. Awareness is the foundation for consciousness, so you will reach higher levels of consciousness from it.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, a Jungian psychoanalyst.
Basically he looks at a bunch of the world's myths and relates it to the hero's journey. Really right down my alley with my dream interpretation and creative pursuits.
Two books to buy:
One of the best things you could probably do for yourself is start increasing your motor control and mobility. It helps tremendously to learn how to brace your spine and position your shoulders into a stable position. Once you learn that you will understand how to create the most force off your movements through torque and maintaining tension in your body.
A lot of "good technique" in bjj or lifting or any sport starts with good bone/joint/spinal/body positioning. When you start practicing these proper body position and maintaining them through a full range of movement (i.e. the basic squat), you learn where your joints/muscles/spine need better range of motion and how to train that--your bjj technique will probably improve. An understanding of basic human movements translates into any physical activity through better performance.
That being said...I would say you don't really need weights or kettlebell swings until you've built a good base of physical strength/conditioning. Start with some general physical preparedness (GPP), bodyweight squats, pushups, situps, planks, chinups and pullups + add a little bit of good form running.
You might check out Strong Curves, which is basically an adaptation of Stronglifts geared towards women with a bigger focus on aesthetics than SL5x5.
My wife ran SL5x5 with me for about 6 months, then switched to SC. She hit a ceiling on SL5x5 that she was having a lot of trouble breaking through (mostly owing to the fact that she's a tiny woman and it's just hard to add linear gains when you're as small as she is), which was frustrating to her. Strong Curves is less focused on moving as much weight as possible. She is enjoying it a lot more, and it's working her a lot harder. It's most of the same movements, but it's lower weight/higher reps, and it has you doing supersets, all of which will definitely help produce better aesthetic results.
Hello incognitoplant!
This way, you're slowly losing fat, while giving the body enough resources to build muscle in the same time frame.
Watch your weight once a week:
If you're staying the same weight or losing weight consistently while you're getting stronger at all your exercises: you're doing it right. You're losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time!
Best of luck!
I'll venture a guess that the routine the trainer gave you is probably not that great and utilizes a lot of the circuit machines.
3-4 gym visits a week is perfect for getting into weight training, if you want to mix in cardio I suggest you do it on your rest days so you can really focus on your gym work. Typically most people separate their workouts by Push, Pull, and Leg days. Push for upper body workouts that utilize the chest, shoulders and triceps. Pull for upper body workotus that utilize the back and biceps. Leg day is all lower body work like your quads, hamstrings and calves.
Since you're just starting out, this is the best time to get on a program. There are quite a few different routines out there and they all have different benefits so you need to know what your goals are. Do you want raw strength, general muscle tone etc? I would suggest you look into Strong Curves first. Check out some of the reviews and do a little research to see if it is right for you. If that isn't your cup of tea than I'd also suggest reading up on Strong Lifts 5x5 and even the 5/3/1 routines as these seem to some of the most popular around here.
From my personal experience, and keep in mind I'm a guy, Strong Lifts was a great starting point for getting myself going in the gym since as you get stronger and more used to the program you can start adding in accessory lifts and finding out what works best for you.
IME this is a lost cause, ladies who think this way will squat for a week and then become absolutely convinced that their thighs have "bulked up". I don't try to convince them of anything. Maybe suggest a program like Strong Curves?
You look fine. But if you want to improve your shape, build some muscle.
Glute bridges, side laying abductions and squats will all fill out your hip area.
Look into the Strong Curves program perhaps? You gotta eat to build that muscle though.
It sounds like your problem goes deeper than just the shape of your body. Maybe youshould consider seeing a counselor too?
> I wonder if humanities curious nature towards mysticism is inevitable and that all paths, no matter how diverse, will always use the same formats and formulas to tell their tales.
This is one of the central tenants of Jung's research (well you know "research") and Joseph Cambell basically wrote the book about it... https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936 sorry if Im being didactic/eg if you already knew that... its a really facinating question/idea. As far as "Embedded in our DNA" eg for a more scientific approach this book is AMAZING https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Consciousness-Breakdown-Bicameral-Mind/dp/0618057072, even though it does veer from the purely scientific, the idea is that our brains have certain regions which act on our spiritual relationship to our "gods" which manifested themselves as voices in our earlier evolutionary states and that as we became more rational our brains still retained these functional but at the same time "disfunctional" anatomy leading to experiances that result for some in uncontrollable states, like schizophrenics for example ... the way he "proves" all of this stuff is a comparison of his experiments in neuroscience with historical texts, legends, sagas, and other implements of earlier humanity like archeological finds. if you are interested in this topic this is an absolutely Mindblowing book right here just saying!
Finally:
"Is this part of our evolutionary growth or yearning for divinity?
Our ego's thirst for magical power or trying to step out of our physical limitations?" I think you are right in that we yearn because, I beleive at least, our evolutionary state has one foot in the past and one in the future, we have evolved beyond our normal need for mere survival and we now use our brains for complex creation and navigation of human institutions but we dont really know "why", we dont really know what meaning is becuase "meaning" is a brand new thing! and without it the universe seems devoid of purpose and therefore I beleive we fill in those gaps with these notions and art, music etc, art and literature helps us define ourselves and music helps us 'engage' with the harmonics/vibrations of the universe on deeper levels (as it is really the only category here that actually relies on the schientific make up of the universe i.e. the ways that ratios of harmonic waves sound pleasing or displeasing based on their relationships in time...). I just love this stuff, am also agnostic but love to celebrate all ideas no matter how objectively "wrong" they may be, thats of c why Im on this sub! Love your questions/keep on searching!!!
Personally I think a better questions is 'how should one read Jung?' I have a friend who studied psychology with a neuroscience concentration, and that area doesn't tend to take Jung or most psychoanalysts seriously, and while that's not my background, I can see why. I used to be someone who took those methods of self-description and analysis very seriously, but in addition to occasionally taking me some weird places, it's really not taken seriously by most professionals in the fields of, say, psychology.
That said, there are a couple reasons to still study psychoanalytics. One is if you're interested in things like art, film or literature, which were all hugely influenced by ideas about the subconscious. I read a lot of James Joyce and Marcel Proust, and those writers can't be fully understood without some decent understanding of the understandings of psychology that fed into those authors works (Joyce even had his daughter be analyzed by Jung). Artists like Picasso and Pollock were heavily inspired by psychoanalysis, and much can be said for numerous filmmakers, and even some interesting religious study has been done with their work (Joseph Campbell comes to mind here). So if you're interested in that angle, I'd say go for it, as they've got a lot of interesting insights into how art, literature and even religion work.
Another way you can read them is for personal growth, rather than as a transmission of analytic information (I'm not sure I'm phrasing that very well; apologies). I have a few authors that I love to read, but would hesitate to use them to back up some assertion made in an academic paper, unless it was for a very specific purpose, or maybe just finding some flowery quote that I put at the front of a chapter to be pretentious. Jung's been great for me to understand myself, but I would be wary of using him in some academic setting (outside of some where it makes specific sense). I read him like I do Joseph Campbell, Peter Sloterdijk and Allan Watts.
TLDR: Yes, but only sorta. Expect personal growth, but not rigorous psychology, and you should find a lot of value in his work. I'd also recommend Joseph Campbell, since he developed a lot of psychoanalytic stuff into some somewhat more accessible work, and even edited some of Jung's work into an anthology.
Hola! I'm fxpstclvrst, which is not worth pronouncing aloud. I've been here for two rounds. I am a lady that lives in the Dallas area. I've got a smattering of aches and pains, mostly a bad knee and a weak ankle. I did physical therapy last year for my frozen shoulder, and that improved my life so much. My doctor recommended a paleo-like diet to reduce my weight to cut back on my snoring.
Is she pear shaped because that will seriously help? As far as I know (seriously working out for about 6 months so take all of this with a grain of salt), us chicas can do the same workouts as y'all fellas (we can both do StrongLifts 5x5, that's what I do). So you can show her your work out and then just work on lower body (squats and deadlifts and stuff, but I'm sure you already knew this. Squats are a bootyful girl's best friend!). She's not gonna get swole the way you do. She might want to do an abs circuit or something in addition to the DLs and Squats. Ask her what she wants to work on. Flat stomach? Abs/Squats/DLs, Bingo wings? Upper body. Posture, upper body and core, etc.
Get more details as to what she envisions herself like and target those areas, which you will totally know how to do, you athletic bf, you.
Wait also, here is a book you might enjoy: The New Rules of Lifting for Women I haven't read it but it was in the /r/bodyweightfitness sidebar. :)
I'm 5'8" 124 pounds, 37 years old.
Over the last 2 years, I lost 50 pounds and was down to 115 (too skinny!) and ended up looking "skinnyfat" with my extra loose skin. Trying to gain muscle. Not sure how high I will go but willing to keep going until I think I'm looking the way I like, then I can cut.
I feel like I eat a ton and I have gained 9 pounds in the last year, which I guess is good? I've found it more difficult to find resources that help women understand how much we should be trying to gain in a determined amount of time.
I started with the New Rules of Lifting for Women, then moved on to SL 5x5 and now I am doing The Muscle Building Workout Routine - which I am enjoying so far.
Read this: The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600012/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XV2.yb6NW74W8
Fascinating. And totally debunks a lot of the "common wisdom" that extended fasting is unhealthy.
I would listen to the audio book or read: The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1771641258/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_LFQCCb79W9S8D
Also: The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1628600012/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_HKQCCbETJPS2D
Mutiple studies have shown calories are not the driving force for weight increase, insulin is.
A 2000 calories made up of pizza, pasta, ice cream, cake, doughnuts, chips, bread and juice, is very different than 2000 calories made by steak, chicken, veg, eggs, nuts, seeds, avacado and whole fruit.
Fibre is also a key component of weight management, most western diets do get nearly enough fibre. Fibre protects the body from sugar.
Add chia seeds and flaxseed to your meals.
I'll throw out there the Gospel according to Rippetoe. It was a very literal life changer for me.
I'm not sure of all the things this person believes, obviously, but there is a certain level of credibility to this post. An interesting read, based on documented science experiments and the pineal gland could be found here: DMT: The Spirit Molecule. It is very well done and very neutral in its balance. Worth a read.
Again, not saying that all that glimmers is gold, but that dismissing all of this without a second thought could be a mistake. The advice about having positive friends, eating healthy, exercising, and generally being a well balanced person is certainly sound advice for anyone.
The fluoride thing, however, I've never been sure on. I know that at higher levels fluoride can be dangerous, but I'm not sure what levels those are versus the levels of fluoride in our drinking water.
Potentially dumb question, but is deadlifting something I can learn myself, or is it highly recommended that I schedule some time with a trainer first before I go out on my own? I've been doing a little research and was recommended giving Starting Strength a read before I attempt it on my own. I've been holding off on doing exercises like this due to the fact that I don't want to mess up my back, but with the way things have been going in the gym, I'm not sure if weighted pull ups or lat pull downs are enough.
Edit: Thanks for the advice guys. It seems as though I might be getting my wires crossed when it comes to what muscles the deadlift works. I ready somewhere that it does, but only to an extent. Still a valuable exercise though, something that I've been meaning to incorporate for a while.
Try this:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
There's 60+ pages on the squat alone.
And this clearly doesn't require any sort of technical proficiency:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYNYBUd8FZE
Do you even lift?
Starting Strength
At the risk of sounding complacement, maybe India isn't in need of dire saving. After decades of being in the doldrums, it's finally rising at a quite rapid pace. GDP per capita is starting to reach critical mass. India in 2020 will be where China was in the year 2010 according to the IMF(PPP-adjusted).
So its just a decade behind. A big concern is the slowdown in jobs growth. That would cause significant instability if the trend persisted, given that India has about 1 million new entrants into the labor market every single month.
If you look at absolute povery measured by the world bank, the numbers have come down dramatically. India's TFR will also basically converge to replacement rate levels by 2020, something which is necessary to avoid instability and more rapidly increase the wealth of each citizen.
Chidabaram had an interesting talk recently where he talked about India today and its potential. He essentially said neither India nor China could ever reach Western levels of prosperity on a per-capita basis. I wouldn't be so certain. The main constraint today is energy, specifically oil.
That can be overcome(see EVs). Then you have food and whatnot, but that will be possible to bypass by growing your own food in a lab. Water usage can still be streamlined far more than it is today, even in most developed countries. Add to this the general decline in violence over the past several millenia, and you have a decent foundation to build prosperity on. The major risk out there is climate change.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/This-Nonviolent-Stuffll-Get-Killed/dp/082236123X/
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010/
https://www.amazon.com/Gunfight-Battle-Over-Right-America/dp/0393345831
https://www.amazon.com/Living-Guns-Liberals-Second-Amendment/dp/1610391691/
https://www.amazon.com/More-Guns-Less-Crime-Understanding/dp/0226493660/
https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Second-Amendment-Documentary-Commentaries/dp/0962366439
https://www.amazon.com/Armed-America-Remarkable-Became-American/dp/1595552847
https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Bear-Arms-Origins-Anglo-American/dp/0674893077
https://www.amazon.com/Targeting-Guns-Firearms-Control-Institutions/dp/0202305694
https://www.amazon.com/Second-Amendment-Biography-Michael-Waldman/dp/147674744X
> all the worlds religions and ethnicities should stop being jerks to each other. However, that seems unlikely.
It's very likely. It's been happening throughout history. It's happened while wealth inequality increased, as in the Pacification Process, when warring bands of relatively egalitarian foragers unified into larger, more stratified farming states.
> If we look at a lot of wars in the world we can see that its rich people (US Army) killing people with much less money.
I don't think wealth inequality causes that kind of violence at all. Except maybe indirectly, in that USA thinks they can get away with killing Iraqis, because Iraqis are too poor to defend themselves. And if you can force the rich to give away their money to the poor, surely you can just force the rich to not kill the poor.
Anyway, it's not that the rich hate the poor, for being poor, and so go out of their way to hurt the poor. If anything, this is an argument for more free markets. Allow the rich to benefit from "exploiting" (aka employing) the poor, so they won't want to fight the poor.
I wish I could tell you that all you need to do is to stop believing in God and suddenly things will become much clearer. Unfortunately, this is not really the case.
Think of the God idea as a piece of malware, which is running on the computer of your brain. It's malware because it takes up your resources to do something that isn't beneficial to you. Once upon a time you installed the Loving Parents And Social Circle software, and it asked you to install the God program as part of it. You clicked OK at the time, but now you've figured out it's malware, and you need to find a way to get rid of the malware, but you don't want to uninstall the Loving Parents And Social Circle software too.
This is a very touchy process and I can't guarantee you'll be successful. Some people give up and simply decide to go without the Loving Parents And Social Circle software, because the licensing requirements are just too restrictive. I don't recommend this path. Even if the requirements are pretty rough, it's good software.
But here's the kick that no one tells you: by getting rid of the malware, you don't just suddenly have an awesome computer you can use for anything. You have to find and download lots of other software now. Getting rid of the malware was just the beginning, and now the real work begins. You're already way behind people who got rid of their malware ages ago, or maybe never had it to begin with. You need to play catch-up.
Here's the good news: most people, once they've finally gotten rid of the malware, wake up the next day and get really excited about all the new things their computer can potentially do, and they find themselves staying up all night downloading and running new stuff. There's a burst of energy that comes with suddenly finding all these free resources.
Maybe there's some old software sitting there that you never really used, and now you can run it much better than you did before. That was the case with me, and this was the software I ran. Then I started downloading more and more and more. Now I feel like my speeds are better than most and about as fast as the people I find interesting to talk to.
> I see what you are getting at -
I'm unconvinced of arguments involving game theory and utilitarianism. Although, it's easy to latch on to them. Going down a path of "articulated objectivism" in a world dominated by new atheists touting Science as above morality and philosophizing, there isn't much else to fall back on. So I understand why one might want to base their arguments such.
My own break from this approach involved (1) reading "The Evolution of Cooperation", which is as Game Theory and Dawkins as it gets, with its thesis based almost entirely on computer simulation, then simultaneously reading (2) Greg Mankiw's piece on "When the Scientist is Also a Philosopher", which to me was largely an admission from a top Economist, then finally (3) reading Jonathan Haidt's "The Righteous Mind" that showed me the possibility of an entirely alternate perspective. Particularly impactful were his citing of Fehr & Gachter's Altruistic Punishment in Humans, his case about Kant and Bentham being autistic - implying they weren't socially capable of understanding how people actually functioned in social settings, and his takedown of the New Atheists including Dawkins.
> in part rhetorical :)
Yes, in part, the other part being sincerely open to being convinced otherwise :) .
> I think there is so much more that ails the legal system today
What do you believe ails the legal system?
To me, Dharma is at the least evolved for India, in comparison to Western canonical law. Dharma is still well embedded in our cultural consciousness, we grow up on stories involving Dharma. If you're thinking in terms of Schelling points, Dharma should be an obvious solution to many of India's societal woes. It is at the least far more intuitive for us Hindus. Western legalese on the other hand is mostly about being "technically correct" "as per the law". Maybe it works for the West, probably because it bakes in their Schelling points, but I don't see how it's good for India.
Of course I'm not suggesting overhauling legal vocabulary, but instead, dumping vocabulary altogether. Being technically correct is not the same as being correct. Subjective judgements should be acceptable. The Western legal system, for all its rhetoric about living "by the rule of law", never got around subjective judgement of judges.
Since nobody seems to have mentioned it already, I would recommend Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind. There's a lot in there, part II is most similar to this essay, he comes up with a theory of moral foundations, for which classical liberals essentially use 3 (care, fairness, liberty) and conservatives all 6. The "care/harm" foundation sounds a lot like empathy, "authority/subversion" sounds a lot like discipline.
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
There is one book that helped me heal a little in life from all the trauma I experienced. The Body Keeps the Score was written by the first doctor to prescribe Prozac in America. He worked with Vietnam Vets and was part of the team who came up the PTSD diagnosis. He's worked at rape crisis centers, and at war refugee camps. He is possibly one of most trauma informed people in the world and most definitely in America.
I've experienced a lot of trauma in my life, and I've read a lot of self help books because of that. Most self help books suck. They're terrible in general, but not The Body Keeps the Score. It was, is, and has been actually helpful to me.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143127748/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4ckNDbTTQWWXX
Have you read "The Body Keeps The Score"? It's about PTSD. I haven't even finished the book, but it's been extremely helpful to me. I feel like the author gives enough facts that you can share with nonbelievers that someone else might "get" it. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143127748/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Y6oPzbS1S77H4
Curious to know if the psychologist community has a high/low opinion of this book, as it is about the phenomena OP describes:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
It may help not to think of it in terms of what advantage it provides to the individual, but rather what advantage it provides to the genes.
It basically comes down to the fact that genes which compelled the individuals who carry them to reproduce (or gave them a better chance of survival) are those that were passed down to the next generation.
So, generally speaking, the organisms alive today are the descendants of those previous organisms who's genetics most strongly compelled them to reproduce (and they are composed, roughly, of those same genes, so that compulsion will be present in them too).
Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene does a phenomenal job of explaining this way of thinking.
> I think there's not enough writing out there taking a look at the totally understandable emotional reasons why people engage in identity politics.
You're looking for Jonathan Haidt. There's also a TED talk.
Haidt points out that there are six moral "receptors", similar to senses, and that conservatives experience all six, while liberals focus primarily experience only two.
Each of these moral receptors can be exploited. We are hard-wired to respond to these set-points and base our decisions on those gut feelings. We use our intellect (especially on Reddit!) to justify those emotional decisions, not to question them.
Liberals are not going to change their settings. However, they can become better at this game and learn to trigger the four missing receptors to better bring conservatives over to their pet causes.
For example, why don't conservatives respond to the statement: "Trump should release his taxes?" Liberals see this as an issue of fairness and pretty much only fairness - everyone else did it, it's good for the majority to have the information, why is this even a question?
Conservatives bring in a whole host of other moral flavors. They are loyal to Trump. They respect his authority. They believe fairness is about proportionality, so because Trump is rich, he must also be good (those with the most assets have earned a right to lead). All of these cross-currents prevent them from supporting something that is obviously beneficial to society.
Until liberal learn to trigger those switches, they will continue to lose elections. We are ultimately still monkeys.
I'm reading a really interesting book right now that talks about the origins of morality, and how they likely have come about because to flourish we need to be a society, and to be a society, we need to think about the greater good.
I know that probably wouldn't go over well with some religious folks, but I'd take it back WAY past prehistory (which some religious folks might also find objectionable), and talk about early man working in groups.
I really enjoy trying to come up with a reasonable and rational argument that at the same time isn't offensive. It's a unique challenge, but I find the results pretty beneficial for my own thought.
Edit: Dur, the name of the book is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
[Edit : Formatting, links]
Well, it's hard to do this over facebook/online, especially if the other people are already feeling defensive. "Once you engage the psychology of teams, it shuts down open minded thinking" J. Haidt.
But in general:
First, you have to understand the other person and your own beliefs. And you have to appeal to intuition (emotion) as much or more than to reasoning.
This article is a good introduction to understanding this approach: Reasons Matter (When Intuitions Don’t Object)
Haidt wrote a book, The Righteous Mind, that covers this topic in depth. What's good about his approach is that he uses experiments in Sociology and Psychology to explain and understand ourselves and each other.
He did a TED talk before he finished the book so it's not as complete, but it's also a good introduction: The moral roots of liberals and conservatives
---
Here's a review of The Righteous Mind:
You’re smart. You’re liberal. You’re well informed. You think conservatives are narrow-minded. You can’t understand why working-class Americans vote Republican. You figure they’re being duped. You’re wrong.
This isn’t an accusation from the right. It’s a friendly warning from Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia who, until 2009, considered himself a partisan liberal. In “The Righteous Mind,” Haidt seeks to enrich liberalism, and political discourse generally, with a deeper awareness of human nature. Like other psychologists who have ventured into political coaching, such as George Lakoff and Drew Westen, Haidt argues that people are fundamentally intuitive, not rational. If you want to persuade others, you have to appeal to their sentiments. But Haidt is looking for more than victory. He’s looking for wisdom. That’s what makes “The Righteous Mind” well worth reading. Politics isn’t just about manipulating people who disagree with you. It’s about learning from them.
...
To the question many people ask about politics — Why doesn’t the other side listen to reason? — Haidt replies: We were never designed to listen to reason. When you ask people moral questions, time their responses and scan their brains, their answers and brain activation patterns indicate that they reach conclusions quickly and produce reasons later only to justify what they’ve decided. The funniest and most painful illustrations are Haidt’s transcripts of interviews about bizarre scenarios. Is it wrong to have sex with a dead chicken? How about with your sister? Is it O.K. to defecate in a urinal? If your dog dies, why not eat it? Under interrogation, most subjects in psychology experiments agree these things are wrong. But none can explain why.
The problem isn’t that people don’t reason. They do reason. But their arguments aim to support their conclusions, not yours. Reason doesn’t work like a judge or teacher, impartially weighing evidence or guiding us to wisdom. It works more like a lawyer or press secretary, justifying our acts and judgments to others. Haidt shows, for example, how subjects relentlessly marshal arguments for the incest taboo, no matter how thoroughly an interrogator demolishes these arguments. ...
I read a book about Ebola and if I recall correctly the strain of Ebola that is airborne is way more deadly however it kills people so fast that it doesn't have a chance to spread it kinda just kills itself off.
Edit: I think this is the book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0385479565?pc_redir=1406834357&robot_redir=1
Read! If you’re not sure who will have good foundational material, I think we can all agree The Governor knows a thing or two. Arnold has a “Bodybuilding Encyclopedia” that is for both beginners and advanced lifters, with a huge range of info that even covers nutrition. It’s massive and inexpensive. It can be bought on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding-Updated/dp/0684857219/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1574046116&sr=8-1
you can find used copies on there for like $5. a truly worthy investment. I've read it probably 15 times. It's an incredible book. Nutrition is outdated, though. So be careful with the meal plans in it. Arnold is outspoken against his nutritional information in the book.
Strength Training Anatomy
The first overall source I'd look to for Ex-Sci is a textbook from Mcardle Katch & Katch it's a bit more user friendly for getting into the field.
Another good source for info is the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and they have an Intro to Exercise Science as well. They're a bit more Science and Research Heavy, so they can be good or bad depending on the reader.
To get a good starter for musculature a very helpful one is Strength Training Anatomy This one is only a very colorful and visual source of where the different muscles are and how they're involved with different movements.
Supertraining was mentioned earlier in the thread, and is an Amazing source for how different training variables and methods affect the body.
I've found Exercise Metabolism very helpful in how the body uses different macro-nutrients in various intensities of physical activity.
One of my favorite books is also the Essentials of Strength and Conditioning from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). It's more geared toward programming for athletic pursuits rather than overall physical fitness, but it still does give a great understanding of training variables and the body's adaptations to them.
EDIT: The subject of Kinesiology is touched on in most resources, but you may also want to get a standalone resource for this if you want to really understand the construction and functionality of the musculoskeletal system. The courses I've taken and research I've done have used a lot of different resources, so I don't have a single one personally to include here.
Hey bro. (3.5/10)
Real Talk: Your clothes are way too big. You need to size down your clothes a bit, get trendier glasses for your headshape.
Do not listen to the person who likes your fashion - It's not working for you.
Next. Focus on your posture.
Next. You need to start lifting. You need to put on weight and add muscle. You have good bone structure and a little bit of size will make your clothes fit better and it will help get your head in proportion to your body. Your neck seems skinny in proportion to your head, that's because you lack muscle.
Good luck out there.
Starting Strength is a good place to begin if you want to become fitter. It is probably the closest thing to a bible around here. The FAQ is also a must-read.
Don't be afraid of barbel exercises, it is not only for muscle heads. You can use them for both strength training and weight loss.
Isolation exercises are essentially exercises that utilize only one joint in the movement. Compound exercises are multi-joint exercises.
Bench pressing and overhead pressing are both compound movements. So are pullups and pushups to a lesser degree. Flys would count (in my book anyway) as isolation because the only joint involved is the shoulder. Triceps pulldowns would be isolation as well, same as any biceps curls.
If you're generally just trying to get in better shape and don't mind put putting around the gym for an hour or so your routine certainly isn't the worst I've seen.
What I will say though is if you want to see real strength gains, you should really try to incorporate more compound movements into your routine. Deadlifts and squats in particular are extremely valuable exercises. They're also both very exhausting exercises.
If it's your form you're worried about and can't afford/don't want to hire a trainer to teach you, pick up a copy of Starting Strength.
That book, plus a smartphone to record your lifts to analyze later.
I'd check out Starting Strength and as /u/dubdubdub2014 mentioned, Stronglifts 5x5. You'll see both of these programs recommended a lot on /r/fitness.
Beyond picking up a copy and reading Starting Strength, 3rd edition, I don't have any personal experience with either program. What I can say is that the author, Mark Rippetoe, does an amazing job at breaking down and explaining the mechanics and progression of learning of each of the lifts in his program. Though I haven't started yet, I decided on Starting Strength over SL 5x5 based on this review.
Whatever path you choose, make sure you learn the proper movements before you start loading up the weight. Learning the right technique initially is a lot easier than unlearning the wrong and then learning the right one later on. Take your time, and if something feels wrong, it probably is.
A barbell (but not a threaded one), squat rack, bench, pullup bar and dumbbells or kettlebells - that's basically all you'll ever need. It's not complicated machinery so it's safe to buy used stuff. Just make sure none of the elements are bent and the whole thing doesn't wobble.
If you need some tips on how to lift, get this book or google some video tutorials by Mark Rippetoe.
Thanks.
is this the book? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343319756&sr=1-1
Our body at birth is determined by DNA.
Environment
You are affected by environment. E.g. if you are a miner, you have a higher chance of getting lung cancer. If you are hit by a car, you might loose your leg. While this is not inherited, your children have an elevated chance to be in the same environments (where they are miners or surrounded by cars). One might stretch it and claim that you inherit the environment (along with its consequences), therefore there is this meta-evolution level above genes.
Behaviour
You pickup behaviour from people who surround you. This is most important at the start of your life and you are usually surrounded by your parents. They play their favourite music and games, have their favourite books and watch their favourite shows. You might pick them up from them. They teach you their religion and their language and you'll probably pass those to your children as well.
Memetics
This is better described in the Memetics theory, which mirrors the biological Darwinism and is concerning memes as opposed to genes. Memes are ideas and they spread, similar to genes, by self-replication. They branch and alter and combine and evolve. The weak ideas are forgotten, while the strong ideas spread through population and adapt and survive for millenia.
If you are interested in this stuff, I cannot recommend highly enough The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, which explains evolution extremely well, proposes the aforementioned Memetics theory, explains evolutionary reasons for altruism, various game strategies and so on.
^^Small ^^warning: ^^the ^^author ^^is ^^an ^^evolutionary ^^biologist ^^and ^^also ^^a ^^radical ^^atheist ^^and ^^some ^^of ^^his ^^opinions ^^might ^^insult ^^a ^^deeply ^^religious ^^person. ^^I ^^don't ^^think ^^it's ^^particularly ^^true ^^about ^^this ^^book, ^^but ^^it ^^might.
Absolutely! Maybe I'm inexperienced but it's equally as frustrating finding that from time to time I end up on this side as well. I feel kind of like an asshole after...
side note edit: Thought it might be worth mentioning that this is actually becoming a big interest in the field of moral psychology, (though most of the research I'm familiar with centers around moral debates). You might find Haidt's The Righteous Mind particularly interesting; it's a neat book that goes over some experiments about how arguments (especially philosophical ones) can become honorific and somewhat hopeless in the wrong contexts. I found it cathartic.
Rebuilding is the tricky part. You have to figure out your morality. The good news is that many Mormons are very moral when they rebuild. I recommend some light reading, including the righteous mind to get you started.
As for your mom, be genuinely loving. You may want to wait to come out. My mom was crushed by me (and other siblings) leaving. But we love her, and we show it, and it's going to be okay. My mother has dementia, so when she's with us I suck it up, dress up, and take her to church, and that's a good thing because it helps her be in a better mental state.
A lot of them are written with the intention of "trapping" people into situations that they feel are morally wrong, but cannot explain why rationally due to a lack of consequence or victim. Haidt lays out where this particular line of moral psychology came from in his book, which I highly recommend.
Thank you very much! These are some really excellent thoughts and I'm grateful for the additional context from someone who has not only been here for a while, but from someone who was a mod/head mod. I showed up on /r/mormon about a year ago when my faith transition started (I only used /r/latterdaysaints prior to that for a couple years), so that "battleground" context is probably very important.
The Righteous Mind comes to mind for all of us and whatever group we might generally align ourselves with.
> In general though, trying to understand the left in this country just ain't worth it. I gave up years ago and my blood pressure has thanked me for it.
I expect more from you, Scrambles.
We gotta imagine the other side complexly, or else we run the risk of alluring tribal psychology, where everyone in our tribe is good and everyone on the other side is evil for evil's sake.
This kind of thinking is what leads liberals to conclude all conservatives are racists; if you don't want to be a mirror version of that, you have work to understand where the other side is coming from.
For more information to help understand the moral foundations of the other side, I suggest Jonathan Haidt's book The Righteous Mind, which talks about how liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have differing moral foundations and what they are and how they work. Most of the ideas in the book, though, are available on YouTube, particularly his ted talk about moral foundations, him talking about morality binding & blinding, and him talking about the sacred victim. There's also a super long talk which I think basically talks about all of it, but it's an hour and a half.
If you haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s books those are good; he reads his own audiobooks and I like his speaking style. He also has a podcast called revisionist history that I really like.
Tetlock’s superforecasting is a bit long-winded but good; it’s a lay-person’s book on his research for IARPA (intelligence research) to improve intelligence assessments. His intro mentions Kahneman and Duckworth’s grit. I haven’t read it yet, but Nate Silver’s signal and the noise is in a similar vein to Tetlock’s book and is also recommended by IARPA.
Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind was really eye-opening to me to understand the differences in the way that liberals and conservatives (both in the political and cultural sense) view the world around them and how that affects social cohesion. He has a few TED talks if you’d like to get an idea of his research. Related, if you’re interested in an application of Kahneman’s research in politics, the Rationalizing Voter was a good book.
As a “be a better person” book, I really liked 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey (recommend it on audiobook). Particularly, unlike other business-style self-help about positive thinking and manipulating people—this book really makes you examine your core values, what’s truly important to you and gives you some tools to help refocus your efforts in those directions. Though, as I’m typing this I’m thinking about the time I’m spending on reddit and not reading the book I’ve been meaning to all night =p
Hey dude! Glad to see you're interested. DMT is a very mysterious psychedelic. Not much is known about it but I'll provide some cool links for you to check out!
DMT Nexus - If DMT had a website for itself, this would be it. Personally, I love to read trip reports here!
[DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences](DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences https://www.amazon.com/dp/0892819278/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hpoIyb8R265WS) - A book by Rick Strassman that I highly recommend.
I'm not familiar with any psychonaut themes, but there is this
No, I like books.
https://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-Revolutionary-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/0892819278
Here is a documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwZqVqbkyLM
Dr. Rick Strassman
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-Revolutionary-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/0892819278
Any chance your squat grip is bad/wrong?
The following excerpt refers to low bar squats
>As we discussed earlier, the thumb should be placed on top of the bar so that the wrist can be held in a straight line with the forearm.
>The vast majority of people, however, will prefer to hold the bar with a thumbs-around grip. At lighter weights, this is fine because the load is easy to keep in place. But when heavier weights are being used, the grip that results from thumbs-around can create its own problems. Most people have a mental picture of the hands holding up the weight, and this usually ends up being what happens. The bar sits in the grip with the thumbs around the bar, the wrists are bent back, the elbows end up directly below the weight, and nothing really prevents the bar from sliding down the back from this position.
>People who do this will eventually have sore elbows, a horrible, headache-like soreness in the inside of the elbow that makes them think the injury occurred doing curls. If the elbows are underneath the weight, and the force of the weight is straight down (the nature of gravity is sometimes inconvenient), then the wrists and elbows will unavoidably intercept some of the weight (Figure 2-34). With heavy weights, the loading can be quite high, and these structures are not nearly as capable of supporting 500 pounds as the back is.
Rippetoe, Mark (2013-11-07). Starting Strength (Kindle Locations 1034-1043). The Aasgaard Company. Kindle Edition.
----
Video demonstrations here
> I don't see a lot of mention of women doing the program here - I assume you should follow the program the same as what's written, but are there any modifications/considerations that should be made for lady lifters?
The program is the same for men or women. The only thing with female beginners is that sometimes the weight of the bar is a little too heavy to start with. My wife couldn't press or bench 5 sets of 5 with just the 45lbs bar when she started, but our gym has these light bars that come in 5lbs increments from 15lbs to 35lbs, so she used those until she got strong enough for the oly bar.
> Can you recommend good video/tutorials for how to do each of the exercises? I know how to do a squat, and I assume that this program is just a squat with a barbell on your back(?) but what the heck is a barbell row? How do I deadlift properly?
Stronglifts.com has a bunch of articles and videos on form:
Squat
DL
Pendlay rows
Press
Bench press
Here's some good links from the /r/weightroom wiki. Look through /r/fitness and consider posting a form check video, too. I really recommend you get yourself a copy of Starting Strength, it's the go-to reference on proper form for beginners.
> Can someone help me outline my workout and cooldown reps a little more clearly?
The first week or so you can skip the warmups, since the weight will be light enough. Once you get to 60-65lbs:
So let's say you're squatting 95lbs, your routine would look something like this:
2 x 5 x 45lbs (just the bar)
1 x 3 x 65lbs
5 x 5 x 95lbs
If you were squatting 200lbs, you could do something like:
2 x 5 x 45lbs (just the bar)
1 x 5 x 95lbs
1 x 3 x 135lbs
1 x 2 x 185lbs
5 x 5 x 200lbs
As the weight goes up, I've found it convenient to just alternate between adding a 25lbs plate and a 45lbs plate on each side until I hit my work weight (so my warmups are always 45lbs, 95lbs, 135lbs, 185lbs, 225lbs, 275lbs and so on until I hit my work weight.)
The key is to not overthink it: just do two sets with the bar, then add anywhere between 20-50lbs to the bar progressively until you hit your work weight and drop the reps as you go so that you don't tire yourself out and can't finish your work sets.
> Would I benefit from doing a session with a personal trainer to help me with form?
Depends on the trainer... If you can find one that knows about olympic lifting or powerlifting, sure. Otherwise it'll probably be a waste of time/money. You can always take some video and post a form check request on r/fitness.
> I read that the smith machine is a no-no, but can someone confirm that the barbell on the front is part of a power rack and that it should be fine to use for this program?
Stay away from the Smith machine.
The barbell should be fine, but I don't see safety bars on that rack... You need safety bars to squat, period. If you don't have a spotter, you also need safety bars to bench. Safety bars hold the weight when you fail a lift so it doesn't crush you and kill you.
Hope that helps!
First, I'd advise against big changes quickly. Changes should either be big or quick, otherwise they tend not to stick. Your mileage may vary, though; you know yourself best.
Second, most of the info you want is in the FAQ, but I agree that it isn't terrifically well-organised.
Yes, I am a dude. I post here because I get to talk about fitness without too much risk of a Wild Troll appearing and saying "U R T3H GH3Y F4GG0T!," and I learn a lot about women.
Get a copy of this and read it all the way through
I'll summarize it for you. You are a novice lifter. Dont worry about gaining weight since its going to happen. You're 14. Pound milk, eat everything, and lift. I wish I had this book was your age.
As a female, I do the program described in this book
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
Well actually I started out doing Strong Lifts 5x5 before I got the book so I'm doing rows instead of power cleans but it's basically the same thing and I'm switching out the rows very shortly
If she's looking for a routine for weight loss - doesn't really exist, that's all the amount of food you eat
Yeah, but it feels like things are getting apocalyptically scary, and how
awesomeexcitingterrible that it should be happening to us, in our lifetimes!Unfortunatelyhappily, you're right: violence of all kinds has been on a downward trend for ages.>I don’t regret having one, just extremely ashamed of being sexual and communicating it to girls and also showing it to the world. Attracting girls’ attention and whatnot isn’t very hard but progressing things to dating, holding hands and eventually sex is impossible. I can’t even call them or message them on Facebook or Whatsapp because I just feel like an idiot for doing so. Making a move in clubs and bars is also difficult although I once got close to leaving with a girl but she didn't want to. I got made fun of a lot growing up for not having a girlfriend and this made me feel like i do not deserve one. It doesn't matter if I've got the green light to go ahead I just feel really ashamed do it. Even something like looking at a fit girl wearing a short skirt makes me feel bad for checking her out and that I shouldn’t be doing it.
I know what you mean. I've been there myself, but even when I was there I was entirely self-aware of my shame and I was skeptical of the validity of my emotional reactions; I realized they were ingrained. Being aware of your emotional reactions allows you to be emotionally proactive. Your sex-negative problem is mostly an emotional issue, and not much else, right? I've been there. I wouldn't doubt that you are also decent looking and have both latent and actualized social skills. Most intelligent introverts have a lot of potential to be who they want to be because they know themselves more deeply than others. You must use your introverted nature to your advantage and recognize the differences in others and yourself. In all honesty, there are an infinite number of unwritten rules; everyone's abstract/emotional logic is different. Many of them are foundational and predictable, however; including yours and mine. Like anything else, being emotionally predictable is not a black/white issue. It is a grey area, and you have to balance your reliability with creativity.
Being made fun of for not having a girlfriend is just as sexist as being made fun of for not having a boyfriend; gender equal too. Were you ever shamed for not having a boyfriend? It's clearly a matter of groupthink and extroverted style; not for everyone. Dating relationships, for extroverts especially, are often attention-getting and showy. They wear their relationships like trophies won. Usually introverts prefer a more private relationship because they have less social desire and are often shamed because of it. Introverts are “themselves” more often in private. Extroverts are “themselves” more often in public. There is no shame deserved either way, regardless of popular opinion. Both styles have their strengths and weaknesses, and you should try to introject some of the traits that you enjoy in others; regardless of type. That is how you become balanced.
>I’m receiving counselling from a pastor who advocates the whole “no sex before marriage” thing and believes that people should only date to get married and sex is only for making kids which is stupid IMO because I do not plan on getting married anytime soon.
Counseling from a Catholic pastor? Watch out, that is one of the most notorious sex-negative societies out there. They own the abstinence-only charade while they parade horribles. Marriage is not the answer to anything; it is an institution of the state. Anything else attached is sentimental.
If you haven't already, I recommend doing an in-depth study of animal sexual behaviors; especially the most intelligent animals. All animals have sex for pleasure, but some animals are only driven to have sex at certain times of the year; humans are on a 24/7 system.
>I’ve tried the no fap route and gotten very high days counts but that hasn’t really helped me at all.
Sexual frustration doesn't help anyone. If you are mindful, then you can use your libido to further your goals, but it is not an all-cure.
>Got any sources to help overcome sex-negative perspectives? I’m interested in recreational sex not baby making sex.
Absolutely. I recommend starting with actual sex science and learning about male and female psychology and neurology. Then work your way into reading about sex culture. You should also study developmental psychology as you will probably need the clinical context in order to objectively self-evaluate your childhood influences; it is necessary for self-therapy. The best therapy will always be self-therapy; no one will ever know you better than yourself.
Evolutionary Science and Morals Philosophy:
The Selfish Gene
The Moral Landscape
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Justice: What's The Right Thing To Do?
Sex Psychology, Science, and Neurology:
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
The Female Brain
The Male Brain
Why Men Want Sex and Women Need Love
What Do Women Want
Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between)
Sex: The world's favorite pastime fully revealed
Behavioral Psychology and Abstract Economics:
How Pleasure Works
Freakonomics
Quiet: The Power of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking
Thinking Fast And Slow
We Are All Weird
Developmental Psychology:
Nurture Shock
Hauntings: Dispelling The Ghosts That Run Our Lives
Empathy Building:
Half The Sky
The House On Mango Street
Me Before You
The Fault In Our Stars
Also check out James Hollis' Understanding The Psychology of Men lecture if you can find it.
Movies: XXY, Tom Boy, Dogtooth, Shame, Secretary, Nymphomaniac, Juno, Beautiful Creatures, and The Man From Earth.
All of these things are related, but it is up to you to make the connections; pick and choose which material suits your interests best. These are the things that came to mind first, and they have all influenced my perspectives.
> E, observando o longo prazo, o mundo nunca foi tão pacífico quanto é agora.
Passando só pra linkar o livro do Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined que fala exatamente sobre isso. Conheci via um amigo, e já está na minha lista de leituras faz algum tempo.
Thanks! I'll check these out... and maybe I'll reread the Dark Tower series, so friggin' great.
<>
Edit:
Amazon links:
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Abundance Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
Stephen King's Dark Tower Series
Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles)
Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series
(yeah, these are smile.amazon.com links... if you aren't already supporting some organization with your Amazon purchases, how about my kid's school's PTA?)
Read this book, full of hard research that shows we are living through the most peaceful period in human history.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1348249865&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=steven+pinker
Read The Hot Zone. Seriously. Do it now.
You can't talk about public health/epi lit without bringing up The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It's a really intriguing look at the known history of Ebola and the Ebola Reston outbreak at a monkey house in the US, but take a lot of his details with a grain of salt because he's on the record saying that he dramatized a number of details but its entertaining and informative nonetheless. Preston has a few other books that fall in a similar fold.
I'm currently reading Spillover by David Quammen and I'm really loving it! It's a more scientifically sound book about zoonosis and how infections make their way across species and into humans. I'm personally finding it to be a lot more entertaining than The Hot Zone as well.
Read The Hot Zone. Contagion is for wimps & dilettantes.
Your opinion is a very popular one and quite traditional, often reflected by those outside of the bodybuilding or strength athlete community. My goals with this recipe are to gain muscle mass and fuel high exertion full body workouts and recovery from those without gaining much fat. The macro ratios that I have chosen are in line with opinions of many of the most successful strength/bodybuilding athletes.
Glucose/ATP levels lost in the muscles must be refueled by very high levels of available carbohydrates, higher levels of fats would IMO just encourage more fat storage. Of course my "base" dietary needs/levels of fats are being met with the quantity of fats in this recipe. I quote Arnold but there are many many anecdotal examples like this one. Of course I am not Arnold but there is a middle ground, my current recipe is Protein 30% Carbs 50% and Fat 20%.
> Kindle location 10130: According to the McGovern Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, Protein 12%, Carbs 58%, Fats 30%. In my own career I usually found myself eating a diet balanced quite differently: Protein 40%, Carbohydrates 40%, Fats 20%
To speak to your comments about fat breakdown, I am very interested in learning how best to meet fat ratios and I do not know enough about it for sure. I have done some investigation but a good conversation about optimal omega ratios (4/1 or 5/1 omega3/omega6?) and how best to acheive this in a cost effective way is long overdue. I am not sure why including more saturated fat via something like butter would be helpful but if you could provide some justification for that I would be interested. I will also most likely be adding medium chain triglycerides (MCT oil) in the next iteration as a source of fat. It seems that fish oil is the best source of omega 3 but it is very expensive for volumes offered 500 mg/pill and having to take something like 12 caps seems unappealing. I'm sure /u/QuidNYC could speak to this issue.
In terms of Canola oil being unhealthy, I still have it in my recipe because it is inexpensive and I cannot find any reasons why canola oil which is stored in the proper temperature and lighting situation is unhealthy other than the fact that Rapeseed is GMO which in and of itself has not been shown to be a real problem (obviously correct me if I am wrong).
> Arnold's bodybuilding encyclopedia
this one you mean? link
>What are some of your favorite books?
GAIN THE KNOWLEDGE!!!
BOOM
BOOMSHA
BOOMSHACK
BOOMSHACKALA
BOOMSHACKALACKA
Sure, some of it may be "outdated" or whatever. But honestly, programming for strength is relatively easy versus programming for sport. The big things to control are training stress (essentially time under tension), general fatigue (from both training, work, life, etc.), and recovery (uh, sleep, food, sex?). From there... it gets a bit more complex, but honestly, it's not hard to learn.
I have Strength Training Anatomy, which is pretty close
Edit: I also have becoming a supple leopard, which sounds retarded and is kind of a 'how to move correctly' manual. The combination of those two might be what you want.
I have to offer a different opinion than the folks before me. I was in exactly this same scenario about eight months ago. I did power lifting back in high school, was in relatively good shape, and then through poor choices during the twelve years after graduating, I ended up at 254 pounds and my doctor informing me that I was beginning to develop a fatty liver. So, I got my shit together and joined a local gym that same week. I knew I was out of shape, so for the first couple of weeks I just focused on hitting the treadmill and starting slow. I also used that time to take stock of the equipment, the people, what I knew how to use and what I didn't. If there were things I had never used before, I just observed others. When I felt ready to jump back into lifting, I started with free weights and cables, because these were things that I knew how to use. If you've lifted before, like you said, then there is bound to be shit that looks familiar that you still remember. I also knew that I would have terrible DOMS for the first few weeks as my muscles adjusted again. So I started light with everything. I wanted to develop a baseline again before I started working a program. I went slow and gradually worked back up to the big compound lifts. I also put a lot of time and effort into technique, breathing, stretching, muscle contraction. If I was going to basically relearn everything, I wanted to do it right. Fast forward to now, and I'm down to 215, and following a modified 5x5 program called Ice Cream Fitness. I'm also in the best shape of my life through eating way better and regular exercise. You can do it. Here are my recommendations:
-Start slow, don't take on too much at once. Too much change leads to stress, stress can lead to failure.
-If you don't know how to use things, observe, or better yet, just ask. You might be surprised that a lot of people are willing to help, even if they have permanent bitch face. It's a gym after all, people are usually focused and are just going to look that way when they are there. You'll do it too. As far as looking stupid, a lot of people are probably just not going to be paying that much attention to you, so don't overthink it. It's easy to feel dumb if you are going to the gym and starting with just the bar, but everyone has to start somewhere, and you're never going to improve until you start. I did it, and it's just something you do and get through. I've gone from just the bar to almost 200+ lb. squats now, and it feels great to see that improvement. Work for you, not for anyone else.
-To help with your anxiety, check into forms of meditation, it can work wonders. You can retrain your brain if you put in the effort. A life lower in stress is a thing that you CAN control, you just need to put in the effort.
-These two books, here and here were, and continue to be, invaluable to me. They are not expensive and they are worth every penny. They will help you learn a lift from the inside out, and they will teach you how to stretch properly. I reference them constantly.
Stay positive, put in the effort, and you will beat your anxiety and be on the road to a happier, healthier life.
I saw pics of my love handles from vacation so now I'm just maintaining/baby cutting for the next 4 weeks so I maybe look less eauw for B A L I, which I'm getting really excited for.
I'm pretty sure I'm moving to Austin at the end of 2018! My parents are retiring and moving away, and that's the only family here, so there's no reason to stay around. Hmm, or maybe somewhere exotic! Good thing I have time to think about it.
My healthcare somehow fell through the cracks, and it's almost resolved! This is exciting because I need to see a physiatrist and don't want to pay $infinity.
I got this book for Christmas and I'm digging it so far. I don't know a lot of about anything so it feels like a good start. Knowledge gains!
http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Edition/dp/0736092269
Delavier's 3rd Edition of Strength Training Anatomy
Also, maybe for next time, try to focus on what's happening in the rest of your body as well. For me personally, I know that a situation or a person is causing deep stress when the area between my cervical and thoracic spine literally feels hot...like someone is putting a little tiny cattle prod on it.
Thanks for pointing this out. Meditation, specifically vipassana, is not designed to clear you of thoughts. It is designed so one can see the three marks of existence: anicca, anatta, and dhuka. And that requires three facets: being present, self-awareness, and surrender. With Western McMindfulness, surrender is often lost, because it has been repackaged as a tool for stress reduction, clearing thoughts - really, as one pierces into the true nature of their mind, is antithetical to what the Buddha taught.
As we become more mindful of the body, we will feel emotions in different areas of the body. As Bessel van der Kolk discusses in The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, when we are in a traumatic situation, often as a child, our usual fight or flight responses are hijacked. We suppress the emotions. We are traumatised. This is called C-PTSD.
The body remembers. And being mindful of the stored pain in the area, of the muscle retention, will make us reconnect with the memory in a visceral sense. Things like the estoerically termed 'Kundalini' may come into play here, a mind-body link, and some Jungian manifestations may come to conscious in the psyche. Hence, it is paramount that this be done with mindfulness and compassion - and likely with a trained therapist.
I've just come out of what I would call my 'Dark Night of the Soul' on February 12, having experienced hands free orgasms and a surge of buried energy. This has required years of vipassana, Tara Brach's Radical Acceptance, Sam Harris Waking Up, an appreciation of Jungian concepts, yet still maintaining a materialist idea of the brain and mind. After doing a lot of mindfulness and feeling buried energy in the body, I would inevitably release it via a hands free orgasm. I finally got it out via deep, buried crying on February 12. And with my own mindfulness, spaciousness, Buddha nature of love, like consciousness itself caring for the inner child, I had to cry as my 12 year old self. I never grieved the death of my mother.
I...respectfully disagree with Jordan that a breakup can cause PTSD. Rather, underlying schemas (filters and deep beliefs that get activated according to different stimuli) might get activated by a breakup, such an abandonment schema, but I think it rarely happens that a breakup by itself causes PTSD, and Jordan says it happens "all the time". Previous trauma that has otherwise become latent can also resurface with a breakup. Here are the criteria for PTSD, fwiw. Also, shrink here.
His treatment idea using situational analysis is very good advice, though. He's trying to get to the common belief present in PTSD -- and probably one of the main if not the main cognitive perpetuators of this disease -- that whatever terrible stuff happened is my fault. This is why PTSD, in addition to being understood as an anxiety disorder, often involves intense shame, the person thinking something defective (another schema) about them caused them to be responsible for the negative situation which precipitated PTSD -- which, nota bene, is different than trauma per se, and there are vast differences between the sexes with regard to who develops PTSD from a traumatic experience, women basically doubling men in this regard presumably given their increased sensitivity to stress, reducible to a large degree perhaps to the fact that estrogen stimulates sympathetic nervous system activation (but progesterone and allopregnenolone from which it's synthesized can moderate this) whereas testosterone cools it. I know, unfair, but it has its evolutionary reasons.
But PTSD breaks down to two things: avoidance of the memory (or memories) of the abuse, and avoidance of challenging beliefs relating to the abuse (such as "it's my fault"). So treatment has two parts:
The first is helping the hippocampus (responsible for memory and organization of events chronologically) and amygdala (responsible for fear), which stop "holding hands" under moments of extreme stress, to begin to "hold hands again", which is done through narrative work, such as writing down the trauma and really "going there" when you're writing it down, because dissociation is part of trauma (protective in nature) that can prevent healing if you're in this state, which is why therapists pay close attention to look for markers for dissociation in the face or body language of clients when counseling them. Clinical social worker Babette Rothschild compares productive trauma work to quickly slightly twisting open and then twisting close an upset carbonated drink; if you open it all at once, you'll get a mess, but if you do this slowly by twisting open and shut, you "fizzle out" the trauma.
This narrative work can be done through narrative therapy, also considered part of a very strongly supported form of therapy called cognitive processing therapy, where you discuss the cognitive model (it's out thoughts/beliefs which determine our emotions, not the things themselves "out there"), cognitive distortions, have the client write an impact statement (which answers the question, "how did this trauma[s] affect the way you see yourself, others, and your past/future", and constitutes the second part of PTSD therapy, changing key beliefs and avoidance related to them), and then two narratives, the second with more detail than the first. The client can then read the impact statement and narratives in session (which by itself eradicates a lot of shame, an emotion you can't often just "reason away" but needs to be "felt through" in the presence of another understanding and accepting human being, and I've found it to be incredibly helpful to use immediacy clients, meaning we analyze our relationship in the moment to help them access feelings of shame so I as a therapist can say with my words and actions "no, you're normal, you're strong, you're good"). This writing down (which allows for taking as much time as you want, and is often done in longhand so the client can't "speed through" recalling the event as she's writing it) by itself and reading the narrative(s) causes the physiological changes involved with helping the amygdala and hippocampus work together again, which resolves the flashbacks and intrusive thoughts (and nightmares, etc.) which are really the brain's way of wanting to process and organize something that it can't, and nobody naturally wants to intentionally go into the lion's den of their fears.
Another form, which I don't like much at all except after narrative work is done (or while it's being done), is classic imaginal exposure therapy, where the client literally closes her eyes and imagines the traumatic event(s) until they lose their power. What I hate about this approach is that so many therapists seem to think it's just the event(s) itself that causes the trauma, and through focusing on telling and again and again miss that it's the beliefs that are also central, and without addressing these the "retelling" involved with imaginal exposure can take much longer (and be more likely to be overall unsuccessful) than if the beliefs were also addressed. This is why I prefer CPT more, but still add my own flavors, as any good therapist would do, as opposed to just "going by the book," which unfortunately so many therapists working in hospital or MHMR settings don't just voluntarily do but are expected to do.
Sometimes just focusing on the key beliefs can be unimaginably helpful. I had one client whose depression decreased 50% in direct proportion to how much her belief in the thought, "it was my fault I got raped" also decreased according to 0-100% scaling, and this just in a matter of a few sessions by only using an impact statement and having her answer questions on a handout regarding the hindsight bias, usually a central belief involved with PTSD work.
Oh, and I went a bit out of order. The first thing is to really ensure that the client is safe (e.g., not involved with a potential abuser), and then work on emotion regulation skills (deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness meditation, exercise, counting to 10, etc.).
Pardon the length, but I love my job (trauma is my specialty). And we haven't even talked about developmental or complex trauma (look up the work of the luminary Bessel van der Kolk, including his unimaginably good book, The Body Keeps the Score for stellar info written for professionals and laypeople regarding classic PTSD but also developmental trauma), its own more complicated beast than PTSD, the latter which tends to involve one specific event which "tips a person over the edge."
Sounds familiar. I was about that age when I had a few episodes that had me convinced I was possessed. (Turns out Naught thinks it's funny to switch to Latin and screw with abusive then-boyfriend. Have been exorcised, 0/10, do not recommend.)
Obviously we can't diagnose you, so speaking with a therapist or psychologist is your best bet. If you have trouble finding one, maybe try going through the guidance counselors at your school and see if they have anyone that they can recommend. Your primary care doctor may also be able to refer you.
That said, going through therapy as a minor, you'll need to be aware that your guardians may have access to your records. You can address this specifically with your therapist - they may be willing to keep the actual physical notes very limited and not discuss things directly with your guardians. Your mom may also be able to seal your records from other people. Depends a lot on your therapist, but their goal is to build trust with you, so chances are if you tell them you're concerned, they'll look out for you.
One of the things generally recommended is journaling often and consistently. Encourage these other parts of yourself to do so as well, and periodically review to see if "anyone else" decided to write to you or if unexplained handwriting shows up. Even if you don't have a dissociative disorder journaling can be useful to record and process your emotions about this stuff. (PTSD is kinda the low end of dissociative disorders, DID being the high end of the spectrum.)
Another thing you can do is read. Read up on trauma. (Not specifically DID, but just general dissociation and stuff can be helpful as a base understanding.) I recommend "The Body Keeps the Score" which is a little dense, but explains how your body reacts to trauma in depth, "Stranger in the Mirror: Dissociation, the Hidden Epidemic" which does a reasonably good job of explaining different types of dissociation and has little mini-tests that you can use to gauge your experiences for severity. You might also find other subs like /r/cPTSD helpful.
Anyway. Best of luck to you. Hope you're safe and well both now and in the future. :)
(ETA : sorry, was trying to get this written before therapy and had to come back to it!)
this looks interesting
I am searching for the title of a book I read in school. In it she explains how all emotions are are a mix of hormones and cells have hormone receptors so why wouldn’t our bodies “hold our emotions” in a way. I will look through my books from school - I know I wrote the title down. I believe the author was a woman that passed away since authoring the book - if that narrows it down at all lol. I’ll post if I find it!
☺️ here is a book worth a look: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Read The Body Keeps the Score. It discussed this exact topic from a psychological perspective. I’ve definitely had a traumatic childhood. This book really changed the way how I deal with it now: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
The guy who made it brilliant and very well known. Fads come and go. The douche follow the fad for a superior bro feeling. Just do you and don't worry about anyone else. The body build route is safer since its mostly lighter weights so a lot of lifers prefer them to something that could sideline them for weeks. SS is a great program to get going on until you figure out what you like.
First on my list for everyone on this subreddit to read is Overcoming Gravity. It doesn't go into great amount of detail on insertions and functions and whatnot, but it does teach you a lot about your body.
In the same vein, I would recommend Practical Programming.
Starting Strength has a bit more emphasis on what does what in general movements. Yeah, it's a barbell training book, but it provides a lot of insight.
More on the physiology side of things, I'd say Skeletal Muscle Function, Structure, and Plasticity. It isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. It also teaches you a bunch about anatomy which is a nice bonus.
That being said, I don't think real anatomy is that important. Personally I've accumulated the things I know about anatomy over time. Only yesterday I learnt where exactly the infraspinatus and teres minor insert at the shoulder, for instance. Because what do you really need that kind of knowledge for? Determining the cause for injuries is just guesswork if you aren't trained for it.
I think it's more important to know about the general groups and what they do; for instance, the glutes do hip extension and the hamstrings do both hip extension and knee flexion. In short, it's more important to know what the muscles do rather than where exactly they insert.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
For starters, I've been reading this absolutely amazing book, I've had a few revelations into how purposeful meditation can help lucid dreaming techniques. Firstly, the book emphasizes the idea that one of the main purposes of meditation is to cultivate two things: Mindfulness and Stable Attention.
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Mindfulness, many of you are very aware of. It includes both external observation (what's going on around you, sensations in your body, etc) and internal, metacognitive observation (awareness of emotion and thought). It means being peripherally aware of these things, without directing your primary attention towards them.
Many lucid dreaming techniques involve mindfullness, and ADA is the pinnacle. ADA is a technique that is not only geared towards dreaming - it is an end goal of many who are purely interested in the benefits it can bring to waking life as well.
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Stable attention, on the other hand, is not so heavily emphasized in this sub. Meditation is like weight training for your mind. If you lift chest and bis every day, neglecting your legs, you'll look like a chicken. If you cultivate mindfullness without regarding stable attention, the book outlines a few "symptoms" that could not only make lucid dreaming harder, but also could be detrimental to (desired) brain function.
The hardest part about advanced stages of meditation seems to be combining the two together, at the same time, so that both your awareness and focus are effortless and powerful. For a long time, I was meditating with the purpose of developing ADA and mindfulness only. I have gotten very good at doing reality checks, my awareness is pretty solid throughout the day, and I often realize I'm dreaming. However, my ability to focus has not made very much progress - in fact sometimes I feel like it's gotten worse. Even though I become lucid often, the dream does not always become super vivid, the length is often short, and I tend to get distracted SUPER easily.
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Since I started focusing on the two as a pair during meditation, I have seen many benefits that come from training the attention, both awake and asleep. In waking life my focus has gotten better. Attention wanders naturally for everyone, but my cycle of re-focusing it has become much shorter. The way you get distracted doing work is the same way you get distracted from your meditation object (finger wagging, the breath, yoga poses, etc). In the dream world, the vividity of my dreams has increased, they've been more stable, and I'm more able to focus on my dream intentions without "losing it".
Instead of trying to be aware of everything but focussed on nothing (the silence that we talk about), it is sometimes good to be aware of everything and focus on nothing but the meditation object. Something specific is best, such as the sensations of the breath passing the tip of your nose.
tl;dr You can't pick and choose what you want to train. The meditation and lucid dreaming package includes both mindfulness and stable attention, and training one to the exclusion of the other has consequences - awake or asleep.
I am not a meditation expert (I think I am TMI level 4) so I can't fully evaluate its teachings but I read a number of books and I like this book the best. It is a very detailed guide with clear explanations for meditators of all experience levels. I think people just like the book so much that it looks they have a stake in the sales. Look at the reviews at https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Complete-Meditation-Integrating/dp/0990847705/ - 134 reviews, 4.9 stars in average. Redditor for 10 years ;)
I'm just going to link you to this book which has helped me. I have been practicing meditation for about a year and half now everyday. I got this book about 2 months ago and I wish I had gotten it when I first started. It basically lays out all the different stages of meditation like a road map while most things you read online are going to be like signs which say where to go but don't actually let you know where you are in the journey. Book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0990847705?keywords=The%20Mind%20Illuminated&amp;qid=1451733621&amp;ref_=sr_1_1&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1
I might pick up How Not to Die at the library tomorrow. I don't plan on adopting every suggestion, but find reading books like this encourage me to make more conscious food choices versus just making sure they fit within calorie goals.
People have suggested learning the correct form and I have to emphasize what they said.. especially before loading up that barbell. Eff that machine non-sense because a lot of those isolate muscle groups.. this isn't a bad thing necessarily but you'll get more from those compounds early on.
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A resource that I enjoyed when I first started out was Starting Strength by Mark Ripptoe (if you're old school like me and prefer a good book this is it). YouTube videos are good too but I do not have any references that come to mind... Will edit later if they come to me.
Jason Fung's blog is where many people get started. He has a whole series on fasting (intermittent and otherwise). You can get started here:
https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/fasting-a-history-part-i/
He also has a book that was published in October, The Complete Guide to Fasting, which is supposed to be very good.
Lastly, DietDoctor.com has great info on LCHF and fasting. Here's that link:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/?s=fasting
Here is the good news - /r/Keto and IF are powerful for controlling blood sugar and managing diabetes.
Two years ago my A1C was 13.4 and I was in losing toes/kidney-damage territory. I went hardcore Keto 18:6 IF and frequently OMAD. MY doctor put me on Metformin and blood-pressure meds.
9 months later, my A1C was 4.9. Technically non-diabetic. I asked my doctor to take me off Metformin which she didn't like the idea of, but she agreed. 6 months later my A1C had stabilized at 5.3 and has stayed there. I'm off all diabetes and blood pressure meds and my last BP was 110/60. I lost 40 pounds. I'm 53.
Here are the most important things I can share with you;
Eat all the meat and vegetables you want and give your body a break from high insulin levels. You've caught this early and there is no reason you can't reverse the symptoms of diabetes with delicious food and skipping a meal or two a day.
It's really that simple.
I can't recommend Dr. Jason Fung's book The Complete Guide to Fasting which will give you all science behind low carb diets and intermittent fasting for treating diabetes. His other book The Obesity Code is even more in depth if you want more science.
Now here is the bad news. Doctors will likely fight you about this. I was sent to a class at a hospital after my diagnosis. The nutritionist said diabetes was progressive and irreversible and medication could only slow it down. Their goal of management is an A1C of 7.0 which means they want to keep you diabetic.
Why? Healthy people don't make doctors any money.
You need to take this seriously and do your homework. You can absolutely manage this and do it with food alone. But there are a lot of people who will tell you it's impossible or too hard to do.
I've read that at least 80% of T2 diabetics could manage the disease with diet alone, but only 5% choose to do so.
It breaks my heart when T2 diabetics I know will have a slice of pie and say "Well, I'll just up my meds tonight".
F*ck that. I'm not going to inject insulin years from now for pie today.
You got this. You can do it. I'll gladly answer any questions you have here or by direct message.
If you find Deskbound to be interesting and want to further your knowledge and toolbox for increasing your mobility, check out his other book, Becoming a Supple Leopard.
Based on just reading your first sentence it seems your main goal is to lose weight. I would highly advise to focus primarily on nutrition for the first 4-8 weeks then bring in weight training. Weight loss is 80% nutrition based, if you don't master that first all your hard work in the gym will be worthless and your overall goal of weightlifting will likely fail. You can look into paleo, bulletproof diet, slow-carb all of which work well, but the best one is the one you stick with.
Why do you want to weightlift? is it to perform better at a sport, compete in weightlifting events or do you want to look good naked?
Figure out the why to this goal and I can give you a better direction, I would be happy to chat about this because it is a passion of mine and I love to help others out.
As a warning to weightlifting, it can be beneficial but also dangerous if performed incorrectly. 1st being you are unlikely to have the needed mobility to do all of these correctly, 2nd bad form can destroy you. I started kettlebells recently and it took me a month of mobility training to get my squat correct for swings because my hip flexors are so tight. My suggestion is to get your body extremely mobile by doing yoga and the exercises in Becoming a supple leopard. I have spent 100+ hours in the athletic training room because I was reckless in college. Be sure to be patient with understanding form because an injury will be your own fault due to negligence and set you back multiple weeks or months. This will be hard, you will fail, and want to give it up. Be aware of that and make plans on combating them. Set up betting pools with friends, keep yourself accountable. I hope you the best of luck!
here are my go to sources for health and fitness. Ben Greenfield, Bulletproof, Nerd Fitness, Gymnastic Bodies, How to look good naked, NAtural Born Hereos I just read this and it is one of the best books I have read in health, an additictive storyline that teaches you along the way.
Source: NCAA Athlete, Health and Nutrition Enthusiast, Obstacle Course Racer
Definitely purchase http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marijuana-Horticulture-outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X that book, i bought it and it covers everything, been my best mate ever since :). Although it is sometimes good to get reassurance from experienced growers.
Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Growers Handbook is good. It has quite a lot of info, though only a passing reference to autoflowers, and I find it a bit strangely organized at times. Quite a bit of the info will apply to autos, so you might want to pick up this one and then supplement by reading about autos here, on Autoflower.net, and/or with the Lowenfels book in the next paragraph.
Jeff Lowenfels just released DIY Autoflowering Cannabis: An Easy Way to Grow Your Own, which is specifically about growing autos. It's written for a gardening audience, someone who might be used to growing tomatoes or other flowers and is curious about branching out to cannabis. It will probably be helpful, though if you have zero gardening experience it may gloss over some fundamentals, and defers to other sources (such as the Ed Rosenthal book) for some details that aren't auto-specific. It has a lot of breadth, but less depth than I'd hoped -- though I'd already done obsessive research into autos, and I'm not really his target audience.
Jorge Cervantes has Marijuana Horticulture and Marijuana Grow Basics. The latter is a more beginner-friendly and slightly updated subset of the former, though it doesn't have anything about outdoor growing. These also have a lot of info, and could substitute for the Ed Rosenthal book, though they're showing their age a bit.
cart_crasher recommended the Mephisto Grow Guide. That's pretty short, but has some helpful auto-specific suggestions. Probably a good supplement to one of the other books. (I've also been really happy with their autos.)
People will probably recommend Grow Weed Easy (a website), but it's been wrong about enough things that I don't trust it. I'll leave it at that.
My favourite books about growing cannabis are:
These books are quite comprehensive. As you may already suspect, True Living Organics is primarily about building living, organic soil, and the techniques that the author uses to maintain the soil and maximize the quality of the end product.
The Cannabis Grow Bible covers all things related to growing cannabis, as well as producing extracts. Very comprehensive and an excellent tome for any grower to have, from wide-eyed novice to salty veteran.
I have an older edition of Marijuana Horticulture from the early 2000s, and use it quite a bit less than the other two, but it was very useful to me when I was starting out. I would recommend The Cannabis Grow Bible first and foremost, however.
I hope this helps! Don't get overwhelmed by all the information out there; best thing I can recommend is to pop a few seeds and just give it a go. Don't let your inner perfectionist prevent you from attaining perfection through time and experience!
btw here are the links if anyone wants… I recommend the Cannabis Grow Bible by Green first. It’s good for beginners. The Cervantes one might seem overwhelming for beginners.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cannabis-Grow-Bible-Recreational/dp/1931160589/ref=pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=pd_sim_b_2
Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance
HELLO. As /r/neoliberal's resident militant vegan, I would recommend the path outlined in this video.
I would avoid vegan substitutes of things until a few months in. Spend some time enjoying fruits and vegetables. A couple resources I like:
Read the book "How Not to Die" which lists the major causes of death from heart disease, Alzheimers, and various types of cancer. High meat consumption is linked to all of them.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
Or go to the authors web site and just search for "meat" and start watching videos.
https://nutritionfacts.org/
This is the only book you need to read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
TL;DR
No animal products, organic, nuts seeds, fruits. He also has a daily dozen is what you should be having every day.
All his stuff if backed by science and there is evidence of Diabetes and other issue's been reversed.
Also check out tv show: Fat sick and nearly dead.
It is true. "Plant-based" is what researchers, physicians use to refer to this type of diet. It's not equivalent to a vegan diet, because a vegan diet includes food like junk food (oreos, doritos, etc) which isn't plant-based, and a plant-based diet includes things like honey, which is not vegan. There is a good bit of overlap but they are not equivalent.
Plant-based diets absolutely do not include animal products of any kind, and research suggests they are the healthiest diets by far, though they are difficult to stick strictly to.
Well think of it like this: You are literally taking amphetamines every single day. Your brain is used to it so your brain on amphetamine has become your new default.
I am too lazy to find the research right now but I encourage you to do the research for yourself. Simply eating a more healthy diet, cutting out processed food and especially sugar while also making sure to get things such as vitamin D and omega-3 has been shown to in many cases completely eliminate ADHD.
Exercise has also been proven to be extremely effective since it helps your brain naturally produce more dopamine.
Meditation also has an almost laughably long list of health benefits and it seriously can't be understated how much it can help you. I recommend the book The mind illuminated which teaches you step by step how to get the most out of and develop your meditation practice.
Now I haven't officially been diagnosed with ADHD but I have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and there is a huge overlap of people with schizophrenia who also has ADHD. On top of that I react very much like someone with ADHD reacts to stimulants. I have experimented with Methamphetamine and even on 30+mg with I still reacted by just being extremely calm instead of the usual manic energy rushes people normally experience.
What I am trying to say is that you can either tell yourself that you need the drugs (either microdosing or amphetamines) or you can start getting your life together and quit the drugs. I had done a lot of exercise, clean eating and meditation in the past but it wasn't until I actually started meditating and exercising for a total of 4+ hours every single day that I managed to get control of my mind. Now I can get away with only 30 mins a day to just maintain what I have already gained of control, but it does take some work to get to that point.
I wish you the best of luck in your journey.
Pick up a copy of this;
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1523430814&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+mind+illuminated+a+complete+meditation+guide
I highly recommend you get yourself a book with a reasonable roadmap of the meditative process. One which includes some framework for you to begin in.
I recommend The Mind Illuminated.
To answer your specific question, set an intent to do one exercise for the entire 10 minutes and stick to it. Only change the nature of the exercises between meditation sessions. This will keep you focused.
It might help to read some more detailed books about meditation so that you know more about what you're doing, what mistakes to try to recognize, and what milestones to expect.
I like The Mind Illuminated because it provides a lot of detailed information about what to expect and what to do about it.
My go-to book for meditation is The Mind Illuminated
It sounds to me like you're doing very well.
I follow The Mind Illuminated as my meditation manual. One of the exercises it suggests it to pinpoint when the inhale starts and when the exhale starts.
Once you're able to do that fairly consistently, add pinpointing when they each end.
Once that's comfortable, notice sensations between the beginning and end of the inhale and exhale.
From there, you can begin to track the length and depth of the breath -- is it slowing down, speeding up, or staying the same? Is the pause between exhale and inhale getting longer or shorter? Is the length of this inhale longer or shorter than the previous one? And so forth.
If this sounds interesting, I'd encourage you to pick up a copy of the book. I have found it invaluable.
I can't recomend or say this enough.
You need to read three books:
It is important to learn these basics, as you need to learn to walk, before you can fly a fighter jet.
Happy to answer any and all questions for you!!! But these books are a must!!! I read them all, and still have Hero & Power of Myth on my desk.
Get this book Becoming a Supple Leopard
anything and everything for soreness/mobility is in there.
I would highly suggest reading Kelly Starret's stuff (http://www.mobilitywod.com/ , http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588) if you are working on correcting a mechanical issue with the way your body works. A couple simple tips of his have been very effecting in correcting my hip tilt and slouch.
I've been using this shake recipe, adding protein powder, and replacing the coconut oil with peanut butter. It's a 500 calorie drink, and I seem to workout better if I drink it first. And a tip for using chia seeds - grind a bunch in your coffee grinder and store them that way. They have a consistency like tapioca if you don't grind them first, which I found weird to drink.
Track your calories and set it to "gain weight". I like cronometer. Also, Strong Curves is a great program for building a booty! See also /r/StrongCurves.
I love Strong Curves for this reason! It focuses on waist, butt, arms, & back - everything else follows.
A typical setup might be something like 2×45, 2×25, 4×10, 2×5 and 2×2.5. If you want to reach 225 or more on any lift, you could also add an extra 2×45.
For working on the bench press, I'd also consider looking for 2×1.25 or a set of fractional plates. These aren't mandatory but they're nice. I have this set here and I love it. This is useful because if you put 1.25 on each side of the bar, it increases the total weight by 2.5 pounds, allowing you to improve your bench by 2.5 pounds each workout. If all you have is 2×2.5, you need to go up in 5 pound jumps, which is fine in the beginning, but harder as you get stronger. I'm currently at 160 for 3 sets of 5, and I can currently add 2.5 more per workout with the same rep scheme. If I tried to go up by 5, I'd stall and I'd need to mess with a more complicated rep scheme. More gyms should have fractional plates!
Also, if you're new to lifting, I recommend looking at a good beginner program. Two popular choices are Starting Strength and Strong Lifts. Either of these will show you how to get a lot stronger quickly, using good technique, and will answer hundreds of questions. They also both have good apps.
It is confusing, but not something that can be easily summarized in a post.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143038192/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_SHufAbVP5DDP8 is still a good breakdown of the modern pagan movement and different groups you might find. http://www.witchvox.com looks like it was designed in the 90s but is still a good resource and is updated, you can find groups there too. http://wildhunt.org is a news blog if you want to see what’s going on today. There are other sites but that’ll get you started.
You can probably tell some folks are a bit sensitive about history. Some swear up and down that their traditions go back unbroken since forever, others will say that all neopagan traditions are reconstructionist and formed in the last century or so (give or take 50 years). The sensitivity comes from people feeling that the newer the tradition the less legitimate it is… but aren’t all religions and spiritual paths made up by someone?
Here’s the thing. You are in charge of your own spiritual journey and your connection to whatever you call your higher power/s is your own and no one else’s. Imho humans are creatures of habit and ritual. It sets the mind to task, even if that’s getting a cup of coffee and reading your email before work to help set up your day. Pagan rituals are a fame work to help you create sacred space, and there’s a psychology to it. What Wiccans call raising a cone of power is similar to what Jim Morrison did in his trancelike long performances where they would speed up and slow down the tempo, ending it in a release. Lots of pagan rituals across many paths use this old technique of syncing heartbeats with music. Other religions use this to a greater or lesser degree but most pagans use it with intent along with myth and symbolism of the wheel of the year which is a death/rebirth myth we re-enact over and over. It’s up to you to figure out what it all means. Beyond historic fact you decide your truth. There’s no dogma really. All the different traditions do is provide structure to work in. There’s no ‘true’ path. Just yours.
If you like more academic reading, I suggest The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1577315936/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_C9ufAbYFREXB5
Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek https://www.amazon.com/dp/1622037529/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_G.ufAb9673FJ3
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345409876/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_J-ufAbH37W34C
None of these are ‘pagan’ books, think of them more as companion philosophy/psychology behind myths. The last book is geared more towards women but it’s a good read regarding the female archetype in myth.
Nobody can give you concrete answers. You gotta do what anyone curious must do. Read and figure it out for yourself.
Historically, human beings have rarely ever been aware of the control exerted upon them. Supposedly, realizing that control exists can be both an empowering and traumatizing event.
>When I became conscious of what my situation was, I thought of the best way to escape without being caught. I knew that if I didn't find that way, I could be killed.
Also, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces can aid readers in recognizing the timeless narrative techniques that are used to shape societies -- one mind at a time.
Okay, I read it all. And here's my critique, Blangy. :-)
While the read is still fresh in my mind, I want to talk about my overall opinion on how your story can improve.
Maybe try Watching the opening scenes of really good movies. Pixar and Disney have it good. They know when to start. You can also (re)read the first chapter of a book you like. Ask yourself: Why does it start here? What is the opening conflict? For a bit more info, I'd highly recommend this video on How to Write a good first chapter and this video on How to write a good first page
Maybe try reading The Hero With One Thousand Faces. It's a classic and is full of information on how to structure stories. :-)
> His belt felt heavy, weighed down by the heavy scabbard in which sat his castle-forged steel sword. He had, like most of things he owned, won it in a brawl with some unsuspecting mercenary or lordsguard.
Mercenary? Lots of them were knights who were paid soldiers. They were highly trained from the age of 14 to 21. If they weren't knights, they would still be tough dudes. How would he encounter them?
> Whilst he seemed somewhat skinny, his height hid his true strength.
Lots of guys were tall. This gap of logic made me lose interest in the story.
Maybe try Giving him some training in swordsmanship. Maybe a relative could have helped him..? For giving Peter training, you'd have to work on a word building bible because I don't think there were that many opportunities in medieval times to get sword training that wasn't second-rate. I'd recommend this video on making a world-building bible I just wanna say that I love this girls' videos and I'd recommend all of her other ones, too. :-)
5)
>The dying fire flickered weakly as it clung to its last few embers.
Right off the bat, I expected the entire chapter to be about the feeling of... well... something dying. The first sentence of a chapter is important. A good deal of the time, it can set the tone of the chapter. But I was disappointed when that didn't happen.
Hmm... that's all I can think of right now for improvements. There are some sentence structure tidbits, too. But those are minor. I just want to focus on the big picture.
Now, on to things I liked about it.
> He could only remember her long auburn hair that he had buried his face into on countless nights when nightmares stopped him from sleeping.
Then later,
> The last thing he had seen of his mother was just a brief moment of her kicking and scratching at the guards as they forced her away from her son, pulling her from the auburn hair that had kept Peter so safe.
Damn... that association and then that connection later was very poignant. I think that little tidbit can be really useful if it's presented at different times. But yeah, it was beautiful, Bangly! :D
>His fur was matted from the rain and dirt, and looked black where it had once been brown. Peter had forgotten the name the buxom innkeeper from whom he had bought the dog off of had given him, but Mud seemed to be happy no matter what Peter called him, and the name did suit the dog well enough.
This struck out to me because it describes the dog in an interesting way. Well done. :-)
I can not recommend the linked book highly enough. It's written similarly to the male counter part and the differences in the work outs are actually based on physical differences that the author explains and backs up with studies. There is no bullshit "toning" advice or telling women to shy away from heavy weights, just how to lift for what body part and workout plans. I hope that this helps, I promise there's a great community of women athletes working towards fitness goals for whom smoothies are incidental. I'd also check out r/xxfitness for some women-centric advice and experiences.
Good luck, most of the women I know hate how fitness is marketed to us, you're not the only one frustrated, most of us get it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1583333398/ref=cm_sw_r_fm_apa_4cXizbXKJSYJ3
/r/xxfitness
New Rules of Lifting for Women
go pick this up.
read it. do it.
you will need regular access to a gym, unless you choose to go the bodyweight route instead.
Dr. Jason Fung.
/r/keto/comments/5qlfrg/sv_6_months_keto_fasting_and_exercise_120_pounds/
/r/fasting/comments/5m3rgf/log_6_week_fast/
https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/category/science-and-health/dr-jason-fung
https://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Code-Unlocking-Secrets-Weight/dp/1771641258
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
/r/fasting
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond: An amazing look at how civilization was formed
On Killing by Dave Grossman: If your characters kill anyone, know what it will do to them
*edit: Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: You think Eragon is a rip off of Star Wars, or that Star Wars is a rip off of Jesus, or that Jesus is a rip off of some obscure norwegan god, find out the true origins of just about everything you have ever read and find out why Harry Potter had to die and had to come back from the dead!
Have a read of this.
Basically you need to be living and breathing story structure, to be at the point where an idea naturally slots itself into the pattern, rather than you struggling to work out how to access it.
If you want something a bit more formal read this, it's basically the university textbook version of the blog post I linked.
Oh wow! Awesome links. I'm going to have to look into some of these ideas. I'm starting New Rules of Lifting For Women. The food plans are what I need to tackle next. Thanks for the motivation!
I bought The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess for my GF a while ago. I think it's pretty good for a beginner.
this book has been a god-send for me. my friend and i jokingly refer to it as "the bible." it gives a great starting plan for lifting and also provides a suggested diet plan. i can't go by the diet plan because i'm vegetarian, but i've learned so much about how weightlifting and proper nutrition go hand in hand. i've been lifting since the beginning of the year. (started with really low weights and have been doing more strength training for the past few months). i've seen way better and way faster progress as soon as i started lifting heavier. now i just need to figure out how to get more protein in my diet. i have a hard time with that because i'm (1) too poor to afford protein rich veg foods and (2) i love carbs, so i'm working on balancing all that out.
Most people start off with Starting Strength or Strong Lifts for gaining pure strength. Note that these programs are designed to gain strength, not work on aesthetics. They will definitely help you look better, but that's not their focus. New Rules of Lifting for Women and Strong Curves are more aesthetics-oriented, but they will get you stronger as well, just more slowly.
Personally, I started with Starting Strength, moved into 5/3/1 and am about to start Strong Curves since I would like to focus on aesthetics for a while. I did Erin Stern's program on bodybuilding.com for a couple months, and made some really good progress, both strength-wise and aesthetically, but I couldn't maintain that schedule once classes started up again.
As a beginner to strength training, you should look for a full-body routine since that will take advantage of your "noob gains."
If I, as a man, may make a recommendation:
New Rules of Lifting for Women
He's has a book on fasting too, it's good:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Jason-Fung/dp/1628600012
I've done counting calories on-and-off in the past. And what I've really taken away from it is I can be good at tracking...tracking all those extra calories I didn't need 😝
But I've had my biggest success with food this past year after discovering and reading about fasting.
The Complete Guide to Fasting, by Dr. Jason Fung (Amazon Link) is very informative and easy to read.
You don't need to do long fasts, I never have and don't plan on doing anything past a day. But following a 16:8 (16 hour fast + 8 hour feeding window) had helped me immensely. It's basically skipping breakfast (just get some coffee (black or with a little cream, NO sugar)) and delaying lunch so it's more of an afternoon snack, if anything, then dinner as normal. Following a 16:8 schedule really helped me get out of snacking at work... Which is my greatest challenge. I simply tell myself I can have that afternoon snack, but not till 3pm. By then that 2pm craving had subsided... But if it's still there then it falls within my feeding window.
The best thing about fasting is that there are so many protocols to follow, some are even do popular they have a common name (leangains, warrior diet).
I don't track calories, but I do yet to make smarter food choices (low carb, less sugar, etc...). This year I have gone from about 150 to ALMOST 140. And it's been pretty easy. No stressing, no debating if I can have this, no determining what do I have to sacrifice in order to have an indulgence. The 10# may not seem like much for nearly half a year, but I succeeded with that along with managing a of stress at work, which led to lots of junk food, a long distance relationship, and a cross country move for work.
If you don't want to commit to a $20 go check out a copy from your local library or check or out some of the subreddits to learn more:
r/fasting r/intermittentfasting r/leangains
I highly recommend reading Dr. Jason Fung's The Complete Guide to Fasting. He does a great job describing the fundamentals of how fasting works for non-scientific readers.
S obzirom da se priča o IF, krenuo sam s tim, a prošli mjesec sam odradio i par dvodnevnih i trodnevnih postova i skroz je ok. Nisam probio granicu od trodnevnog posta što zbog društvenog pritiska, a dijelom i zbog jednostavne proždrljivosti, ali koliko sam shvatio, nakon što prebrodiš prva tri dana postaje izuzetno lagano postiti i na dulje periode. Kad se vratim u Zagreb radi faksa vjerojatno ću nastaviti s tim, dok sam doma za praznike jednostavno se ne mogu natjerati da ne jedem.
Ako tko želi znati više o tome, pročitao sam:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012
Do knjige sam došao gledajući ovaj video i većinu njegovih stvari (makar za neke dvojim jesi li gluposti, ovo mi se čini skroz ok): https://youtu.be/APZCfmgzoS0
Uglavnom, post je stvarno jako dobar za zdravlje, bilo isprekidani ili višednevni, a bome i za budžet. Osim toga, cijela stvar mi je dosta promijenila mišljenje o pretilosti i dijetama, a najviše o osjećaju gladi, šećeru i dijabetesu. Ako koga zanima još ponešto o tome, AMA.
For quick relief, you can try this routine. I use it to loosen up in the morning.
I’d recommend stretching your glutes and hamstrings first though, a lot of back pain stems from tightness in those areas.
In general, I’d recommend owning a copy of [Becoming a Supple Leopard](Becoming a Supple Leopard 2nd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600837/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qVAeAbC2V7R0M), the mobility work in the book is invaluable to your climbing and overall strength.
I've fought two torn shoulders, a torn ankle, pretty bad tendonitis in both knees, countless sprained ankles, a sprained knee, broken ribs, etc and I'm only 24. Thankfully the major problems occurred from 19-24 after I finished my competetive career. I'm working towards a comeback so this is very relevant to me.
The first thing you need to do is the equivalent of physical therapy (strengthening exercises), even if nothing is hurt right now. Almost every muscularskeletal problem can be fixed or prevented through increased strength and flexibility in the correct muscles. Your muscles support your joint function, which take a lot of abuse from playing sports. Having strong muscles in the right areas also helps prevent injury.
One big thing I've learned is that almost everything in your body is connected. Foot pain? Possible cause could be as far away as your lower back. Personally, I resolved some of my knee pain from strengthening my glutes. The human body is extremely complex and it's a ton of information to learn. Between years of physical therapy and doctor's visits and reading up on it all, I've become a lot more knowledgeable but still barely know anything.
Your options are 1) find someone who knows what they're doing or 2) learn it all yourself. Personally I have found a really great training gym where all the coaches know a lot about injury prevention and how to exercise to both prevent injury and improve athletic performance. Hopefully you can find something similar for you.
Kelly Starret has a youtube channel a book and a website. Crossfit gets a bad rap (rightfully so I believe), but this guy has very good info. His big thing is mobility, which deals with how the different muscles are connected to joints and appendages. Problems in one thing will affect other things, and he shows how to fix these problems with stretches and pressure therapy/release.
Oh another thing, I have a personal massage therapist, who helps loosen my muscles from heavy training and tells me if she feels any imbalances. So I have a lot of very expensive and knowledgable people helping me, I realize I'm very fortunate. I think without money, it's very difficult to get the best protection and treatment there is out there. :(
But the knees and ankles get the most damage, you can youtube knee and ankle strengthening exercises for basic stuff. That's a good first step. The stuff I mentioned is pretty over the top and specialized
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO6GhtrgxJ8&amp;feature=c4-overview&amp;playnext=1&amp;list=TLvZ8Qg1uyzSA
Watch all three parts. Also get his book, http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=sr_1_1/180-5748622-0703640?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1372344635&amp;sr=1-1
I think Jorge is the easiest to learn from. Apparently he isnt a grower but works closely with growers so he has pretty good advice.
If you want to take it up a notch you should also get Ed Rosenthals book http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Growers-Handbook-Complete-Cultivation/dp/0932551467/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1372344700&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=ed+rosenthal
With these videos and books you should be able to really get a understanding of the reality of MMJ horticulture.
You can browse r/microgrowery and r/spacebuckets.
I recommend you get a copy of Jorge Cervantes' Marijuana Horticulture. He's been updating and revising this for more than 30 years, so it's very comprehensive. It can take you from how to get started all the way up to how to grow top shelf buds. The ebook is $10USD; put that on your phone, and you'll have it as a reference for life.
https://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Right here
Starting Strength (by Rippetoe) has been mentioned. Rippetoe collaborated with Kilgore to put out Practical Programming which gets more into the theory without getting too technical. Kilgore also wrote FIT recently and it's a great introduction book with theory and practical advice.
It is common knowledge in the sense that there is no controversy over the fact that the function of the tricep is to extend the arm. These other muscle groups are much the same. The shoulder is certainly more complex, but most people at least know it is involved in the bench press, less so in the close grip bench.
The fact that a muscle is activated more when the weight is more aligned in the direction of contraction also isn't at all controversial, it is basic physics.
I don't really know what in my explanation would require a source. I really don't have a problem providing sources if they are needed, but I feel like I am being asked to prove that the front squats are more quad dominant, or that the incline bench involves the upper chest more.
Anyway, there are plenty of free lectures from credible colleges on exercise science. There are also a large number of books that go into biomechanics. A good place to start is:
Sebastian Fitness Solutions Muscle Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20M6J-J7Xaw&amp;list=PLP2dAm7h_Bz8ZgZSrLGTNDZOLwU4N3zxX
I also found Starting Strength to be pretty helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
People have been saying it and I completely agree so here is where you can buy it on Amazon. It will really help. Also, read the FAQs on /r/Fitness
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1348939442&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=starting+strength
I can really recommend the book A Mind Illuminated if you need a sort of guide through the steps. It's really well-made and helpful on the path.
Here's an excerpt that seems relevant:
>“You’ve reached Stage Nine when there’s complete pacification of the senses and fully developed meditative joy. This means that almost every time you sit, you can enter a state of mental and physical pliancy, accompanied by the blisses of mental and physical pliancy. This is also called Grade V or pervading pīti, which you experience as circulating energy, physical comfort, pleasure, stability, and intense joy. Although you can regularly achieve this grade of pīti, each time you do, the growing intensity of the joy and energy of the experience inevitably disrupts it.
The goal of Stage Nine is for meditative joy to mature completely, and for pīti to subside in intensity. You accomplish this by repeatedly reaching Grade V pīti and sustaining it for as long as you can. Other than that, you just have to keep out of the way while continuing to practice. When you can stay with the pīti long enough, allowing unification to proceed and joy to mature, pīti eventually gives way to tranquility and equanimity. This is the essence of Stage Nine practice.”
>“For the intensity of pīti to calm, you need to be able to sustain it until the intensity peaks and starts to subside, giving way to tranquility and equanimity. At first, Grade V pīti can’t be sustained very long at all because physical pliancy is so novel, interesting, and enjoyable. And the highly energized, excited state of Grade V pīti makes potential distractions, such as altered body perception, illumination, and inner sound, even more potent. Competing intentions to attend to these phenomena repeatedly succeed in disrupting the consensus to attend exclusively to the breath.”
>“The excitement can also produce a powerful, restless urge to get up and share your experience with someone. It’s also common to mistake the intense joy, inner light, and transformed perception of the body for something more exalted. The ebullient satisfaction of meditative joy may make you think, “I’ve arrived. What more could I want? This is it!” Remember, joy affects not only how we feel in response to experiences, but also how we perceive and interpret them. Enjoy these positive qualities, but don’t be misled by them.
To deal with these distractions, urges, and misperceptions, recognize them for what they are, and just let them come, let them be, and let them go. Yes, you’ll likely give in a few times at first, but as soon as the euphoria subsides, return to the practice with a firm resolve to ignore whatever arises. On the positive side, these disruptions let you practice regaining pīti after you’ve lost it. An adept meditator at this Stage can usually overcome these problem “quickly and easily and stay with the pīti longer.”
Either way, seems like you're doing tremendous work. Strive on.
The mind Illuminated is probably the most straightforward, no-nonesense, textbook style guide to meditation I've ever read. It can be a little dry but has clear actionable advice for anyone serious about practicing.
Dhamma Brothers is a film about teaching meditation to inmates. The teachers, I believe, were certified Goenka's style of Vipassana, which, crudely put, is basic body scanning. Some great links can be found on this thread. Your Breathing Body Vol1 & Vol2 by Reggie Ray is probably the most comprehensive coverage you're going to get for staying with the body - if that's what you want to do. Most likely you do since prison is not exactly a safe place. Mindfulness of the body would be a great refuge in a place like that. Also, you could look into stuff by Shinzen Young, he has a lot of videos on YouTube and new book coming out, however, to simplify his stuff even more you could get this book. Simple practices is what I would stick with for prison. Also, also, someone in this thread will, sooner or later, recommend The Mind Illuminated. You can't go wrong with the techniques in there.
Edit: grammar. :/
> Now whether this kind of farming could be replicated across the planet to feed the whole world
It can't. We're simply way too many people for this to be ecological. Grass fed stuff needs way more resources and feed than factory farms (which are the most efficient way to produce meat to date - which is why we do all this fucked up shit in the first place). Which is why it's even worse for the environment if you sum up the numbers as the animals need more space and thus need more energy from moving around which is why almost all grass fed animals (especially in Europe) are supplemented with your typical concentrated feed made from soy etc as well. Even Cowspiracy covered this (which seems to have way better rap in terms of data used than your book). Just because something sounds nice in theory doesn't mean that it works (or that it is even practiced).
A diet that needs up to 16 times the area of land can never and will never be sustainable at this point. Eating as low on the food chain as possible will always be better. You get way more calories per acre from plants than animals. This is why your staple food is potatoes, not beef.
While I don't buy in all the veganism as a cure for everything stuff and that you drop dead immediately when you eat meat from time to time, it definitely is not healthier. On the contrary. Look at the WHO released studies on red meat (or this).
Article about vegans/vegetarians and longevity
Article about weightloss with a plant-based diet
Really long article about Dr. Michael Gregor and his work
This guy devoted his life to inform the public about the plant-based diet and its benefits.
Here is his book
This book focuses on longevity in general and mainly about all the chronic deseases that we could prevent with a plant-based diet and therefore live longer and healthier.
His site
This site is like google for nutrition facts and all around questions about vegan/vegetarian diet.
If you don't have time reading all the articles there is even an app from his book that gives you a checklist of the optimal nutrients you need for the day.
iOS
Android
Sorry in advance for my grammar and possible editing errors.
With all that in mind: Stay healthy and the future can come!
nex time read the wiki and the guide first.
> 1. You guys clearly have issues with the way farm animals are treated
> what methods of food production of meat would you be okay with
Whether or not you get someone random to teach you at the gym, invest in a copy of Starting Strength. I like the paperback version at about $20. It goes into incredible detail about all the major movements. Like seriously 30 pages or something on just deadlift, with tons of diagrams, talk about angles, how it should feel, etc.
I go to a gym where qualified trainers coach me through these movements and I still refer back to the book. It will fuel your love for these movements and conquer their nuances.
I get the fear. Here’s a great book if you want to geek out on proper form. The key is to try and find someone who will work with you (don’t do it alone). A trainer is a good option, but if you feel nervous there are tons of options to go that’s not barbell lifting. Good HIIT training routines with kettlebells, battle ropes, and body weight suspension bands can do wonders. Good luck!
For a true beginner, I would suggest Starting Strength. 5/3/1 is best to try after your have exhausted linear gains seen in SS. Get the book Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. It explains the movements in detail and gives you a structured routine to follow.
It's on kindle.
Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett has been a great read so far. It looks like a text book but is a relatively easy read full of amazing information regarding some basic anatomy, mobility and training.
This book is very popular with crossfit-types. There are a lot of mobility exercises here that you can do to assist your T-spine.
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588
You should check out Kelly Starrett's site MobilityWOD and his book Becoming a Supple Leopard. Some of his videos are behind a paywall now but there are still plenty of free ones. The exercises are a lot more targeted and effective than just plain 'ole stretching.
Also, yoga is a great place to start! I just did 10 minutes a day for awhile and it made a huge difference.
Really sorry that I'm not being more helpful to you OP, but for anyone who hadn't heard about Strong Curves:
Amazon
Template PDF
http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Curves-Womans-Building-Better/dp/1936608642
It's a workout program :) I highly suggest the book! It talks all about nutrition and stuff. It was recommended to me on /r/xxfitness :)
So, since you're all done with your physical therapy, you're totally set to go for some legit strength training.
Glute training is the one thing that bodyweight training doesn't do exceptionally well. At least, there's nothing at the level of say barbell hip thrusts.
https://bretcontreras.com/how-to-hip-thrust/
If I were you, I'd check out Strong Curves by Brett Contreras.
Brett has a Phd and does research on muscle activation and joint angles, and he's known for helping fitness models rock their butt.
If you don't mind that it's "for women" Strong Curves is a really intelligently put together strength training program, with an emphasis on exactly the kind of gluteal muscle hypertrophy you're looking for:
https://www.amazon.com/Strong-Curves-Womans-Building-Better/dp/1936608642
I'm going to recommend an exercise program to you called Strong Curves. It's designed specifically for women and focuses on building lower-body strength (specifically in the butt) to enhance our figures.
It has its own subreddit, /r/strongcurves, and the community there is very helpful. The sidebar has tons of useful information to help you get started. If you want to see some butt transformations, just search the word "progress" in the subreddit search and you'll see people going from butts like yours to really very substantial butts.
The SC book outlines about 5 different plans that range from plans for complete beginners, to plans for people without access to a gym, to plans for people that want to go all out. All the exercises in each plan are described in details with pictures in the book. You can also Youtube each exercise for in depth descriptions of how to do each one correctly.
More about the book: you can buy/pirate/borrow/check out from the library. Here's a link to amazon. I found my first copy on piratebay, but bought a used copy online because it's nice to have a physical book to reference.
I've seen a lot of progress using it and I'm a couple months in. The beginner's plan suggests an hour long session 4 times a week. You can totally skip the warmups at first just to get a feel for everything. With a set of dumbells (I have these), it's extremely approachable and very effective. I think it will give you a lot of confidence.
It does. Strong Curves is a book. Many of the exercises can be found by googling and/or spreadsheets other users have created to track their workouts. In fact, googling Strong Curves workout template should yield a link to the website where Bret (the author) offers the spreadsheets for free. Then its just some googling...
A lot of people find they once they've started, they want to read the book. And we always recommend it. (But it is entirely possible to do the program without it)
Hi there!
Have you picked up the Strong Curves book yet? If not, that will be a good place for you to start. The book answers pretty much all of your questions for you and gives you a 3- or 4-times a week workout schedule that takes the thought out of "how often should I do x, y, or z?" as well as tips on what to do about calories and nutrition. The program includes upper body workouts for your arms, shoulders, and core. On active rest days (2-3 times per week on the program,) you can do any kind of cardio training such as HIIT, jogging, walking, or yoga. So if you like cardio, you can do it then. Personally, I like yoga to help keep the muscles limber as they grow.
In short for calories, you have three options:
More information about general fitness tips is available at the great guides at r/xxfitness.
If you have never done any strength training before, especially with free weights, getting a personal trainer is helpful to get started. But since you're not able to do that, google each movement on Youtube to watch proper form so you don't hurt yourself. Each movement is also described in the book.
I agree with u/loonie_toonie_rooney: If you want to look lean and athletic, your best bet at BMI 22 and 30%BF is almost certainly "recomp": You can remove fat and add muscle. This will make you look toned. And the easiest way to recomp is to lift weights.
Don't worry about looking "too muscley"—even men with their much higher testosterone levels have to work incredibly hard to get big (sigh, I have tiny little arms). Women who lift hard typically end up looking like fitness models instead. (Those bodybuilding women who look like guys are either using steroids, or they're 1-in-a-thousand genetic outliers.)
To learn more about weight training and recomp, see r/fitness, and especially their FAQ. A lot of women also say good things about Strong Curves, although you could get perfectly good results with something simpler. And it's possible to make some very nice progress in about 3 months with a good beginner program.
CICO is about looking good with your clothes on. Strength training and recomp is about looking good in less.
Strong Curves is the workout program they talk about all the time over on r/fitness so maybe try that one? You might be able to find it for free online through their guides page.
As I'm sure you've heard before, you can't target fat loss from a particular part of your body. Your best bet is to eat at a caloric deficit to reduce overall body fat - in time you'll start shedding fat from your arms and tummy. Look over the FAQ on fat loss if you're not sure where to start.
As a fellow apple-shape, I totally feel your pain. Stubborn belly fat can feel IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of. One thing that can definitely help achieve a more balanced look though is to focus on lower body weight training. A lot of ladies on the sub seem to have had great success with Bret Contrera's Strong Curves program
Hej! För det första så är det otroligt mycket olika kostråd som slängs runt på internet, ofta helt motsatta varandra, såsom vegan vs keto, etc. Jag skulle starkt rekommendera att vara källkritisk och göra egen research.
Här har du kostråd från Livsmedelsverket och WHO, jävligt trovärdiga källor MAO.
https://www.livsmedelsverket.se/matvanor-halsa--miljo/kostrad-och-matvanor/rad-om-bra-mat-hitta-ditt-satt
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
Dessa guidelines brukar dock vara lite för "snälla" tycker jag. De säger till exempel att "det är bra om man minskar köttkonsumptionen", medans det bästa ju vore att sluta äta kött helt. Man skriver det man tror är realistiskt uppnåeligt av befolkningen, snarare än det som är optimalt.
...
Några tips på enkla och nyttiga rätter att göra:
Ica har jättemånga bra veganska recept: https://www.ica.se/recept/vegan/
T.ex.
Jag gillar grytor! Det är gott, enkelt att göra mycket mat, enkelt att få i sig mycket grönsaker, enkelt att värma upp. Och bra att ha i matlådor. Storkok ftw!
Ex: https://www.ica.se/recept/blabarssmoothie-502612/
...
Andra tips på länkar om hälsa, miljö och etik:
Jag kan starkt rekommendera boken How Not to Die av Dr. Michael Gregor. https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
Han går igenom top 15 dödsorsaker (I USA), förklarar hur man kan motverka nästan alla av dessa med rätt kost. Han har extremt mycket källor, mer än en tredjedel av boken är bara källhänvisning.
Kan även rekommendera hans hemsida https://nutritionfacts.org/
Ett av hans talks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXXXygDRyBU
Olika dokumentärer: What the Health, Cowspiracy, Earthlings
Lite random videor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0VrZPBskpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HAMk_ZYO7g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCLenDSOOzY
https://www.svtplay.se/klipp/16337437/se-grisarna-bedovas-med-koldioxid
Lycka till!
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
This is relatively new in terms of medical diagnoses in the last few years. http://www.sporkful.com/may-contain-nuts-pt-1-alpha-gal-returns/ kind of goes through it, but so does http://www.radiolab.org/story/alpha-gal/ in better detail if you're into podcasts at all.
The timing of that seems to coincide. 2012 was when the first few articles started appearing about the ticks and the 'meat allergy' they cause and there wasn't a whole lot of supporting research at the time. If that was the case, you're really lucky you didn't go into anaphylactic shock, but I'd be willing to bet you had some sort of autoimmune disease since your pregnancy seems to have reset it.
If you're going back to veg, there are a few meal services now out there for vegans and vegetarians that function like Blue Apron etc. that give you a little bit of menu variety without having to plan it all out.
I also passive aggressively leave this book out for my family when they're visiting so that they understand where we're coming from with diet decisions. It's so much easier to stay on a diet when it's directly tied to how well you feel.
I just have to underline this. How Not to Die is amongst the best books on nutrition ever. As long as someone is open to reading it, it's perhaps the best gift you can give them. Sadly, the folks who need to read it the most, are the most likely ones to ignore it.
Another book that is quite excellent, though a little older (but appears recently updated), is Becoming Vegan
I found value in the initial 10 free lessons from the Headspace app. But I don't recommend going further with it or paying for it.
I personally found The Mind Illuminated to be an excellent guide going forward. It's recommended pretty often around here.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1501156985/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1523544307&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=the+mind+illuminated+a+complete+meditation+guide
This is not a direct answer to your question, but I can't help it. In terms of PTSD, have you heard of or read the book, "The Body Keeps the Score"? It's a book which is mentioned frequently on this sub for survivors of trauma and the people around them. I am finally just now reading it, and the book is mind-blowing <--- and I have had years of therapy, aggregate, largely related trauma. Please look into it. I hope you don't mind my mentioning it. I feel like one of those people who, when you say you suffer from migraines, start telling you ways to cure/avoid migraines, all of which you already know/have tried. I find this book to be exceptional. Just thought I'd mention it. Good luck!
I am normally a lurker here because my "JustNos" are actually my mom's JNparents and have passed away. I'm posting as an adult child of someone who survived abuse, to share a bit of longer term perspective. My JNGF physically and verbally (not sexually I don't think) abused my mom. My JNGM (who was abused by her father, my GGF) did nothing to stop it and was generally an enabler/conflict avoider/rug sweeper. My mom refused to even consider the possibility of having children for a long time because she was afraid that she would subject them to the same abuse that she experienced.
After a lot of therapy, she and my dad decided to have kids (my brother and I). My mom was not perfect. I may have residual issues from her (anxiety which is more of a family trait than just from her). However, she was nothing like her parents. In fact, I've had one of the best/calmest childhoods of almost anyone I know. I have told her this many times, and she still worries that she somehow scarred me irreparably (spoilers: she didn't).
Recently (at around the age of 60), my mom has gone back to therapy to continue to deal with the trauma she suffered. I think it is helping, and I hope some day she will be able to see that she did a great job and to remember that I am lucky to be her child. Until then I will just gently remind her she is great whenever she worries that she is responsible for all the bad parts of me and I am responsible for all the good parts of me.
People are (almost) never all one thing or another. The times you are angry do not invalidate the times you are patient. Obviously we would all love to be all amazeballs all the time. Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that, so we try our best and go to therapy when we need help. Remember that you developed these instincts (of judgement, of going NC) to deal with situations that put you and those you love in danger. It is completely unrealistic to expect yourself to immediately divest of these instincts the minute you don't need them. That, like everything else in this world, takes time
A Happy Postscript: My mom's JNparents did actually reform into Mostly yes grandparents. I'm not sure what changed (I suspect it was that all of their children grew up refused to tolerate their crazy). But regardless all of my cousins and I were able to have good relationships with my maternal grandparents. Now this is not to say that this is the usual outcome, and you are ABSOLUTELY justified in being skeptical of real change. I just wanted to say that people change as they get older, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. There may be a time when you are able completely let go of your survival strategies. However, until then, you don't need to feel guilty for having them.
Book Recommendation Post Script: The Body Keeps the Score. I think this was posted on a book list somewhere, but I cannot recommend it enough times to people who experienced any kind of trauma in their lives.
About CPTSD in general? This book by Pete Walker is a pretty seminal work.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1492871842/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_ZHsPCbTPKG205_nodl
This other one also helped me a lot, because the physiological crap that comes along with CPTSD is every bit as terrible as the emotional component:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=URYXV0O6HWS6&amp;keywords=the+body+keeps+the+score&amp;qid=1554327719&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=the+bidy&amp;sr=8-1
Ultimately though, therapy and journaling are going to be your best starting points for your personal recovery. If you can find a therapist that has experience with trauma, that’s your best bet. I would also recommend seeing a general practitioner and a psychiatrist because of the aforementioned physical issues.
Been loving the responses so far! My own preferences have been changing, and I've been reading a lot more non-fiction than I used to. It has really opened the doors to a lot of books I would not have considered reading before!
On my reading list:
The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley - this is what I'm almost finished with now. It has been a really insightful read on how little prepared society is for disasters, and the steps we should take to help fix that.
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker - I've seen this mentioned on reddit a few times and it's in the same vein as the book I'm currently reading.
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce D. Perry
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - I'm currently working in the startup industry, and have read similar books to this.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - same as the book above. This is currently going around my office right now so I should be reading it soon!
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. - this was recommended to me by a friend when he learned I was reading The Unthinkable and The Gift of Fear. Honestly really looking forward to reading this one!
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
Books I'd recommend:
Blink by Malcom Gladwell - all about the subconscious mind and the clues we pick up without realizing it. Pretty sure reading this book has helped me out in weird situations.
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance - amazing read about how Elon Musk works and the person he is.
The Circle by Dave Eggers - just don't watch the movie :)
Another way you can phrase your question is, how can I educate my brother?
As with any education, its success is a function of the curriculum — start with a strong foundation in the broad basics and finish with the specifics. In this case, chemistry, biology, and physics lay the foundation for advanced courses in evolutionary biology and psychology.
Because it is unlikely that your brother will seek out this education, as it directly conflicts with his religious ideology, an ongoing dialogue with you is the next best thing. For this to work, you must first familiarize yourself with the material. If you haven't had biology, chemistry, or physics, take it. Then, read the following:
The best way to convey information to someone who doesn't know that they're receiving an education from you is through the Socratic method. Ask questions that are specific and understood under the paradigm of science — avoid the unknowable ambiguous questions that the religious often heap on the scientist. For instance, a fun questions is to ask how many fingers different mammals have. The answer is always five, since we evolved from a common ancestor. Along the way, fun lessons in evolution can be given:
If all else fails, you'll have read the Selfish Gene, one of my all-time favorites that I read in my Evolutionary Biology course and have reread several times since.
The tone of this poster is very inflamatory, but the information in the above post is backed by some serious research. Reproduction is major business, after all animals have adapted to their detriment to attract mates (think male peacocks, those tails make them easier prey.) Humans are just as influenced by biology as any other animal. We however, can educate ourselves and modify our behaviors as we see fit. I highly recommend the following books to anyone with the smallest interest in this topic. They are all fascinating reads and I guarentee brain = asplode when you read them.
Sperm Wars by Robin Baker
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, by Matt Ridley
The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People by David P. Barash Ph.D. and Judith Eve Lipton
Also, I'm a gal, and understanding how evolutionary biology made humans behave the way they do has been a real eye opener. Let me tell you, bars and clubs are infinitely more amusing now. The people watching has taken on a whole new level of entertainment!
EDIT: The links were messed up, had to fix that.
First stop should be /r/fitness top place.
It's not really literature but I found BioLayne's youtube series really helpful in helping me to progress my training. https://www.youtube.com/user/biolayne He also has a blog which is really good too.
https://www.t-nation.com/ seems to be quite good as well.
Some on my reading list
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Workout-II/dp/1450419895/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Sports/dp/0736092269
http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding-Updated/dp/0684857219/
Getting to ripped is literally just about really low body fat with some muscles.
The book The Spirit Molecule was written by a psychiatrist that did IV DMT research on patients. There were notable similarities between their experiences, though I believe it is best categorized as 'esoteric' in the sense that it is essentially indescribable in a linear, human way.
The only way to know what it is like, is to experience it firsthand since there are literally zero words that accurately depict it.
For an ELI5 analogy: It is equivalent to describing to someone who is blind and has no sense of smell what it is like to stand outside and see a rainbow while breathing in the fresh air after a rainstorm.
DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences. Can link you to a pdf if you're interested.
They actually did another study on dmt (the active psychedelic in ayahuasca) at the university of New Mexico from 1990-95 where they synthesized pure dmt in a lab and gave over 400 various doses and placebos to nearly 5 dozen human volunteers. I've read the book and watched the documentary on Netflix (dmt: the spirit molecule) and it is very interesting if you have some time to look into it. You can find the book here DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences https://www.amazon.com/dp/0892819278/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_iYm6wbA6J3V5V and the wiki link here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Strassman
https://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-Revolutionary-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/0892819278
Wow, you have done a fantastic job so far! Your progress is really inspiring and you have accomplished something that a lot of people never manage to do. Congrats and keep up the great work.
When you first begin strength training, you may be able to build a little muscle while you continue to cut (although it will taper and eventually stall as you continue to lose weight). You should also be able to gain a good amount of strength just by virtue of practicing big lifts, learning to use your body's leverages to your advantage, improved neural efficiency, etc. Getting stronger isn't just about getting big muscles: it's a skill.
My recommendation would be to try something like SS, SL, or Greyskull LP. Regardless of what you do, I also highly recommend going online and actually BUYING SS: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738. A lot of people just use the Wiki but, honestly, the Starting Strength book is a really easy to read and information-dense introduction to barbell training and it will explain most of what you need to know for your first several months of training and beyond (it covers technique, basic beginner programming/how strength adaptations work, accessories/how to use them and incorporate them into a routine, and much more). Also, if you do Greyskull, there is also a book for that program as well: http://www.amazon.com/Greyskull-LP-Second-John-Sheaffer/dp/0615635571/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407938754&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=greyskull
Whatever you do, I cannot stress enough: GET THE BOOKS AND READ THEM. Knowledge is power and it will make you a lot more confident about what you are doing when you have something to reference. Reading Starting Strength was one of the most important early steps I ever took to jump start my strength training. I can't stress enough how helpful it was to getting me stronger and staying relatively injury free.
Good luck!
Here is thy sacred text
Though it should be mentioned, if thy brother is on the frugal path, one may find a free pdf through the powers of Googling.
I read this book Starting Strength to get started.
https://www.amazon.ca/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=starting+strength&amp;qid=1565230919&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1
2a. Do everything in that book.
2b. Eat like starving bear.
The end.
I am similar to you. I have ET, and it is very hard for me to gain weight. When I was your age (30+ years ago), I was 6'2" and 128 lbs soaking wet. About 8-9 years ago, I was still no heavier than 135-140 lbs.
Then I read a book called, Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. It inspired me to start lifting heavy for the first time in my life. There are a lot of ways to go about it, but I followed a super simple plan called StrongLifts 5x5. On top of that, I lowered my carbs a bit and increased my protein and fat intake (this was before keto was such a big thing) and tracked my macros and calorie intake on My Fitness Pal. For the first time in my life, I started to gain weight and got up to a lean 160 lbs in less than a year. I'm sure that I would have continued a "clean" weight gain if I had stuck to my diet and exercise routine. Unfortunately, I got off track for a variety of reasons and lost 10 of the pounds I had gained.
Now I'm considering keto to help with my ET and energy level, even though I'm not lifting and certainly not trying to lose weight.
Bottom line, if I can gain, you can gain. Lift heavy free weights. Don't waste your time on those circuit machines. Track your calories and macros. Get advice from this sub and others as far as what to eat. Stick with it. Get a workout buddy to help you stay accountable and to give you encouragement.
Good luck!
>I feel as though I'm going to be "messing up" alot with clients.
yes. A lot. It's normal
BA in kin would be a waste of time unless you plan on doing physical therapy or want to work in more clinical settings.
I'd suggest reading and messing up with clients; it's the only way you'll learn. Two books that offer fairly different, but great, base beliefs as well as programming are
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
New Functional Training for Sports 2nd Edition by Mike Boyle
as well as Start with Why
Starting Strength
I can guarantee you that your problem is in your form.
Invest in Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Read the squat manual. It's like reading a college textbook, but his advice is really good.
Then, work on your form with an empty bar until your form is perfect. From there start adding weight.
You'll be squatting two plate in two weeks. I promise. Once my form got fixed I was able to train to squatting double my body weight in a couple months.
>I don't know what to do with freeweights and would love a partner for this.
A book that might help you is Starting Strength. It's a great way to start with free weights, and focuses on large movements -- you'll be doing squats and presses rather than arm curls -- so you get the biggest effect for your time.
> Stronglifts has you start at too low of a weight and not enough deadlift frequency and has too much volume overall. You can make changes to the program, but by the time you do, it will be Starting Strength.
>
> ICF 5x5 is supposed to be an “aesthetic” alternative, but it was formulated with the misunderstanding that the major lifts will only make you look like a “fat powerlifter”. The major compound movements will make you grow everywhere. ICF took a program that already has too much volume and added even more volume. Don’t do ICF 5x5.
>
> I’ve never read the Greyskull LP book, but I know the a
Thanks for taking the time - I assume you mean this book?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738
The link you posted is really handy, some great videos. All these excercises are the ones my trainer recommended me last year to do.
Zabieram się właśnie do Starting Strength, coby lepiej żelazo targać się nauczyć.
You don't need to go everyday. Your muscle need rest to build after a hard workout, Most effective programs like Starting Strength using only 3 days a week to workout. You also need some fat to build muscle.
Read This
Read This
Everything else is in the FAQ.
(btw don't be fooled by the fact that Starting Strength looks like a lower-body only program. My arms have never looked better, and I used to only lift upper body. Go figure.)
Hey! Your on Big Isle eh? UHH? Sorry Im on Oahu but I've coached these lifts tons. Good resource would be http://startingstrength.com/
and deff Mark's Books http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
If you have any questions feel free to PM me. The form for these is theoretically pretty simple but doing them correctly is important esp when starting like yourself. You don't want to develop bad habits.
Also I know it can be expensive but I do know that most of these gyms offer a student discount. Check out https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiIslandBarbell/ They are pretty cool people.
Also another option may be http://www.fivemountainfitness.com/#!personal-training-fees/csya
They offer private training for 75$ an hour. That's not too shabby and you would only really need an hour MAYBE two to have them walk you through and show you these three lifts properly. I would suggest asking a private trainer to specifically teach you the Starting Strength versions of these lifts and not the Olympic style.
If you ever take a trip to Oahu hit me up, Ill help you as much I as can. Cheers!
To paraphrase David Hume, reason is a slave to the passions. Humans naturally make quick decisions from their intuitions and then use reason to justify those decisions after the fact. When you talk to the average person about anarcho-capitalism, their most likely response is to instantly think of one of the more common arguments against it (there will be warlords, who will build the roads, what will the poor do, etc) and then dismiss it. It can be difficult to overcome this when trying to convince people that our point of view is correct.
A good book I would suggest for this is The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. He goes over why human minds work this way, and the best way to get around it during arguments. He's also appeared on the Tom Woods Show and EconTalk before to summarize the book.
Not All Conservatives.
Just because the right doesn't want grown men in dresses using the restroom with their daughters doesn't mean they want gays thrown from rooftops. They're on the side of traditional family values.
Really good book on the relationship between the right and left here:
https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777
Highly recommend it if you get the chance.
If you are interested in moral psychology and politics I'd recommend reading The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics & Religion by Jonathan Haidt.
if you don't have time to read the book, watch his TED talk or listen to the interview he gave on Econ Talk recently.
OK. Great. So, embedded in what you're saying is a bunch of assumptions that aren't specific to this particular argument but are much more meta - they have to do with what counts as evidence, who gets standing, and even what kinds of values are important. For instance, you refer to "the basic idea of freedom in letting consenting adults choose their own private life." That frame is one that a lot of people would actually object to because the idea of "adults having maximum freedom to choose what they want" isn't how they frame issues having to do with family and marriage. In fact, framing it that way is a very contemporary/educated/western way to frame this sort of thing - another way of talking about these issues would be to reference values like personal autonomy way less, and you'd end up with different conclusions if you did that.
There's a lot to go into here, and (luckily) a lot of other people have already done it. I think it'll be helpful to get a better understanding of the values/assumption/narrative that lead to different views about marriage, in addition to reading specifically about this.
Some places to start include the "simple rules for simple people" discussion in Diverging Family Structure and 'Rational' Behavior: The Decline in Marriage as a Disorder of Choice. I'd also recommend Jonathon Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory work - I liked his book, but I'm sure you can find it packaged in smaller things. For work specifically on sexual ethics, I'd recommend Eve Tushnet and Rod Dreher, but they're both going to be a lot to get into initially, because, as bloggers, they're not really listing their assumptions each and every time they write.
With all of this stuff, you're going to be able to make counterarguments. But they can make counterarguments, too - it's never that hard. I would suggest that to understand other people's arguments, you apply the Principle of Charity. In this case in particular, because your argument seems foreign and clearly wrong to the majority of humans, I think it's especially important to understand their arguments.
I recently read a book The Righteous Mind that covers this collective behavior from a psychological perspective. It's a great book and really helps explain this sort of "crazy" behavior in a way that gives me quite a bit more empathy for these people instead of just seeing them as others. Excerpt:
> But human nature also has a more recent groupish overlay. We are like bees in being ultrasocial creatures whose minds were shaped by the relentless competition of groups with other groups. We are descended from earlier humans whose groupish minds helped them cohere, cooperate, and outcompete other groups. That doesn't mean our ancestors were mindless or unconditional team players; it means they were selective. Under the right conditions, they were able to enter a mind-set of "one for all, all for one" in which they were truly working for the good of the group, and not just for their own advancement within the group.
Another example provided: concerts or raves. Although they don't have the same supernatural underpinnings, it is quite easy to get "lost in the crowd" and go crazy in a similar way.
>The key to understanding both Conservatism and the Conservative Media is to understand they believe they are at War, and "Liberals" are the enemy. Just like during a War, say WW2 for example, people will blindly follow their own governments propoganda not because it is true or not but because their side said it and to believe your own side is to support the war effort.
It's not just the whole "siege mentality" that makes conservative media so effective and widespread. Once you distill it down to the essentials, conservative media appeals to the base fears and underlying psychologies of many viewers in such a visceral and primal way that it overrides their higher reasoning. It's no surprise that a lot of what you see on Fox, Breitbart, and InfoWars, etc. is over-the-top, sensationalized, and fairly short on facts a lot of times: it's specifically aimed at stoking, reinforcing, or sparking the emotions and pysches of specific viewers who generally vote conservative. And as long as this keeps up, there would be very little reason for Trumpsters and those on the right in general to break free of these self-reinforcing loops or the groupthink bias and siege mentality of conservative media.
I've oversimplified this considerably because I haven't read this source material in more than two years by now, but Jonathan Haidt covered this in greater detail in The Righteous Mind. If you haven't read it already, I'd highly recommend it.
I would say it's not dissimilar to the partisan fanaticism in most other democracies but it does seem it's become worse. Well, it's pretty bad in the UK too.
A great book on the topic of partisanship in general (and correlated issues):
https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777
He wrote a book about it.
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143122010/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0143122010
The show definitely explores themes of trauma, how it can linger and influence us even when we aren’t aware of it. I’m a therapist and was doing a trauma informed training last year when it was on plus working with a lot of clients who had experienced complex trauma. Since I couldn’t talk about them with my bf, I tried to get him interested in discussing the characters but he wasn’t interested (he works with computers). It is interesting to hear someone else’s take!
Off topic but this is a great book for anyone living with PTSD the body keeps the score
Remember you are not your diagnosis. It doesn't mean you will be depressed and anxious forever. It means that's what you are dealing with right now. Maybe the anxiety and depression were indicators that you really needed to get out of that relationship. They are symptoms of your life at the time. So getting out of that relationship was possibly the best thing that could happen because it's a step in the right direction. One of the best things you can do in this time is read a good relationship book or listen to one. There are really good books for help with trauma experiences as well.
It's tough being on your own but being alone and working on healing is better than being with someone who pushes you down. Work on healing and being confident and comfortable being alone. If we switch the terminology, don't worry about being alone, work on being alone without being lonely. Remember Superman's fortress of solitude. Sometimes being alone is the best way to think and to decompress and to find that quiet space where we're comfortable with ourselves and the universe.
Consider keeping a journal of your thoughts to help you work on your anxieties but also to rediscover who you are. You don't have to write a lot, just enough to remember the persistent ones you're working on or things you would like to prioritize. Use the journal to plan things you want to do. It helps to do one small thing each day. Check out bullet journal and poke around r/bujo as a means of personal organization and discovery.
Who were you before this toxic relationship? Can you remember parts of that person you can reconnect with? You don't have to go back to that but it can help be a guide to who you are now and will be tomorrow. We have experiences and then we look back and evaluate them. The goals we have today are what we use to do that. If your goals change, how we view the past changes. You are changing and that's the best thing that can happen if you were recently in a negative place. Protect your "area", wave your arms over your head and around you and say "this is mine." Claim your space. Get your power back.
Online therapeutic classes can be expensive but there are several you can take here after a one time $10 registration fee. Take notes in your journal on what seems like it helps. Don't make it all work. Watch movies and read books you enjoy. Most of all be kind to yourself while you are figuring it out. Don't judge yourself harshly or beat yourself up about anything that happened. It's all in the past. Focus on today and tomorrow. Hang in there!
I am very sorry to hear about that, your experience is the opposite of what should happen and it really sickens and saddens me.
We got aware of our system about a year ago, our abuse was mainly caused by our father aswell. We spent long time in denial, infact we still get in denial sometimes. How ever the more I've gotten to know myself, better our communication has gotten, and more accepting I have been towards ALL the parts, more whole and strong I have felt.
When we get depressed about the past, or worried about the future, we remind ourselfs how lucky we are; we get to experience childlike joy about things, and its definatly not only a bad thing to feel like a teenager every now and then
We will never be alone
It really must suck the therapist broke your trust like that, but dont let it prevent yourself from getting help, can you live a good life without therapy? Maybe, I cannot answer that for you, but we know we tried to deal with everything by ourselfs way too long before getting help, only to realize we do deserve and need it.
Now it might take a while to find a good therapist, meanwhile, knowledge is power, I highly suggest the two following books;
https://www.amazon.com/Dissociative-Identity-Disorder-Sourcebook-Sourcebooks-ebook/dp/B006B7LORY?crid=1EDLIHIN9K5UB&amp;keywords=dissociative+identity+disorder&amp;qid=1536309996&amp;sprefix=dissoci&amp;sr=8-4&amp;ref=mp_s_a_1_4
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748?keywords=trauma+book&amp;qid=1536311130&amp;sr=8-1&amp;ref=mp_s_a_1_1
Now they are not something you should read in a day. Or something you can read in a day. I spent months myself, sometimes only reading a page at the time, but they both provided me with alot of information that really helped me.
Also, try journaling, for us its been an amazing way to communicate, for start it was a bit scary, but inner communication is the key
All of your alters togeather with you make you
All of them are capable of learning and growing
Every one of them is there for a reason
Give them the love and understanding you would had deserved as a little, and not only the little ones, the angry ones too
Therapy is absolutely worth it imo. BUT and the big but is that you need to find the right kind of therapist. There are many, many different types of therapy out there. Personally? I felt like I wasted thousands on talking therapy in the beginning and I just kept rehashing and reliving the trauma with pretty much no progress.
The therapies that I got the most out of because of my trauma was 1. Havening - had the quickest most immediate response to this so therefore it ended up being the cheapest 2. Hypnotherapy - I got a lot out of this because while I logically knew a lot of truths but so much of it wasn't being accepted by my subconscious for some reason. Hypnotherapy sorted that 3. EMDR - also great.
Now I do talking therapy for current stuff going on in my life to get a sounding board and unbiased opinion. That was just me - but talking to 'fix' was the biggest waste of time and money for me - however, talking to maintain has been great. Ultimately you need to find your own therapeutic path. It's pretty frustrating because there isn't a one size fits all. Then on top of it, especially with talking therapists you need to have a connection. So you are constantly having to give the whole story over and over. I found the other therapies had a much better effect on me and allowed me to connect with a therapist much easier once I felt I was more in maintenance mode vs crisis mode.
Im not sure where you are but I feel like there are probably websites out there that review therapists.
Also: some really great books that helped me (and are much cheaper) are:
Good luck!
Got a few days? LOL!
Start with the source material for The Better Angels Of Our Nature by Steve Pinker.
This is from a large group of data sets from many many sources compiled.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010
I read books 4-6 of the Dresden Files. I blame Patrick Rothfuss for getting me started and duckie for keeping me going. Coupla assholes. After I finish the other 8 books, I have some nice, solid non-fiction lined up.
In no particular order, I'm going to read:
The Information by James Gleick
The Better Angels Of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover
The Know-It-All by A.J.
CoastieJacobsAnd others. I'm gonna nerd out so hard that I'll regrow my virginity.
FANTASTIC book on this topic:
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010
To your last point: there are significant threats to important freedoms in the US. Personally, I am especially concerned about not only surveillance in particular but the general attitude in successive federal administrations about the rule of law in general. And I am not alone in that at all. But, especially when it comes to essential political liberties and the freedom of conscience, our underlying legal and social protections remain very strong. And they are just now being given the opportunity to more directly confront the latest threats. We have a long way to fall before it would start to make sense to talk about being "not free".
This book is a great read on this topic to help gain perspective.
I don't think we're going to cure aging for another couple of centuries. The human body is an unnecessarily complicated piece of hardware just for supplying nutrients and input/outputs for a 2 pound chunk of grey matter.
I do think that we'll be downloading our consciousness to a digital medium within the next 100 years, though. Or otherwise keeping brains alive in vats, with the ability to communicate digitally.
Then things get weird. You can either live forever in a VR world, or you need a robotic body to travel in.
The poor will never be "euthanized" as such, although it will take money to live forever.
And if that sounds like some kind of horrible world with inequality you couldn't possibly abide, well... yeah. Super fucked up, but we're already in that world.
And things have never been as great as they currently are, and continue to get better.
So yeah, there will be an awkward period where some rich folks are chillin in VR heaven and tons of poor children are still dying of starvation. But the long-term trend should be for the best.
I feel like the #1 thing that isn't talked about is the rate of change we've had for 50+ years, and which has been accelerating, has absolutely no precedence in history. Shit is nuts.
Hmm... Absolutely none of these represent any kind of scientific fact.
I"m going to ignore the prophesies for the future because they cannot be verified. So, from your list from the present, that you believe have already been fulfilled:
> Naked, destitute, barefoot shepherds will compete in building tall buildings.
Can you provide an example of this?
> The slave-woman will give birth to her master or mistress.
Who or what is this supposed to represent?
> A trial (fitnah) which will enter every Arab household.
I can't possibly check on this.
> Knowledge will be taken away (by the death of people of knowledge), and ignorance will prevail.
We learn more year by year. So, no.
> Wine (intoxicants, alcohol) will be drunk in great quantities.
A prediction that was true then and now. So, not much of a prediction, IMHO.
> Illegal sexual intercourse will become widespread.
I'll refrain from a discussion of what this might mean to a follower of Islam. I honestly don't want to know.
> Earthquakes will increase.
I'm not sure there is any evidence that they have.
> Time will pass more quickly.
I don't believe this to be true. For each of us, as we age, time appears to speed up. But, objectively clocks on the surface of the earth tick at the same speed now as they did in the time of Mohammad.
> Tribulations (fitan) will prevail.
I have no idea how this could be measured.
> Bloodshed will increase.
Surprisingly, even with the holocaust and Stalin in the 20th century, an individual's risk of dying a violent death has been decreasing century over century since the evolution of humanity.
I promise I'm more surprised by this than you are. Check my username. But, Steve Pinker did a very exhaustive study on the subject.
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined - Steven Pinker
> A man will pass by the grave of another and wish he was in the latter’s place.
This has happened for a long time. Depression is nothing new.
> Trustworthiness will be lost, i.e. when authority is given to those who do not deserve it.
This is also nothing new and has happened for as long as there have been humans.
> People will gather for prayer, but will be unable to find an imam to lead them.
OK.
Anyway, as I said, not a scientific claim in the bunch. I was looking for something more than this.
Da es nicht mit im Text steht: Pinkers Buch zum Thema ist The Better Angels of Our Nature. (oder als Übersetzung)
Sehr umfangreich und sorgfältig recherchiert, sehr empfehlenswert aus meiner Sicht.
What you've asked is an incredibly deep question that likely has no right answer. Having said that, there are probably wrong answers - one of those is assuming that all individuals are absolutely logical decision makers that will always try to make the most objective decision.
Rational choice theory is the fundamental underlying thought behind economics (and capitalism by extension). However, moral psychologists are starting to believe that human do not make judgments based on rationality, but instead run off of intuition and then use logic post hoc in order to explain why their gut was right. This may be the type of thought that you've stumbled upon, and if you'd like to read more on the idea, Haidt's book The Righteous Mind is a good place to start.
Ebola is a disease that, as far as I know, is believed to live in an animal "reservoir," meaning that it primarily infects or is carried by animals, but it can make the jump to humans if a human comes into contact with an infected animal or carrier animal. Another example of this type of disease is rabies - humans only get it when they come into contact with an animal that carries rabies (as opposed to diseases that jump from human to human, like malaria, which is passed through a vector, or HIV which is passed directly from human to human).
So, ebola doesn't really "die out" when it disappears for a short time from the human population. It's just that it kills off all of its human hosts. Then, when a person comes into contact with an infected animal (probably a monkey or chimp), they get infected and pass it around to other humans.
As /u/fastblackman17 pointed out, ebola never really made it to the US this time around. I actually disagree with ebola being one of the top killers in Africa. Still AIDS, malaria, war, probably influenza, etc. are all much bigger killers than ebola in Africa. Ebola is right now relatively contained. In 2014, ebola killed ~10,000 people in Africa, compared to AIDS in 2011 which killed 1.2 million (1,200,000 so approximately 120x as many).
Anyways, if you're interested in ebola and similar viruses, you should check out this book - it's a fantastic and will scare the pants off of you.
I always saw Zyzz as my inspiration and Arnold as my mentor. Have you read Arnold's Bible? Solid read.
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding/dp/0684857219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1371180202&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=arnold%27s+encyclopedia+of+bodybuilding
Baby wipes, srs.
Also, this is really a great gift, got it for Christmas myself a couple of years ago:
https://www.amazon.com/New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding-Updated/dp/0684857219
If you want a massive book about bodybuilding, The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzeneggar is pretty good.
Arnold's The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding is of course ghostwritten mass-market content, worth having for the photos and the name on the spine on your shelf, but that's about it.
For the science/biology, the definitive reference right now is Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy by Brad Schoenfeld, one of the leading researchers in the field.
For how to plan your training and why, the best thing I've read so far is Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Mike Israetel, and his other book The Renaissance Diet is also a great guide to applied sports nutrition if you don't want to slog through a textbook. These are not bodybuilding-specific, but very valuable for the thinking lifter in understanding and prioritizing the many factors that go into designing and executing a training/diet plan.
Greg Nuckols and Omar Isuf's The Art and Science of Lifting pair of books are also okay, though I found "Art" too watered down, "Science" too bland, and both too disorganized to recommend.
I'll go low tech here, and suggest one of my favorite books instead. Not only are the anatomy illustrations the very best I'm ever seen, it also contains just about every exercise you do in a gym and tells you exactly which muscles(not just groups) they'll train.
Strength Training Anatomy - 3rd Edition
Amazon - $ 13.37
This book is awesome. I keep it in my gym bag to reference it before I do a workout if I need to. It's broken down by body section and shows different exercises for each body part. The cool thing about it is that it's drawn like an anatomy text book and it shows which muscles you should be feeling during each exercise. It also has injury prevention tips and some good stretches. I REALLY like this book. I mean check this shit out! 2 of the pages on deadlifts
PROS:
Amazing illustrations, exercise instructions, injury prevention, etc.
CONS:
Some exercises I wish were explained a little better.
Now that is some Jonathon Haidt-level shit right there! Thank you for sharing the full text of her message. I'm relieved to find that nowhere in the text does it say "you should be able to do or say whatever you want without social consequences," and I'm disappointed to hear that there's a new label for people we disagree with. "Regressive left" seems pejorative in the extreme. My hope is that people who believe different things will actually do what she suggests and talk to each other about what they believe. That is a very hard, but very necessary, thing to do.
Anyway, I wanted to share something that the letter reminded me of that was written at a time when America was even more divided. Here are the last few sentences of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address:
>I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_zJpGzbMWYB548
It turns out humans are expert at justifying their own actions.
I keep saying, atheists need a church. The social support structures provided by a healthy church group is incredibly valuable to the community.
That said, I also agree with the article's author (and Jonathon Haidt) that it's hard to motivate such organization in the absence of religious guiding principles.
Matt's comment about the White House, (paraphrasing) "people want the same end result but just have different ideas about how to get there" made me think of this book I just listened to.
It's not the easiest read in the world, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.
And of course, it fits very well with the NDQ attitude.
It's by Jonathan Haidt.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_NbC0DbWTAKPA9
Check it out and enjoy! And most importantly, share it with people who need to hear it.
I think that the problem with non-monogamy is not just the act itself, but principally the effect of dishonesty with one's partner. Being transparent about what and why one holds a specific diet and acknowledging its effects addresses a similar, if more minor, concern.
When Peter Singer talks about the "Paris exception", he isn't describing an epicurean whim as a moral good, but rather arguing that the moral criticism should be grounded not in a purity principal but with respect to animal welfare. In the same way, there is a puritanical ethical argument against non-monogamy that while nearly (but not entirely) universal, is less cogent than a critique of the likelihood of an affair impairing one's family's happiness.
Ethical feelings are grounded in evolutionary traits, the purity principle is grounded in taboos around what is healthy. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind acknowledges that vegans have a similar response to eating animals, as many conservatives to do homosexuality or Orthodox Jews do to eating pigs. While this purity principle isn't necessarily wrong, grounding ones ethics in Utilitarianism and animal welfare allows veganism to have a much more universal ethical appeal.
>It didn't really change anybody's mind, and one's view on it was 99% shaped by what they were already thinking.
These books are about why they think that way. Hillbilly Elegy is about communities (mainly the non-urban communities that gave Trump huge support) that feel left behind and the recent history and thinking of those groups. The Big Sort is about the homogenization of social groups and thinking in the US, leading to why people feel comfortable throwing "grenades". The Righteous Mind is a book on the psychology of morality and politics in the US and why the ideologies are so different.
Trump may have won big with white voters of all stripes, but he also did better among Latinos than Romney, so it's obvious that it isn't just "poor uneducated whites", but if people don't try to figure out why the division is so strong and where the other side is coming from, what chance do we have for uniting and restoration?
I live in the most liberal district in one of the most liberal cities in the US. I have no difficulty in understanding that perspective and its driving forces. The other view is not so well illuminated
Edit: though I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. This is the one place I can go to avoid all the cross-talk about politics and ideologies. I like all of you guys and our light conversations about shoes. I'd rather not ruin that for myself.
The accessible version is covered by the book by Haidt (who I thinks is also an author of the study I'm about to try to go find).
And...here it is: http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/articles/manuscripts/graham.nosek.submitted.moral-stereotypes-of-libs-and-cons.pub601.pdf
I’m probably going to take a lot of shit for suggesting a nonfiction novel rather than a scholarly source but I think Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone
and The Demon In The Freezer do a good job of laying out the current situation and making for exciting reading. (That said, IANAVirologist.)
Wiki pages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon_in_the_Freezer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone
In some of the earlier outbreaks of Ebola, it was shown that the virus spread partly due to inadequate sterilization. In some instances needles were shared during vaccinations amidst many patients due to a lack of supplies.
Source
If you are interested in learning more regarding the Ebola virus in the past (history, development, outbreaks, the science behind it) then I recommend reading The Hot Zone. It was an informative and interesting book that I encountered a few years prior during my yearly CE courses/activities. It will detail the poor sterilization and equipment management available for those particular outbreaks. As for now, I do not know for certain that their methods are more or less sterile, but Africa (unfortunately) does not have the medical infrastructure nor funding that Western countries are privy to at this time thus we may reasonably infer that poor sanitation practices may be reoccurring presently.
Edit: grammar, apologies.
If you are interested in Ebola, and you haven't read it already, I would highly recommend The Hot Zone.
Read the Hot Zone http://www.amazon.com/The-Hot-Zone-Terrifying-Story/dp/0385479565
The Hot Zone is about that incident.
Regarding the CDC recently... "APHIS found numerous violations of federal rules for handling dangerous microbes, according to the congressional document. For instance, unidentified "materials" were carried from one CDC lab to another in two plastic Ziploc bags, which did not meet the requirement that such containers be "durable."
If they can't be trusted with Anthrax and bird flu what makes you think we should give them a crack at Ebola? In the book Hot Zone It was said if you walk into a washroom and smell a strong odor of urine you have just inhaled enough molecules of moisture to contract a disease from the previous occupant.
Someone suggested The Hot Zone to me here a while back. It's nonfiction, but the plot and characters were compelling enough that I'm glad I gave it a try.
If you haven't read them, The Stand and The Andromeda Strain are two very well-loved books in that genre.
AIDS is worse because it goes unnoticed for so long. It takes around 21 days for symptoms to appear from Ebola. It kills the host too quickly.
Ebola is not an airborne illness. They need the body suits because the symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and hemorrhaging. I highly recommend The Hot Zone if you're interested in educating yourself on the topic. It's also a good read just for entertainment.
The Hot Zone.
Came here for this. Great book, as is The Hot Zone, his earlier book on Ebola Reston.
Hopefully it's not Ebola Zaire. Most outbreaks contain themselves as they kill more people than infect them. The Hot Zone is an excellent book if you want to learn about Ebola.
The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding : The Bible of Bodybuilding by the very best
Only cost £20 on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0684857219/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item
Check this out OP
+1 Came here to upvote this book, amazing read.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding-Updated/dp/0684857219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1500453088&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=modern+encyclopedia+of+bodybuilding
https://www.amazon.com/New-Encyclopedia-Modern-Bodybuilding-Updated/dp/0684857219
If you are just starting to train and are serious about it, I definitely recommend getting the book Strength Training Anatomy. It does an excellent job of depicting common strength training exercises, how to do them, and the muscles they target.
Here is an image of the page for the leg press that you might find useful, it should answer your question.
I agree Starting Strenght it's a great reference to start.
I recommend add this one:
Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier. There it will explain, like a true genius, with awesome pictures how the muscles are involve on each workout, how to avoid injuries and develop a perfect form for your routines.
A MUST HAVE / READ.
I like Strength Training Anatomy ( http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736092269/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1371269884&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=weightlifting ) It's simple and short, shows you some of the best excises to do for each muscle group along with obviously the anatomy behind it/preventing injury etc.
Even though you can find out a lot of this online (well you can with anything really), I like flipping through this when I'm taking a shit or when I wan't to double check I'm doing an exercise right. Just a really good reference/shitter book
Not the exact book, but I have Strength Training Anatomy. It's essentially the same sort of book, great
readingpictures!this book: https://www.amazon.ca/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736092269
best starting place. Just pictures of people without skin doing exercises with everything that's worked lit up and labelled.
It's much simpler than most of what people here have recommended - also I think a better starting place.
I don't own this and haven't ever read it, but others have recommended it and it's got good ratings on Amazon. I plan to get it at some point.
Strength Training Anatomy
I've read a lot, and my theories on routines and splits have changed, but this has stayed my favorite book Strength Training Anatomy. I love the drawings and details of the anatomy as it relates to lifting. It really gives you a foundation to build on. :)
My favorite anatomy book for lifting is Delavier's Strength Training Anatomy, although some don't agree (like the list above).
As for regular anatomy, Grey's Anatomy.
This: http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/hurricane_xs
This: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Sports/dp/0736092269/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341654246&amp;sr=1-1
These: http://www.gymworld.co.uk/marcy-20kg-cast-iron-dumbell-set.html
Standard protein just isn't quite enough coming from scratch.
Get cast iron bells. Rubber and plastic are shit, and if you pussy out, the iron can be moved on ebay for something more than complete loss.
Get the book, because parts one and two are useless if you just do curls until your bicep explodes.
Starting Strength, a textbook example of a weightlifting program. As in a guy literally wrote a textbook on barbell weight training.
5 pounds is a good place to start. Just keep adding 5's until you can't beat the previous workouts number. Alternatively if you plan on sticking with it for a while check out Starting Strength to learn how to properly do the movements. There is even an excellent beginners program in the book.
I am not a doctor, but
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412998621&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=starting+strength
worth every penny, especially the kindle version for only $10.
Honestly, you are the reason this book was written, Rippetoe et al have a hardon for improving the lives of people with medical issues like arthritis and the elderly. They are all about "the barbell is medicine", and they have a few great success stories for sure.
I HIGHLY recommend posting in Rippetoe's Q&A at :
http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=129
He will sort you out, though he can be rude, abrasive, and opinionated.
I guess my last piece of "wisdom" is that, no your legs may be relatively strong from that activity, but they are not "strong" as a barbell can help you make them. Bros don't let bros skip leg day.
This advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, by the way. I hope you follow at least some of it and post back in 3-6 months saying how awesome you feel because of squats and shit.
Been working on weight training this off-season. "Starting Strength" seems to be the equivalent of "The Cyclists Training Bible" for general strength training. Everyone should read it. Maybe twice.
My back is my main limiter. I had a bad case of thoracic hyphosis (aka "nerd neck") so I needed to fix that and train up my upper-back muscles in order to be able to safely squat heavy. I'm thinking the added strength and mobility will help for holding my head up after long hours on the bike.
I've brought my Bulgarian squat up from 3x5's at 80 lbs to 3x5's @ 130 lbs. I've also brought my weight up by 7 lbs, so I guess I'll be carrying that around. But it's pretty flat where I live and race so I wouldn't mind trading some W/KG for some raw watts.
I'm planning to continue building strength through base and switch to more speed/power movements during build. I'm going to incorporate the fast lunges described in Maximum Overload (terrible book, fine idea) for blocks of 30s to 5m. I think that will be a good accessory to VO2max intervals. Hard days will get harder, so easy days will need to get easier.
Abandon women; and instead treat yourself and a bro(mance) to:
A Hardcopy of Rippetoe's Starting Strength and your first ~galon of milk
I can give some perspective as a long time cyclist and more recent lifter who then had an ACL injury (not weightlifting related). First off just because you were a strong runner (or in my case cyclist) won't make you automatically good at squats/deadlifts. It'll give you a bit of a head start since you'll have some leg muscles to work with but squats use some different muscles and it used them in a different manner. Lifting heavy causes different muscle adaptations and is a skill in its own right.
As to what strength progress you should be able to see… That's hard to say since you don't have pre-injury totals to look at. Leg press is a good quad exercise but doesn't have a lot of carryover to squats. Most people can leg press more than they can squat but there is no set percentage ratio since training in leg press is different than training in squats.
Personally I was able to get back to my pre-injury squat weight at 6 months. I feel I could have lifted more earlier but I was being extra careful. I'm currently at 10 months and lifting more than I was pre-injury. I'm not dropping my lifting stats as it's meaningless to compare mine to yours since you are new to lifting.
Basically with your inexperience, the only numbers I think you can use as reference are to untrained/novice lifters. That said you are not even a typical untrained lifter since you are recovering from a major injury. The Symmetric Strength Strength Standards can give you some insight but there is no gold standard. So take a look at those and use them as something to aim for, but also don't get upset that you aren't anywhere near novice yet.
With a good program, dedication, and enough protein and calories, you likely should be able to hit novice levels in a 2-3 months. Since you have an injury you are recovering from then it will likely take a little longer, depending on how much you are still limited by your injury. You should of course focus on good form and making sure you don't compensate. Also be make sure to include single leg work as your muscles are likely still imbalanced: Bulgarian split squats, lunges, single leg deadlifts, calf raises, etc..
In general, I think it's really good that you are adding in strength training. One of the best ways to protect that knee from further damage and osteoarthritis is to build up and maintain the muscles that support your leg. IMHO it is important to be stronger than you were before the surgery in order to support that knee.
BTW, if you don't have a program look into Starting Strength and/or Phrak's Greyskull LP. The r/fitness sub has a good overview of programs. They have a big bug up their ass against Starting Strength but honestly while Phrak's has some advantages, SS is a decent place to start and has worked for many lifters. The Starting Strength book is also in my opinion a must read for how well it explains how to execute the main lifts. The r/startingstrength subreddit is a good place to post form checks if you don't have someone to help spot your form. Rippitoe's nutrition advice in the book leaves much to be desired but that's a different topic.
The beginner program link listed in the FAQ basically recommends Starting Strength.
Read it and do what it says. You'll need an olympic bar, some plates, power rack, and a bench.
[Splurge a little....] (http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=asap_B0055JD4CW?ie=UTF8)
15 isn't too young, but this community is a bit of 'blowtorch'. A lot of good, helpful resources and advice, a lot of shit, and a lot of angry/upset guys who are trying to redefine themselves.
A better alternative is maybe to show him some of the resources that TRP links to, not necessarily TRP itself.
The Rational Male is a really good resource; the 'best of' posts being a good place for him to start.
Mark Manson's 'Models' is a good book to start with, although I would pair that with 'The Rational Male' book (Manson is just a tad soft on the nature of women IMO, but to be fair he was going for a more mainstream audience). A really good resource, especially for someone as young as he is, is The Book of Pook, arguably the main foundational resource.
I would also tentatively recommend 'Bang' and 'Day Bang' by Roosh V. Now Roosh V is a fuckwit douchebag, but in terms of pickup (which is distinct from TRP) he knows his stuff.
Finally I would suggest Mark Rippetoe's 'Starting Strength' to start him building muscle, or, if he doesn't have access to a gym, a book on bodyweight fitness would be good (there's a subreddit which has recommendations).
Nice, it's time to go get it.
But you need to start with some basic info. Good old fashioned moving weights always has done the most for me. Try Starting strength if you want to get started with a good beginners plan. Understand the lifts, hit the weights, and get some of those sweet sweet novice gains.
www.stronglifts.com
/r/weightroom
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
And I'm always glad to chat.
It is a workout routine by Mark Rippetoe. http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738. It is designed for beginners
Wow that is a small stature. I'd like to be encouraging but the truth of the matter is I feel like I never see males with your build in every day adult life and I could see how it could be a real burden. Actually, I take that back. My father in law isn't much taller. He looks like he's our kid when walking with my wife and I.
My cousin had Leukemia a few years back and he's about the same age (and build) as you but he wants to be FBI some day. I don't have the heart to tell him but I've never met a federal officer who was below 6'2.
You're life is going to be an uphill battle but if you've got one thing going for you, it's that short people live longer.
As far as building muscle and whatnot I HIGHLY recommend Starting Strength Read it cover to cover. It's a treat, the man is hilarious and it's just about the bible for making your body stronger.
I think I'd like to be your friend. gonna PM you.
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738 this should be a staple of every person starting the gym. If you're not much into reading, then check out author's YouTube channel.
Always start with a warm up, rowing machine is generally most efficient for the whole body.
5sets x5reps for strenght and slow size progression. If you want to focus mostly on building muscle fast, then go for classic 4x8 or 3x12 approx 3 times a week, day on, and day off, plus weekend off for stretching/foam rolling or anything else that can improve your recovery process, but that's a bonus.
Your goal is a linear progression, meaning you pick a weight that you can complete 1set of 12 repetitions that will challenge you, but not wreck you, because you still have 2 more sets to do. You want to make sure you fully complete every set, without cheating. If you can't do it, that means there is too much weight on the bar. Leave your ego at the door, and drop the weight.
If you can complete all your sets and all your reps with good form, next time you train, you slightly increase the weight, and that will keep you going. At the beginner stage you don't need any fancy techniques like drops sets, iso holds, rest pasues, etc. So don't worry about all that stuff for another year or even two.
For hypertrophy (muscle pump) you want to keep the rest periods between sets to 90 seconds max. Set the timer or just count your breathes.
You will quickly notice that everyone you ask, will give you a different sort of advice, and claim that their plan is the best.
Don't fall for a shiny object syndrome pick a plan and stick with it for 3 months. Track all your numbers, so you know what works and what doesnt.
Take a before picture so you can compare it to your results.
Read up on the diet, but basic premise is that you need to consume more calories that you burn every day in order to put on weight. Aim for 10-15% more kcal than you need. If after a week you see no difference on the scale increase your kcal intake by another 5%
Aim for 1gram of lean protein for every 1lbs of your body weight daily, and eat carbs mostly around the workout time. Clean bulk is always more efficient than eating a lot of crap and then wasting time to burn off the unwanted fat.
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1980881408682147&amp;id=119776444792662&amp;set=a.133423386761301 check out other pics in their gallery in terms of visuals of what to eat and not eat.
Make sure you get your 8h if sleep, because that's when the muscle actually grow. In the gym, very often less is more.
Building bigger muscles in oversimplified terms comes down to the time under tension and mechanical damage that muscle is exposed to, so you want to learn how to contract your muscles properly. Resistance bands are a safe and efficient way to do so. Essentially you want to feel the" burn" in the target muscle.
Additionally you can throw in some creatine (dirt cheap) and very efficient. If you're just starting you will notice gains really fast and you can train to the extreme, since your max won't be big enough to truly tax your central nervous system.
The most important thing is to gather some knowledge first, because you can waste a lot of time doing stuff that's doesn't work. If i had a chance to start again i would have found the best looking personal trainer at the gym, or someone who has clients with the desired results and paid him/her to teach me the basics to significantly accelerate my progress.
Remember that good technique builds the strength, but strength doesn't build good technique. And in this case technique refers to safety and efficiency of moving the load from point a to point b.
Get some good music on your playlist and while you keep your final destination in mind, learn to enjoy the process.
That should be enough to get you started.
If you would like to further deepen your knowledge check this https://www.t-nation.com/
Good luck and have fun plus don't forget to update us in your progress ;)
Please just read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1504059251&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=starting+strength
It has everything you'll ever need.
Starting Strength
Why did you choose Strong Curves over say, Starting Strength or Strong to name just two others?
A set of Olympic weights, a power cage, a bench and a copy of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. I got all but the book second-hand, so it can be pretty affordable and safe. (All links except book are for illustrative purposes only, not necessarily recommending those specific units)
Starting Strength. Buy the book: It explains in EXQUISITE detail how to do the basics. And the basics are what you need. If you have to go up slower for age and recovery, so be it, but it's the beginner program.
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738
Personal trainers don't need to know what they are talking about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_trainer#United_States
>A number of certifications are available in the U.S., although a number are not accredited. Most require a high school diploma, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) certification, and some type of examination.[6]
A 2002 investigation evaluated a random sample of 115 personal trainers using the Fitness Instructors Knowledge Assessment (FIKA) (which measures knowledge in nutrition, health screening, testing protocols, exercise prescription, and special populations). The study described that:[14][15]
>
70% of those surveyed did not have a degree in any field related to exercise science.
Those who did not have a bachelor's degree in an exercise science-related field scored 31% less on average than those with a bachelor's degree or higher in the field.
Those holding one of two specific certifications (the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) certification) scored 83% of the questions correctly on average. Those holding any certification other than ACSM or NSCA answered only 38% of the questions correctly.
Years of experience was not found to be predictive of personal trainer knowledge.
With that said - if I were a personal trainer I would discourage people from doing barbell work, to at least emphasize they need some study. Probably some liability if someone hurts themselves, and some people are morons. At any rate take what trainers say with a lot of salt.
I gained about 15 pounds in a year doing a simple beginner program 3 times a week. This was not at all the center of my life - working and going to school for CS at the same time. I did spend quite a bit of time studying how to do the exercises correctly. With a beginner program, you will start with very low weight (which increases fast) in order to get to practice the exercises.
Focusing on learning how to do the exercises, and going regularly is probably the most important thing to build strength. Plan for the long-term, this is extremely extremely important. Your purpose at first is:
1) to go to learn how to do the exercises well,
2) to go religiously.
Doing these two things are what you reward yourself with the sense of "job well done" for. You will lose strength depressingly fast by not going regularly. 3 times a week for 30 min to an hour is not a big deal.
You can build significant strength without bulking/bodybuilding. Having a lot of strength will make bodybuilding/bulking easier. This is mostly to keep in mind for later, when it is time to shift to an intermediate program.
Stronglifts 5x5 is listed on here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_adding_exercise
Stronglifts has been very successful for a lot of people, and gets a lot good credit. The program is extremely simple so you do not have to waste time thinking of what to do. The phone apps by the author are exceptional. Negative things about the program are generally complaints that it is a beginner program. There will come a point stronglifts will stop producing gains, and it is time to shift programs. When that time comes it will make quite a bit of sense in your body why. Stronglifts is a great beginner program.
I still do it, with some minor alteration, even though I know I need to shift, because it's good enough for now for me. Easy & meditative and the gains still come. Well lifting heavy weights is hard, but easy in the "flowing like water" sense.
Here's an easy to-do list for you which will work:
>1) Go to stronglifts.com, watch his vides on how to do the exercises, and how to do the program.
>
2) Study the exercises!
>
3) Download phone app
>
4) Do your first session at the gym
>
5) Begin reading Starting Strength. Ignore a lot of the dietary advice.
>
6) Watch videos on youtube & continue improving your form.
>
7) Continue going to workouts religiously.
>
8) Start eating for muscle growth.
I have diet listed last here, because in one sense it is the least important. In order to gain weight, you will have to eat a lot. And a couple months into the program you will need to eat well to make noticeable strength gains. But do not worry about this at first. As you go regularly & get good at the lifts (because that is the goal that matters), after a period of time you will see how not eating/sleeping enough makes you weaker.
It will be quite visceral when you get to higher weights, and after months of (going religiously!) experiencing the difference of days when you eat/rest well vs. not, and the iron will grace you with a powerful visceral drive to change your diet. It's like free motivation at that point. When you have been going regularly for months, then the diet becomes extremely important. Don't worry about it much at first. You will make fast gains even with a crappy diet at the start. But damn sure go to the gym when you are feeling weak, that is what will push your understanding of what to eat.
And again - you can gain a lot strength without bulking much, and that strength will help you bulk. So even if you don't bulk for a few months, it is not a loss. Just keep going.
I will add, for a pre/post workout shake, I get pea protein from https://truenutrition.com/veganplant-proteins.aspx . Pea protein has had some studies place it competitively with whey. I mix it with water & juice, and I will add creatine. My perspective is that not eating animal products slows bulking, though that tends to be hearsay here. Who cares when it's the right thing to do though.
>I've managed to answer questions and rebuttals very thoroughly in the nutritional aspects of Leangains but I've failed miserably in explaining why all those curls and wires and abs workouts are more or less useless acording to Martin.
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe has the answers you seek. As I understand it... you don't want to do accessories like curls and ab workouts because they may interfere with the more efficient compound exercises, especially in recovery time.
Buy these two:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1334558891&amp;sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/The-Paleo-Solution-Original-Human/dp/0982565844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1334558900&amp;sr=1-1
Are either NECESSARY for these goals? No. But I'm a believer in no-brainer approaches, and basic strength training + paleo-ish diet will move you in the right direction.
What are your goals? What do you hope to accomplish?
Lifting? Cardio? Weight loss?
Some easy tips (which I can help clarify) are:
Do most of your lifting with free-weights and a few cables. Unless you have a pre-existing condition preventing use of free-weights such as barbells or dumbells do NOT build a workout routine around machines or circuit training.
Practice form first. Form is everything. Start with an empty barbell or bodyweight only. Consider splitting the cost of a PT session between you two, but make sure to find a PT that also doesn't advocate training with machines.
Make sure you get your nutrition and out-of-gym habits in good form; if you don't eat right and rest correctly you might as well not even go to the gym for all the time you're wasting.
Find someone experienced in weight-training to help you put together a workout routine, and make sure it focuses largely on compound exercises. (I can help if you'd like; I am experienced in strength-training but carry no certifications, however my advice is free!)
Buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738
It is now your new bible.
Focus on squats, deadlifts, powercleans, benchpress and other large muscle group compound exercises.
I'll add more as it comes to me.
Lifting for hypertropy (Body Building) will not translate into good snowboarding. You need a mix of endurance, strength, power, agility, flexibility and nutrition.
Nutrition: Don't eat like shit, I am not big on giving nutrition advice, but eating Paleo works for me.
Flexibility: http://www.mobilitywod.com/ every goddamn day, and squat (unweighted)
Strength: http://startingstrength.com/ (for beginners, Coach Rip has an excellent book)
Power: Two lifts will generate a lot of power, the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. The power clean (part of Starting Strength) is also very good. The clean, snatch and power clean will also help your jumping power a lot for you park rats.
Agility: There are a lot of ways to work on agility, I don't do agility specific work.
Endurance: I ride a bike, but you can also run or have angry bees chase you around.
Yes you can do 100 pushups and 100 situps a day, but training correctly with barbells can get you big gains which translate to snowboarding. I do not train specifically for snowboarding or skiing or biking but here is what my daily exercise routine looks like:
Bike 3 miles to gym.
Gym work (5 days a week, skip friday if doing something on saturday, monday if did something on sunday):
Warmup
Mobility WOD
Two Lifts
Crossfit Style Conditioning
Bike ten miles to office (pace here is usually about 16 or 17 mph, including stops for lights, etc)
Bike thirteen miles home after work (I am usually running about 14.5 mph home including stops)
The book describes everything you could possibly need to know about how to do the program, the lifts, the diet etc. It also talks about what the program will accomplish. Here is a link to the book on amazon. It's really really worth a look if you're planning on doing this program.
Also, here is a link to the Mark Rippetoe Q&A on the Starting Strength forums, where the author of the book will answer questions and evaluate your technique if you send in a video.
Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength will probably be one of the most highly recommended beginner programs you'll find.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1343403649&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=starting+strength
First, You are 125 lbs. You really, really need to eat. If you aren't gaining 2 lbs a week you aren't eating enough.
Second, I doubt you have even read SS if you've made this thread so the FIRST thing I would recommend you do is GET OFF /r/fitness or any internet fitness source and READ STARTING STRENGTH. It will answer most questions you have. After you finish reading the book, come back.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738
These two books are god send for getting into Ortho residency.
Becoming a Supple Leopard
&
Starting Strength
Starting Strength
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738
Build a solid strength base, then you'll have a much better base for other physical activites
It's generally best to go in with a set plan, and there are a lot of programs out there geared specifically towards beginners. This will give you a sense of purpose in the gym and also a way to track your progress.
Here are links to three of the more popular beginner's programs on this sub: Starting Strength, Strong Lifts, and The New Rules of Lifting for Women.
If money is a factor, and you don't want to buy a book, Strong Lifts is a free program available online.
I was just going to post that book.
Here’s the link if anyone is interested:
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143127748/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QRMyCbJSSTKBR
I think Bessel van der Kolk talks about that in The Body Keeps the Score, too.
It's the Trauma. Get marriage counselling ASAP. Make sure the therapist is trauma informed. Somatic and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) would be key words to look for. Your wife has a brain injury. Check out The Body Keeps the Score and Supportfor Partners:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
http://www.supportforpartners.org/
It would be a good idea to add a section about Trauma, since so many JWs not only experienced religious trauma but also family dysfunction at different levels of severity.
This book in particular Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving is a must read. It's available in English, German and as of this month in Spanish as well.
The Emotionally Absent Mother is another great one.
And finally, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
A section on helpful resources for rebuilding your life could include this book:
The Power of Habit , out of everything I read, this book, along with meditation, played a major role in helping me break the patterns of depression so that I could get my energy back and become productive again.
And finally, a section on finances might be another good idea. I haven't really dived into that yet myself, but I'm sure it would be extremely helpful for a lot of ExJWs. Maybe others have good recommendations.
As for fiction, this book had me crying for days. It's specific to the Dominican, Latin American experience but I think anyone, especially young women, with dreams and an unsupportive, religious fanatic of a mother can relate.
The Poet X
That depends on your past! If you've gone through some trauma it can be very difficult to reconcile the things that have happened in your life. If that's the case for you I would highly recommend trauma therapy (if you can afford it) and/or the book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
Exactly - PTSD and CPTSD are as much physical as mental or chemical.
The Body Keeps the Score
You're the one experiencing your life, not all of us commenting here. You are the authority on your experience - there are many roads to healing, and not everyone is lucky enough to be in a position where they have the resources, support, money, stability, time, and safety to do that work.
/u/Millcrab is correct. The fact is we don't have enough time to wait for life to develop in the lab. However, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey started an experiment in 1953 in which they simulated an early Earth environment and after just two weeks their bottle contained 11 of the 20 amino acids we see today, as well as some hydrocarbons and other organic compounds. They also let some vials sit for 50 years and when modern scientists opened them, they discovered over 20 amino acids, which is more than life uses today! So it's easy to make the building blocks of life, the problem is waiting for them to come together and make life.
If you're really interested in this topic, then I recommend reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (fun fact, Dawkins invented the modern word meme [from the greek "mimēma"]!). It describes a pretty cool hypothesis on how life could have originated and Dawkins has a really dry sense of humor that you can pick up from his novel. I will admit that he could be a bit more diplomatic on some subjects though.
Overviews of the evidence:
The greatest show on earth
Why evolution is true
Books on advanced evolution:
The selfish gene
The extended phenotype
Climbing mount improbable
The ancestors tale
It is hard to find a better author than Dawkins to explain evolutionary biology. Many other popular science books either don't cover the details or don't focus entirely on evolution.
I will hit one point though.
>I have a hard time simply jumping from natural adaption or mutation or addition of information to the genome, etc. to an entirely different species.
For this you should understand two very important concepts in evolution. The first is a reproductive barrier. Basically as two populations of a species remain apart from each other (in technical terms we say there is no gene flow between them) then repoductive barriers becomes established. These range in type. There are behavioral barriers, such as certain species of insects mating at different times of the day from other closely related species. If they both still mated at the same time then they could still produce viable offspring. Other examples of behavior would be songs in birds (females will only mate with males who sing a certain way). There can also be physical barriers to reproduction, such as producing infertile offspring (like a donkey and a horse do) or simply being unable to mate (many bees or flies have different arrangements of their genitalia which makes it difficult or impossible to mate with other closely related species. Once these barriers exist then the two populations are considered two different species. These two species can now further diverge from each other.
The second thing to understand is the locking in of important genes. Evolution does not really take place on the level of the individual as most first year biology courses will tell you. It makes far more sense to say that it takes place on the level of the gene (read the selfish gene and the extended phenotype for a better overview of this). Any given gene can have a mutation that is either positive, negative, of neutral. Most mutations are neutral or negative. Let's say that a certain gene has a 85% chance of having a negative mutation, a 10% chance of a neutral mutation, and a 5% chance of a positive mutation. This gene is doing pretty good, from it's viewpoint it has an 85% chance of 'surviving' a mutation. What is meant by this is that even though one of it's offspring may have mutated there is an 85% chance that the mutated gene will perform worse than it and so the mutation will not replace it in the gene pool. If a neutral mutation happens then this is trouble for the original gene, because now there is a gene that does just as good a job as it in the gene pool. At this point random fluctuations of gene frequency called genetic drift take over the fate of the mutated gene (I won't go into genetic drift here but you should understand it if you want to understand evolution).
The last type of mutation, a positive mutation is what natural selection acts on. This type of mutation would also change the negative/neutral/positive mutation possibilities. so the newly positively mutated gene might have frequencies of 90/7/3 Already it has much better odds than the original gene. OK, one more point before I explain how this all ties together. Once a gene has reached the 100/0/0 point it does not mean that gene wins forever, there can still be mutations in other genes that affect it. A gene making an ant really good at flying doesn't matter much when the ant lives in tunnels and bites off its own wings, so that gene now has altered percentages in ants. It is this very complex web that makes up the very basics of mutations and how they impact evolution (if you are wondering how common mutations are I believe they happen about once every billion base pairs, so every human at conception has on average 4 mutations that were not present in either parent)
This all ties back together by understanding that body plan genes (called hox genes) lock species into their current body plans, by reducing the number of possible positive or neutral mutations they become crucial to the organisms survival. As evolutionary time progresses these genes become more and more locked in, meaning that the body plans of individuals become more and more locked in. So it is no wonder that coming in so late to the game as we are we see such diversity in life and we never see large scale form mutations. Those type of mutations became less likely as the hox genes became locked in their comfy spots on the unimpeachable end of the mutation probability pool. That is why it is hard to imagine one species evolving into another, and why a creationist saying that they will believe evolution when a monkey gives birth to a human is so wrong.
Hopefully I explained that well, it is kind of a dense subject and I had to skip some things I would rather have covered.
Okay, I will tell you some things about me.
First, I ghosted everyone that knew me as a Blue Pill guy. Now, an inherent part of ghosting is being alone. When most people tell you they are independent, it's fucking bullshit. Emerson wrote a great deal on self-reliance.
Here is an essay by Emerson on the subject of self-reliance. It is both a great introduction to his views and how beautifully he writes.
http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm
Here is a collection of Emerson's essays. Ignore the 1 star review, which is for the Kindle version of the book, but heed it and buy the physical book instead of the Kindle version.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1598530844/
Emerson was friend and mentor to Thoreau, who wrote the following account of his two-year stay in a cabin near Walden Pond. One of Thoreau's goals was self-sufficiency.
http://www.amazon.com/Walden-A-Fully-Annotated-Edition/dp/0300104669
Here is some further reading.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762415339/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1492777862/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0199291152/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0802150926/
You mention you are going to be a radiographer soon. Now, I have seen said on TRP that some here do not see the point in film, but I fucking love film. Now, there is one film in particular that I think relates to your situation incredibly. That is Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ikiru/
Ikiru is about a Japanese man who, near the end of his life, learns he has a terminal disease. He has, up to that point, wasted his whole life at his government job. Learning of his illness inspires in the main character a will to change, and seeing him undergo that inspires change in those around him. But, and this is another lesson to be learned from the film, we see that the main character's transformation has no lasting effect on those around him. Change has to come from within.
Another film seriously worth watching is Whiplash. I saw it mentioned in this subreddit in passing and am glad I did.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7d_jQycdQGo
If you want me to elaborate on the things that I didn't, ask. I have a lot more film recommendations, but cannot recommend any more books, as I do not read that much. I don't recommend any music as I would consider most of what I listen to to be blue pill.
There is a much longer book in which the author (Roy Baumeister) covers these topics more in-depth.
Is There Anything Good About Men?: How Cultures Flourish by Exploiting Men
Other good reads which are related include The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley, and Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene.
AMAB runner here! I found that running didn't flatten my booty, but it didn't build it either. I'm sure I got some great cardiovascular benefits, but I didn't see much change when I looked in the mirror (I was always a healthy weight.) The main change I saw was that my abs were more defined (probably a combination of working my core muscles and losing body fat.)
Recently I started strength training. Squats do work your booty, but it's secondary. The main effort is done by your quads. Deadlifts are more focused on your backside (hamstrings and glutes.)
Some resources:
Good luck quitting smoking and building your booty!
you should check out this book, there's a whole chapter for each
http://www.amazon.ca/Dmt-Spirit-Molecule-Rick-Strassman/dp/0892819278
The Republic by Plato.
Religion and Cultural Freedom by E.M. Adams. This may be a more digestible introduction for anyone who is interested.
The Philosophy of Freedom by Rudolf Steiner.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult is pretty much modern magick 101 and can't be recommended highly enough.
Liber Null by Peter Carroll.
DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman, M.D.
I really enjoyed the film - it was well edited and had lots of mesmerizing visuals. It serves as a great way of getting people more interested/informed about a substance which many people have never even heard of - it certainly would have made me want to try DMT. However, having already experienced it, I found that the movie did not have nearly as much to offer me. I would highly recommend reading Rick Strassman's Book as I found it to be much more informative than the movie.
Found one of the books: https://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-Revolutionary-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/0892819278
There is a book by a slightly different name on this topic.
The spirit molecule
DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences
Rick Strassman's "The Spirit Molecule"
really? REALLY?! your brain searching your memory?! what a load of poppycock.
The fact is, no one knows what happens when you die, but clinical studies and the power of actual SCIENCE is leading us to believe the brain is dumping all it's Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) at once. when you dream it lets out a very small drop, we're talking not visible to the naked eye. supposedly the pineal gland may contain up to .2 fl oz (about a small clear eyes bottle) of DMT at any one time and when this "flash" occurs, it is all that DMT being dumped at once. Essentially, it's natures last hurrah -aka TRIPPING BALLS MAN!!!
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-Revolutionary-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/0892819278
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine
You are subjected to the most intense DMT trip you could imagine and then fade away into light.
Reading DMT: The Spirit Molecule completely changed my view on death. I'm not excited to die, but part of me is looking forward to the trip.
You might enjoy the book
And then read about DMT. Also, Strassman's work with the chemical is fascinating to read about.
OR you get assraped by a crocodile (if I remember one of the stories correctly from this book).
I recommend reading Rick Strassman's DMT: The Spirit Molecule
This is stupid as fuck. Sorry, but you can downvote me all you want.
Edit: Read a damn book
Which explains why this piece was chosen for the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule. Awesome book, BTW.
As opposed to the $23 for Starting Strength?
I recommend following Starting Strength and training your large muscle groups while also consuming tons of a food. But I'm just a beginner in that regard.
There's also a variety of subreddit's like GainIt
Good luck
Book - Mark Rippetoe - Starting Strength
Video - Arnold Schwarzenegger - Pumping Iron (also on Netflix)
This might help too: https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738
What gym are you going to? Because it is very reasonable to teach yourself to deadlift and squat solo. Squats in particular are easy to learn, but difficult to master. Do you have any prior injuries, to your lower back in particular? Because if not you really can learn these ok on your own.
Pick up a copy of Starting Strength, it provides excellent, highly detailed descriptions of how to perform these lifts. While the Starting Strength program isn't perfect, it has become the go to beginners program for a reason. Practice them a bit, and then post a form check in /r/weightroom on Friday in the form check thread. While /r/fitness is great for providing postive feedback and a good, supportive atmosphere I would caution against taking any actual technical advice there with even a grain of salt.
Get Starting Strength
It's a really good book and lays out how to get started with the most important weight lifting exercises. Most of what makes the gym scary is being afraid of looking like a dumbass. You can even go late at night if you want, and almost no one will be there.
It's ok if you don't really do much your first couple of times. Just getting in the door will give you more courage for next time.
After going like 3-5 times, you start to want to go so that you can continue whatever weight lifting routine you decide on.
Maybe she meant this book?
Buy this book. Learn the lifts in the first chapters and do the program at the back. Eat all the things.
Move heavy barbells on a regular basis.
If you've never lifted before or are weak, go buy the Starting Strength book and follow that.
Once you do that, don't eat like an asshole.
/thread
I highly recommend you pick up Starting Strength, or Trooper mentioned Strong Lifts has write ups of the squat, deadlift, and bench. Both are a great place to start out if you to get into barbell lifts. You can also head over to /r/fitness.
> Every guy in the gym knows how to do these exercises
With the amount of quarter squats, rounded backs, flared elbows etc you see at the gym, this is absolutely not the case. Like everything else, it's a skill you have to work on. I'v been lifting for years and still am not happy with my squat depth, or form. Miles better than what it used to be though.
If you want to meet up, I would be willing to help get you started. I work out at the LA Fitness on Webster and they have free 3 day passes. They may try and sell you a membership, but I told them I was just there to get a workout in and they left me alone when I used the pass. Send me a pm.
This is what you want:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1409172699&amp;sr=1-1
Pick up the book Starting Strength. $24 on Amazon with prime. Squats are the first (of 5) exercises covered.
https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473687821&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=starting+strength
I like it because it's perfect for the beginner, has lots of diagrams and photos, and covers a wide range of issues and rookie mistakes.
Even if you aren't specifically using SS5x5, it still will be a great investment. Plus, a physical book is better as a reference material when you don't want to jump on the internet or for reading material before going to bed.
Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982522738/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_tuPYAbB4XP5XJ
Buy this book, it is the straight up Bible on how to get strong in the only way that matters, using a barbell.
Keep your program simple, Squats, Bench Press, Overhead Press, and Deadlift. Get good at these fundamental lifts before worrying about anything else. Low reps, heavy weights.
And eat A LOT! Your muscles need fuel, and if you are skinny the only place this fuel is going to come from is stuffing your face.
I did some quick stalking and, IMHO, you look pretty good but... If you like the idea of working out, by all means, go for it! My suggestion is to start with something simple and easily understood, such as Stronglifts 5x5. It's what I'm doing right now, and I'm really enjoying it, and the improvements I'm seeing. You'll be embarrassed to start with the empty bar, for sure, but I recommend it. That way, you're not overestimating your abilities, and you get the form correct right off the bat. Here are the resources I used to get moving on SL 5x5:
stronglifts.com - The base program and some details and advice on lifts.
Starting Strength - The single best weightlifting advice you can get short of an actual coach that follows Rippetoe's philosophy (I say "philosophy," but not to sound like a brainwashed meathead, the guy knows what he's talking about, and everything he says makes sense)
Great video on the Overhead Press - The coach in the video actually wrote the book I recommend above. The overhead press has been THE most difficult lift I've done to date on this program.
I only link that one video because it's been hard to find other videos as effectively instructional. Stronglifts.com has a few for the other lifts which are sufficient.
My biggest recommendation: try it once. The endorphin rush afterward will make you crave going back.
Good luck, and have fun!
So a couple of things:
1.) Just because something happened out of necessity, doesn't mean we should KEEP DOING IT.
2.) In a way you are saying male aggression makes male aggression necessary. I don't say this flippantly or to blame the victim. I am pointing out how this is a self reinforcing cycle that can only be disrupted by outside forces, namely the criminal justice system. There is a strong correlation between how much of the population can rely on the governement for justice, and how much inter-personal violence there is in that society.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010
Hmm I look at it this way. Indeed morality is simply a product of the human mind, and this is exactly what makes it objective. And I don't mean like "I think this is right, therefore it is". It is bigger than that. Morality is real, natural and objective the same way water is wet and planets are things. There isn't anything wet individual H2O molecules. Yet through their interaction a property we call 'wet' is presented. The same goes for planets. They are really just big balls of elementary particles. But it doesn’t help anyone to think of it this way. There are still laws like Newton’s law of gravitation that describe how planets work. This is the idea behind reductionism. While things are really made out of ever smaller parts (until you hit quantum mechanics), it is still useful to describe reality at higher levels of generalization.
For morality the same works in two steps (ending the line of reduction down at the human individual). Imagine two strangers meeting each other. They both need medical attention due to a civil war. Now the other could provide the medical attention but also pose a threat. When these people interact one of two things can happen. Either they cooperate or they oppose each other (cooperate/defect in the Prisoners Dilemma as it is called in game theory and economics). Now when people oppose each other nothing really changes compared to when they didn't interact with each other. All participants are still selfishly trying to achieve their own goals regardless of anything or anyone else. But when they cooperate something new is created. A unit of several individuals that works together towards a common goal. This unit of people is similar to water being wet. But this is not morality yet. This is more like selfish cooperation.
The difference lies in the fact that humans can do one thing that water molecules can't. And that is reproduce, both sexually and intellectually (by changing other people’s minds they in effect let you copy a part of you, namely your thoughts, into them). This gives rise to a second level of effects due to evolutionary theory. We find that there is another more general way to look at human behaviour that can be described using scientific laws just like planets can. Not only do people sometimes cooperate, but whenever they do they also generate profit. In fact they generate more profit compared to when they had worked alone. The only additional route to this is in a perfectly competitive market, but as anyone who has taken econ 101 may remember there are at least 12 separate conditions that need to be fulfilled in order for this to work. Making cooperation the dominant mechanism by which people become rich.* Because cooperation=profit there is a force acting towards individuals, small groups of people and societies to cooperate more with each other. There is ample evidence for this (see for example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Morality is therefore (at least in my mind) the tendency for more cooperative societies* to grow and flourish while societies which exploit, oppress, oppose each other and their members are retarded, stagnant or collapse.
From this follows what I think of as objective morality. In societies where no cooperation at all takes place society is destroyed, civilization collapses, and humanity is reduced to a collection of wandering individuals constantly trying to survive and kill each other (basically an unending version of the Purge but more extreme). In society where everyone cooperates to rationally find the best solution to bring everyone happiness, individuals live longer and the amount of suffering, pain and death is minimized/eliminated. I would call the first Evil and the second Good but really I don't have to because humanity as a whole has already done this by. Words are defined by the majority of opinions after all (Luckily regardless of what name we give this phenomenon the effect remains real).
Incidentally these 12 conditions basically never occur so whenever someone says “the market will solve everything” I recommend to take a very very close look at what they are actually proposing.
**In the sense of the prisoners dilemma not the communistic/socialistic sense. The communists didn't in fact base their society on the community but on the communist party. And everyone else got kicked into the dirt.
http://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010 this helped me to be more optimistic
Here, read this book and criticism of it to start your journey:
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature#Criticism
Don't just skip straight to the criticism and assume the book is wrong.
Maybe your prayer worked. Evil does seem to be dramatically lessening in the world. And it would explain why the 2nd coming hasn't happened yet...
Thanks a lot. You might have messed up the entire plan.
Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:
Amazon Smile Link: http://smile.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Our-Nature/dp/0143122010
|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|
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Ah I didn't really mean it like that. I meant that having advanced technology is a sign of being around a long time which would've given them time to transition out of primitive behavior -- like we are slowly doing. But maybe their technology progressed at a more exponential rate than ours and their social evolution wasn't as fast. This is all so speculative and we only have one example (us) so it's really just a fun guessing game.
You make a good point about how long it takes us to advance morally. But the key idea is that we ARE advancing. A great book on this is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Stephen Pinker. Things now are immensely better than they were even 100 years ago.
One unnerving thought is how little our treatment of animals has progressed. Arguably, it has gotten worth with our factory farming methods. Perhaps this is insight into how we would treat other species. We have a threshold for what we deem as worthy of protection laws based on our interpretation of intelligence. Will that threshold be raised if we advance our intelligence through artificial means? Do beings of lesser intelligence deserve and equal chance at life as those of higher intelligence?
This is one excellent way out of the JWs, and it is a morally uplifting one at that. When the person is reduced to arguing that the world is awful just to maintain 'hope', the battle is 90% over. Pinkers' book is highly recommended. Best $20 I ever spent.
There are two books I recommend to everyone who is frustrated and/or saddened by the state of the world and has lost hope for a better future.
The first is The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker. It lays out how violence in human societies has been decreasing for centuries and is still declining.
Despite the prevalence of war and crime in our media, human beings are less likely to suffer violence today than at any point in our prior history. The west suffered an upswing in social violence from the 1970s -1990s, which has since been linked to lead levels, but violence in the west has been declining since the early 90s.
Put simply the world is a better place than most media coverage would have you believe and it's getting better year by year.
The second book I recomend is The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil. It explains how technology has been improving at an accelerating rate.
Technological advances have already had major positive impacts on society, and those effects will become increasingly powerful over the next few decades. Artificial intelligence is already revolutionizing our economy. The average human life span is increasing every year. Advances in medicine are offering hope for previously untreatable diseases.
Basically, there is a lot of good tech coming which will significantly improve our quality of life, if we can just hang on long enough.
Between those two forces, decreasing violence and rapidly advancing technology, the future looks pretty bright for humanity. We just don't hear that message often, because doom-saying gets better ratings.
I don't know what disability you're struggling with but most people have some marketable skills, i.e. they aren't "worthless". Based on your post, you clearly have good writing/communicating skills. That's a rare and valuable trait. You could look into a career leveraging those skills (e.g. as a technical writer or transcriptionist) which your disability wouldn't interfere with to badly (or which an employer would be willing to accommodate).
As for being powerless to change the world, many people feel that way because most of us are fairly powerless on an individual level. We are all in the grip of powerful forces (social, political, historical, environmental, etc.) which exert far more influence over our lives than our own desires and dreams.
The books I recommended post convincing arguments that those forces have us on a positive trend line, so a little optimism is not unreasonable. We may just be dust on the wind, but the wind is blowing in the right direction. That means the best move may simply be to relax and enjoy the ride as best we can.
I am starting to feel like a shill for this book because it's the third time I've mentioned it on reddit in as many days. There is a wonderful book by the cognitive neuroscientist Steven Pinker called The Better Angels of Our Nature. It talks about, in great detail (maybe too much), all of the overwhelming evidence that we live in a more peaceful and harmonious time than ever before in civilization. I read it last year when I was pregnant and having some of the same thoughts you are and it did help to put my mind at ease.
Every organism is always dealing with some kind of threat and the possibility of an imminent catastrophe. All we can do is work with the environment we're in and do our best. So far, so good :)
It is referring only to the levels of violence in the US. Of course, your questions are excellent. It is often argued that violence worldwide overall is decreasing as well (including wars, etc.). The most prominent piece on this is probably "The Better Angels of our Nature" by Steven Pinker.
http://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010/
I highly recommend you read Pinker's book "The Better Angels of our Nature."
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https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010
That's a pretty dire view of the future.
There is a constant march towards equality and a more moral and just human race; it's just a slow process. Just look at the history of violence, slavery, and gay tolerance (and thousands of other examples) for proof of that progress.
I'd recommend reading The Better Angels of Our Nature.
кому интересна история насилия, есть отличная книга про этот случай там тоже есть. книга серьезная, с ссылками на документы и графиками
There is a great book on this subject, Called Better Angels of our Nature, which actually discusses this in depth.
We read this book for an international relations class recently, I think it is appropriate for this conversation. It's a great read with lots of data and explanation for this hypotheses [Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker] (http://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0143122010/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1422579828&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=Steven+pinker)
So, correct me if I'm wrong, but the summation of your argument is that the current structure of human society produces more harm than it prevents. If you really want a detailed and largely data-driven answer to this, read the book "Better Angels of Our Nature" by Steven Pinker. It will give you a better answer to this question than anything else you'll find.
But to surmise the arguments in the book, the answer is a resounding NO. History has shown, time and again, that as society has become less structured by norms, rules, and laws, it becomes significantly more brutal. A big part of this is that, as you have more and more people competing with each other for limited resources, you get this never ending cycle of what are called Hobbesian traps ("I must strike at my enemy first and annihilate him or else he'll do the same to me") that creates these perpetual cycles of violence between groups. This violence then hinders or even reverts technological developments that could then lead to increasing these resources via increased production or more efficient use (who has time to produce pesticide when you've gotta constantly be keeping an eye on the village 2 miles away?).
Railing against globalism is kind of a fad nowadays, but few people realize just how much it has helped reduce overall violence in the world. As much as I hate what trade agreements have done to the American middle class, I can't deny that it's made major power war much less likely by creating huge economic incentives against, while at the same time significantly improving the living standards in many countries (China especially).
OK.
The single best evo-psych book I can think of is
The Blank Slate by Stephen Pinker. It's extremely readable as well as very informative.
Where you'd want to go next depends on what you'd like to learn more about, and whether you liked Stephen Pinker as an author.
If you'd like to know more about the genetics that underlying the evo-psych then you want.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
If you're interested specifically in what evo-psych has to say about human sexuality you want
The Evolution of Desire by David Buss
And if you really like Stephen Pinker and want to know what evo psych means for human societies I'd recommend
The Angels of our Better Nature by Stephen Pinker
or (if you don't like Pinker)
Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley.
I've given you US Amazon links, and no. I don't get a cut :(
I already own The God Delusion. The only anniversary edition I see is of The Selfish Gene. Is that what you're referring to?
> There appears to be an innate drive in humans towards something that is moral, existential, and transcendent
And that would be because we've evolved as a social species, and rather than acting selfishly, we act as a community to better propagate our genes. (Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene; Steven Pinker [again] The Better Angels of Our Nature)
> the lack of a clear universal and very specific "sensus divinitatis" doesn't inform us either way about the divine existence.
It does, when you start positing specific deities. If your deity punishes non-belief, your deity is positively immoral without instilling a natural sense of sensus divinitatis. See another comment of mine on this thread for more on that.
For everyone that's intimately following this thread, I recommend the book The Righteous Mind . It meets at the intersection of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and theology. If anything; I think Cascadia needs some sort of moral compass that everyone in the region can align themselves with.
Of course, I suspected as much from your user name and my response is taylored to account for that.
I too have taken several asian studies courses, Asian philosophy courses, asian language courses, I've read the sandard literature such as Journey West and Three Kingdoms and I've tried to apply all of this to my life as lived in Korea for 8 and a half years.
No matter how I tried to twist this conventional wisdon I found myself constantly rewriting everything I knew every month. There would always be discrepencies, inconsistencies and hippocrisy. There was never a consistent narrative from which I could draw a predictive conclusion. Until about several years in when I realized in my attempt to learn about Korea culture I instead learned more about American culture and that everything they did that was some how different and confucian was something we did in American we just thought of it differenlty cause you know, 'murica.
Now if I had those biases what about people around me? It finally made sense why I could never trust a Korean to give me an honest account of Korean Culture, or someone from China to give an honest account of Chinese culture. or even trust myself to give an honest account of American Culture.
Then I read a good book on moral psychology, and it made even more sense.
> I can tell you there is definitely a cultural difference from the 6 years I have been here in my experience.
I can tell you there is a definite contectual bias in being amongst people you consider a different culture. Especially when you expect it.
> What you seem to be suggesting is that all differences are a fantasy and that there is no Confucianism or Judeo-Christianity.
What I am suggesting is that Confuciansim and Judeo-Christianity ultimately turn into tools for the lazy who want to make facile post hoc explanations for things and be done with it. You'd be right more often if you just treated people as people and pretended the concepts didn't exsist.
If we want to talk about instances where we can find differences in a controlled scientific setting (as opposed to uncontrolled instances on reddit of throughout ones day to day experiences) I would again suggest the book by Jonathan Haidt. His model of Moral Foundations Theory does a much better job of accounting for differences in a unified model instead of constantly going back to the drawing board for every culture.
RE: actions are mischaracterized, I’m going to go with the low-hanging-fruit example of FOX news. Wikipedia has a great entry over FOX news controversies:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_controversies
Of course, FOX isn’t alone in this. MSNBC will exaggerate the words and actions of the right, too. And many other organizations. I only offer FOX because it’s the easiest.
RE: tribalism preferred over truth, there are a plethora of example, and tangent examples (like the echo chamber model) which support this, but for an actual source, I could go with Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Righteous Mind.
Haidt explains that our tendency to form social groups enforces a expectation for social conformity, which favors group ideas and beliefs over external views and information even when that external information is demonstrably true.
We can see this behavior in religion as well. People insist that men have one less rib than women despite our ability to count them in xrays. Faith over fact.
What do you mean by politically disingenuous?
Associating political beliefs with the values of individuals is the primary research focus of Jonathan Haidt, one of the world's leading social psychologists. He wrote The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion which goes into deep detail about how a person's underlying psychology and subsequent value system (as well as a certain amount of environmental upbringing) form their political beliefs. So a lazy association? No.
The same guy, Jonathan Haidt, himself a liberal professor at NYU, is one half of the pair who wrote the most widely cited non-academic piece on Victimhood Culture, bringing it from academia and into the mainstream media with this article, called "The Coddling of the American Mind", which he further expanded upon in his own website here.
Though Professor Haidt says people on either side of the right/left spectrum can be prone to getting 'sucked into' victimhood culture, he says that "the narrative of oppression and victimization is especially congenial to the leftist worldview (Haidt 2012:296; Kling 2013; Smith 2003:82)".
But I want you to explain what is "politically disingenuous" about my above comment.
You are absolutely right – there is no one true way. Good for you for not falling into that trap again. Here is an amazing book I’ve been reading that explores morality and has helped me better form my own morals while understanding morals of others. I highly recommend it.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_AXtYBb10FZHXD
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
I didn't figure it out myself. I read about it. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion is a great source.
The Righteous Mind by Jonathon Haidt really improved my debating skills with liberals. I don't know why the author is a liberal, I feel like he might be secretly conservative.
This may not be the exact one I'm looking for, but it looks close thumbing through it.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2027266
The works of Jonathan Haidt are what you wanna focus on though. As he said in his book, The Righteous Mind,
> In a study I did with Jesse Graham and Brian Nosek, we tested how well liberals and conservatives could understand each other. We asked more than two thousand American visitors to fill out the Moral Foundations Qyestionnaire. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out normally, answering as themselves. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out as they think a “typical liberal” would respond. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out as a “typical conservative” would respond. This design allowed us to examine the stereotypes that each side held about the other. More important, it allowed us to assess how accurate they were by comparing people’s expectations about “typical” partisans to the actual responses from partisans on the left and the right)’ Who was best able to pretend to be the other?
> The results were clear and consistent. Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions, whether they were pretending to be liberals or conservatives. Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who described themselves as “very liberal.” The biggest errors in the whole study came when liberals answered the Care and Fairness questions while pretending to be conservatives. When faced with questions such as “One of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenseless animal” or ”Justice is the most important requirement for a society,” liberals assumed that conservatives would disagree. If you have a moral matrix built primarily on intuitions about care and fairness (as equality), and you listen to the Reagan [i.e., conservative] narrative, what else could you think? Reagan seems completely unconcerned about the welfare of drug addicts, poor people, and gay people. He’s more interested in fighting wars and telling people how to run their sex lives.
En voi muuta kuin suositella lukemaan, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.
Ihmiset eivät keskustele rationaalisesti, vaan pyrkivät selittämään tunnereaktiot rationaalisin argumentein.
I'm working my way through The Righteous Mind right now and it has lots of fun insights into why humans react the way they do to various external situations.
>If President Trump is ideologically Conservative, why do his positions change so frequently?
Nobody makes decisions ideologically. This is why it is seemingly so difficult to convince people to change their minds with just information. You only change people's minds by influencing them socially / appealing to morality, etc.
Trump tapped into a moral framework (like most conservatives candidates) that covers the things that people than lean conservative care about. Conservatives, even people that are super far right, or super religious, voted for Trump and sincerely trust Trump because he appeals to the things they care about. This is why many conservatives will openly say that they will never vote for a Democratic candidate -- they don't feel that Democrats care about the things they care about (and they are right)
>My understanding is that he doesn't support any ideology
He certainly leans conservative but he is generally pretty moderate and does things based on what his supporters want.
>is there an implied hierarchy in the numbering?
Nope, all 6 are equal. But Liberals literally only care about (1) and (2) while conservatives tend to care about all of them relatively equally.
If you want to read a book entirely about this:
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Really fascinating read, especially in today's political climate. It humanizes the other side because right now liberals think conservatives are evil and conservatives think liberals are insane. But if you realize that they are just working with different starting materials you can understand why they value the things that they value, and why it is so difficult to change a person's mind with facts.
Stephen Pinker actually wrote a great book on how violence has declined and this is by far the safest time to live in.
Your family sexually abused you. She violated your body, your boundaries. She ignored your protests. She gaslighted you. She mocked you. As an adult, she failed to protect you. This is not okay, not then, not now, not ever. That is sexual abuse, and it was wrong of her to do. I am very sorry you had to go through this. I am angry for you.
Went through a similar experience with my family, and you’re not alone. Feeling like you’re gross, dirty, nauseated, silenced... it’s sadly all too common with sexual abuse survivors. I’m sorry. I went through EMDR & therapy to work through my trauma which has helped a lot, so I’d def suggest that. Also try to get your hands on this book and this book . <3
Although I'm sure there are some shamans that could potentially help you, seeking a shaman might not be the best modality for healing.
>I have gotten a strange feeling of dark hopelessness from the meeting, I cannot quite explain
It sounds like your encounter triggered memories of your assault which certainly makes sense. Right now you don't need someone encouraging you to open up sexually; you need someone supportive who makes you feel safe and who will make you feel empowered.
I'd suggest learning more about trauma so you can better understand yourself, your feelings and what healing would look like. I'm currently listening to the book 'The Body Keeps The Score' and I would highly recommend it. Here are a few links for the book: Amazon, free audiobook with annoying music, lecture by author.
There are some AMAZING resources here, so I'll just throw in a few others:
The Body Remembers
The Body Keeps the Score)
Enrique's Journey
Crossing Over
The Devil's Highway
Random Family
Lost Children of Wilder
There are several modern psychotherapists in the Jungian school that take this seriously. You probably won't find a whole lot outside of this discipline, apart from probably some Eastern or alternative medicine practices. The opinion of most modern psychotherapists don't matter much to me though compared to the Jungians, but that is just my opinion and experience. A few of the local Jungian Analysts in my Jungian Society that I've had the opportunity to attend seminars with use bodily therapy for some of their patients with apparently a high level of success, if the patient is open to that sort of treatment. A lot aren't. Personally, I had a swallowing condition earlier this year and this passage that you quoted really made me think when I was first read it, which just so happened to be around the time that the symptoms were occurring. Even if you want to be skeptical about the mind-body connection, which I honestly don't think the connection is much of a stretch, it is helpful to ask yourself such questions regarding your condition. "What is it that I cannot stand or cannot swallow or stomach, etc.?" It can only increase consciousness. If you think about it, if you can't walk, there are probably a whole lot of things that "you can't stand" and bringing those contents into consciousness can be very therapeutic. My swallowing condition was caused by adverse side effects of medication prescribed for an eye condition, so I then asked "what is it that I am not seeing?" Regardless if the causes if the conditions were psychological in origin or not, those are powerful questions to ask and there are always answers there what ever the question is.
I haven't read either of these two books, but they are on my list. They might be worth checking out if the subject interests you:
https://www.amazon.com/Skin-Disease-Perspective-Psychosomatic-Dermatology/dp/1853437484
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Have you done any reading on trauma healing? I found Judith Lewis Herman and Bessel van der Kolk very helpful. It took a couple years, but I had more backed-up years of trauma effects than you do. Six months could be enough time for meaningful progress.
Counsellors and therapists never helped me, either, and I've been to quite a few, none great. I agree with you no one really wants to hear about the trauma and those that are willing to listen at all are few and tend not to stick around. Just my personal experience.
I'm not a minority. I'm a culture of one. I have an inkling of your pain.
I hope you're also getting trauma specific therapy.
Your comment strongly suggests that it is necessary.
Give this a read, if you haven't already:
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/
Good luck.
> Can I die from LOA
Nope. Never. If one could die from the thoughts of suicide & death, I wouldn't be here posting this. :)
> violent childhood horrors I have PTSD and OCD
Seek a therapist. Also check these books,
This helped me a lot with my childhood trauma. Mindfulness, meditation, yoga, breathwork, therapy and EMDR as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Dissociation is a self defense mechanism of your brain that occurs when a stressful situation becomes too overwhelming for you to handle. It is often caused by trauma, chronic stress, drugs, or head injury. It is a part of the fight or flight response and specifically happens when you can neither face the danger in front of you or run away from it which results in you dissociating from there here and now(the present). It often results in emotional and physical blunting and cognitive problems.
This book will offer you a great deal in understanding trauma, dissociation, and treatment options: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
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If you want the short version of treatment options from the book and can't be bothered to read:
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Meditation, mindfulness, EMDR, neurofeedback, yoga/martial arts (types of mindfulness), microdosing MDMA. Also, human connection helps but if that triggers you then connections to animals may help too. I may have missed some, read the book, it has a story of someone with DID becoming cured.
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r/CPTSD reddit might be more helpful to you as dissociation is often a symptom of PTSD.
I've pretty much dropped meat out of my diet, still eat fish, but loads of veg and pulses. The book that really influenced me was How Not To Die https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115 It's well worth a read, and influenced my diet considerably.
I still drink loads of coffee, but I stopped putting milk in, in fact I barely take any dairy now, and I think that's made a big difference too.
> I want to go Vegan but I am nervous about how expensive it will be.
Watch this video right here, and make sure to watch it all (because if you watch only the first half, you'll get the wrong idea... I've read some of the comments)! It should demonstrate to you why some people think veganism is expensive, but at the same time, how potentially cheap it can be
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1qPgZFN24k
Also for books, I ain't read it yet, but "How Not To Die" by Michael Greger is supposed to be super informative: http://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115
He also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/NutritionFactsOrg
And in general, I would stay away from blogs if you're looking for nutritional advice (but recipes is a different story. Go crazy with blogs if you want). You may come across some good ones, and ain't nothing wrong with blogs in their essence, but lotta bloggers - vegans, paleos, whatever cause these tendencies don't discriminate, etc - ... are on some placebo-anecdotal shit you gotta watch out for. Key thing to look for is that they cite reliable sources for their claims. Good thing about Greger is, he always references scientific studies. That is how he gets his ideas for videos... he reads studies and reports on ones he finds interesting.
If you're into fitness: https://www.reddit.com/r/veganfitness
Now you both will want to read Michael Greger's new book How Not to Die. He explains how the vast majority of premature deaths can be prevented through simple changes in diet and lifestyle like what your wife did.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1456832396&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=how+not+to+die
>For me the pursuit of knowledge has always been a big thing. I like to make my own conclusions
That's the issue. A lot of these people believe they've found the answer, and don't want to question it. Backfire effect in full force. Skepticism is looked down upon. It's a cultural thing.
> they take your arguments to their feelings and get angry
A horrible, horrible cultural thing.
"Saturated fat is bad! Look it causes CVD!"
-Ignores that PUFAs don't change all mortality rates, and people with higher SFA intake live longer.
They believe that they
can findknow the cure to not die. CVD, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, one of these most likely will kill you no matter what you do. The point is to delay that occurrence, and to make the time leading up to that event as positive as possible. Personally, of the three I'd rather go by CVD. Cancer seems a horrible wasting way to go, and neurodegenerative diseases terrify me. So yeah, I'll eat my steak, eggs, bacon, enjoy life, and wait until my heart gives out.Start with getting the Book "How Not to Die" at the library, or buy it. Seriously it's the best book on what you should eat, instead of putting you on some ridiculous diet that you probably won't follow.
Not diabetes specific, but these have diabetes chapters:
How Not To Die by Dr. Michael Greger.
The Starch Solution or The Healthiest Diet on the Planet by Dr. McDougall.
You can get the gist of their stuff online, for instance Dr. Greger's short talk on Diabetes (he has a lot more videos and resources on that site) or Dr. McDougall's longer talk or article on the subject.
Or you can watch Dr. Hans Diehl's video on it although his books are older.
I could list more but idk if you're looking for analysis, or a cookbook, or what.
You could give this a try: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985
Did you read my post with the two books i recommend? IF NOT THEN READ THIS POST.
Working directly with moving energy while stimulating yourself is not really effective if you don't sense energy deeply enough in the first place.If you do sense it deeply enough you can just stimulate yourself to a 9 then take the pleasure in your genitals and move it in the MCO until you feel in your genitals you're at around a 4 or 5..then begin stimulating yourself again to a 9 and move the pleasure again in the orbit.Don't waste you time with using kegels at PONR...even if you manage to get some orgasm it's weak and some ejaculate gets into your bladder...so it's not that effective to restrain from ejaculating if you're just going to have some of it go into the bladder.
You need to understand that energy orgasms are not about using kegels when you're close to ejaculating...it's about circulating enough arousal and building it up to a point that orgasms just appear as a side effect and you do that without kegeling . You can use mula bandha to shoot energy up your spine...but that presumes you have enough sensitivity to energy in the first place to be able to do it.Otherwise just doing mula bandha for hundreds of repetitions is just going to trigger at some point ejaculations. You use mula bandha not like you use kegels...you use it as a pump for energy....but again it's useless if t you don't feel it well enough to direct it thru your intention+mula bandha.
I just feel like most here try to use a broom without a handle or a handle without having attached the "brush"(I don't know what's it called,English is not my native tongue).
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AND THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL...FOCUS ONLY ON ENJOYING THE PLEASURE YOU FEEL MOMENT BY MOMENT(EVEN IF IT'S NOT MUCH)...IF YOU DO THAT HIGHER INTENSITY OF PLEASURE CAN APPEAR WITH PRACTICE...IF YOU FOCUS ON ORGASMING...OR WANTING TO ORGASM...YOU WILL SABOTAGE YOURSELF AND KEEP YOUR PLEASURE CAPACITY STRAINED AND INFERIOR.
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SECOND TIP...SMALL AND MORE SIGNIFICANT TRAUMAS DESENSITIZE YOUR BODY'S CAPACITY FOR PLEASURE...MEANING YOUR PLEASURE IS "BLOCKED"/"CAPPED" AT A SMALL "BANDWIDTH". THAT'S' WHY NEOTANTRA TEACHERS KEEP REPEATING TO JUST STAY WITH PAINFUL MEMORIES OR SENSATIONS AND RELAX INTO THEM,INITIALLY IT DOESN'T SEEM TO WORK BUT WITH TIME YOU CAN SEE PAINFUL EMOTIONS LOOSE THEIR UNPLEASANT CHARGE AND SOME TIMES IT CHANGES FROM UNPLEASANT TO PLEASANT AND CATHARTIC. YOU'LL GET THE MOST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK BY PRACTICING FEELING YOUR UNPLEASANT FEELINGS DEEPLY AND EMBRACING THEM...JUST AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE TO EMBRACE PLEASANT FEELINGS...BECAUSE THEY ARE PLEASURABLE TO FEEL. YOU CAN READ THIS BOOK TO GET STARTED WITH WORKING WITH EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL PAIN https://www.amazon.com/Break-Through-Pain-Step-Step/dp/B001CB6A0A
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~MEDITATION MASTERY~MEDITATION IS WHAT BUILDS YOUR AWARENESS AND ATTENTION SKILLS...THE BETTER THEY ARE THE BETTER YOU CAN FEEL PLEASURE.
FOR WORKING WITH SHINZEN'S THOROUGH MEDITATION SYSTEM HERE IS A MANUAL THAT'S QUITE CHALLENGING BUT ABSOLUTELY WORH IT. http://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FiveWaystoKnowYourself_ver1.6.pdf
Currently, by far the best book for learning to meditate in the Vipassana/Mindfulness tradition is The Mind Illuminated, by Culadasa (John Yates). This massive tome takes you one step at a time through a system of 10 stages—based on your level of concentration.
This book also offers an entire brain-based theory of meditation—catnip for the neuroscience junkies among us (although it’s also problematic as theory) —as well as expert advice on deeper levels of meditation, many additional meditation techniques, and a method of analytical meditation. Furthermore, Culadasa has a whole appendix section that makes sense of the “jhana wars” (my term, not his) by adding a dimension of depth to the usual dimension of the jhana numbers. This is a huge step forward.
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BUILDING YOUR ATTENTION IN A PLEASURABLE WAY THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE STRAINING/TENSING YOU CAN FIND IN THE BOOK BELOW:
https://www.amazon.com/Path-Nibbana-Mindfulness-Loving-Kindness-Progresses-ebook/dp/B06WRPZZQF
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FOR WORKING WITH ENERGY YOU NEED THE PREREQUISITES(WHAT NEOTANTRA AND CHIA DOESN'T REALLY TEACH PROPERLY)-
https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Work-Secrets-Spiritual-Development-ebook/dp/B005EXYB4O
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THIRD TIP...USE VOWELS AND TONE THEM INTO YOUR CHAKRA LOCATIONS FOR 10 MINUTES/PER CHAKRA...UNTIL YOU FEEL THE TISSUE IN THE CHAKRA LOCATIONS VIBRATING,TINGLING. CHOOSE ONE VOWEL AND TONE IT 10 MINUTES AT EVERY CHAKRA LOCATION. THEN CHOOSE ANOTHER VOWEL AND USE IT IN THE SAME DAY OR THE NEXT DAY. A,E,I,O,U and HA( Key Sound Multiple Orgasm Trigger ) ETC. don't use actual sanskrit mantras because you're invoking those deities into you.Stick to just vowels alone or the HA sound as describe in it's modern form " Key Sound Multiple Orgasm Trigger ".
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FORTH TIP-
A) WHILE STIMULATING YOURSELF BREATH VERY SLOWLY INTO YOUR LOWER ABDOMEN...SUPER LONG INBREATHS AND SUPER LONG OUTBREATHS INTO YOUR LOWER BELLY.INBREATHS AND OUTBREATHS STAY EQUAL IN DURATION.
B) THIS IS MORE ADVANCED BUT YOU CAN IMAGINE YOUR BREATH IS YOUR LOVER THAT CARESSES YOUR BODY,YOUR ORGANS,YOUR EVERY CELL...YOU IMAGINE THIS NOT VISUALLY BUT IN A TACTILE WAY.AVOID TO USE YOUR VISUAL FACULTIES,USE ONLY YOUR TOUCH/TACTILE SENSE OF IMAGINING THE BREATH TOUCHING ON AN INTO YOUR BODY. IT ACTS JUST LIKE A FEATHER ACTS WHILE YOU GENTLY MOVE IT OVER YOUR SKIN.
If you want a simple guide: Mindfulness in Plain English
If you are interested in an in-depth guide and more oriented towards a step-by-step process: The Mind Illuminated
Now this is the most important point I want to get across. Books will only superficially help you understand with what the mind is. The only way to understand the mind is by investigating it yourself, and the only way to do that is the actual practice of meditation.
You can rewire your attention span by doing two exercises daily:
While there are many methods out there, I recommend the book "The Mind Illuminated". I know it is a very long and detailed book, but just head for the jumpstart your practice page, and you'll be able to start. If you do follow it, I also strongly recommend /r/TheMindIlluminated. It's an amazing and supportive community.
Get this free software, which is all you need: http://www.brainworkshop.net/
The game is weird at the beginning, but if you get up to at least 20 sessions a day, you'll feel your brain changing and rewiring for more attention.
I'm willing to bet that you don't actually need a teacher, just some specific guidance.
I highly recommend the book The Mind Illuminated. It will provide sufficient context for your anapanasati that you likely will no longer feel the need to seek out a teacher, at least for a good while.
While doing that, I recommend also reading some Foyan and Huineng.
I was also depressed a while ago when I got tinnitus. But I went to therapy and it really helped. I don't think meditation would have helped as quickly. I don't know much about PTSD, and your depression might well be different from what I had, but I think you should first seek professional help.
With that said, if you want to learn more about meditation, I think The Mind Illuminated is a fantastic book. Note, however, that there are many different kinds of meditation, but the book describes what I believe is the most popular kind.
Here's where I would start......and end. :-)
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ZALS0J2Y3O9V&amp;keywords=the+mind+illuminated&amp;qid=1551369991&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=the+mind+i%2Caps%2C208&amp;sr=8-1
I'm currently walking along this path and can recommend these books -
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John Yates - The Mind Illuminated
Sam Harris - Waking Up
Owen Flanagan - The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized
If you want to cope with anxiety, then you should really look into meditation. I meditate and do yoga, and the meditation does much more for anxiety. And both of them need to be done more regularly than once or twice a week. Regular practice will make you more calm the rest of the time, so that your anxiety will not be triggered so often. It's better used as a preventative than a treatment.
I and many others highly recommend The Mind Illuminated as a starting point for meditation.
I was originally doing Zazen (Soto style Shikantaza). Now I am working through the book "The Mind Illuminated"
(So it's more buddhism style).
Hi, I'm really sorry to hear what you're going through.
My CFS occupational therapist suggested to me to try mindfulness, specifically mindful breathing, and I started that almost 2 years ago now, just taking 5 minutes out of my day at regular intervals to sit, eyes closed, and focus on the breath. It really helps to recharge the batteries.
This led to an interest in meditation in general and I've progressed further and further with it in that time and now practice about 2 hours a day, using guided meditations on the apps headspace and insight timer.
My main focus now is the practice in: "The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1501156985/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_gaWZDb14KFXB0
I cannot overstate the effect that meditation has had on my mental well-being, energy levels and is integral to my pacing. I really strongly encourage you to look into it and I hope you can find some peace .
It's not a cure and I still have lots of bad days, but I feel like I've made some progress in the last 3 months or so at least.
If you're interested in something, there is a book, The Mind Illuminated, that comes highly recommended around here.
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness/dp/1501156985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1520601291&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+mind+illuminated+yates
Also I’ll add that the books ‘The core teachings of the Buddha’ by Daniel Ingram and ‘The Mind Illuminated’ are great books. They are very practical and not dogmatic and provide very defined roadmaps towards awakening. I am currently reading both and the definitions outlined of the phases (and what you are going through) are beyond helpful.
http://integrateddaniel.info/book/
The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501156985/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4wOWzbBTV989D
From a practical standpoint, The Mind Illuminated is my personal favorite. Some of it will be difficult to interpret as a newer meditator, but it is an excellent and comprehensive guide to starting a practice and overcoming the many obstacles you'll encounter. If you get this one, go with paperback and not the E Book.
Other favorites are 10 Percent Happier and Waking Up. I have read both of these multiple times and they do a great job of inspiring curiosity about the mind and the value of meditation for skeptical people.
Doing it on your own without a teacher isn't the best way to go since there are a lot of bad habits and cul-de-sacs that you can fall into. So if you're going to do it without an in-person teacher or group it's a good idea to have a clearly defined system and a way to be able to get feedback from a teacher. There are two that I'd recommend you research and see if they'd be a good fit for you.
The Mind Illuminated is a book that focuses on concentration-style meditation. If you want to do breath meditation and only want to focus on one style of meditation, this is a good choice. The book is very detailed but is set up so that you only have to read as far as your practice has progressed. There's a Reddit community (/r/TheMindIlluminated) where you can ask questions and get responses from other practitioners and teachers.
Unified Mindfulness is a system that's more focused on mindfulness-style meditation, but it has options for concentration styles along with a wide array of other meditation types. If you like being able to explore and choose different objects of meditation and different techniques, this would be a good fit. There's a less active Reddit community (/r/UnifiedMindfulness), a youtube channel with a lot of information, and a free online course that you can take.
The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600012/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ebNFzb5RBB8ZE
I just got it myself. There's a lot of fluff in it tbh and there wasn't any new info in there I didn't get from this sub and watching some YouTube videos about fasting. Dr.Fung (the author) actually has videos you can watch too on YouTube
Some people do fat fasts, where they eat BPC / HC, others do only water fasts, they each have different benefits. Accidentally eating is tough, cause it can break some benefits of prolonged fasting.
This book by Dr Fung (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1500587651&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dr+fung+the+complete+guide+to+fasting ) is a good read, about different types and benefits of fasting. I am currently on day 32 of a 50 day fast. I am doing it for weight loss, autophagy, and to adapt to ketosis for endurance athletics. I have read that 2 weeks of water-fast is supposed to be good for auto-immune rejuvenation, and others claim cancer prevention benefits. I find when i exercise, and do hot sauna, it really helps a lot with weight loss and metabolism.
I would not get caught up on the "purity" of the fast as long as it works for you, and to understand benefits for you, i hear a lot that the best fast is one that works for you, and even if your eating and it isn't technically "fasting" it is still a form of fasting.
I have seen a lot of interesting challenges, like an "egg fast challenge" or "steak fast challenge", where you only eat "eggs" or steak, etc.. for 30 days, and those are interesting threads to follow as well. Congrats on the progress and keep at it. I've only got about 20 more days to, then i have to figure out the best way to get off my fast.
It's totally fine - but working up to three days may be needed.
If you're interested in fasting, I suggest you get some quality information and not just ask around - even here, with all these fabulous people! Download Dr. Jason Fung's The Complete Guide to Fasting from Amazon. Lots to learn.
A while ago I bought Becoming a Supple Leopard and discovered I had been doing press ups wrong my entire life. I had been flaring my elbows out to the side and had my hands too far forward. I can only thing I can think on is my PE teacher back in school told me to do press ups like that. Thats over 30 years ago now.
Basically I have spent the last few months re-learning how to do press ups. Its been really tricky at times, its very easy to fall into old habits. I have enjoyed the challenge though. Its made a dull part of a work out interesting.
Why not post a form check over at /r/bodyweightfitness? There are some great people over there who will be happy to help you out.
Oh and by the way... I can't even start trying to do an L sit. My shoulders are all over the place.
I would say it's worth the money, it was recommended my by brother who used a lot of the techniques in Becoming a Supple Leopard to recover from back surgery. I am not as devoted as I should be, but all of his recommendations I have committed to have helped immensely (getting up every 30min for 2min, adjusting to certain chair positions, and adjusting positions often). He covers everything, even recommended form for using a computer mouse.
I'm just really getting into the mobility side of things, so I don't have a good feel for everything yet. He gives very in depth prescriptive recommendations for mobility workouts, mostly based around foam rolling, bands, and lacrosse balls. He also has some office focused mobility exercises.
Best book I ever read to help with this is [becoming a supple leopard] (http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-2nd-Edition/dp/1628600837). He goes blow by blow on all Oly lifting positions but for squats he describes your hips and ribcage like two large bowls filled with water. Stand so they are flat and not spilling (straight up and down) squat, return to that position. Squeezing your butt in at the top to straighten them out again. Your form looks good though!
Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. I have a bachelors/masters in Exercise Science and this is a book we used since my first semester.
Becoming a Supple Leopard I have the first edition, so I'm not sure what was added in the 2nd, but this is a great book that isn't so "sciency"
Do you get a pinching feeling? You could be doing damage to your tissues.
Pinching is very bad and if you can you should see a physical therapist about it.
Your legs are probably pushed way back on the hip joint capsules from lifetime of sitting and it's causing issues.
If there's no pinching you can probably correct the problem yourself with some hip mobility exercises.
This book has a lot of great ones - Becoming a Supple Leopard https://www.amazon.com/dp/1628600837/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0TkJDb160V4CS
If you dont have it I strongly suggest buying some voodoo floss or its equivalent and foam rollers. In my experience its from tight quads and calves. If you dont I recommend stretching. I usually do couch stretches. I also highly recommend buying "becoming a supple leopard" also by Dr kelly starrett. Its a great book it comes with a pain prescription section thats in the back of the book you look for the area and he usually as 2-3 exercises to fix the area.
Surprisingly, the answer to avoiding back pain isn't "remain as motionless as possible", but rather, exercise. (Genetic predispositions notwithstanding, of course.)
Also, make sure you're keeping your mobility as healthy as possible. For example, if you can't touch your toes without bending your knees, that's something you might want to work on. Another one is squatting down and keeping your feet flat on the ground.
Don't let the fear of what might happen stop you from doing something about it. My dad died at 55 from congestive heart failure, when I was 29. (His dad died similarly at age 54.) I just turned 56 this year, and have been quite a bit more active and focused on general health (not to fanatic levels). And yes, my dad's passing does contribute to some of the motivation behind what I do, but not significantly so.
You may not have chosen your genetics, but you can make lifestyle choices.
Btw, a lacrosse ball can help with keeping the myriad back muscles less chronically tight. I mentioned this in another post, but check out Becoming a Supple Leopard.
I'm not over 50, but one of my friends who was shot through both his femurs tells me this book, Becoming A Supple Leopard, was important to his recovery and regaining his previous strength.
Like anything that endures, good health requires preventative maintenance
Unfortunately no links. I read it in this book
https://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1511222536&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=medical+marijuana+bible&amp;dpID=61Bhi13dw%252BL&amp;preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&amp;dpSrc=srch
This has been one of my favorites so far. Filled with good knowledge and lots of pretty pictures.
/r/microgrowery is also filled with knowledgeable people.
You can force the sex of seeds with temperature and nutrient manipulation. Tis in the Bible!
I started by reading these two books first. It gives you a nice solid foundation and makes reading information on the internet a lot easier.
Ed Rosenthal - Marijuana Grower's Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation
Jorge Cervantes - Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible
You can find all the info online, although if you are the kind of person that likes a physical book, https://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X is widely seen as a good book.
His 'secret' isn't what he knows so much as his entire attitude to learning.
What sets 'experts' apart is that at some level they question everything instead of taking it at face value. Questioning something forces you to really think about it: you have to turn the idea around a few times and examine it from all angles. You can't help but gain an understanding of the reasons for something - not just of the thing itself. Teaching others works in a similar way - being able to clearly explain an idea requires deep understanding.
It sounds condescending, but that really is what it comes down to - curiosity and critical thought.
Nothing we deal with requires more than a high school knowledge of science - for example, while you need to know that light levels and frequencies affect photosynthesis, you don't need to know the exact quantum/biochemical processes involved. You might be curious though, so it becomes a new avenue for you to research - and what you find out might change what you thought you knew, or might lead you on to new things.
Think about what you don't know that you wish you did - and then go try and find it out. Who knows what else you'll discover in the process?
Now, as for some specific learning sources - for the basics you're looking at things like Jorge Cervante's classic Indoor/Outdoor Medical Growers Bible. Beyond that, there's Reddit - eg SAG's own /r/HandsOnComplexity (googling everything you don't understand) - or some kind of introduction to Botany - the Botany For Dummies book is pretty good. College classes might also be an option.
There isn't a huge amount of current scientific research material - largely due to the War On Drugs making it less attractive. That said, if you go back a way it does exist and is now being reprinted - for example Michael Stark's Marijuana Chemistry and Robert Clarke's Marijuana Botany. Both were originally printed back in the 70s, but were fairly extensively researched. They are dated in places - but the scientific rigor was solid, and they both have wonderful bibliographies of research papers that I hadn't come across elsewhere. Newer papers can be found on Google Scholar. (As a general rule, trust scientific publications over books and books over unsourced websites.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/187882323X/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2SLJ1RXOZSCEY&amp;colid=3CUUR2Y01URD2&amp;psc=0
Just into reading this book recently fairly easy to follow through and has lots of pictures to help identify the issues of the plant and a lot of is easy reading
Start small, save your money and work your way up from 1 light to 2 and up to 20. This game takes a LOT of money and that is the #1 thing that people dont expect. It cost thousands of dollars to grow a good crop. Read lots of books on growing, like this one http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X/ref=la_B002BM1OFU_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1346281386&amp;sr=1-1 . I have no idea what the laws are on the east coast. Move to the west coast!
If you're serious about growing, get this immediately, it'll help a lot
http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Horticulture-Outdoor-Medical-Growers/dp/187882323X
This is my go to for just about everything. I've read it too many times. Lol.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/187882323X/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1398092230&amp;sr=8-2&amp;pi=SY200_QL40
I highly recommend this book because it has literally everything in it that you need to know.
How do you think people end up learning? Why discourage new growers? That’s bullshit.
If he/she wants to learn, let them learn. I didn’t start a professional and neither did you. We learn from practice and good advice from other growers.
You learned from a good friend, as did I. But this is not everyones experience. Not everyone grows for profit, many just want to grow their own and get better. It’s a good hobby.
Edit: Fuck what these negative people say. It is way cheaper and more satisfying to grow your own. It’s expensive to start and buy the equipment initially but in the end is more satisfying. You will get better and eventually it’s way cheaper. It’s a good hobby and it always feels better smoking your own home grown. Yes it is a lot of work and practice but we all started from somewhere. Good luck man and happy growing. I’m an open book if you ever want help.
A good book to start with, the same one I did years ago...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/187882323X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1527692290&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=jorge+cervantes&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=61Bhi13dw%2BL&amp;ref=plSrch
At 5'5" and 110 lbs, you shouldn't have much weight to lose. I'm wondering if you have anterior pelvic tilt and that's what's making your stomach bulge out.
Try Kelly Starrett's bracing sequence detailed in [this article] (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sit-better-live-better-excerpt-from-becoming-a-supple-leopard.html), see if it brings your stomach in. If it does, you know what you need to work on.
If that works for you, it might be helpful to check out Starrett's mobility book. He's also written a book on running that's coming out next month, but obviously I haven't read it yet.
Can't vouch for it personally, but i've heard good things about this
http://www.amazon.ca/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1398263888&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=supple+leopard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc - Joe De Franco's Limber 11 mobility Stretches.
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588
Kelly Starrett Becoming a Supple Leopard
They can be done on your off days. Their pretty much the guru's on mobility. They also say you can do it before your workouts so you can take the experts word for it or some dudes posting on the internet with no proof.
Peace Out Bye!
Do the big 5 lifts for a couple months, when you find a weak-link, add in accessory exercises, which may or may not be on the torture racks.
You'll work every muscle in the body, be in the gym about an hour. download stronglifts 5x5 and/or StartingStrength, pick one, go. Re-evaluate when your squat hits 250x5.
Source: 3 months following Starting Strength, started after 3 months on keto. 37M, 5'10 195lbs to 170 on keto, 170-182lbs(current weight) with lifting, belly is still shrinking, lifts are going up.
Have you seen this? Same thing, no piracy: $9.99