Balance in health

[LCSULLA]

Well this is the first thread in the new section and I want to write a little bit about balance. Now if you got your **** together then you may not need anything written here, but then there might be something I write that strikes a cord within you.
Now what do I mean by Balance? Do I mean how you straddle a women in some weird sex rite? Or do mean how to stand on thsoe weird boards you see all the fitness gurus trying to make some client do? No, what I mean is a balance in your training. To many people pay attention to only one or two aspects of their training. For example, if you've always been skinny your going to focus more on lifting and (hopefully) diet. But any new ecto would never think of doing cardio for fear of burning up any muscle they may build. Well in some ways their correct. If you do tons of cardio then you will burn up alot of energy and therby muscle. But I think that everyone neeeds to do some form of cardio. If you are one of those ectos then I would suggest reading some of BoBo's and Leanone's posts on this. It's all about balance.
What about stretching? How many people here do it? Until recently I would just do the crap I learned 16 yrs ago in HS football and do it about as seriously. The result: pulled muscles in my leg and back. My Gf got me to start doing some Yoga and it's helped alot. This doesn't mean that I am quiting the weights and traveling to Nepal to practice Yoga in some ice cave, it just means that I am attempting to add more balance to my training.

[scott72]

Well this is the first thread in the new section and I want to write a little bit about balance. Now if you got your **** together then you may not need anything written here, but then there might be something I write that strikes a cord within you.
Now what do I mean by Balance? Do I mean how you straddle a women in some weird sex rite? Or do mean how to stand on thsoe weird boards you see all the fitness gurus trying to make some client do? No, what I mean is a balance in your training. To many people pay attention to only one or two aspects of their training. For example, if you've always been skinny your going to focus more on lifting and (hopefully) diet. But any new ecto would never think of doing cardio for fear of burning up any muscle they may build. Well in some ways their correct. If you do tons of cardio then you will burn up alot of energy and therby muscle. But I think that everyone neeeds to do some form of cardio. If you are one of those ectos then I would suggest reading some of BoBo's and Leanone's posts on this. It's all about balance.
What about stretching? How many people here do it? Until recently I would just do the crap I learned 16 yrs ago in HS football and do it about as seriously. The result: pulled muscles in my leg and back. My Gf got me to start doing some Yoga and it's helped alot. This doesn't mean that I am quiting the weights and traveling to Nepal to practice Yoga in some ice cave, it just means that I am attempting to add more balance to my training.

Good post. I'd just like to add that a good diet is so very important to achieving your goals. Give your body the energy in needs in the form of good wholesome foods, so it can build the muscle mass we're all looking for. Saturated fats and starchy carbs will only put on that dreaded body fat that takes forever to get rid of.

Bottom line, nothing beats a mixture of lifting and cardio combined with a solid diet. With that, you WILL achieve your goals. When all that is in line, then look into some supplements that are out there to speed up the process. Keep in mind that supplements SUPPLEMENT a good diet and workout routine. They don't make up for bad diet or routine.

[LCSULLA]

Good post. I'd just like to add that a good diet is so very important to achieving your goals. Give your body the energy in needs in the form of good wholesome foods, so it can build the muscle mass we're all looking for. Saturated fats and starchy carbs will only put on that dreaded body fat that takes forever to get rid of.

Bottom line, nothing beats a mixture of lifting and cardio combined with a solid diet. With that, you WILL achieve your goals. When all that is in line, then look into some supplements that are out there to speed up the process. Keep in mind that supplements SUPPLEMENT a good diet and workout routine. They don't make up for bad diet or routine.

Very good point about the supplements and the overall focus of the post.

[Beowulf]

I recently came to the conclusion that under all circumstances I will continue to do cardio. It becomes easy to let the desire to grow get the best of you, but the physique I have in my 20's to 30's is not nearly as important to me as my long term health. Simply put, cardio is good for you. I'll just throw in some extra cals.

On the health note: balance is also essential in diet. While it is pretty obvious, you don't hear a hell of a lot about it. We all know that SD can kill your HDL and increase your LDL. Aren't at least 2-3 tbsp of flax in order to keep this at bay. Simple dietary solutions could go a long way in offsetting the potentially detrimental effects of some aspects of a bodybuilding lifestyle.

[LCSULLA]

I recently came to the conclusion that under all circumstances I will continue to do cardio. It becomes easy to let the desire to grow get the best of you, but the physique I have in my 20's to 30's is not nearly as important to me as my long term health. Simply put, cardio is good for you. I'll just throw in some extra cals.

On the health note: balance is also essential in diet. While it is pretty obvious, you don't hear a hell of a lot about it. We all know that SD can kill your HDL and increase your LDL. Aren't at least 2-3 tbsp of flax in order to keep this at bay. Simple dietary solutions could go a long way in offsetting the potentially detrimental effects of some aspects of a bodybuilding lifestyle.

Exactly! Everything should (for the most part) be in balance with everthing else. And what I mean is that most people emphesize on aspect of training over another and thats cool as long you have a trinity of training/health.

[Brent]

I think for the big muscle guys, cardio can help the blood flow and get the muscles repaired faster.

[LCSULLA]

I think for the big muscle guys, cardio can help the blood flow and get the muscles repaired faster.

Yup. Dave Tate tells a story about him, Louie Simmons and another trainer decide to go get something to eat after a seminar and they decide to walfk to a diner on campus. And during the walk the come upon a hill leading up to the diner. All three walk up the hill but by the top of the hill Dave relizes that he is breathing like he just ran a marathon. He decide to start working on his cardio by doing sled pulls. He ends up dropping fat and gaining strength in his core lifts; while improving his life along the way.

[John Smeton]

Very Good article. Also if you do Physical work that can make up for it too.

walking
Chopping down trees
Boxing
pretty much any sport-and its fun sometimes to lay with the guys

[JonesersRX7]

Glad you bumped this post.... was a good read and always nice to go back to and put things in perspective.