Manchester & beyond
AM getting married next month, but despite my time being allocated to that, this month I shall begin to re-invest time in SCI Fitness, which combines both my occupation and my passion. I don’t typically open up about my personal life, but this one can become professional too. My Other Half — like myself — is a Computer Scientist (by degree) with passion for sports. Perhaps she too will get involved in SCI Fitness one day.
FXI folks, who overlap the SCO Fitness folks to a certain degree (Roy and Mike), have begun working on and participating in the FXI program, which combines exercise with medical, academic-level research (MediVasc). We will provide more information about this soon; there are already some media reports on it.
A competition called Mr. Fitness 2012 started 2 weeks ago and I began practicing for it (exercise as well as natural diet adaptations). A while back I wanted to take some photos at the gym, but Fabio didn’t have his camera around. Instead then, today I took my webcam and pointed it at my kitchen to take some photos for my girlfriend. I’ve never done this type of thing for anyone. Being a webcam, the pictures are low quality and completely unaltered. I still need to shed off some weight, which will happen as the competition progresses.
I am no longer in my 20s (since a month ago), but since I have worked from home for the past 5-6 years I have been able to eat and exercise fairly well.
xercise and lifestyle fit together like a pair of gloves. A lot of people choose to exercise to improve their lifestyle and not only their health. It is therefore imperative that one should understand aspects other than workout and nutrition. There are several personal choices when it comes to gear and physical lifestyle, including leisure, social aspects, and skin care (including tan). When it comes to attire — gloves included for certain types of exercise — it is most important to choose what is comfortable for one’s exercise, not one’s self esteem. A lot of people overdress (or under-dress) to compensate for perceived issues and in the process they impede progress, reduce physical comfort (sometimes for mental gains), and in due course see the results degrading. One of the more important milestones to get past is one involving prioritisation of exercise. If one dresses up and grooms oneself for something other than exercise, then there is likely to be a disconnect in terms of objectives. A lot of people do choose to improve their appearance by exercising, but looking better throughout exercise is not the same as looking good when it is a top priority. The gym is not a disco and although there is a tendency to perceive the gym as a social place, for maximal benefits it requires dedication. A lot of folks who come to the gym with the intention of losing weight, for example, can face a cultural mismatch that sooner or later leads to disappointment. Some gyms do have social areas designated specifically for this purpose.
orkouts as opposed to diet are responsible for tearing muscle tissue, preparing the body to adapt to future strenuous exercise by building up more muscle tissue. The body is adaptable in the sense that it prioritises allocation of resources (matter and energy) based on one’s lifestyle. In order to instruct the body to gain strength, the natural solution (no doping) is to make the body expect regular exercise of a particular type. Depending on the type of exercise one chooses, the muscles will be built from one’s pertinent amino acids acquired through nutrition. The diet and the exercise are inter-dependent in the sense that particular types of exercise (short but high intensity) typically result in greater muscle bulk, which then requires a lot of protein. Nutrition is a separate subject, however, and it complements one’s choice of workout. Improper choice of foods given a particular body and exercise type can result in obesity; conversely, improper choice of exercise given one’s culinary lifestyle can result in lack of progress (e.g. stamina, strength).
Broadly speaking, exercise which is long and constant improves endurance, which makes muscles lighter and capable of delivering power for lengthy continuous periods, i.e. no intervals, whereas short, high-intensity workout (like set compromising about 10 repetitions) trains the muscles for delivering big bursts of power. Some favour the former type of exercise because it leads to leaner and more athletic figures while the latter provides bulk, size, weight, and strength. The former is likely to burn more calories (within a given and fixed time period) than the latter.
HIS short explanation may be needed to just highlight the reason why it took a while to set up the site and formally launch it. Peter Bielecki went away for a few months while Mike and I (pictured above) finished a few remaining pages and Fabio gave the go-ahead.
If you are interested in more information about us or about SCI Fitness, please do get in touch. We are going to produce many shirts with our logo fairly soon. If you live in the area, we can order more. This helps spread the word.
fter some preparation and discussions among ourselves, we are finally ready to show SCI Fitness to the outside world. Some of the pages are still work in progress, but we are eager to make updates and provide information in the near future, so by all means subscribe to the RSS feed if interested.
Over the past few months the site has been kept under the wraps because we wanted to ensure everything was acceptable before going “live”, so to speak. Now that most things have been sorted out and the site has been ironed out, we are planning an imminent debut. For those who had found out about the site before it was officially announced, thanks for the early feedback and we hope you enjoyed the reading.
Diet complements one’s exercise by providing the nutrients necessary to build up muscles, not just to supply energy. In order to gain muscle mass, it is preferable to take a lot or protein, which is often economic enough in natural forms and not in powder-based supplements such as whey protein. Eggs are a rich source of protein with 6-8 grams of protein per egg depending on its size. The drawback of eggs is the high level of cholesterol which typically, by convention, limits its consumption to 2 per day. Then there is fish, which is high in protein content and low in fat content. In fish, protein typically amounts to 20% of the overall mass, depending on the fish, the processing method, and the part of the fish. Tuna, for instance, can be up to about 28% protein if served in chunks. Like most fish, tuna comes with condiments and in various forms that include preservatives. It can be oil (of all sorts), water/brine, or even tomato sauce. It does not exactly matter which one is chosen, but the oil-dipped fish tends to just contain more undesirable fat. Tuna in general tends to also contain high levels of calcium, so it should be eaten in moderation. Sardines are another convenient source of protein. They are economic because they still exist in abundance and they are mostly processed if they are purchased in tin cans. These can also be cooked in a a stew, just like other forms of fish that tend to require more processing and potentially a long cooking process. Fish offers omega-3 fatty acid that is not as abundance in chicken for example.
Although our body is unfit to deal with a lot of dairy (this is said to depend on blood types), milk contains a lot of protein that can substitute water and also mix with many types of cereal. As for water, it is better off chosen over any sweet drinks that are mostly a modern luxury and an explosion of energy we do not truly need. For sugars we are better off with fruit and to a lesser degree vegetables, of which we need about 5 small servings per day. Originally, this was a human’s primary source of carbohydrates (which are found in very many foods these days, even in the form of harmful artificial sweeteners). Another type of food to keep away from is that which is high in fat content, e.g. cheese, cream, and certain cakes. It’s best to keep these off one’s life (or fridge) to avoid the occasional temptation. Discipline is made easier by responsible limitation.
To summarise this dietary recommendation (specifically written for someone looking to gain muscle weight), ensure intake of sufficient fruit such as bananas or apples, choose low-fat meats, consider dairy in moderation, and find a dosage of grain in cereal or other items that complement a meal with fish, even bread. Variety should be important too, but this post is not elaborate enough to go this far. In future posts, other recommendations will be made for those choosing another lifestyle or set of goals.
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