JãoP

I just flip when people think crazy dieting is taking care of their health. SURE you're gonna lose weight, but at what cost?

Master cleanse = no protein or fats, acid, acid, acid...

Doesn't seem like a very good idea. I've also heard it gives you terrible diarrhea (???).

Yawning is not just a physical reaction, it's also considered to be an emotional response. I'm really - REALLY - shy, and sometimes I catch myself yawning when I'm unconfortable - I even do it during cardio too. Try and find out the reason(s) why you're having that problem(?).

I promise to observe HomicideOut and experience the non-sycho world for one day if normal people in turn are willing to experience mine.

I'm not being facetious here. In the long run it might be more productive to engage those with philosophical differences than it is to simply disparage them, and I say that as someone who admittedly does a whole lot of the latter. The world changes one mind at a time, and showing a willing normal person what murdering is truly all about might be the best way to help that process along.

Oh, seriously.

http://www.peta2.com/OUTTHERE/o-EmilieAutumn.asp?c=p24144

 

We're happy to hear that you follow a vegan diet! Tell us more about how you made the switch. Was it a book you read, a video you saw, a friend who inspired you?

It was surprisingly solitary, actually. I became vegetarian at age 11 to begin with, and this was entirely because I was looking at a hamburger one day and my budding logic kicked in. I couldn't for the life of me understand how it was that I should eat a cow and yet not eat my horse or [eat] a chicken but not eat my dog, and my little mind just exploded a bit. I actually sat looking at that hamburger for a while, just trying to wrap my head around the concept of one species being OK to chew on while another wasn't, and all of a sudden, putting this hamburger in my mouth seemed physically impossible, like it was the most unnatural thing on the planet. I couldn't eat a cow—I couldn't eat anything that had parents—and I told my mother this. None of my family was vegetarian, but my mother was sympathetic enough to let me have my way and leave me alone about it. I started to cook my own food so that it wouldn't become an issue at dinnertime, and turned into a really good cook!

 

Becoming vegan didn't happen until much later, because when you are 11, that's not really something you know much about. In my late teens, I began learning more about the conditions that even dairy animals are raised and kept in and about the artificial and damaging substances that they are pumped full of. So between the inhumane treatment and the chemicals that milk- and egg-producing animals are subjected to, I couldn't imagine that ingesting anything that came out of them was going to be terribly healthy for my mind or my body.

 

Do you feel that following a vegan diet is easy while touring the country? What are some of your favorite stops for vegan food?

 

I personally find it quite easy to be vegan anywhere in the world, but this is primarily because I am so happy to go rustic and eat bushels of fruit and vegetables and grains and such. I'm pretty easy to please; I don't always require the latest meat substitute or soy cheese, although those are in fact on my catering rider, and so we do have the bus well stocked most of the time. There are also some international cuisines that are exceptionally vegetarian/vegan friendly (all of the girls in my band are vegetarian)—such as Mexican, Indian, Mediterranean, and Asian, for example—so we all put out our veg-radars and locate these spots when we get to a new city. Of course, sometimes we're lucky enough to find places that are made for people like us—spots like The Chicago Diner (a great place to take nonvegan friends and shock them with how ridiculously heavenly a vegan cake can actually taste; I've blown many minds here); Pick Me Up Café, also in Chicago (great for those late, after-show gatherings); Lula's Sweet Apothecary or Blossom in New York; Electric Lotus in Los Feliz, California; and more places in Los Angeles than are even possible to mention. The adventure of searching out these lovely little culinary gems while on the road is actually one of the great joys of touring, almost on the level of finding a clean restroom in a concert venue.

 

Many of your songs touch on your personal thoughts or obstacles you've overcome in your life. Would you say that any of your songs touch on animal rights or welfare issues?

 

Well, I've never written anything quite as literal as Morrissey's "Meat Is Murder," but there is an overriding theme of the underdog fighting back in most of what I write, and I personally equate that premise to both feminism and animal rights. I know it may sound strange to connect the two, but I'm going to try and explain the way I see it. To start, I'm going to go ahead and be a total pompous ass and quote Gandhi for a second: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Now, a society's treatment of animals is closely related to their treatment of women, and the fact that I don't like the way that sounds doesn't make it any less true. The way a society treats its animals has a direct and glaringly obvious connection to its treatment of women because inhumane is inhumane is inhumane, and the attitudes of the ruling class (or gender in this case) on one creature considered inferior are the attitudes it extends toward all things considered such.

 

And so is it any wonder that regarding women and animals, in our present "civilized" society, the greatest of evils are still enacted upon both? At least when a cow is slaughtered, it isn't personal. When a woman is abused, it usually is, and this is something I write about constantly.

 

How do you feel about large corporations such as McDonald's that currently purchase their chicken from suppliers that cut chickens' beaks off with a hot blade, break their wings and legs, and scald them in defeathering tanks while the birds are still fully conscious—refusing to switch to suppliers who use a less cruel method of slaughter?

 

I remember some time ago when I first heard of the animal rights activists who—knowing that they did not stand the chance of stopping the killing of animals—found within themselves the unbelievable strength to do the only thing they realistically could in that moment and devised a less cruel way of killing them. It would be nice to think that corporations could at least meet us halfway, you know? Yes, we would like to stop the killing of chickens entirely, but there is no real kindness in fighting so hard for what is, at the very present at least, completely impossible and thus getting nothing done for these creatures at all. My god, the incredible humanity and love it takes to say, "I cannot save all of you today, but I will go against everything in my brain and my heart to invent something that will kill you with less pain." I don't know that I could do that. So for that to have been created as an option and for the corporations to not take this option is a double slap in the face to anyone who is trying to help.

 

I hear that you have a particularly soft spot for rats, and we do too! Where did this love for rats come from, and do you currently have any rodent companions?

 

Indeed I do, and to the most ridiculous extreme! I have always had a deep affinity for rats—partly because they are so badly misrepresented and maligned, and I suppose I relate well to this on a personal level—but mostly because rats are shockingly intelligent creatures, have personalities almost as big as their hearts, and are capable of more love than most people I know. They have better senses of humor as well.

 

In my stage show, the first character I inhabit (I've got several costume changes throughout our two-and-a-half-hour-long extravaganza) is that of the Rat Queen, and I've got ears, a very handsome jewel-encrusted tail, and all. In fact, the mascot for not only the show but also for this entire "Asylum" world that I exist within both on stage and off is the rat, but not just any rat! It is the Plague Rat, the greatest underdog of them all, because we (should) all now know that it was never the rats who spread the plague to begin with—it was the fleas! Kind of like, it wasn't exactly women that caused the fall of man, but, whatever .... Anyway, our logo is the exquisite silhouette [of] one of my rat companions, Sir Edward, who is incidentally the Ambassador of the League of Asylum Plague Rats. Basil is his sidekick, and they are both sleeping on my shoulders as we speak. They've become quite famous, and I receive fan gifts of paintings, sculptures, and handmade stuffed animals in their likeness nearly every day!

 

Of all the major animal rights topics—animals used for food, clothing, entertainment, or experimentation—which one is closest to your heart and why?

 

That is difficult to answer, isn't it? [it's] like saying, "Would you rather watch a friend be kicked, burned, skinned, or just punched in the face?" I'm gonna have to go with all of the above.

 

If you could create your own campaign for peta2, what would it be?

 

I would dearly like to educate as much of the world as I can on the true character, and characteristics, of rats—they mean that much to me. They are my best friends and primary cause, and I see myself in them. I know that sounds odd, and I really don't care. In the last few years of touring the world with a heavily rat-themed musical production—as well as having just put out my book, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, in which rats are some of the leading characters (they talk)—so many fans of my work have learned about these animals and have saved them from becoming snake food. [They have] given them homes, lives, love, and respect, and honestly, I am more proud of this than almost anything else I've done.

 

What are you most looking forward to in 2010—personally and musically?

 

Everything is coming together at the moment in a really magical way. With the international release of Opheliac—The Deluxe Edition and my aforementioned biography, The Asylum ..., as well as the global touring of my mad burlesque vaudeville rock circus of a show, I feel that I am just now able to sit back for a second and look at the ripples in the proverbial water created by the things I am doing—things I have been working at for such a very long time. Watching hundreds of fans of literally all ages show up at my concerts wearing rat ears is part of this. Musically, I am beginning to write about what happens when the lab rats break out of their cages, and that is what my upcoming songs will deal with—so get ready, because it won't be for the faint of heart. It will be a lot of fun, though.

 

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to rant on about the things that matter to me. Now I have to get ready for showtime, and my tail is waiting.

EA is also on this month's playboy - first time I'll ever buy one, and for the interviews

There was a time I'd always jump rope during tv commercials. Now besides strenght training and running I often help my dad with his gardening.

About stairs: It always amuses me when my classmates at university would rather stand in kilometrical lines to take the lift than taking the stairs - and our classroom is in third floor. I mean, seriously?

Thought it would be a fun thread, just post pictures of places you usually go running or cycling.

Mine:

Whenever I want a quick run:

http://www.guidoheuer.com.br/images/07.jpg

It's an artwork by local artist Guido Heuer, it's a tamarindo sprout pointing downtown. It's about 20min from my house.

Whenever I wanna run my brains out:

http://g1.globo.com/VCnoG1/foto/0,,21526439-EX,00.jpg

Ramiro Ruediger Park, about 40min away from home, it also has a 2km track.

When I miss the capybaras:

http://patilima.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/2008-08-04_11010blumenau3-upc.jpg

Beira-Rio Avenue, downtown. Jogging there back and forth takes up to two hours. When the river level is low you can run on the little sidewalk next to the water. There are tons of capybaras on the grass, and they're quite used to runners, also no fumes at all, the whole thing is just zen.

So, anyone?

I'm thinking maybe you're not worried about the fat, but the size of your tummy. Here in Brazil people are big on stomach vacuum. It's said to work core muscles that hold your belly inwards even when relaxed. I like doing it, just for the soreness the day after. Never measured my waist, so I can't tell it worked for me, but after a while doing it I stopped having bellyaches (I mean that nasty cramp feeling next to an oblique) when I run.

If you give it a shot, I'd be glad to hear back from you.

Damn Phil, those lats are HUGE! Nice overall mass, but the lats are really massive! I wish mine were anywhere near that big...

Sweet tatoo on the left arm too

Gotta fix my cam soon

Sorry, I just had to share this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF55PvI3e8o

You just can't stop watching Nice forearms!

The title says "learn how to train at home"

I kinda feel bad for the guy...

That should be interesting. The guy is a legend, no doubt, and probably has many fans on this forum. Is he going to compete for IFBB? If so, he's a sure top ten.

Unbelievable obliques! Awesome biceps and quads. His traps are way smaller though, and he lacks a bit of lats and shoulders.

It'd help if you told us what's your problem, if it's the going down, the going up, your back hurts or anything like that.

Try doing a bodyweight squat

If you can do it, it's just you may be trying to squat too much weight...

Aw, so it's all bias, thanks Chris! A kilogram of castanhas de caju is around 25R$~15U$.

There's also a big problem with caju, people like its nut, but not the fruit itself (you need a grown fruit to get one little nut), wich is often thrown away! A friend of mine has a recipe for caju mockmeat, I'm eager to try that out sometime.

So, spamming ended, again, thanks and sorry everyone.

Haha, thanks for claryfying!

I was just wondering, cause an acquaintance told me the reason cashews and brazil nuts are so expensive here is that there are importing interests involved, and they're actually cheaper out there.

Da-yumn!

I want a serratus too! And man, that rhomboids look awesome! Killer abs and obliques, great work! Extra exclamation marks!

Hope you all forgive me for the spamming, but just out of curiosity, how much costs a pound of cashews in US?

A good squat session definitely brings out the best and the worst in me. Exercising is also my best therapy ever, I was diagnosed with ocd when I was twelve, and seem to have got it under control now (I've recently been noticing I'm unleashing my need to be in control on my eating habits. Took an orthorexia test the other day out of curiosity and scored two times what's already considered a disorder ).

Idk, the way I look at it, viciousness(?) is just like lust: we all have it, just gotta get it under control.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2324/2

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2383/2

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2621/2

Soy is reaaally high in fiber. What's strange though, is that when I'm cutting I practically live on soy beans, tofu and tvp, and I get by just fine, but when I'm not I have to save my beans for the weekends. It's a real bummer, I love having beans, it's a great food, and brazilian people have beans on a daily basys... must have something to do with gases on beans or something.

Soy is really high in fiber, fiber makes you fart. It's not all bad though, by having lotsa fiber you help your digestive system work, lower insulin levels on your bloodstream and feel less hungry.

I feel great too running on an empty stomach, and it really helps me stay very lean while bulking. I even feel more energic doing it on a fast rather than after eating something, even if it's very low gi stuff.

Sometime ago I read an article about endurance training on low levels of glycogen, and I can say it's truth for me. Since I stopped using threadmills and started running in the morning, my endurance started developing quite a lot.

Next thing I wanna start watching as far as bodyfat goes is my cheating days on cutting. I usually bulk 3-4 months and then cut 2-3 weeks. I can eat anything but grilled tvp, sweet potatoes and dark green salad if I want to, but on saturdays I binge eat HARD.

This sunday it's my first 8k, I'm really pumped...

Wrong.

 

Muscle breakdown does not occur from a light cardio session on a fasting stomach. There is as far as I know no science to back your claim up. The "terrible" health affects is improved insulin sensitivity. The most reasonable theory today is that when low or moderate intense cardio is done while insulin levels are really low the liver uses fatty acids as fuel and post-excersise ketosis occur. This is good for apetite control. To compare the human body with a car isn't very useful and the "tank" on the human is far from empty even if glycogen storages are. We have something called body fat you know.

Whoa, didn't know about post-exercise ketosis. Is it just temporary or it is possible to keep it going to skip the three day carb restriction before going on ketosis? It would make the UD2 even more efficient!

Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions. This is what I have used for some time for both cutting and bulking with great results. Rafael Bracca is an acomplished brazilian bodybuilder with phds in P.E. and sports nutrition.

Badly translated from Portuguese, I probably invented tons of non-words on the process taken from http://www.npng.com.br/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=67505

What happens is that our body isn’t meant to use fat as a primary source of energy, it’s the other way around, fat is our last possible resource of energy for emergencies.

During normal cardio, your glycogen stores are high, so your body will use it as a primary source of energy, then the lean mass, and finally the awaited fat. For this to happen, are necessary at least 20min of cardio for your body to get to that stage, therefore counterproductive for us BBers, besides burning lean mass, it also fatigues the inferior members. So, with your organism using glycogen and lean mass energy sources let’s consider it inappropriate, or less productive, to use this cardio for one who wants to lose fat and minimize muscle loss! However, there are still people who insist on go running after eating a ton of carbs, with glycogen up to the skies!

Results? Lots of muscular catabolism and little fat loss. But then, what can be done to maximize fatloss and minimize muscular catabolism in therms of aerobic exercise? Well, this is a simple practice with no secrets, it’s cardio done early in the morning before breakfast.

Fasting? Are you crazy? Ain’t it gonna make me lose even more lean mass? Nahnah my friend, it’s just the opposite, by doing cardio on an empty stomach you end up manipulating your training in a way you force your body to utilize fat as a primary energy source, and better, with almost zero catabolism!

But how does this happen? The time when we wake up is a precious time of the day where we were a lot of time without food, and that makes a very favourable environment for fatloss, because with the cardio on these conditions, and low glycogen stores, your body will have no option other that going to fat for energy.

Lots of mediocre professionals, phds and masters have questioned me even in my phd, thinking it was an absurd for me to utilize this kind of practice with my clients and myself, saying it’s not efficient and also dangerous. For the fact that it never had scientific comprovation, they wouldn’t recommend anyone. Ok, now recently, my skinny coleagues, science has found out about the efficiency of this practice through a very detailed study I'd really like to read this study, does anyone have anything on it?, concluding it’s the bast way for fatloss with minimal lbm loss. Sometimes science has to prove what us BBers know since the 70’s.

So, back to what matters, many still ask themselves: “but ain’t the calories burned in the same rate that any other time of the day?” Yeah, sure, but no matter how many calories you spend, what matters is where they come from!

As soon as you wake up, drink 500ml of water to break the fast. If you want to, you can also have 200ml of black coffee (no sugar, OF COURSE…). And go do your cardio for 30 to 45 minutes.

Doing this 3 times a week on every other day has astonishing effects, noticeable on the very first weeks. To beginners, starting this practice suddenly may cause severe hypoglycemy, so I recommend doing it carefully and for smaller amounts of time, working your way up to the 30~45m. It’s also important to carry a sweet with you, if you feel dizzy or lightheaded it’s the hypo coming, and with the sweet the worry’s gone.

The exercise must be executed with moderated to low speed, that’s the only way your body will really tackle the fat I actually disagree a bit, friends of mine have used this method with guerilla cardio and had awesome results. And as your glycogen is low, your lean mass will be waving goodbye, so smart up! Getting home drink more 500ml of water, wait half an hour before you have breakfast, during this time you’ll still be burning the fat. That’s the time you need to shower and go peepee.

It’s also no good using this method if you have the habit of waking up in the night and hitting the fridge, so if your doing this, cut it off right now, and be sure you’re getting your 8~10h sleep.

As for your breakfast, go for protein and low gi carbs. No malto, as high gi would give you an insulin peak and stop lypolisys. I usually have also BCAAs, 0,5g of vitC and as B complex supplement.

Bear hug!

Rafael “Big Raffa” Bracca

Bodybuilder and Phd in P.E. and Sports Nutrition.

30~45m cardio on an empty stomach first thing in the morning is actually one of the most effective ways to get rid of bodyfat. You'll be using just your fat as a primary source of energy, what wouldn't happen if you had eaten something before doing your cardio (sugar in the bloodstream > sugar in the muscles > fat) just be sure to have a good breakfast half an hour after you're finished, especially lots of vitamin C.

What Atomic Dream said about fats and protein is very important as well, if you're eating too much carbs, no caloric deficit or exercise in the world will make you ripped, you'll only lose lean mass.

Hey, sounds awesome!

Don't know what my classmates would think of me, dunking tofu and veggies while they munch on whatever is on sight, the greasier the better. I don't really care though, definitely gonna try that out! Just have to find some good recipe, the several times I tried to fry tofu it always turned out awful.

Thanks for helping, really

That's something I've been giving much tought:

I'm at college from 5pm to 10pm, that's too much time not to eat anything, and at the same time, I don't wanna go for anything with much carbs for it being so late at night. Can anyone suggest something with some protein (15-20g is okay for my bw) and little/no carbs that's easy to just take out of a tupperware?

You can also use dumbells a little more, so that you can work both shoulders equally. The difference should get very small in no time.