Baby Hercules

Tag, Jean! Congratulations on your new workout addiction! You are among friends. You're already doing all the right things regarding nutrition: recognizing that an omnivorous trainer may not be the best source for information, seeking out and finding places like Vegan Bodybuilding where you can ask questions, experimenting with new ideas as you go along and seeing if they work for you. And you've acquired the most important tool of all, awareness of your body and the signals it's sending you. This is the quickest and most powerful way to health, as you know, simply because it allows you to know right away whether something is keeping you in balance or throwing you off. With that skill alone, you will do very well no matter which route you take. Have fun reading through posts and gathering ideas, try out the things that resonate with you, discard the rest for now. Every person's body and mind is different so what feels right will be right for you. Bis später! Baby Herc

?! I wasn't aware of that. I was just warned that the aroma could be a put off, no one said anything about getting sick. Hmmm. Durian may be off my list, now. Too, bad, because it sure does have a lot of goodies in it, especially a bizarre high concentration of protein and vitamin C: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/2088/2 Baby Herc

My favorite comedian of all time. Watch these in order, the joke is continued....

Another good reason to be vegan....

Jase, those look so tempting. I love tasting new things. We have an Asian import market here in Portland, Oregon, that has fresh Durian. I liked the smell despite how everyone warned me about it. How do you prepare it? Or do you just eat both fruits raw most of the time? Baby Herc

When I do segments of raw veganism the same thing happens to me. It's just the increased water and fiber content flushing you out. You'll go through vitamins and minerals faster and may want to consider a supplement or two but it's your call. If you're not concerned and experience no symptoms that you want to change, just go with the flow! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) You could print this out and put it on the wall in your bathroom, but only if you live alone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale Baby Herc

Have fun! Your ass will enjoy it, literally and figuratively. I can be found there, 24/7, day or night. In my case, I sure hope so. Baby Herc

Well...I bought a bomber of the infamous Southern Tier's Imperial Pumking and prepared to be amazed. I'm still waiting to be amazed. Okay, it is good--it has a nice subtle pumpkin pie flavor that hits you like an afterthought. You can even taste the whipped cream on top, though it's totally vegan. I guess I was just expecting something thicker and sweeter. I favor the kind of beer you have to sip or else, the stuff you can stick a fork up in. This was very mild compared to the imperial stouts I'm used to. At 8.5%, you can't not feel it and I can see it going very well with a nice vegan Thanksgiving dinner. But stock up now, it's a limited release every year. I had to woo a local New Seasons beer sommelier to tell me when his one case came in stock. It'll be sold out by the end of Labor Day weekend, mark my words. Baby Herc http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/38394 http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/southern-tier-pumking/77640/ http://www.stbcbeer.com/stbc/our-beers/seasonals/seasonal-imperial/pumking-beer-page/ http://www.slashfood.com/2009/09/28/southern-tiers-pumking-imperial-pumpkin-ale-beer-of-the-week/ http://www.thebrewsite.com/pumpkin-beer-week-imperial-pumking/ http://www.halftimebeverage.com/browse.cfm/southern-tier-pumking-12-22oz/4,2118.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-JHautu9F4

Wow, Pittylove, that's quite a journey! You are doing spectacularly well, considering, if your levels of testosterone are at 110. I'm impressed with your determination to exercise. Keep the faith and keep looking for what you need, I know you'll figure it out. Somewhere out there is the answer and with that determination of yours, you'll find it. Baby Herc

Yaaaaaay! I knew you could do it! Road Runner can suck it! HIIT sprints will build the density and strength in those tootsies faster. Baby Herc

Just send me a ticket, I'm packed and ready. What's a fruit that you love that we probably can't get here in the US very well? Baby Herc

There's no hatred like international sports hatred. http://comedians.jokes.com/vic-henley/videos/vic-henley---international-sports

Oh, man, I just had a flashback to a highly weird man I dated many years ago who ate the same thing every night: a plate of 16-bean made with water in a crock pot, a piece of Ak-Mak, and a large leaf of red cabbage. I mean EVERY NIGHT--no spices, no oils, no flavor to speak of. I just know he was shopping for a stay at home wife. Baby Herc

markanthony, doing a special kind of assisted squats might be a pain-relieving alternative. I learned this technique from a body building physical therapist who took pity on me when a doctor told me to stop hiking and doing squats altogether. (Never! ) Use an unangled or only very slightly angled Smith Machine, load up with about 20% of what you normally do (to practice with and get your form down), and use a neck cuff if you feel like it. Position yourself for a regular squat but take a short step forward away from the bar and then lean backwards onto it. Keep pushing back into the bar as you go down into a perfect seated position, toes slightly outwards, and flex your glutes and hams as hard as you can at the lowest point. Push up from your heels using these muscles so that your knees and quads aren't stressed. The only tricky part is leaning back into the bar while balancing it not-quite-on-top of your shoulders. If she had her feet two inches farther forward, she'd be doing what the physical therapist described: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nr7x0OQRjY Baby Herc

Sex helps. Baby Herc

Don't be in a rush. Losing more than 1 - 2 pounds a week (the upper limit is for very large people ) increases the chances of losing more muscle while you lose fat. You do that too much and you end up "skinny fat" at your goal weight. Squish, soft, still looking fat, weaker, just lighter. If you are reducing make sure you get plenty of quality protein and exercise to reduce the amount of lean tissue lost. beforewisdom is so right: slower is better. In addition to the points made above, a big one is that the equilibrium of your body will be thrown way out of whack. Sudden weight loss or gain jumbles your hormones, insulin sensitivity, immune system response, tissue inflammation, even the speed at which signals travel down the nerve pathways, which can really mess with you in the gym, not to mention everywhere else. The body responds to sudden changes as emergencies, and it works hard with everything it's got to get itself back to it's original state. It will, however, acknowledge something as a permanent change when it sees it happen gradually over time and has the opportunity to recalibrate itself to the new system. Relax, enjoy the journey. It's a fun one. Baby Herc

Exactly. If you're curious about something, give it a try and see how it feels. I've experimented with all hours of the day and night, different foods and food combinations before and after, and many other factors that I have control over. I know what works best for me and I've watched it change slightly from year to year, too. Don't hesitate to mix it up and see what it does for ya. Have fun with it! Baby Herc

Thanks, Syr. Here's hoping.... Baby Herc

I will never imply via inaction that veganism means eating any plant regardless of the law, so I speak up here for those of us who do not condone illegal practices as part of their vegan bodybuilding regimen. At best, it's unnecessary and at worst, it'll get you disqualified if your dream is competing. Frankly, I always considered the recreational use of controlled substances a sign of a marked lack of imagination. Have you tried meditation? Baby Herc

An MRI? Who are these people? Sounds like someone is just trying to get you to shell out for expensive tests. Hey, if the docs you know aren't educated enough to tackle your specific problem--and many aren't--then you just need to keep looking until you find some that are. Or better yet, do it yourself. I had severe thyroid issues once, caused by stress, and the physicians I encountered were so unfamiliar with the subject that I ended up spending most of my time in their examination rooms filling them in on the medical field's latest discoveries. In the end, they just wanted to plug me full of drugs, not actually find the cause. I ended up curing myself. You're right about the knee-jerk prescription of testosterone. That technique is applied to pretty much everything hormonal. Rather than help you get back into balance, they'd rather just inject what's missing and call it done. Same thing for insulin. So many people could be helped quickly and easily by doing a little research into their lifestyles and health history but it's quicker, easier, and let's face it, a much higher profit for the drug companies, for doctors to just tell patients to inject a generic form of insulin for the rest of their lives. It actually causes diabetes to worsen because the body looses its ability to produce it's own insulin or even to respond to the signals that it needs it. And the drug companies get richer. If you are serious about figuring out this testosterone thing yourself, I recommend starting by researching all things that cause the body to stop releasing it, stop identifying it when it is released, or stop absorbing it. You may not even need to do any tests. A simple mineral to try is magnesium, which is responsible for so many processes in the human body, it boggles the mind. There's a lot of research out there but you have to hunt for it because the medical industry isn't interested in funding any solution that a drug company can't trademark. After all, you can get magnesium at any health food store. The dirty trick on vegans is that, although magnesium does occur in fruits and veggies, there's a lot less of it in those sources than there used to be. Once depleted from the soil in farms and orchards, it has to be added back manually via fertilizers--and fertilizers typically do not contain magnesium. A stalk of broccoli today in the supermarket is a lot less nutritious than a stalk you could have had in the 50's. The end result being that you can stuff yourself with organic, "magnesium-rich" plants and still not get enough. Plus, if your body is under any form of stress (like bodybuilding or dealing with low hormone levels), you need even more magnesium because magnesium is specifically used for stress management. Get yourself a small bottle of magnesium supplements (without calcium) and try it for a few weeks to a month between meals. Here's a decent how-to article: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Rhythm/Magnesium-supplements----to-avoid---how-to-take-it-and--safety/show/1002415 I take around 1200 - 1725 mg a day with no side effects and it's done wonders for me. Find one of those labs where you can get blood tests done on things without a doctor's order and monitor your testosterone before and after. Don't worry, you'll figure this out. Here's some articles.... http://www.fitnessandpower.com/bodybuilding-supplements/210-magnesium-deficiency This guy talks about magnesium towards the end of his article: http://www.mikemahler.com/online-library/articles/hormone-optimization/dihydrotestosterone-king-of-male-androgens.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20352370 http://www.ergo-log.com/magnesiumtest.html https://dangerandplay.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/magnesium-oil-for-higher-testosterone/ http://www.livestrong.com/article/540106-magnesium-testosterone-zinc/ http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/669/MAGNESIUMThe_Anti-Stress_Mineral.aspx Here's a fantastic book, available at many libraries: http://www.amazon.com/Transdermal-Magnesium-Therapy-Mark-Sircus/dp/0978799119 Baby Herc

Do you have a Marijuana Medical Card or Grower's License in your name? Because if you don't, what you are suggesting is highly illegal. Baby Herc

I think it's time, SyrLinus. The rash of spam is spreading--I found 6 this morning alone. Used to be only 6 in a year. Looks like word got out about our website and the parasites are swarming. It'll only get worse if you don't bolt the electronic gate, so to speak. Baby Herc

Hi, Nelli! I agree about using the raw food diet as a targeted cleanse or cutting regimen. It's darned hard to keep up over time, especially as a bodybuilder. There just aren't enough calories. You have to eat your weight in food every day and half your life is spent in the kitchen doing food prep. Yawn. Plus, you have to be super cautious about getting enough vitamins and minerals; you can get anemic very quickly. As you can guess, I tried it for a while. I lost 30 pounds in two months but it stressed my body over time. I go back to it for a week every now and then to recenter myself after a bout of naughtiness but I wouldn't want to live there. Baby Herc

Mmmmm, I'm thinkin' salty, oily, crunchy roasted carrot chips. Nom, crunch, nom, crunch, nom, crunch! The watermelons are around two or three pounds a piece. They'll get up to eight pounds by harvest. Baby Herc