Posts by wicky

Original Post by spirochete:

I was in pretty bad shape when I started TKD. I was overweight and hadn't been doing anything. A good instructor takes all of that into account and doesn't give you a heart attack the first day!

Anyway, I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. I did it religiously for three and a half years and did a lot of competing. The only reason I left (about 4 years ago) is I didn't have the time to commit anymore. I miss it. I was one bad ass chick. I love hitting and kicking people.

 O_o*

Was 18, dog tired coming out of the ring, tripped, fell over, knocked myself out on the floor.

Woke up two minutes later with one of my buddies, my trainer, and the girl I had been crushing on standing over me seeing if I was ok. Apparently while I was knocked out I was drooling all over myself too.

Sounds like they weren't re-finished after their last sanding if they were never finished at all.

Do some research on wood floor finishes using urethane or a classic wax finish. A good finish will give your floor that "shiny/glossy" look.

DO NOT use the same laquer you would for wood furniture. That stuff is usually flammable. Imagine having your entire floor embued with flammable laquer?

Props to you Eddie for the thread and honesty bro.

For myself I'm irish/filipino and I'm attracted to and have dated... Well - everything! All races, all sizes. From the homebody to a former miss teen and the things that they all had in common was their attitude/confidence and values.

I am the first to admit that my upbringing has a heavy influence on me. Being a military brat I've lived in places from England to Japan, Germany to Egypt, California, to Massachusetts - and that's not even half the places I've lived (or dated girls from!) Course that makes me an oddity amongst my friends. They discuss their preferences and I'll agree with them that I like that too - but that's because I pretty much like it all.

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Booty shakin'

-but seriously you guys are frickin' entertaining.

Killswitch Engage

DragonForce

Angeles City, Philippines (born)

Waltham, MA (current)

I've interviewed plenty of candidates and I can say that the previous posters all had good suggestions.

One thing I'd like to add that compounds answers to your questions 1, and 2 is to not only have a friendly approachable personality, but to have an air of confidence about yourself. It will help you get into the mindset of answering nearly any question they have whether or not you know the full answer.

I'm not talking about "I'm better than you" confidence, but more "I know what I'm doing, I'd be a great addition to your team because I know my stuff, I can learn fast, and I'd like to work here" confident attitude.

I've passed up candidates who had more experience for the person who didn't have as much (both candidates could do the job) but presented themselves in that confident manner more than the others.

I say always take things with a grain of salt and do as much research as possible. Yes, do notice all those supplements are by one manufacturer. Easy for a company to ask someone who worked really hard for their body to say, "Hey! Tell people you used our products to get your body and we will give you tons of $$$". And remember supplements are to "supplement" and help your diet, not to replace it.

Remember, bodybuilders and athletes 20+ years ago did not have the selection of supplements that we have today. Even farther back - there were none at all. Look at all those ancient greek and roman statues of warriors - I highly doubt they were popping a dozen pills a day.

Research research research! I stand by getting your protein in, which can be supplemented by a good protein powder. And getting a good multivitamin in doesn't hurt either. Then throw in plenty of water and you've got yourself a pretty good base to start from. The only other supplement that has some research behind it is creatine, which I cycle and I will say from personal experience does make an impact.

Original Post by melkor:

Dumbbells will in fact engage more stabilizer muscles than a barbell, and you will train both sides of your body equally; something you're not assured of with a barbell.

 The reson Rippetoe and the others emphasise barbell training over dumbbell training for beginners is that dumbells may be too difficult for someone just starting out - it's hard enough to control the barbell without adding the challenge of simultaneously moving two weights in a coordinated manner.

 Due to the 'wobble factor' and where the strain is placed on your body there's a limit to how much weight you can safely load on dumbbells for squats or the like, but aside from training lower-body maximal strength dumbbell training with a weight that's challenging to you is potentially of greater benefit than barbell training assuming you aren't having trouble with controlling the movement. Certainly, using dumbbells for bench presses is much safer than using the barbell if you don't have a power cage or squat rack available.

 I agree with Melkor on this one. For the last two weeks I switched the barbell portions of my routines with their dumbbell equivalents and now since switching back to barbell this week I've increased the load by about 20% from the start for most exercises. It's pretty good to shake things up once in awhile.

I definitely believe the main emphasis for dumbbell training is "the challenge of simultaneously moving two weights in a coordinated manner". Meaning, training yourself and your body to really start focusing on engaging your various muscles in the right order at the right time aka Form. Learning to carry over the training from using those stabilizers in dumbbell exercises to the barbell can really help!

We need a sticky thread for all these good links and insight from melkor and others. Kind of like a Starter Sticky Guide of where to find good beginner, intermediate, and advanced info for research.

Now convert any flipflop into a FitFlop!

Instructions:

Wear flipflops outside.
Kick feet so flipflops go flying off of your feet and away from you. (Alterative - Throw flipflops as far as you can!)
Sprint chase after flipflops.
Put flipflops back on.
Repeat!

That will be 4 easy payments of $29.99 please.

kaptain9 - As long as you're challenging yourself it doesn't matter where you start whether you squat 25 lbs or 250 lbs. How you measure that effort is up to you, but I generally see my effort as by the time I'm done with the last rep of my first set am I getting hot/sweating? And by the time I'm done with the last set I'm barely able to complete (if at all) those last 5 reps. If I'm thinking to myself "Geez, this is kicking my a**" then I know I'm putting in good effort (for me!)

To add to the "thread hijackers"  views, you can always see the "effort" difference between free weights and machines for yourself. Do a free weight exercise with the respective weight you use. Also try the machine version of that exercise using the same weight. I'm a free weight person myself because I found that when I used a machine I had to increase the weight by 20-50% (depending on the exercise) to experience the same effort I had to use for their free weight counterpart. This experience was solidified this past week when I went to workout with a coworker after work at his gym which was all machines. (For all you free weighters I recommend doing this once in awhile for a good laugh and an ego boost - haha - you'll be suprised at how much more you can do.)

Ummm.... *hugs everyone* 

No money for equipment? Gym membership average of $50 a month = $600/year. Membership of $30 a month (cheapest I've ever seen) = $360/year. Both more than enough for a decent starter set!

As for space, well - usually the thing that takes up the most space is a bench and most people can get by without it. For myself my bench is also a squat rack and dip stand. Takes up a bit of room in my bedroom, but I make space by removing the leg curl attachment... (Never use the thing...) Altogether I have about $450 worth of equipment and I've collected that over a good span of time as I only buy enough plates for what I can actually lift.

Early morning and I'm about to go lift... I see a lot of debating back and forth, but really it reminds me of the debates I have with my close friends about life, love, and the pursuit of political happiness. Minus the tea shop atmosphere - HAHA, you guys are great!

Yes... CABBAGE!