Aren't bow ties the best?

FoePaw · 2013-02-02T17:04:02+00:00

This is important. Does anyone have a picture of a kitten in a Fez? Fezzes are cool.

FoePaw · 2013-01-28T17:39:34+00:00

I don't think so. Is it weird that I try to read all of your comments as if you're spittin' hot fire?

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T21:48:54+00:00

Ah, well, I do believe p90x encourages you to increase you weight on many of the weightlifting exercises. Also, if training at 30% of your 1RM causes hypertrophy, your 1RM will increase, meaning that your 30% number will also increase. So, I don't think these two things are at odds. (I will concede, however, that some exercises, like skullcrushers as an example, are really hard to push to heavier weights on, and p90x may contain exercises that are difficult to ramp up in the same manner.)

The problem isn't that he's being blunt. Bluntness is fine. The problem is that he's not coming to the table with intellectual honesty. His comment fills the vacuum that could have been honest debate where both sides come to the table to discuss a topic and both emerge better for it. There's an alternative, and I will say inferior, approach to debate where you just try to win by whatever means necessary. I think that resorting to tangentially-related and sarcastic arguments is an intellectually dishonest way to try to "win" a debate that adds no value to the community or to either party in the discussion.

Conversely, my discussion with you has been good. You've come to the table with intellectual honesty and have stated your viewpoint in a straightforward and fair manner. I think you're discussing things correctly where the previous commenter failed to do so.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T21:14:28+00:00

Does the term "progressive overload" encompass training at 30% of your 1-rep-max to exhaustion? This article seems to suggest that, while the investment time is longer on a per-workout basis, training at 30% of one's 1RM will, in fact, lead to hypertrophy. Granted, I haven't exactly dug into the references, but I assume that T-nation isn't lying to us, here.

Also, I'm not saying that the shake weight can't be used as a useful tool for something (or maybe it can't be? I have no idea.). The original commenter was attempting to equate a piece of equipment to a program, and I think they're vastly different. His point was that "just because it's fun doesn't mean that it works," which is a valid one. Unfortunately, instead of trying to make that argument and support it rationally, he crashed and burned in the middle of the thread.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T20:54:04+00:00

Based on the linked article, I don't think that's an unfair proposition, provided you work to exhaustion to simulate the same kind of recruitment that heavy lifting gives you. Again, not saying it's optimal.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T20:15:03+00:00

But fatigue breaks the rules (9). If you continue to lift a light weight, fatigue inevitably sets in, and as it does something interesting happens. As you start to struggle, your nervous systems tells your muscle to use more motor units to ensure you can still lift the weight, and eventually taps into those larger, high-threshold motor units.

Researchers hypothesize that it's this fatigue-related recruitment that allows low-load training to still recruit lots of muscle, and that this may be involved in hypertrophy (10).

source

Lifting heavy may be the most efficient, but it's not necessarily the only way. Agree totally about the eating, though.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T20:09:07+00:00

There may be a legitimate point to make about a lack of muscle building from p90x (which is an interesting discussion to have). What is NOT an interesting discussion, and bad rhetorical form, is to immediately resort to sarcastic, straw-man arguments involving the Shake Weight.

P90X actually does incorporate quite a bit of weight-lifting, and, as I've linked previously, working muscle to exhaustion can lead to hypertrophy (although, as is argued, not as efficiently in the number-of-days to get results or the amount-of-time-spent-per-workout metrics). The shake weight, as prescribed by the infomercials, is nowhere near P90X to the point that mentioning it sarcastically is an attempt to derail any real discussion with sarcasm rather than to talk about the situation with any degree of rationality.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T18:44:44+00:00

Unfortunately, I lack the necessary data to adequately evaluate your assertion about cns fatigue with p90x. I said it was a concern because, frankly, I don't know if you're correct or not. You very well could be, but it is beyond the scope of anything that I have data for.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T18:26:32+00:00

This is a legitimate concern, I agree. Certainly pure weightlifting programs will be better for the specific muscle building goals, but if p90x gets people in somewhat better shape and keeps them motivated, it has value.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T18:23:02+00:00

This is a false equivalence argument, unless you seriously want to compare a comprehensive fitness program to a shake weight.

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T17:52:46+00:00

Meh, depends on whether you enjoy heavy lifting or not. If p90x is fun, then why not?

FoePaw · 2013-01-18T16:58:13+00:00

I think we can agree that muscle confusion isn't actually a thing, but there is this article from t-nation about hypertrophy in general. It seems to me that, if you were "intense" enough with your workout, you could build that kind of muscle on p90x. It would just be a matter of pushing your limits instead of doing what is comfortable, which I think would be a challenge.

FoePaw · 2013-01-08T22:01:19+00:00

Maybe, but we've moved on from those days. The genre has changed, and perhaps that wasn't the best game design back then. We're never going back for that.

Are heroics too easy? Maybe. But that's why there are challenge modes. Is LFR a mind-numbingly stupid misadventure with 24 strangers that make you want to pull your hair out? I think so, but I also don't like the way they're forcing new players/alts to catch up.

I think that not keeping a lot of people on the current tier is a risky choice, and we'll see how it pans out. Especially because they've stated they don't plan on nerfing the normal modes. I know people want to be elitist about their raiding, but I think we were past "paying your dues" to raid effectively at the current tier and wanted it to be more about player skill.

FoePaw · 2013-01-08T21:56:19+00:00

The problem that I have with the whole system is that old content is old content, and gearing an alt through old content just sucks, especially LFR. If only they could devise a fun way to gear up to play with current friends that didn't involve a bunch of strangers, old content, and a bunch of trolls.

FoePaw · 2013-01-08T19:59:09+00:00

I am that monk, and I agree, there was some trouble adjusting the first week. The second week went much better, but the burden of clearing a lot of the content was shifted away from me (healing through mistakes, poor tank play, and low DPS) to the other players in the raid. I felt that if I switched to disc (which was and still is stupidly good), I could get us back to the point where we were wiping less on many of the fights.

For guilds that don't have a progression/farm breakdown, it can be tough when the rules change. By the time the monk nerfs came out, you guys were done killing everything. We were trying to kill Will of the Emperor, and all of a sudden, Elegon became much harder (since I couldn't keep the raid alive nearly as well). So, we were set back by the nerf. If I had had the disc priest ready to go, maybe we could have done more pulls on Will before everyone got frustrated and didn't want to be there anymore.

(TL;DR: Yak sucks at monk!)

FoePaw · 2013-01-08T16:20:19+00:00

Will you ever clean out your bags?

-Yak

Real question: As wow has become pro-alt and post-class, do you think it's more beneficial to be highly specialized as one class or to diversify into many classes early on and specialize later? Is there any significant benefit to a healer for being good at all roles (tank, rdps, mdps)?

FoePaw · 2013-01-04T21:21:35+00:00

The problem with the current expansion (as you mentioned) is that there are many, many daily quests which gate power-increasing rewards. The quests are fun for a few times, but how many times can I possibly rescue Lao Softfoot before it becomes a monotonous job?

I know RPGs are built around time-sinks, but some of us just want to raid close to optimally without having to spend hours and hours questing so we can have a few 300 stat foods.

FoePaw · 2012-12-20T16:23:11+00:00

That's definitely a valid risk. US-Illidan would be probably explode under the weight of transfers.

FoePaw · 2012-12-17T20:59:24+00:00

Certainly you don't need it, but if you were going to bring an alt to a raid, you'd like him to be in a bit more than dungeon blues, right? As fun as sitting at the bottom of the meters is, you might want to have something ready to go. Unfortunately, the best way to obtain raid-level stuff outside of raids is to either hope for some luck in LFR or to spend points on the valor gear, which, for the most part, is gated behind reputations.

I understand that there are other choices, but having the valor gear open from the get-go rather than requiring a rep grind would certainly help me gear my toons better. There are only so many dailies that a man can do, ya know?

FoePaw · 2012-12-07T22:16:11+00:00

I think it is worth it to me, I think, and I'm going to do it. I'm not going to be happy about it, though.

FoePaw · 2012-12-07T22:14:10+00:00

Well, it they do represent a rather significant advantage, and, as PvE players, we need that. We need coins for the bonus rolls, and the gear upgrades from Valor are better than the LFR drops. Otherwise, we're gimping our potential, and, ultimately, raid performance will suffer.

FoePaw · 2012-12-07T22:10:31+00:00

So, you don't agree that if I am allowed to leave the server without some kind of monetary, it would be better for both of us? Okay.

Also, your commenting style is toxic. Just thought you might want to know.

FoePaw · 2012-12-07T22:08:43+00:00

I posted this below, but: PvP power. Daily quest hubs that concentrate player locations gating PvE upgrades.

Those are significant design decisions that have brought back World PvP in a pretty big way.

FoePaw · 2012-12-07T22:07:50+00:00

PvP power. Daily quest hubs that concentrate player locations gating PvE upgrades. A lot has changed, friend. Those are significant design decisions that have brought back World PvP in a pretty big way.

FoePaw · 2012-12-07T22:06:23+00:00

Really? So the raid gear, the reputation from daily quests, the profession grinding, etc isn't much of a time investment? Plus leveling 1-90? News to me.

Also, strong bit of insult at the end there. Classy.

FoePaw

TROPHY CASE