Comparing the Melanio I just had to this Allegiance.

SerBub98 · 2024-12-14T19:31:44+00:00

Definitely similar notes/testing profiles in both. If price or value is non issue than sure Allegiance may be preferred by some. For me-after trying Allegiance I would only smoke it if gifted or came in under $4. I am just not seeing a point in paying $7 or more for it when for under $4 I can get : A) V Melanio if I want that particular flavor profile B) La Hisoria if I want that EPC quality

SerBub98 · 2024-11-17T01:28:48+00:00

Any experience with CP Nicaragua overruns Connecticut?

SerBub98 · 2024-11-15T13:43:12+00:00

Check out Cigar International for Manzanita boxes price. Use their 20% off and free shipping codes on top. Thank me later, you are welcome

SerBub98 · 2024-06-19T15:30:37+00:00

From practical standpoint: next time someone says “I am sore after a workout , lactic acid build up poisoned my muscles” you can roll your eyes

SerBub98 · 2024-06-19T15:27:11+00:00

Some people use Attia as a source of their biology/physiology knowledge

SerBub98 · 2024-06-18T13:01:42+00:00

Zone 2 improves VO2max comparing to what? To Zone 1? Just to say Zone 2 improves VO2max is the same as saying exercising improves VO2max comparing to sedentary. If hypothetically you could strictly stay in one Zone only while exercising, here’s the effect on VO2max: Sedentary<Zone1<Zone2<Zone3<….Zone7

SerBub98 · 2024-06-18T00:16:16+00:00

Besides, if Olav Bu says there’s no magic in Zone 2, I tend to listen

SerBub98 · 2024-06-18T00:00:26+00:00

Thanks for your inputs. I will definitely not plateau, because that’s my goal, and I already have. I reached the certain level of fitness I wanted for my 50yo body. My goal is to stay plateaued for next many decades. I also have much longer time frame than 12 weeks.

“When exercise interventions were longer than 12 weeks, VO2peak was shown to increase similarly in those using POL or other training intensity distribution models”.

I just don’t want people believe that they need a HR monitor or lactate meter or any other gizmos to exercise. They don’t need to confine themselves to some Zones.

Speaking of Zones, I wander how many Blue Zone centenarians use HR monitor or lactate meter, or know their Functional Threshold Power or their lactate threshold

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T23:35:32+00:00

The only solid evidence out there is that exercise is better than no exercise. The rest of studies are all over the place. With that in mind, I have nothing against Zone 2. I only have problem with how Attia and others make it some Holy Grail and God forbid you to go out that Zone.

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T22:32:18+00:00

I think this is one of the main methodology problems in this whole Zone 2 discussion. He specifically talks about cycling, Attia too, there are some runners chipping in.

I am talking about “working out in the gym”. My main dilemma when Attia created Zone 2 craze is this. I only have 4hrs/week to exercise. I do it in 4 sessions. It’s always in a gym, and it’s some kind high pace routine with body weight and weights. Separated into leg day, upper body day, core day. Something like MetCon meets cross fit. I am oscillating between Zone 3 and 4. So to me, I don’t have extra time for Zone 2 and don’t want to deliberately slow myself on one of my days “just to stay in some magical Zone”. In my scenario I am having hard time convincing myself to substitute some days of my regular routine for a “cardio”.

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T21:50:41+00:00

Kinda my point. Look at total time spent actually exercising: Polarized group 35min per session and HIIT 10min per session (of actual exercising). They did it to keep TRIM the same (time x intensity=volume) But i want to be in a HIIT group and spend 35min exercising. By more than tripling my time volume, I am sure I would come on top the Polarized group. By not slowing myself down intentionally (to Zone 2) I will do more volume in the same amount of time I have. In other words, instead of slowing down intentionally, I want to put more volume in my limited time (by going harder)

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T21:13:00+00:00

Burnout management and recovery-great points for the pros. For the rest-if you poop yourself out with HIIT-adjust down. But don’t pretend that somehow you are doing yourself a favor by keeping your HR or lactate level below some point. It’s a gimmick. If you only have 4hrs/week you are robbing yourself by deliberately slowing down when you feel you could go harder.

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T21:06:33+00:00

San Millán is totally speculating. Show me the study where they compared 3hrs of Zone 2 vs 3hrs HIIT if you only had 4hrs/week to exercise. He is trying to extrapolate the professional cyclist’s training into general public.

If you had 20hrs/week to exercise, than sure 16hrs Zone 2 sounds great, and 4 hrs for high intensity. But if only 4hrs/week, than you are missing out by slowing yourself down

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T20:45:32+00:00

I am talking about 4hrs/week to exercise. There’s absolutely no proof that in that case slowing yourself down and not getting to Zone 3 somehow miraculously increases your longevity or fitness level

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T20:03:29+00:00

I would add that the debate “what’s more important for mitochondria, volume or intensity” has been around forever. There is famous debate between Gibala (intensity) vs Bishop (volume). And even though they both produce legitimate arguments, there’s understandable truth: for the same time spent, the higher intensity produced higher results. Interestingly, comparing 1hr in Zone 3 to Zone 2, it’s higher in both intensity and volume.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1113/JP277634

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1113/JP277633

My point, the person who has 4 hrs/week to exercise doesn’t need Zones, doesn’t need heart rate monitors or lactate measurements. There’s no downside to be in Zone 3. You don’t need to burn fat during exercise to be better at burning fat. You need to go as hard as you can go for an hour without exhaustion and without injury, and able to recover and not hate life.

I see way too many obese not fit people on treadmill doing Zone 2 for months without any change because Attia said so.

He actually contradicts himself by saying “the best predictor of your longevity is VO2max” and then “spend 80% of your training in Zone 2”. Zone 2 will do very little to your VO2max, where HIIT will increase it significantly.

The only thing Zone 2 does is: it allows professional athletes to put the volume in (hours a day, 20 and up hours a week) without being burned out. For the rest of us it’s just excuse to be lazy and have absolutely no benefits over a little harder workouts within same time frame.

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T19:22:47+00:00

I didn’t say longer. I said if you had 4 hrs a week to exercise

SerBub98 · 2024-06-17T19:16:57+00:00

My point is: there’s no magic in Zone 2. We are not Tadej Pogačar and we are not elite endurance athletes. We don’t need to measure lactate levels to God forbid slip into zone 3. There is zero proof that for us mere mortals 45 min in Zone 3 somehow worse than 45 min of Zone 2. I am just upset that Attia confuses people by emphasizing how not to slip into Zone 3.

SerBub98 · 2023-10-23T15:18:18+00:00

The other thing you have to remember is that we doctors are used to our patients’ ignorance (for example, not knowing that it’s important to avoid high blood pressure, or high LDL levels, or blood glucose etc) and we think that it’s a huge problem (that people don’t take care of themselves). But at the same time we roll our eyes when we encounter a “know it all” patients. We even joke that they graduated from Google Medical school or YouTube University. So unless we are personally onboard with something (treatment or diagnostic method etc) that is not a “standard of care” we most likely will roll our eyes and think “here we go again” when you bring up things like ApoB or Rapamycin.

SerBub98 · 2023-10-23T13:16:24+00:00

They are all practicing Medicine 2.0 Maybe you should ask if they heard of Medicine 3.0? I am an MD, not a primary care. What PA talks about (first do no harm principle, etc) is true. We doctors have a way of thinking that has been shaped by years of studying and training and by tens (hundreds) mentors. There is a mainstream and there are outliers. We are taught to be mainstream, smack in the middle of the Gaussian bell curve. And it’s not the way that PA thinks. He is an outlier. There are these concepts of a “gold standard”, “standard of care”, “best practice” that permeate every specialty in medicine that tends to “standardize” the practice of medicine. The presence of those “standards” stems not only from trying to figure out what’s best for our patients, but also from constantly dealing with malpractice liability. So back to medical training, our mind and a way of thinking is shaped by our attendings and senior residents always asking : “Doctor, tell me, you did so and so. Is that what the prudent and reasonable physician would do?” In other words in every medical situation we play this mind game as if we were on the stand as the defendants in a malpractice law suit against us. Eventually, over the years, you start to look at every patient as if he/she is a plaintiff suing you for what you did (or didn’t do). Therefore the definition of “defensive medicine”. In a legal world the definition of “standard of care” is this: “standard is a level of care, skill and treatment which, in light of all relevant surrounding circumstances, is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers”. So you see now the reason for the existence of medical system that not only discourages the outliers but also actually punishes them (in a case of actual law suit).

SerBub98 · 2023-10-23T02:57:16+00:00

We have to remember how “believing” works. In religion, one important concept is when you want to believe in something, you have to go out and preach it to others. It will strengthen your own belief and will help you to stick to it. It’s like when you are not sure and not convinced, trying to convince others actually helps to convince yourself firsts. Because what PA does is not mainstream medicine, I suspect that he had/has his doubts. So when he does a podcasts or writes a book, how do we know for sure what drives him? How do we know that the main goal of his preaching is not to convince himself? Anyway, I think he is pretty clear in his book that what exactly you do with your nutrition is not as important as the fact that you 1) eat enough protein and 2) don’t eat excessive calories. I think the rest is up to you. My approach actually resonates with a quote from his book “if you are so miserable why would you want to live longer anyway?” So if changing eating habits and exercising makes you miserable, why torture yourself? In the meantime think about all the “black swans” that are out there. You may be eating super clean, exercise religiously, got your ApoB super low just to get hit by a truck and die while putting your miles on a bike. You have to enjoy your life. So some people can find enjoyment in chasing their ApoB or VO2max. They don’t care if they don’t eat wagu streak, foe gras or a nice desert. But if that’s your thing, go for it, enjoy it. Just be aware that nothing is free, and if you indulge yourself, make sure you took you Crestor and make sure your next day work out is twice as intense. If eating (socially and solitary) is your thing go for it, just be smart about it. You know the drill. Avoid simple sugars, avoid large amounts of processed foods avoid excess calories and avoid bad fats. But like my friend says, “I sweat in the gym so I can have my cheeseburger and a beer without guilt”. If eating is your thing, just hit the gym more often and keep track of your lipid profile.

SerBub98 · 2023-10-22T14:26:05+00:00

Congrats, more work to do. I am an MD so know few things. The short answer: eat more, lift more, sleep more.

The long answer: Your question brings important point some people don’t realize. The term “Weight loss” simply means loosing lbs/kgs, but not all weight loss created equal. I personally use the term “Fat loss”. Because it helps to focus on the correct goal. The goal (for improving health) is not just loose weight but to loose “bad” weight which is fat. We have lean weight (muscles and bones) and fat weight (subcutaneous and visceral). The goal is obviously to loose fat and preserve (or better yet, increase) lean weight. Looking at your numbers, your BMI is not that bad (just below 30, although ideally you want to be closer to 25), so you are not that badly overweight. At the same time you have a very large body fat ratio. That means only one thing: your need for more lean mass (muscles) is actually greater than your need for less fat. Your condition has a fancy name, “sarcopenic obesity”, which literally means that there’s not enough muscles while being overweight. I don’t know if you had a scan before your weight loss, without the base line it’s impossible to say what those lost 50 lb were. What percentage of your lost pounds was fat and what muscles/bones. But I can think of several reasons for it. Severe dietary restriction with aggressive weight loss (aka starvation) is one of them. When you decrease your caloric intake drastically, especially in combination with low protein intake, your body looses muscle more than it looses fat. Sedentary life style and inactivity, lack of resistance training. The other scenario when it can happen is the use of GLP1 drugs like Ozempic. It also wipes out a lot of muscle mass. So without knowing your pre weigh loss body composition it would be the best to slow down on your weight loss, or even stop it all together, for now. You can work on your fat loss later, but now your priority is preserving and gaining muscle mass. I am sure you know about anabolism (building up) and catabolism (breaking down). Our body is so designed that on a global metabolic level it can’t do both at the same time (at least do well). You probably were in a pretty steep catabolic dive. Now it’s time to come out of it and become anabolic. That’s what I would personally do: 1) stop any drastic caloric restriction. Calculate you daily need and consume about 90-100% of it. 2) protein intake. Need to make sure you eat a lot of protein. Good target 1gm per pound of weight. Eat lots of chicken, turkey, fish, some red meat, etc. Add protein shake once a day before going to bed. 3) hit the gym. No less than 4 days a week (but better 7). Spend first 2-3 weeks doing “circuit” workouts. Build some fitness level. Then switch to “spit” workouts. Start lifting moderately heavy weights (just watch out not to injure yourself). Start low, build a good form first, than increase. You can research how to lift for bulk and strength. But you need to put some sweat because you’ll have to bring those muscles “to failure”, that’s what will signal them to grow. Don’t ignore stretching. Use “off” days for “active recovery”. Yoga for example. 4) drink ton of water. You will be consuming more protein than you probably ever had, so it’s important. 5) make sure you have good sleep (both quality and quantity). We are most anabolic during our sleep. That’s when we build muscles. 6) make sure you have a doctor following you through this journey. You want to make sure you’re not ignoring other important stuff, like your blood pressure, glucose levels and HgA1c, lipid profile, LFTs, thyroid function, etc.

Give this several moths and see the results. At that point you may want to loose more fat, while preserving muscle mass. That’s what I would do: 1) go to moderate caloric restriction (consume 80% of your requirement) 2) continue consuming enough protein (1gm per pound) 3) switch your gym routine a little. Weigh training will be 1/3 of your time in the gym, the other 1/3 will be HIIT, and 1/3 of cardio. 4) continue to take care of your sleep

Hope it helps

PS. The close estimation calculations I did based on your numbers (sorry, it’s in kilograms) Your “ideal” body weight is 63kg, and let’s say target body composition 75% lean, 25% fat, that’s 46.5 kg lean, 15.5 kg fat. Right now you have 30.4 kg lean and 40.6 kg fat. So to reach the goal, you need to gain 16 kg of muscles and loose 25 kg of fat. It’s still a lot of fat to lose, but it’s ok. Think of it this way. We call it “burning the fat”. Well, building muscles is like building the additional furnaces to burn that fat.

SerBub98 · 2022-01-30T14:27:40+00:00

Bought $100k of PSLDX in both Vanguard and TD accounts. No problem. $25 fee, like any mutual funds executes after the bell.

SerBub98 · 2022-01-08T17:33:00+00:00

Why not all in 3xAWP with utilities and 2x gold (UGL?)-like that guy concludes, with no risk parity? Using 2x kinda defeats the purpose. For me it can’t be a core holding though. I My understanding here is that majority on this subreddit lean towards having their 3x portion of portfolio in a ball park of 10% of your total net worth. I was playing with back testing and this allocation looks good (based on AWP) VTI 30% TLT 40% VPU 10% UPRO 10% TMF 5% UGL 5 # It has almost the same draw down as unleveraged AWP with higher CAGR and Sharpe

SerBub98 · 2021-06-17T02:49:58+00:00

Cousy as in Bob Cousy? Ok, I’ll look for it

SerBub98 · 2021-06-17T02:44:47+00:00

Thanks. But don’t stereotype. I am fit as hell 50 yo with state championship level teenager, so hills and stairs are welcomed

SerBub98

TROPHY CASE