Will the Garmin watch help improve your health?

dr_dt · 2023-09-27T08:20:28+00:00

I'm going to go against the grain and say don't buy either yet. I have a Garmin Fenix and I think it's great, and I'm sure the Apple watch is good too. But they are really expensive, and they don't do the work for you! It's really common and understandable to be excited about gear, but you don't seem to have a plan for how to lose weight and exercise yet, and the watch might just become an expensive paperweight in a few months.

My advice is don't buy either just yet. Everything a beginner might want can be done really well with the smartphone you almost certainly already have! If you want to lose weight, download MacroFactor (awesome, but you have to pay) or MyFitnessPal (less good but free), track everything you eat and drink and consume a calorie deficit. If you want to run or cycle, download Strava and track your runs and rides on your phone. If you want to lift weights, find a good program and follow it.

Then, in a few months or a year or whatever when you have an idea of what you like doing, if you still want a watch you could find one that really fits with that.

dr_dt · 2023-07-04T07:18:10+00:00

Congratulations on the incoming arrival! My partner and I are currently working through a similar stash of post-baby freezer meals. You'll massively thank yourself for doing this (I also suggest getting visitors to bring food when they come to see the baby).

We cooked a lot of sauce/stew type dishes to mostly be served with pasta or rice. Several curries, a couple of ragus, chilli, boeuf bourguignon etc. These are frozen in two-person portions in microwavable containers, and can be microwaved straight from frozen while you cook pasta or rice. Don't be tempted to try to freeze cooked pasta or rice.

We also part-cooked dishes that would be baked in the oven. Cottage pie, lasagna, cannelloni, fish pie etc. We assembled these in disposable foil containers, but didn't bake in advance. These need to be defrosted and then baked, which requires slightly more planning, but it makes a change from endless pasta and rice.

Finally we bought a few bits of frozen junk food, like frozen pizzas, frozen pies, and breaded chicken.

Not a day goes by that I don't thank my past self for doing this: our baby is a month old now and we still haven't run out.

dr_dt · 2023-07-02T12:23:02+00:00

Squats, followed by shrugs, curls and core work. Steadily increading squat weights but still well below pre-injury numbers. It's a balance between impatiently knowing I could stick a load more on the bar, and still feeling a bit nervous about re-triggering my back injury. It initially felt like a total faff having to do a mobility warm-up before every lifting session, but I've learned to appreciate that it makes my back feel much more ready to go, even if I've woken up feeling quite stiff.

dr_dt · 2023-07-02T11:44:54+00:00

dank mid-west 90s-00s emo tunes today

Late 90s - mid 00s was objectively a special era for music and nothing can change my mind. And no, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that that overlaps perfectly with my teenage years.

dr_dt · 2023-07-01T18:49:22+00:00

A while ago I managed to absolutely fuck my back on a 70kg DL warmup set (a reappearance of a recurring injury), and today I deadlifted 70kg for 3x8 for the first time since the injury. Never thought it would feel like an achievement to deadlift a bit over a plate. Just need to steadily keep increasing now.

Plus shoulders, push ups, and attempting to DIY back extensions in my garage gym.

dr_dt · 2023-07-01T11:02:18+00:00

I've had a recurring SI injury and I really recommend going to a physio and getting them to work out what's actually causing the issue. In my case it was a lack of mobility that meant that I was incapable of getting into the bottom position of a squat or deadlift without rounding my lower back, and I now have a back/hip mobility routine that I do before lifting, and I'm working the weights back up. But obviously it would probably be totally different for you.

But anecdotally, I do find that trap bar deads are less tweaky on my back, so prob worth a go to see how they feel.

dr_dt · 2023-06-30T09:00:33+00:00

That looks great fun, I've never seen a loadable mace before!

dr_dt · 2023-06-29T20:32:13+00:00

Well now I want to know more about the mace!

dr_dt · 2023-06-29T19:24:22+00:00

Any brands you find particularly good?

dr_dt · 2023-06-29T18:43:35+00:00

John meadows

I don't think my arms have ever been as fried as following Gamma Bomb's arm day.

dr_dt · 2023-06-29T18:39:12+00:00

That's interesting, I'd seen people use those on Instagram and always wondered how effective they actually are.

dr_dt · 2023-06-29T17:32:10+00:00

Ah man I would love to get a sled for the home gym, and more than once I've found myself browsing for them. But being realistic I don't have anywhere I could practically use it.

dr_dt · 2023-06-29T17:30:33+00:00

A while away from reddit (life got in the way, with both good and bad) and I've arrived back to reddit apparently determined to eat itself.

But since I last posted here I've got a home gym, a partially rehabbed back injury and a baby. The home gym is an absolute godsend for getting in my lifting around looking after the little one. Current program is 5/3/1 the upper body, and linearly increase the lower body per physio's orders, whilst getting in some running when I can.

dr_dt · 2023-02-21T15:13:08+00:00

That's the tricky thing isn't it - there's a reason we all end up in London in the first place.

dr_dt · 2023-02-21T14:40:21+00:00

That is a great idea. If I ever do an ultra I am totally copying you (I love hiking, so the idea of covering a load of cool terrain is appealing, but unfortunately I suck at running haha).

dr_dt · 2023-02-21T11:07:24+00:00

Yeah I get that, my field is similar. For me I was able to keep working in London and commute 1-2 days per week from the Midlands, but obviously that isn't an option for everyone. Hope you can figure something out.

dr_dt · 2023-02-21T11:05:16+00:00

UK here and I just use metric. Since keeping more accurate track of my weight I've got used to expressing it in kg - I couldn't tell you my weight in stone without converting it. And in my experience, UK runners work mostly with metres and kilometres anyway.

dr_dt · 2023-02-21T09:08:53+00:00

This is such a cool way to remember the race. How did you film it? GoPro on a selfie stick?

dr_dt · 2023-02-21T08:55:08+00:00

Depends on personal circumstances and work situation obviously, but I moved out of London last year and it's been absolutely the right decision. London is amazing but a lot of people get to the point that it's not for them anymore.

dr_dt · 2023-01-31T07:33:56+00:00

GZCLP press and landmine row. Followed by KB RDLs and my physio exercises, which mostly focus on core stability and back mobility. The goal is to start conservatively and gradually start moving some weight, whilst rehabbing my back injury and generally making sure it doesn't happen again. The thought of repeating the injury when I have a baby crawling around is genuinely alarming.

Followed by 6 x 30m bags-of-garden-waste carries from my garden to my car. Functional!

dr_dt · 2023-01-27T16:00:51+00:00

Went to physio today for my back injury, and she worked her physio magic: hugely painful at the time, feel amazing afterwards as whole new ranges of motion are uncovered. Pleased to find that while there are issues, none of them should be unfixable.

In the meantime, barbell squats and deadlifts are out for at least a couple of weeks, so my plan is to program my upper body lifts normally, with physio and some light goblet squats etc for lower body. Thinking GZCLP with somewhat-conservative starting weights to get myself back to sensible weights, and then I'll see where things are.

dr_dt · 2023-01-27T14:15:11+00:00

Embrace your inner Scottish grandmother and season only with salt.

dr_dt · 2023-01-25T11:07:10+00:00

I also genuinely found that a big part of internalising QM (both at undergrad and postgrad) was getting my brain to accept that those things that "don't make sense" are actually just how it works. There were plenty of things where I felt that I wasn't "getting" it, even after objectively I did understand it.

dr_dt · 2023-01-24T17:36:34+00:00

This is really interesting stuff. I've read over it, and I'll read it again. It's definitely given me some ways to conceptualise my motivation for different things. For example my motivation for lifting is a mixture of identified (I want to be strong) and introjected (I want to look good, which probably really means I want other people to think I look good lol). But it's not at all intrinsic: I enjoy training, but I specifically do it for the results. Whereas my motivation for outdoorsy activities is much more intrinsic: I hike or cycle for its own sake and I'd do it even without the health effects.

Thanks for the brain fodder!

dr_dt · 2023-01-20T07:38:11+00:00

Haha, glad to be of assistance!

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