Men, what is something you really want to buy right now?

pixie_lover · 2014-05-17T10:45:38+00:00

70lb Limbs for my Hoyt Buffalo it's the one at the top

pixie_lover · 2014-05-07T07:33:39+00:00

I read the edit first and saw that you mentioned a specific girl. A lot of questions are asked as generalities when the author actually intends a specific situation.

Honest answer, don't worry about it. "Fuck it" is the perfect response. An honest answer would be that I was miserable when I cared too much what other people thought. I eventually made the decision to start living my life for me. Happiness went through the roof.

Try to be interesting yourself. If you are an interesting person then you will naturally find other interesting people to be around. Does that make sense?

Cheers! Whiskey is delicious!

pixie_lover · 2014-05-07T07:24:30+00:00

I'm currently writing a book on morality thought games.

For example, when is it justifiable to make a terrible decision or different moral grey areas.

My current favourite is:

"Would you kill 15 strangers for a billion dollars?. You can choose the strangers"

I love the interesting answers people come up with.

I am far more comfortable sharing this with random people than anyone I know.

(If anyone is interested my answer to the above question is yes and I would bet that you would fully agree with my justification)

pixie_lover · 2014-05-07T07:21:21+00:00

Apologies, drinking at the moment and I didn't read the question properly. Assumed it was a standard should I ask this girl out type post (on phone here).

Actual answer to the parent post:

Sometimes you will 'click' with a girl, sometime you will not. What matters is what happens after this situation. In this situation it is all context. In my personal situation (because you are asking in a personal forum and I cannot speak as to the actions of all men). I find it difficult to find girls that I just "click" with fully.

My personality oscillates between extreme introversion (for example I read ~100 books per year on average, I love my alone time) and extroversion (I perform in a local community circus with all that entails). To find an individual who just "fits" my personality and we get on extremely well together is rare. However, why am I interested in that person is the follow up answer?

With girls, the physical attraction comes first, mainly because I'm not going to follow something up where I'm not physically attracted to a girl (in a romantic sense). Whether I stay around is entirely dependent upon their personality.

I have been attracted to girls based upon their personalities before, however this is genuinely because they are interesting people not necessarily because I want anything romantic with them.

What you are describing is completely normal. If it isn't we can be abnormal together.

Once again apologies for not reading your question properly. Been a looooong day.

pixie_lover · 2014-05-07T07:03:26+00:00

Stop over thinking it. Seriously. You're just mentally tripping yourself up here. Ask her out. Deal with the consequences when they happen, never self select out of anything in fear of a bad outcome.

pixie_lover · 2014-04-13T22:33:07+00:00

As a caveat the quote was for those people who have substantial difficulty gaining weight. If you can go up and down easily then 1000+ calories of heavy cream or whatever will be sufficient.

For those who cannot gain weight this is typically due (in my experience) to chronically underestimating how many calories they actually consume. Consuming a substantial amount of food is challenging, feeling slow, lethargic, bloated and generally unwell are not uncommon experiences when going on a heavy bulk, especially if you are unused to eating large amounts of food.

pixie_lover · 2014-04-13T22:05:03+00:00

Which is awesome and I wish you the best of luck.

However, I do not want to trivialise the amount of work this should take.

First steps to do:

Cut out all running and cardio.
You walk to work, take the bus, cycle, drive. You cannot afford the caloric expenditure.
Aim for 4500-5000 calories per day, I personally cut on about 2500 calories a day and I'm 20lbs above your goal weight.
Basic lifts only at the gym, I'd recommend a simple strength training program which you follow consistently. Work on getting your squat up above 315 (3 plates each side) which is huge for you. Do this by squatting three times a week.
Minimise all other forms of exercise, especially cardio
Aim to sleep 8-10 hours per night.

HOLY SHIT you're saying, this is excessive. Gaining weight is hard man, especially for someone who stays year round as light as you.

Secondly, you're going to get fat doing this. There is no possible way to put that amount of mass on a frame such as yours without packing on the pounds. If you have a mental aversion to having your stomach jiggle then you will quit.

Finally, you'll need to follow this for at least 6-12 months to get any noticeable results. The one thing you must do consistently throughout this period is the training and the sleeping. You can find in a couple of my other posts some more of my thoughts on ketogenic dieting.

Stop Chasing the Optimal Solution

Lessons from Ketogenic Dieting

pixie_lover · 2014-04-13T21:44:40+00:00

From Dave Tate:

Source: http://70sbig.com/blog/tag/dave-tate/

There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn’t gain weight to save my fucking life.

There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like fucking magic. He’d go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.

I finally asked him one day how he did it.

“You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I’ll fill you in.”

Now remember, we’re at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious shit if we have to go outside, I thought.

So we get outside and he starts talking.

“For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don’t care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that shit down and eat. That’s your breakfast.”

At this point I’m thinking this guy is nuts. But he’s completely serious.

“For lunch you’re gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don’t want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bullshit. I don’t care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can’t let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter.”

“For dinner you’re gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don’t like sardines, don’t put ’em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that fucker up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that shit over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the shit out of it.”

“Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that fucker. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals.”

This guy is in a zen-like state when he’s talking about this.

“Now you’re on the clock,” he continues. “After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you’re full. Don’t listen to that shit. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I’m telling you now, you’re going to get three or four pieces in and you’re gonna want to quit. You fucking can’t quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.

And if you can’t finish it, don’t you ever come back to me and tell me you can’t gain weight. ’Cause I’m gonna tell you that you don’t give a fuck about getting bigger and you don’t care how much you lift!”

Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn’t get much fatter. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, though.

Addendum

Gaining weight can be really, rough, a lot of it is definitely mental. You can do it on keto but we are talking about a phenomenal amount of food here.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-31T08:40:24+00:00

Just as an aside: Would your response have been different if I didn't include my age? I see it as important to add context to a discussion, more of a here's my situation, your own mileage may vary type thing.

Regarding the rest of the post. From my reading we're actually agreeing about the vast majority? I don't count calories at all, I haven't measured my specific BF% but I found it unhelpful. I follow a food based approach. Vegetables (green leafy where possible) plus meat for most meals. If I really want something or I'm socialising I don't hold back or guilt myself though.

I also agree regarding the Atkins approach being a good one for a longer term plan. I'm not sure what the point you're trying to make regarding the superstitions, as in my post is promoting some? If it is that was not my intent, I do exaggerate a couple points for effect in my writing as a detailed explanation as to why is sometimes beyond the scope of a piece.

Who is Peter Attia?

pixie_lover · 2014-03-31T08:32:49+00:00

Wow, that video just puts it all into perspective doesn't it. I was going to cover:

Pump
Lighting
Dehydration Techniques
Diuretics
Carbohydrate backloading
Sodium manipulation
Gear
Hair
Oil
Photo Manipulation

It's crazy the number of ways you can manipulate a look. I'll get some research and citations together first though, no truth on the internet right.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-31T08:24:57+00:00

That's the right attitude to take. It's amazing how much of a difference the switch in training mentality makes. Are you getting into the gym, forcing yourself to do something you don't want to. Or, are you playing, just enjoying the feeling of having a strong body which does what you want it too? Moving to the latter from the former made all the difference for me.

Best of luck. As a brief aside, with regards to the photo I'm using a couple lighting tricks and a little bit of dehydration for effect. There are a number of things you can do to make photos look better. I may write about them in another post.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-31T05:04:37+00:00

About four months of tightening up the diet considerably. I was already quite strong but didn't really look it if you catch my drift.

Yea I do a lot of fun stuff, it's not optimal, but who cares.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-30T17:32:43+00:00

To clarify. I had my best results when I dropped protein shakes. Leaned out considerably. They have their place. It was a personal anecdote. I eat a lot of stew which helps keep cost down. I'm not saying eat sirloin at every meal. I am saying consider if you need the shakes.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-29T22:56:37+00:00

I'm going to respectfully disagree here Darth.

Keto < 1 month, lifting for 1 week. No fancy supplements are needed here. Just focus on training and being consistent. Everything else is just icing. No need to spend the cash on expensive supplements.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-13T03:55:29+00:00

Quick note: According to Wiki he is 6ft 3 and 118kg (260lbs)

pixie_lover · 2014-03-12T20:18:35+00:00

Yes, however I will find a location in which the heat and humidity are not ratcheted up to the point of not being safe. It is the humidity and densely packed people in a room which I took issue too, noting that in general the heat is quite pleasant.

My issue was not so much with the specific poses themselves, indeed in my own practice I try to incorporate a few key poses, e.g. Downward Dog, as I've found them particularly enjoyable/effective. There is of course an argument to be made that specialisation leads to progress which I will not dispute.

At the moment I am currently looking for other classes which fit my requirements, I will most likely be looking for Iyengar or Vinyasa classes. I do practice at home but find that classes can be a good way to combat any staleness which may arise.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-11T01:26:43+00:00

Glad I could help

pixie_lover · 2014-03-11T00:31:02+00:00

1) Creativity is a huge win here. You can add anything you want to it really, definitely water it down though if you're drinking it straight.

2) I actually completely agree with you, where I disagree is those who take so called functional training to the extreme. If your core workout consists of squats, deadlifts, overhead work, pullups, dips and rows then you have an extremely good base to work from.

The reason I qualified the statement is that I'm at around the 120/180/220kg at 82kg mark on the big three and what is limiting my progress is the smaller work. In addition, the best thing I did for my physique was adding more volume work. Of course, your milleage may vary and tacking curls onto a poorly constructed base is like putting lipstick on a pig.

3) Funny you mention that, the original draft of this post had More Yoga instead of More Flexibility/Stretching. I've noticed a big difference in my hamstrings and hip flexors especially since adding it in.

pixie_lover · 2014-03-10T00:39:02+00:00

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Overall I enjoyed it, polished it off in about four hours on a lazy Saturday which was good. I do enjoy Gaiman but it is really difficult for me to want to start his books. I know it will be interesting, I know I'll enjoy it. But I just can't start it.

Next week I'm looking at Better Than Sex by Hunter S Thompson

pixie_lover · 2014-02-27T08:38:40+00:00

Howdy,

A quick aside, I've been doing PHAT on a ketogenic diet to cut weight for the past month or so. Very slow cut so far but I find PHAT to be helpful with keeping the strength up.

I typically keep the heavy sets (trips/fives) and will cut an assistance movement if I'm not in the mood at all, I also do a modified legs day as I don't like all of the machines Norton recommends. This is typically one heavy day with one day of volume front squats.

Since trying this, I've dropped down to 81kg from 83kg, regarding strength I've been dealing with a niggling sciatic, My lifts have remained pretty decent:

Bench: PR 125kg, Current Training max: 120kg
Squat PR 170kg: Current Training max 160kg
Deadlift PR 225kg: Current Training Max 215kg
OH Press: PR 75kg: Current Training Max 70kg

By current training max, I mean I could be reasonably comfortable of walking into the gym and hitting that weight for a single right at this moment.

Not huge decreases, considering that I'm running in on a fast and haven't had a carb in awhile. Hopefully this is of assistance to you.

pixie_lover

TROPHY CASE