For Your Health (a hunk's log)

[broseph]

10/16/22

CARDIO

Titan Bike
5:00 on
2:00 off
x3

Average speed: 22.4 mph
Cal/work minute: 12.07

Musings: I'm running my old "engine builder" program again. I remember it being effective and fun with all the prescribed variety. It calls for 5 sessions/week, but I'll be shooting for 3. So the 4 week template will last me 6 weeks, 4 days, and 16 hours. For your precision.

[augeleven]

10/16/22

CARDIO

Titan Bike
5:00 on
2:00 off
x3

Average speed: 22.4 mph
Cal/work minute: 12.07

Musings: I'm running my old "engine builder" program again. I remember it being effective and fun with all the prescribed variety. It calls for 5 sessions/week, but I'll be shooting for 3. So the 4 week template will last me 6 weeks, 4 days, and 16 hours. For your precision.

Talk me into buying a titan bike. I getting bored of only treadjogging. I’ve only used a rower a couple of times but couldn’t get the swing of it. I also have 2-3 people who might want to use it, ranging in height from 4 to 5 feet. Can I justify buying it if other people (very sedentary and out of shape people) say they might use it?

TL:DR how is the titan bike for the short, fluffy and untrained?

[broseph]

Talk me into buying a titan bike. I getting bored of only treadjogging. I’ve only used a rower a couple of times but couldn’t get the swing of it. I also have 2-3 people who might want to use it, ranging in height from 4 to 5 feet. Can I justify buying it if other people (very sedentary and out of shape people) say they might use it?

TL:DR how is the titan bike for the short, fluffy and untrained?

So... I did some science with my middle boy. He is 4'4" and his bare foot just barely reaches the bottom of the pedal stroke with the seat at the lowest setting. I'm 5'11" and my seat setting is 6 out of 11 (11 is highest). This thing caters more to giants than dwarves. I'd wager a 4'6" person wearing shoes would be ok.

As far as the untrained are concerned, it's infinitely scalable since the resistance grows with your pedal speed. You can use watts, speed, or rpm's to gauge your intensity and stay honest.

-----------------------------------------

Personally, I love it. I can do everything from super short intense sprints to long slow distances. There's no eccentric, so very minimal "structural" fatigue. I also prefer the Titan over the Assault due to having;

-A phone holder at the top of the screen (it sounds super lame but it's great for using your phone to watch cartoons in case your TV doesn't have blue tooth [the bike is rather loud so head phones are advised])

-A wind guard over the part of the fan wheel that faces you. When I was using the Assault bike (wind guard sold separately), I was putting lubricating eye drops in my eyes before sessions because the face wind is pretty intense without a guard. And I'm a baby.

-Much beefier wheels for wheeling in and out of it's corner in the workout room.

-----------------------------------------

The only downside I can think of is that my taint starts getting sore after 20 minutes or so. Although the 20 minute mark is usually when my brain starts complaining about the non-muscle body parts used in any cardio session (grip and low back with a rower, feet with running, hands going numb on a road bike, etc). I could probably get one of those comfy seat covers old people put on their bicycles. For now, I have a crappy pillow in the workout room and I sit on it for long slow sessions.

[SnakePlissken]

10/16/22

CARDIO

Titan Bike
5:00 on
2:00 off
x3

Average speed: 22.4 mph
Cal/work minute: 12.07

Musings: I'm running my old "engine builder" program again. I remember it being effective and fun with all the prescribed variety. It calls for 5 sessions/week, but I'll be shooting for 3. So the 4 week template will last me 6 weeks, 4 days, and 16 hours. For your precision.

Talk me into buying a titan bike. I getting bored of only treadjogging. I’ve only used a rower a couple of times but couldn’t get the swing of it. I also have 2-3 people who might want to use it, ranging in height from 4 to 5 feet. Can I justify buying it if other people (very sedentary and out of shape people) say they might use it?

TL:DR how is the titan bike for the short, fluffy and untrained?

Seconded to what Broseph said,

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the bike. The powdercoat on my Titan rack from 3 years ago was shit and already has rust coming through on some spots (nothing structural), but the new bike has a nice thick powdercoat everywhere and is pretty solid. The giant tires are really nice for moving it around the house, but since my house is 1950s, the doorwars are pretty narrow so it's a little tricky moving it indoors. Probably wouldn't be an issue in a more modern home with lots of sq ft. The resistance feels light at first, but since it's using drag as your force, it really ratchets up as you put speed on the bike. I also bought this bike so my girlfriend could use it as well and she's 5'4" with short legs and a long torso. She didn't seem to have any issues with fitting on there, except that she keeps the seat up a bit more since she has 1 knee she can't break parallel with.

Only real cons:
I don't really use my phone on the bike, but so far I've carted it into my living room to watch youtube and I have a headset with a super long aux cable to put on when I ride it (if you're going even moderate pace you have to speak up a lot to hear someone talking or the tv). Only other gripe is that the readout for distance only has 1 sig fig so I can't tell when I've hit 1/4 of a mile, instead it's somewhere between 0.2 and 0.3 miles, but that's minor; maybe there's a setting somewhere I just haven't found yet.

[broseph]

10/17/22

PULL

Chins BW+75x5x5
This was way easier than 4 sets of 6 with 70lbs. And my rest periods were shorter today. I seriously think my physiology is tuned for 5's. I'm getting antsy and excited to get back to strength work, which is a great feeling after being previously burnt out on it.

Landmine Row 130x3x14

Shrug 255x3x16
Dropped the rep count by 4 as these were starting to get cheaty. I think a little cheat can be good for hypertrophy accessories, but I've gotten my best results by reigning in the cheat and dialing up the mind-muscle connection.

EZ Curl 108x4x12

French Press, 45" rests,
108x 14, 8, 8, 8

[broseph]

10/18/22

LEGS

5:00 Titan Bike warmup

SSB Squat 265x4x8

RDL 265x3x6

Seated Calf 205x3x18

Hanging Knee Raise 4x9

[broseph]

10/20/22

PUSH

5:00 Titan Bike warmup

Bench 245x4x8

Incline DB Bench 60x3x18

Upright Row 120x3x12

LTE 108x4x12


Musings: Currently in low motivation zone, even with these short ezpz workouts. It's been less than 2 weeks of a caloric deficit, so I can't blame that. Maybe it's just my monthly manstration cycle. The one thing I do feel like doing is making a baby, so that makes sense.

[alek]

Musings: Currently in low motivation zone, even with these short ezpz workouts. It's been less than 2 weeks of a caloric deficit, so I can't blame that. Maybe it's just my monthly manstration cycle. The one thing I do feel like doing is making a baby, so that makes sense.

Aren't you close to Canadia? Y'all getting enough sunlight up there nowadays?

[broseph]

Musings: Currently in low motivation zone, even with these short ezpz workouts. It's been less than 2 weeks of a caloric deficit, so I can't blame that. Maybe it's just my monthly manstration cycle. The one thing I do feel like doing is making a baby, so that makes sense.

Aren't you close to Canadia? Y'all getting enough sunlight up there nowadays?

It has been rainy lately, but it’s still fairly bright for now.

My job is about to change, which will dramatically change my schedule (and I’ll make less money). Sooooo there’s probably some stress associated with that.

[alek]

Musings: Currently in low motivation zone, even with these short ezpz workouts. It's been less than 2 weeks of a caloric deficit, so I can't blame that. Maybe it's just my monthly manstration cycle. The one thing I do feel like doing is making a baby, so that makes sense.

Aren't you close to Canadia? Y'all getting enough sunlight up there nowadays?

It has been rainy lately, but it’s still fairly bright for now.

My job is about to change, which will dramatically change my schedule (and I’ll make less money). Sooooo there’s probably some stress associated with that.

Are you changing jobs to a different employer after the Christian takeover?

[broseph]

Musings: Currently in low motivation zone, even with these short ezpz workouts. It's been less than 2 weeks of a caloric deficit, so I can't blame that. Maybe it's just my monthly manstration cycle. The one thing I do feel like doing is making a baby, so that makes sense.

Aren't you close to Canadia? Y'all getting enough sunlight up there nowadays?

It has been rainy lately, but it’s still fairly bright for now.

My job is about to change, which will dramatically change my schedule (and I’ll make less money). Sooooo there’s probably some stress associated with that.

Are you changing jobs to a different employer after the Christian takeover?

No, I've decided to convert. Just kidding, but yes I am staying at this employer.

For several years my job was to cover all of the emergency weeknight surgery call (I am nurse). I was salaried and even though I occasionally worked really long and hard, it was mostly EZPZ and my average dollar per work hour was awesome.

It was because of this job I was able to do my "Year of Maintenance" where I also worked full time during the day and accomplished some financial goals. And ever since COVID, things have been restructured and I was barely working at night anymore, so I've been working more dayshifts (for extra money while still on night time salary).

The new Christian overlords will no longer be throwing money at me to sit on my ass and sleep through the night, so I'm switching to a regular old 1st shift hourly wage slave. The routine will be really good for my family, but I'll be making less money, and will have less time for my luxurious late morning workouts. Luckily, I've been seeing this coming so I've been working as much as I could to pay cash for a bunch of big stuff.

[alek]

The new Christian overlords will no longer be throwing money at me to sit on my ass and sleep through the night, so I'm switching to a regular old 1st shift hourly wage slave. The routine will be really good for my family, but I'll be making less money, and will have less time for my luxurious late morning workouts. Luckily, I've been seeing this coming so I've been working as much as I could to pay cash for a bunch of big stuff.

Good for you to have the forethought to prepare! And a big thumbs up for doing good for your family. My circle of friends and I usually run counter to the whole "I work more hours away from my family for my family." schtick. Even though it's less money, it'll be worth it for more family time.

[broseph]

My circle of friends and I usually run counter to the whole "I work more hours away from my family for my family." schtick. Even though it's less money, it'll be worth it for more family time.

Yeah, I think this way of thinking is getting more common... much to the chagrin of mid-level-management who expects everyone to want to give as many hours as possible to dear leader.

Also, my kids are right at the age where they miss me when I'm gone and want me to go to all their sportsball practices and such. Unfortunately for them, I will still try to avoid some sportsball practices.

[broseph]

10/21/22



PULL

5:00 Titan Bike warmup

Chins BW+80x5x5

Landmine Row 135x3x12

Shrug 265x3x16

Superset with 1:00 rests:
EZ Curl 108x4x10
French Press 108x4x10

[alek]

Also, my kids are right at the age where they miss me when I'm gone and want me to go to all their sportsball practices and such. Unfortunately for them, I will still try to avoid some sportsball practices.

Yep, and they won't be like that forever. Gotta savor as much of that special time as practical.

My son wants me to stick around his class all day while he's at school. My daughter tells me, "Daddy, I don't miss you anymore when I'm at school." #heartbroken

[broseph]

10/22/22

LEGS

5:00 Titan Bike warmup

SSB Squat 275x6x5
Haven't worn a lifting belt in months. Put it on halfway through these. Feels so good.

RDL 275x4x5

Supersetted, E2MOM:
Seated Calf Raise 215x3x18
Hanging Knee Raise x3x10
Armblaster Curls 98x3x10


Musings: I'm removing the crappy useless 1 inch styrofoam "insulation" from the cinderblock walls of a walkout basement room and replacing it with 2 inch XPS and proper sealing. I have a buttload of waste styrofoam, and I'm slowly disposing of it by dissolving it in a covered garbage can with xylene. I've done this before, and you end up with a shockingly small blob that will eventually off-gas to become a solid puck.

The question; is off-gassing a quart of xylene better for the environment than 2 cubic yards of styrofoam ending up in a body of water?


Additional Bigger Musings: My wife was forced to come out of the atheism closet to her evangelical mother yesterday. She is emotionally drained, and I have sympathy drainage. It's also super cool because her parents are coming over for the girls' birthday tomorrow, and watching all the kids overnight next weekend.

My parents are out-loud-speaking-in-tongues, ribbon-dancing-during-rockband-church, fall-on-the-floor, conspiracy-theory-believing evangelicals, so it's really easy to write them off and just treat them with kid gloves. But my wife's parents are more like actual people who just happen to believe in a literal translation of the bible (but are becoming increasingly right-wing-polarized [thanks a lot, Fox News and Facebook]). We value them in our lives and respect their marriage, parenting, and overall character. So it sucks for them to now think we're amoral idiots and that our children need saving (the Jesusy kind of saving, not like Child Protective Services or anything).

[JohnHelton]

I am in this exact situation with my parents. It can be very draining at times.

[Renascent]

Additional Bigger Musings: My wife was forced to come out of the atheism closet to her evangelical mother yesterday. She is emotionally drained, and I have sympathy drainage.

She's got my sympathy as well. I've not spoken to my mother in nearly two decades for this same reason, among other things.

It's liberating to get it off your chest, though, once it's done. Seems the older I get, the less tolerance I have for flavors of strife that shouldn't even be a huge deal.

[broseph]

I am in this exact situation with my parents. It can be very draining at times.

She's got my sympathy as well. I've not spoken to my mother in nearly two decades for this same reason, among other things.

It's liberating to get it off your chest, though, once it's done. Seems the older I get, the less tolerance I have for flavors of strife that shouldn't even be a huge deal.

It’s crazy how common this scenario is.

Having been in that world, I know how polarizing it can be, and how they see it as such a binary position; Christian or not Christian. And why would any sane person choose not Christian? Don’t they want to go to heaven? And now what’s to stop them from committing moral atrocities?

They came over today for the girls’ birthday and were super distant, very little eye contact, etc. But good with the kids. I’m assuming more conversations are to come, which sucks because I know they can’t see any other perspective than their own. Or there aren’t any more conversations coming and they’ll just be forever distant. Le sigh

@Renascent 2 decades is legit. Sorry things can’t be better. My parents and I don’t talk when not in physical proximity, but we have a polite business-like relationship face to face. Though to be honest, I’d be fine with no contact.

I naturally a loner, even as a kid, and I don’t verbally share much of anything with anyone besides my wife (and this online lifting log lmao). I think I’d be fine with complete isolation from extended family, but I maintain pleasantry for my kids to have good feelings/memories about their grandparents. But maintaining the pleasant polite business relationship is torture for me.

[broseph]

10/24/22


PUSH

Bench 255x5x5, 1x10

Incline DB Bench 60x3x18

Upright Row 125x4x10

LTE 108x4x12