The thing is is that people want to hear good things about their bad habits (like eating bacon). The best approach to confuse the public is to present doubt about the science. Once there is doubt, there is confusion and it's really hard to accept anyone's point of view.

This is exactly what the cigarette manufacturers did to resist the idea that smoking was harmful to your health. They created doubt about the science that the non-smoking experts came up with. Eventually over time, it became clear that smoking was detrimental to your health. The same kind of thing is happening with a whole food, plant based diet vs a animal based diet.....

Just a warning, I want this thread to be focused on advice from T and Jason.

Disagreeing with that advice is obviously fine, but I don't want to have huge tangent discussions to the point where the thread misses out on it's original intention.

Some great stuff so far, thanks guys.

I feel like a lot of people might be in the same boat to me so hopefully we can get some good advice.

I am a 25 year old guy, working full time in London and trying to improve at poker in the evenings.

I used to play a lot of sport when I was growing up but haven't really done much regular exercise for the past 2 or 3 years now. Gyms are very expensive in London and it wouldn't be worth it unless I went 3 times/week at a bare minimum. This is probably standard but I find it really hard to find the time seeing as I work 9-5:30 officially (but usually more like 6:30 at least) and then I am trying my best to put as much time into poker as I can in the free evenings that I have, as most guys that are moving up limits have all day to play and study so I am already at a disadvantage. There are opportunities to get involved with sport with work or friends but usually there is no training involved, just matches, so if you aren't doing fitness on your own then it isn't really ideal to play a team sport as you end up being a bit of a hindrance. Also the reason most of these guys play is so that they can go to the pub afterwards for a few beers, which isn't great when trying to be more healthy...

I am not overweight and generally eat pretty healthy for someone that has no idea about nutrition imo (typical evening meal is chicken & salad with a bit of sweet potato sometimes, snacking on nuts, drinking only water or green tea etc). Having said that I can probably do a lot better in terms of diet.

I definitely want to get a lot fitter and I am basically wondering if you guys have any advice on how I can balance working out with a full time job and poker! I have started doing yoga a bit in the evenings which is great, but not enough imo. Also I find it hard to eat healthily when I generally have to eat breakfast and lunch at work, so any on the go food tips would be fantastic.

I also find it very hard to sleep as I usually end up having to play poker and then go straight to sleep pretty much due to time constraints. Typically I go to bed around 12ish and have to be in work at 9, and I usually can't sleep for ages as my brain is still very active. My own advice would be to do something relaxing before bed but I often ignore this as I can't seem to find enough time in the day! Do you have any tips on how to sleep better, or how to improve poker sessions/study time so that it is more efficient?

I realise this post is very tl;dr with probably a lot of irrelevant personal info, so I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read and respond.

Fair enough. Looking forward to reading more of their take on things!

Also another thing I wanted to ask is about mma. I have never done any martial arts and I would love to start for the fitness training and to learn how to defend myself. However I am not interested in doing any sort of competitive fights, even at the most basic level (maybe that will change, idk). Do you think it's worth getting into for just those reasons? And how much time do you think you need to put into it to make it worthwhile? Honestly I am not a super competitive guy which might be an issue here.

Cheers!

Not sure if the protocol of this thread is everyone asks and it's better if Terrence & Jason answer, but if adding input is OK, I train martial arts on a casual level and it's a great way to make exercise interesting. I go to the gym for cardio/weights twice a week, but obv want to exercise more than that, and kickboxing twice a week is a great way of mixing things up so I don't get bored with the same routine 4 days a week. I trained a lot more previously, but lost an amateur kickboxing match and realized I'm not cut out for competitive fighting, now have cut it back to casual. I'd recommend it.

Awesome, thanks for the response. Good to know that it's still worthwhile on a casual level.

Man the sleep thing is tougher as you get older for sure. Examine.com published a post a few days ago talking about effective sleep habits. (link) I myself am curious about the non-sedative sleep aids because I never have any trouble falling asleep, but I do sometimes have trouble staying asleep (was up at 5:40am this morning).

So it sounds like you're doing 5-6 sessions of endurance work to me. Most MT classes are endurance oriented which makes a lot of sense because traditional MT falls more towards the endurance end of the continuum. So you end up with a lot of 100 pushups/200 situps/300 bag kicks kinda stuff in most MT gyms. It's not surprising you're not that much stronger unless you actually train strength.

It is possible btw that this workload is affecting your sleep. It's a pretty intense schedule for someone who didn't start from a good aerobic/muscular endurance pace. You could always scale down to 2-3 MT sessions/week, one long run a week, and one heavy-weight session for strength.

I'd say similar baseline stuff to Adam (+sleep, +walking, +weight lifting, -wheat, -sugar, -soy) except maybe without the sprint stuff. You're a big guy so sprinting might be a little dangerous (except on the bike or rower).

I read something lately about interval speed walking being a particularly effective intervention for overweight people. Basically 30 minutes of alternating power walking (like 50% extra effort) and normal walking. You might feel like a goofball out in public, but the benefit is that you don't actually have to go to the gym.

Finally I would also have to say to anyone overweight that you should examine the stress levels in your life. Stress is very inflammatory so if you're running around with a high-stress job, tough family/personal life, and that kind of thing, then piling exercise on to it can be more harm than good. Walking more is always going to be beneficial but I'd say if you have a super stressed out lifestyle, then adding 20 minutes of meditation or floating in the pool is probably better than the equivalent time spent on the treadmill, bike, or bench press.

I would agree; only Northern European adults (cue Hellmuth drop) are adapted to drinking lactose, and not even all of them. (It's a genetic mutation that's only about 12000 years old, which seems like a lot, but we're mostly genetically identical to humans that are 1 million years old.)

I am not of Northern European descent and therefore do not drink animal milk. In situations where I need something milk-like, I use coconut milk. I recently discovered that I have bad reactions to guar gum which is used as an emulsifier in canned coconut milk, so I avoid that too.

I have a hard time envisioning a carbless smoothie, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to taste it!

Eggs are wonderful. Uncured bacon is wonderful too. Try to cook your meat on lower temperatures instead of blasting the heck out of it, if possible. Toss in a healthy helping of spinach or your favourite green vegetable.

You are largely correct that the populations who eat this way tend to live the longest. However that's both a potential problem and a solution in itself. These are all population studies which means that they aren't isolating for any specific variable.

It's absolutely true that saturated fat consumption is positively correlated with heart disease. The problem is that that says zero about whether saturated fat *causes* heart disease. Most of the people who eat high levels of satfat do not eat like myself or Jason. They are washing down their Big Macs with Mountain Dew and french fries.

Oh, and cigarettes. One of the most cited studies of all time on the "evils" of satfat is this one from 1969 which basically divided people up into a saturated fat group and a vegetable oil group. The satfat group suffered more heart disease so that was their justification for "satfat bad, vegoil good". Well, small problem: the satfat group had twice as many heavy smokers and 60% more moderate smokers than the vegoil group (link). Oops.

So, always be careful of population studies. I mean it's an easy way to get into the whole "Asians eat a lot of rice so why aren't they fat" or "French people eat a lot of butter so why aren't they fat" psuedo "paradox".

All that being said, vegetables are goddamn important. I eat a lot of them. (I also know when I eat too much of them, and that's basically when I get runny poop.) And if you want to eat 80% starchy carbs (this means tubers and rice, not f'ing corn and wheat) and 20% animal product, that's fine by me IF you live like these populations which means sleeping like 10 hours a night, living near the equator and being in the sun all day, doing hours on hours of consistent low-level activity (walking/carrying stuff around), having a low-stress lifestyle with tight family/community bonds, never being in a car, never being at a desk, rarely being exposed to Western processed foods.

But chances are if you're reading this, that's not you.

***

...more when I get to it, travelling for the next couple of days, not sure when I'll be online next.

Since T passed on this one, I thought I'd jump in.

My credentials include winning $500 last year as a finalist in an online exercise, nutrition and life coaching program through Precision Nutrition (good Canadian guys). I would recommend them to anyone looking for online coaching (I am not an affiliate and get no rakeback from them). I learned a ton in that year and the first thing they taught us was how to make what they called a Super Shake.

First, does it need to be kale? Spinach is as nutritious and less bitter. It doesn't affect the flavor of the smoothie as much, if at all.

Second, if we're masking the flavor we have to go with high-flavor ingredients. Pineapple and coconut milk (the thick, canned stuff) work. Bananas and peanut butter, not so much. Oranges or strawberries might work.

Third, on a personal level, the color was off-putting for a while. I got used to it, but if you don't, I've heard you can use beets to turn anything red. I've never tried it with a smoothie, though. They certainly turn your dookie red, so remember before you call the doctor, ask yourself, "Did I eat beets recently?"

For T Chan and J Koon,

What do you guys think the best diet should be for a long healthy life and how did you come to your conclusions about your diet?

What % of your calories should be fat, carbohydrate (complex, starchy carbs, not simple carbs like sugar) and protein. What % of your total calories come from animal based foods?

You guys are both very athletic. Is your dietary advice for the general public or only for very athletic people like yourselves?

poop itt

Thanks for your response. Would lacto-free milk be ok too or just good to avoid animal milk altogether?

I guess I'm always slightly skeptical of "don't have the time to exercise" except for the most hard-driving type-A types. Because chances are even for hardworking people, there's at least an hour of wasted time in the day when you add up checking Facebook, Twitter, clicking random links, having pointless work meetings and so on. If you literally waste no time and everything you do is productive, then wow, I'm impressed.

But I'll take you at your word that you're so busy there's no time in your current schedule. I certainly wouldn't trade sleep for exercise as that's generally a disaster. But Jason brought up a good point on the show about establishing a morning routine. All the e-mail etc can wait in the morning; if possible just take 20 minutes without even having your computer or phone on, step out on to the patio, do some warmups and stretching, pushups, wall-walks, etc. I'm not man enough to jump into a cold shower right after waking up though.

If you don't even have time for this, maybe install a chinup bar in your home and get like a pair of 16kg or 32kg kettlebells (idk how big or strong you are). Do some chinups when you can, do some swings or squats when you can. Run up the stairs to work, if there are stairs. Bring some therabands to the poker game and use them in between hands after you've mucked (I do this at every major tournament I go to).

Part of the issue seems to be that you want to do full-time job plus lots of poker, which is maybe like 1.5-2 full time jobs depending on how much poker you play. Obviously you'll run out of time doing that. At the end of the day you do have to make some time to take care of your body.

Sleeping after poker - yes, this is very hard for a lot of people. Pitch black room (shouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face), breathing exercise, and melatonin may help. Also some people (including me) do well hitting the hot tub/hot bath before sleep.

Well of course I'm going to say yes. Martial arts is a lot of fun, and you learn a lot about yourself. Most people find it more fun than lifting things up and putting them back down, or running like a hamster in a wheel, so they tend to stick with it. But there are a *ton* of really bad martial arts academies out there. Try out all the gyms in your area which offer a free trial. Post on sherdog.net training forums or mixedmartialarts.com to see if those gyms have a good/bad reputation. Avoid absolutely any place which has an exorbitant signup fee or makes you buy a bunch of crap, or otherwise does any high-pressure sales.

Probably over 80% of people who train martial arts never fight. I know people who have been doing the stuff 10 years and have never competed in anything. They seem happy and they keep showing up to train, and many of them are legit badasses whom I would never want to have angry at me in a back alley. Competition isn't everything.

Answering in reverse order as I think it's a bit more coherent that way.

Every answer I've given in this thread, I've tried to respond to the information given to the individual.

Health and fitness are related but not identical. Clearly, choosing whole unprocessed foods or getting lots of quality sleep are things that are just as critical to a regular Joe and a competitive athlete.

People who are overweight and/or have metabolic/autoimmune issues definitely need to cut out grains, soy, and sugar. It may also serve them well to go low-carb at least cyclically and perhaps do some intermittent fasting. People who have stress issues and sleep issues should probably cut down on caffeine, do some meditation or water floating, avoid bright computers/TV before bed, and sleep in a dark, cool room. Competitive athletes (especially those in high-intensity or long-duration sports) can use caffeine effectively as a supplement, eat more meals, and eat higher carbs. The general rule is, the "faster" the carb, the closer it should be consumed to the exercise period. Fats should largely be consumed outside the exercise period.

I think macro ratios are like the VPIP of nutrition -- way too much attention is paid to them in a vacuum relative to their worth. It is very individual.

As for the meta-question of how I have come to the conclusions I have come to -- basically, reading a lot of stuff. Trying to analyze critically. Seeing where people mis-cite the source material, or might have an agenda to push. I do empathize when people say "there's so much contradictory information out there and I don't know whom to believe", because it's true. I just happen to have an interest in the stuff and an inclination to dig deep into it.

T Chan, would you please list a typical meal plan that you would consume for a typical day?

Really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thanks. Some very useful advice in there, I will be 're-reading it a few times and trying to incorporate as much of it as possible

Adam, my advice to you would be much different than the advice Terrence gave you. Maybe it is out of line for me to do so on this forum so I won't provide it. However, if you are interested in another opinion I would be happy to give one. For example, my advice to you for exercise would be based on the following two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Endur...rance+training

http://www.amazon.com/80-20-Running-...=80+20+running

My nutritional advice would also be different, if you are interested....

I assume you dont train at all
1 Gym weights: Squat, deadlift, benchpress. (Overheadpress, barbell rows can be added) only compound exercises free weights no machines)
twice a week
2 Run every other day 30 minutes in the morning
3 yoga, stretching, sex whatever
4 Dont eat ****, Fresh non processed food.



Dont complicate things, only compound freeweights exercise

Run a lot, and do your running outside rain or shine (it's great for your immunesystem, fresh air, the great outdoors.), not on a treadmill, you cheat yourself on the treadmill. ( treadmill pulls you forward, on the road you have to pull yourself forward.)
When you train a lot you can eat everything, if you eat healthy you can stuff yourself all day, lots of protein and (healthy) fats.

You need a lifestylechange not a diet.


Profit!!!

Here's a group of people that live on corn and beans and don't get sick......

http://naturalrunningcenter.com/2015...e-viewing-nrc/

If you're going to combine cardio and lifting into one workout, is it better to do cardio first, then lifting, or vice versa? Or does it not matter?

I can see how you wouldn't want to fatigue your legs on the exercise bike, then do squats, but if you aren't doing cardio that targets the same muscle groups you're lifting with, does it matter?

A related question, if you are using the Easy Strength method, can you get your cardio in during the 5-minute rest period between sets? It may not seem like resting, but as long as you're letting the muscles rest that you just used to lift, aren't you killing two birds with one stone? T said that one problem with Easy Strength is getting bored during the rest period. It seems like weaving cardio in between sets is the solution.

Interested in T's take, but in addition to two lifting sessions per week (one arms one legs), I do a 3rd session that is 'cardio' but involves weights.

Each 'cardio' session is a set of 10 exercises. 50 reps of each exercise. Rest during and between exercises is only as needed/required and the goal is to complete all exercises, with good form, as quickly as possible, improving times overall.

Here's this morning's session:

50 Box jumps
50 Kettlebell swings (16kg)
50 Walking lunges (holding 16kg kettlebell to chest; each leg counts as 1)
50 Push press (16kg kettlebell)
50 Leg extensions (lay on back, legs in air, pull one leg in to meet opposite elbow while extending other leg, then other leg to opposite elbow. Both legs to count as 1)
50 supermans (lay on stomach, lift arms/legs up... don't know the name)
50 shuttle run (each direction counts as 1)
50 jump rope (this is far easier/quicker than the rest)
50 burpees (used bench to put hands on, not all the way to the ground)
50 situps

I'm no expert (that's why I use a personal trainer) but I can tell you that while my muscles felt like they were being exercised the primary impact was cardio.

Weights can of course be adjusted based on your strength. This particular set took me a bit over 30 minutes to complete, plus time for stretching before and after.

If we're talking about the mental effects of changing your diet & exercise: decision making, concentration, stamina, etc; is there any way you can quantify or otherwise articulate the scale of improvement you anticipate from making these changes?

Like, how many more good decisions per day do you think you make from optimising your diet and routine? Or, if averagely well rested and OK diet is 100, (and hungover like 30) where do you think you are after a good night's sleep, and where do you think you are at peak condition? Or however best you think you can express it.

Thanks for the thread!

I think T nailed most of it on the head. If I were you I would just focus on staying in the game. Start with a program that isn't going to get you too sore or beat up. Also, stay away from really intense workouts until your body is getting into a good groove.

For the first month I would recommend 3 weight training days a week and 5 cardio days, set up for a total of 5 days on and 2 days off. One of the cardio days would be more of an active recovery day after training your legs hard.

Here is just a rough shell of something I would suggest for getting back into the groove and starting to develop a good base. There are a 1000 different ways to get there, so don't take this as the gospel.

-Train M,T,TH,F, S have Weds, Sun off.

I would do squats on a Monday and Friday so Tuesday/Saturday I could do a light cardio day to get a bit of the soreness out and have Wednesday/Sunday to rest them completely.

You workout shell could be something like

All cardio and be brisk walk on treadmill keeping heart rate around 120-130 BPM for 30-40 minutes (bring some good music or a podcast to listen to and the time will burn by)

Monday/Friday
----------------
10 min brisk walk to get a sweat going

Squats (focus on form before weight) 4 sets with 2-3 practice/warmup sets before to stretch hips and get CNS firing.

Dumbbell Bench Press 3x8-10 reps

Seat Cable Row 3x10

Dumbbell Curl 3x10

30 minute brisk walk and light cool down stretch afterwords

Tuesday/Thursday
--------------------
10 min brisk walk/very light static stretch (do NOT torque on sore muscles!)

Bodyweight lunges 3 x10 each leg (make sure you getting out far enough to feel a good stretch in your groin/hip area but not letting your knees touch the ground)

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3x10

Lat-Pull Down 3x10

Assisted Dip Machine 3x10 at a weight that is still pretty tough for you by the end.

Very slow and light Good Mornings to work on lower back/core strength and hamstring flexibility. 3x10

30-40 mins of brisk walking

Saturday

40 mins walking


This is just a very basic workout plan that will be effective at developing some strength and flexibility. Like I said, we want to keep you in the game. The first month is very important to not get burnt out. After you've developed a good foundation you can start training more intensely. You will be excited after seeing gains and then you will have the internal motivation to really crank it up.

Remember, this is a lifestyle, its not a workout or fitness plan.


As for diet suggestions, here are a few things you can focus on that are very easy and will help you quickly shed pounds.

DON'T
- Eat sandwiches - get a lettuce wrap or eat the insides of the sandwich naked
- Drink any kind of fruit juice. Having an orange or some berries is fine in moderation, but juices are an easy way to dump 40+ grams of sugar into your body. You can find the vitamins that fruits contain elsewhere, minus the sugar.
- Drink Gatorade or Sports Drinks
- Drink Cola
- Have eat cereal or granola.

Do
- Eat more fat after you have dropped the sugar. (Avocados, Unsweetened coconut products, fatty fish, cook with olive oil)
- Drink loads of water, especially when you feel hungry.
- Have some dark chocolate everyday. This will curb your sweet tooth. Try to get 85% and if you're really craving a sweet-cheat, get some unsweetened peanut butter and throw it on top of the 85%.
- Take krill oil as well as a good probiotic. (suggest Thorne nutrition)
- Eat more nuts as a snack. They are loaded with calories, so don't go HAM. Nuts will keep you full. Brazil Nuts, Almonds and occasionally some cashews are good.

I've said it before, but www.bengreenfieldfitness.com is possibly the best resource out there. His podcasts and articles are incredible. You can also fork up some ched and get the guru to have a few sessions with you over Skype if you're really serious. Here is a nice resource of easy meals when you're training hard.




http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/...busy-athletes/


Good luck!!!!
-J

Hmm... My natural instinct with sore muscles is to stretch them. Can you possibly elaborate on this concept?

I disagree with the idea that anyone should incorporate more refined fats into their diet. Just as it has been suggested to eat the fruit instead of the fruit juice, eating nuts is much better for you than eating the oil from nuts. The oil by itself has little nutritional value and just adds empty calories to your diet. Remember fats are 9 calories per gram as opposed to 4 calories per gram for protein or carbohydrates. For those trying to lose weight, whole foods with a lower caloric density and higher nutritional value are far superior to oil (any kind of oil).

In general, eating whole foods as opposed to the processed parts of a whole food are always better for your health. Eat raw peanuts instead of peanut oil. Instead of olive oil, eat olives. Instead of fruit juuce, eat fruit. The unprocessed whole foods contain fiber which fill you up and help in digestion. Fiber is one nutrient that most people don't get enough of.

Also, the idea that caffeine is good for you, I find troubling. Now add some butter or processed oil to your coffee for some kind of super drink is also troubling. Caffeine is not a nutrient, it is a drug that can be addictive and harmful. It raises blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Maybe some people find that caffeine gives them a boost they need, but it should not be recommended to the average person.

The gun to my head answer is "cardio first".

The better answer is to not do them in the same session. Aerobic training and strength training use different energy pathways, they have different resultant hormonal responses in the system. If you're going to jog for an hour at a slow pace and then hit the powerlifting rack, your body is going to say "wtf, what do you want from me" and not adapt as well to each one as well as if you chose one, then rested for the rest of that day.

That said, there's nothing wrong with warming up with 15-20 minutes of running/rowing/biking before you hit the heavy weights. Or sneaking in some *light* dumbbell/kettlebell work after your run.

Your muscles are not divorced from your nervous system. If you fatigue your nervous system, you fatigue your muscles.

Some light skipping or fast walking in between sets is fine. Well under 120bpm, or if you prefer, you should have enough breath to recite the lyrics to your favourite rap song without dropping the beat. Please please do not under any circumstances decide to kill time by doing intervals, then getting under a squat rack to lift 80% of your max, or Adam and I may be eulogizing you on the Pokercast.

I think this is fine for you as a hockey player/athlete, but maybe a bit too advanced/metabolically stressful for beginners and people who are out of shape. Advanced in the sense that a lot of these are technical movements which require good form (and form always falls apart when you're tired). Stressful in the sense that it is high-intensity for quite a long duration. This is a good tough full-body S&C program for an athlete but I would not recommend this to someone hitting the gym for the first time in years.

This is probably fairly variable, but you could figure it out if you wanted to. Just make a spreadsheet with these inputs:

Date
Sleep quality of previous day
RPE of previous day
Resting heart rate upon waking up
Reaction time (http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime)
Dual n-back score (link got censored, so google it)

There was a time where I obsessed about various self-quantifying stuff, but I find it takes up way too much time and is pretty tedious. I'm pretty confident that eating well and sleeping well makes me mentally better; whether it's 35 of these units or 193.2 of these other units has stopped mattering to me.