“Fever feels bad. So we take medication to suppress it – but is this a good idea? It turns out fever is one of the oldest defenses against disease. What exactly is a fever, and how does it make your immune defense stronger? Should you take a pill to combat it?”

Sources & further reading: https://sites.google.com/view/sources…

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/278444

Why gain muscle?

• "total mortality was significantly lower in the fourth quartile of muscle mass index compared with the first quartile"

How much muscle will I gain?

For men:

• Year one: 20-25lb, 9-11⅓kg
• Year two: 10-12lb, 4½-5½kg
• Year three: 5-6lb, 2½kg
• All subsequent years: minimal amounts

So overall about 14-16kg above baseline

For women: Half the above.

How to gain muscle?

Do three things and you'll gain muscle:

• Eat a caloric surplus
• Eat a protein surplus
• Expose your muscles to high levels of tension (i.e. lift)

How much caloric surplus?

14-16 kcal per pound of bodyweight is your baseline

• Year one: 175 calories/dayover baseline
• Year two: 120 calories/day over baseline
• Year three: 60 calories/day over baseline

Sources: https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calories-for-muscle-gain

How much protein?

2.5-3.0 g per kilogram of bodyweight

Source: https://bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/protein-requirements-growth

How much/what kind of muscle tension?

You need high tension but also the right volume. High tension means 70-85% 1RM. No need to lift more than 85% of 1RM.

doi:10.1249/00005768-197500740-00003 and doi:10.2165/00007256-200737030-00004 are the classic papers on this.

30-60 reps per session: 3 sets of 10, and sometimes two different exercises per bodypart

5×5 is fine too; things like the Madcow or Stronglifts 5×5 give about the same muscle-tension as 3×10, and muscle tension is the whole point.

Train twice per week. The research is clear on this. Three times is not better than twice.

More complicated ways of getting that muscle tension

Heavy negatives (130% of 1RM) work but volume should be very low: 14-16 seconds of tension per session

Isometrics: A study doing 10 seconds of isometrics, three times a day (30s/day), six days a week, had the best gains in bicep size

I said three workouts a week is not better than two, but there might be an exception in the first week of a mesocycle. So a mesocycle would be: train four times a week for one week, train twice a week for five weeks, rest a week, repeat.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9992615

Im a male trying on several black leggings for running, stretching and cycling, I've never bought anything so tight. Im skinny built and have tried new balance, asics and adidas. My questions:

I've read some more expensive leggings have not a single, but double seam at the front side (crotch), whereas most simple leggings for men and women have just one seam in the middle. Should I return the leggings I bought and buy only the ones that have 2 seams at the front to better accommodate my manhood bits? I’ve also seen that expensive adidas leggings have just one seam at the front so, maybe I’m overthinking this?

Im not going commando or wearing sport shorts over the leggings because it doesn't have any purpose, except to drag you down when running, and look unflattering, even my boxer shorts make it look a big silly, because people notice them on my leggings, so I’m thinking about buying a thong, but I don’t know what brand to look for, if cotton would be better than polyester or if I should buy a V string or a G string.

The adidas I bought are cross high waist and are for women, however, I don’t see why I shouldn’t buy them: they sit good and aren’t too tight on the waist (seller told me leggings for women are wider on the thigh and smaller on the waist, but to me they look and sit good and the knit is softer than the other ones I bought, I like them. Am I going to regret keeping them?

Any other tips you have, welcomed.

How to use ChatGPT to lose weight and get in shape

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/807116

An honest look at the healthcare system.

Made by a Chinese scholar and a longform article as well.

It's !swimming@discuss.tchncs.de so if you are into swimming, potentially you have followed r/swimming this would be a place in lemmy-land.

Growing evidence that highly processed and refined foods are the leading contributor to rising obesity rates in the Western world is backed by a year-long study of the dietary habits of 9,341 Australians.

Because so much of modern diets consist of highly processed and refined foods – which are low in protein – people are driven to consume more energy-dense foods until they satisfy their protein demand.

The researchers found that repeat SARS-CoV-2 infections contribute significant additional risk of adverse health conditions in multiple organ systems.

Such outcomes include hospitalization; disorders affecting the lungs, heart, brain, and the body’s blood, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal systems; and even death. Reinfection also contributes to diabetes, kidney disease and mental health issues.

The findings are published Nov. 10 in Nature Medicine.

Stephen J. Carter, a cardiovascular physiologist at the Indiana University Bloomington School of Public Health, said that shorter, more intense workouts are better than longer, less intense workouts at lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and reducing overall mortality rates.

One of Mr. Howell’s favorite full-body, no-equipment, time-efficient workouts is simple and can be scaled to any fitness level or ability.

The workout is: Five body weight squats, five push-ups and a 30-second plank — repeated six times, resting for no more than 30 seconds between rounds. If you can’t do a push-up on the floor, do it against a countertop or a stable bench. You can modify the plank by putting your knees on the floor or doing a standing plank by placing your forearms on the wall.

Summary: Based on the criteria set for tobacco addiction, a new study reports that highly-processed foods can be addictive.

Source: University of Michigan

“Of note, there is no biomarker in the brain that tells us whether something is addictive or not,” Gearhardt said. “Identifying that tobacco products were addictive really boiled down to these four criteria, (which) have stood up to decades of scientific evaluation. Highly processed foods meet every single one of these criteria.”

DiFeliceantonio said the ability of highly processed foods to rapidly deliver unnaturally high doses of refined carbohydrates and fat appear key to their addictive potential.

The researchers focused on one particular fat found in the blood of the mice fed a ketogenic diet: palmitic acid, which is commonly found in animal fats and dairy products. Remarkably, mice fed a normal diet who were injected with palmitic acid also became more susceptible to sepsis.

In this study, Napier and colleagues learned that palmitic acid can trigger trained immunity. The fat acts as a "brief pulse of inflammation" that alters the function of stem cells in the mouse's bone marrow so that they produce more inflammatory innate immune cells in the future. This means that when the innate immune system encounters a second inflammation stimulus later on, it responds much more strongly. Sometimes, as in the case of sepsis, this response is too strong.

It's this double-edged sword where if you have exposure to high fat and then exposure to a disease where more inflammation exacerbates the disease, then it's a bad thing," says Napier. "But if you're in the context where you eat high fat and then you get an infection and more inflammation helps you clear infection quicker, it's a good thing.

Adding cinnamon to your coffee "doesn't have to be a seasonal tradition," and the benefits may have you making it a common occurrence, she continues. "Cinnamon boosts thermogenesis in the body, which in turn, results in more calories burned," Richards explains.

Patients who took a daily dose of the drug, baxdrostat, were able to reduce their blood pressure substantially, compared to a people who got a placebo, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting on Monday. The new type of oral medication works by targeting a hormone that regulates the amount of salt in the body.

Some of the benefits are lost when using ground almond. Almonds consume a lot of water, particularly in California where 80% of almonds are grown.

The 6 Best VR Workout Games for the Meta Quest 2

Felt like I was pretty conservative. How about you?

Stuart Phillips recommends at least .54 grams of protein per pound (1.2 grams per kilogram) of body weight. If you’re a physically active older adult, you should probably be consuming .72 to 1 grams of protein per pound (1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram) of body weight, depending on your physical activity level.

If you are looking for vegetarian food and vegan meals that are nourishing and packed with fresh, heart-friendly ingredients for your diet

Foodnoms is a calorie, water, caffeine, all in one food tracker. That tracks your food but not you, it requires no signup and doesn't sell your data

My arms, shoulder and back feel cooked after giving these a good go today.

Ready for any future lockdowns! Still need to get some weights for the barbell but it's 20kg unloaded so good for some HIIT sets

I have an elliptical machine I use every day for cardio but with gyms closed during lockdown I've been limited to bodyweight exercises which I'm getting a bit bored of.

Fortunately some new stock has landed in stores in my area and I just ordered a pair of adjustable dumbells. Can't wait for them to arrive.

Anyone else got a nice little home gym setup they want to share?

Gyms have been closed for more than a month and I miss my weekly boxfit and HIIT classes to work up a sweat.

I decided to mix it up a bit and I registered for the May50k MS challenge and the Headspace 3046 pushup challenge. I raised about $600 between the two challenges to worthy causes but it also meant that last month I did 3046 pushups in 21 days and ran over 150km.

OK I might have hobbled the last 20km as my ankle was a bit shot and it's getting a bit cold outside.

The challenge kept me interested and got me out of the house for the runs. At the same time I wonder if I lived in the city or a place in total lockdown like Wuhan if I could have run around a tiny apartment for 150km worth?!

Some days I like the routine but other days you HAVE to mix it up to keep it interesting and get out of your comfort zone.

I'm hibernating for the winter to weigh up my options, but what are you going to do to get out of your comfort zone post lockdown?