More workout difficulties

Quote: Nareed

Certainly. And your analogy is very good. But I'm talking about increasing muscle, not adding power. If the bone needs to be damaged, the nanobots can do that, too (of course, you'll wind up with lots and lots of nanobots; maybe they'll disturb or drive out the microbiome... hmm, I sense a gimmick for a story!) Perhaps the same with the tendons (of course you'll wind up with lots and lots... oh, wait. I seem to be repeating myself).

I still say you'd be a mess.

I'll go along with a full body upgrade. Just have the bots bump up everything, right? But you're forgetting the mind. You ever observe children? It's usually the ones between 8 and 14. You know, the "growth age". They grow at such an astounding rate (relatively) that it throws them all off. They're gangly, and clumsy, and awkward, all because things aren't where the brain remembers them to be.

It's just like your shoes. If you wear a certain style a majority of the time, and then suddenly switch to a different pair, your instances of trips and slips increase. Just millimeters of extra tread, or a slight extension of a heel, makes your ordinary gait catch on things they wouldn't normally. Same with kids. They go to reach for a cup, but because their fingers are fractions of a mm further than they were last week, they bang it over.

Now imagine these bots change your body at the same rapid pace. You go to grab and egg and squash it in your hand. You go to flip a sautee and throw it across the room lol. You'd be a complete disaster until you've had weeks and months to relearn muscle memory. After that you'd be OK, but those first months would be hilarious XD

I now can't stop imagining you turning buff overnight and throwing food all over the places unintentionally XD

Quote: FrGamble

As much as these nano bots and other things that promise what they can't deliver are tempting

Nanobots as of now are lab curiosities of unkown potential. But keep in mind they once took over the Enterprise ;)

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Face is right there is no escaping the hard work, sweat, and clanging of metal plates needed to build our muscles or get in shape.

Not yet.

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Hard work and dare I say it, sacrifice, are always required for good things to happen.

You had to bring up the s-word.

IT's not. As much as I dislike working out, there's no sacrifice involved. Clearly the exercise does me good, ergo it is to my benefit.

Quote: Face

You'd be a complete disaster until you've had weeks and months to relearn muscle memory. After that you'd be OK, but those first months would be hilarious XD

But if you're ok eventually, then it's not much of a morality myth ;)

The reason I don't think it can work so easily is that the body is a complex, messy (never forget messy in biology), highly interconnected and interdependent mass of diverse tissue.

Take the microbiome. That means the symbiotic bacteria who calls your body home. We know only a few things about it. We know the bacteria in your intestines is essential for digesting food, and very little else. We're finding out it may have influence past a merely local role for each area where the bacteria live. I even have the feeling it may prove to be an integral part of our body, like a diffuse organ or system.

But there's only so much room inside your body. Introducing billions of tiny robots may upset your microbiome, or damage it, or worse. And how will the immune system respond? Some bacteria, for instance, may be beneficial in certain levels, and harmful in others.

That aside, muscles have evolved alongside the rest of you. Doing weights builds them up. But you do more than cause minor damage to muscle cells when you exercise. You also are moving, have blood circulating, raise your temperature, etc. It may be all of it is needed, or parts of it. Perhaps just damaging the muscles will lead to some different outcome.

All too often what seems like a simple, clear-cut solution in medicine turns out to be anything but.

Back on topic, as the magic nanobots haven't been released by Apple as yet, it seems while the work schedule remains busy the best I'll be able to do is three workouts a week. Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Therefore I need to find a way to maximize what I can get from each one. I'm thinking of a goal of no less than 30 minutes of cardio followed by no less than 20 minutes of weights or other strength type exercises. Not at once, obviously, but rather by, oh, maybe mid-March.

I've been oscillating between good and bad years in fitness. 2011-12 I was able to work out almost every weekday after work. I even took the weekends off. 2012-13 we began leaving an hour later, and that plus the traffic screwed it all up. 2013-14 I managed to work out most mornings and weekends. And now I 2014-15 we've been leaving even alter than 7 pm, say at a guess 8:30 pm on average, which keeps me from getting enough sleep to exercise in the morning (it's one or the other).

It's getting so bad I'm thinking about using the stairs only because "that's good exercise." But perhaps I should save that for when I want to hate myself...

I've been very partially compensating by walking to the bank. Depending on which of two banks I need to get to, the distance walked is between 1 and 1.5 kilometers. That's not bad, but of course I can't maintain a high(ish) speed, and there's a short break at the bank. It's still better than nothing.

My last card to play is to change my arrival time at work. We don't have a firm time, but typically I get in between 8:30 and 8:45, largely depending on traffic. Everyone else arrives around 9:30 to 10:00. I could just get in at 9-9:30 and work out at my "leisure" around 7-8 am.

the one big problem is once I do that, something else will screw things up.

See what you think of this. You too, FrGamble and Face.

8min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAegjiRddeY

Quote: rxwine

See what you think of this. You too, FrGamble and Face.

8min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAegjiRddeY

I think I should ask IT to get speakers for my work computer....

Quote: rxwine

See what you think of this. You too, FrGamble and Face.

Melding mind with body? Of course that's optimal. (Jesus, lay of the weights, guy)

The same is true with everything. A hockey shot isn't just swinging a stick as hard as possible; it's very much a series of events, a series which must be actuated at precise moments in order to work. You have to explode with the hips, really drive the stick into the ice, follow through with the arms, and the flick the wrist right on time. All this you have to do at just the right moment, which begins just as a moving puck reaches the right area in front of you. I've been playing hockey for, what, 18yrs total now? I just figured this all out not 5 years ago. Mind wasn't with body; I thought you just swung really hard.

Same with weights. Climb a step and you're just going to climb a step. Focus on it, though, and you can target every bit of muscle you're intending to work on. Try it at home. Climb a flight, notice your fatigue. Climb it again, focusing on getting the full range of the step and maximum range of the muscle, and then see how you feel. The latter will qualify you for the Ministry of Silly Walks, but you'll get more results out of that work.

Quote: Face

Melding mind with body? Of course that's optimal.

Didn't we agree the brain is part of the body?

As the Aussies say, "No worries." At least if one of your goals is health. No need to kill yourself exercising.

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Exercising strenuously more than three times a week was associated with increased vascular risk, which echoes the findings of another recent report that found pushing your body too hard can undo the benefits of exercise.

http://time.com/3709816/moderate-exercise-is-best/