tigger68

Paul, you're in the right place and doing the right things. Just remember to scroll through the previous posts to see about what kind of exercise you want to do...then work it into your daily routine, but most of all, have FUN!

If you could invent some liquid cooling system for the suit, you could make a fortune because everyone not just stealth troopers would love to have it during the heat of the summer. Fantastic looking armor! Hope your DLT comes in really soon.

Congratulations. I hope you have a great wedding and life together. I agree with lunarlord, you should plan a SW wedding, nothing like starting off how you plan to continue

Terry I'm going to be at the Star Wars movie night (6/25 in Olathe-in my ID) and also the game in Topeka on 6/26. Hope to see you at one of those.

Okay I promised Pandatrooper I'd post regarding the EA Sports Active More Workouts game he sent me. I have to say after one week I'm very impressed with the game. It is very user friendly, I'm able to set the exercises I want to do (a big plus over most systems) and the profile is really helping to keep me on track. Its only been one week, so I'm not expecting to see any real big results, but I'll keep posting what I do notice. One minus for me though, is I really enjoy cooling down using the Yoga on Wii Fit/Wii Fit Plus, but I'm adjusting. It will be interesting though because I am currently on a fairly good sized dose of Prednisone which makes it difficult to lose weight so if this game is able to help me lose weight and control my appetite (which exercising does for me, don't ask why) and helps me sleep, then I'm all for it. So far, no real change in progress, but after only one week, I'm not expecting much knowing my body. I'm expecting a lot more in the coming weeks. This is tigger68 signing off...gotta go check the mailbox for the final 2 pieces for my imperial officer's uniform... yeah, finanical constraints have made it impossible for me to finish my other costumes right now, so I'm compromising to get into the 501st.

Cool Terry! Now we just have to coordinate it so I can see it live while trooping!

I was looking forward to getting this for my birthday next month Now I have to wait until October?????

Happy Birthday Army! Stay safe everyone! Especially those currently serving...that includes at least one member of my local garrison...stay safe Ed! We can't lose too many Sith Lords.

Ran across this article today regarding the psychiatric evaluation of Darth Vader by some French psychiatrists. Thought it was interesting, and somewhat insightful, if a little obvious. Enjoy! Just don't tell the big guy that you got it from me okay? Professional Diagnosis of Vader's Mental Problems

Yes he is. When Sarah put her hands on her belt, he did the same thing. It was soo cute and I wished I had a video camera instead of my Nikon, but I just had to get that shot.

Good Job! But you need to eat, remember, if you don't eat, your body will find the nutrients somewhere and the only place it can get it from it itself. As for the Wii, good thing you're not playing on it, but for those of use who can't work out outside (severe thunderstorms with tornadoes anyone?) It does provide a good option. I have taken Pandatrooper's challenge, and he sent me the EA Sports Active More Workouts game last week. I just created my profile on the Wii this morning and am looking forward to the next six weeks. I'll report in weekly on my progress with the game. I am going to find it difficult to give up my WiiFit Plus because I've gotten to like it more and more, but I'm willing to try something new. I think I'll do some research on nutrition supplements and provide them here on the board. Keep up the good work everyone!

James welcome to the Trooper Fit Club. Feel free to look through the previous postings to get tips and hints, and to see what others are doing. It looks like you are doing everything right. Just one thing, if you ever get lightheaded or dizzy while working out, please reduce your intensity until it goes away. Other than that, you're on your way to a healthy body. Come join the rest of us!

Okay, I'm out of ideas to post this week. For some reason my brain has shut down, enough that I lost my bluetooth headset somewhere last night when I went with friends to see Ironman2...so maybe its a good thing I haven't posted anything. Oh, btw, I have taken pandatrooper up on his challenge to try the EA Sports Active system. As soon as I receive it and start using it, I'll be posting my progress here on a regular basis. Thanks panda for this opportunity.

Last Friday (June 4th) our Garrison, Rebel Legion and Mandalorian Mercs trooped Star Wars night at the lcoal (just above amateur) professional baseball game (the T-bones). It was 94 degrees with 90% humidity and unfortunately one of the TKs didn't drink enough water, but other than that we all had a good time. The Whole Crew

Cool picture. Looks like a great time was had by all.

I'll give you a quick answer, start hydrating prior to the hike. This will help. Also, if you are at Philmont, see of one of the others has water you can share. Just use the guidelines I gave as to how much water you are going to need, you may need more than recommended. Don't over hydrate prior, but get some liquid in you. This will help prevent your body from completely losing all the necessary water it needs. The fact that you stopped sweating was a medical emergency, and you needed to get cooled down immediately, and hydrated. I'll see if there are any more recommendations and get back to you.

Part Two: Hydration Okay, everyone knows you are supposed to drink fluids to keep yourself hydrated during exercise. Well, this is also very important while trooping. Some quick background: The body's way of cooling itself is through evaporation of sweat from the skin. While exercising to help this happen, you should wear loose clothing, or clothing that wicks sweat away from the skin. Clothing that traps the sweat against the skin is creating a "wet suit effect" which will actually raise the temperature of your body. This is very important especially if you are exercising (trooping) in a hot and humid environment as the humidity in the air makes it difficult for the sweat to evaporate from the skin. This can lead to heat illness (see post above) and other physiological problems like dehydration as the body tries to sweat more to cool itself down. So, we need to prevent dehydration, hypohydration (not enough water consumption) and hyperhydration. Prevention If you know you are going to be working out or trooping in hot weather drink a 16oz (~.5L) beverage several hours before the activity. During the activity: You should drink approximately 0.4-0.8L/hour adding up to 1 L/h for individuals who sweat excessively. If it is a hot and very humid day, please increase the fluid intake to more than 1 L/h preferably 1-1.5 L/h. Composition of the consumed fluids is also very important. If you are going to drink a sports drink, please make sure it is NOT high in glucose or sucrose. Yes these make it taste good, but it can be detrimental to the purpose of the drink. If you are planning on drinking a sports drink, you can drink the whole thing, but dilute it 50-50. 50% water adn 50% sports drink. The reason behind this is that the more dilute your sweat, the more your body will cool down. The more concentrated the drink, the more concentrated the sweat, the less the sweat can evaporate (yes, even while wearing armor). If you are determined to drink the sports drink, make sure that it contains low amounts of electrolytes. To replenish the sodium and potassium lost, you don't have to drink sports drinks. They can be replaced by consuming gels, energy bars and other foods containing these two electrolytes. After working out or trooping if you consume a meal with an appropriate amount of plain water this should be enough to replace the electrolytes as long as the food contains enough sodium to replenish that which was lost. Most pre-prepared foods consumed today have enough sodium to accomplish this. If you still feel excessively thirsty following your workout (troop) then you are probably not drinking enough fluid and are at risk for dehydration. Keep drinking water and throw an extra pinch of salt on your food to help combat this problem. Don't over hydrate as this can lead to more problems than dehydration. Listen to your body. To properly determine how much fluid you need, weigh yourself prior to a workout(troop). Record your weight and then weigh as quickly as possible after the workout (troop). Preferably perform both without armor, and with the same clothing on. The difference in the bodyweight is a good rule of thumb about how much fluid you have lost due to sweating that must be replaced. Remember one important thing. IF YOU FEEL THIRSTY, DRINK!!!! Your body is the best indicator of what you need. More than anything else this is vital. Stay hydrated, stay as cool as possible, but still have fun!

Part one of the Heat Related Illness and Hydration: HEAT EXHAUSTION A milder form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate or unbalanced replacement fluids. However, if the person is hot enough, it can happen within one day or hours depending on the activity of the person. Symptoms: Heavy sweating (more than usual in your armor) Paleness Muscle cramps tiredness weakness dizziness headache nausea or vomiting fainting The sking may be cool and moist. The victim's pulse rate will be fast and weak and breathing will be fast and shallow. If this is untreated it will lead to heat stroke which is a medical emergency. If the victim has high blood pressure or symptoms are severe SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION AND CALL 911 (if in the USA) IMMEDIATELY Treatment Cool non-alcoholic beverages may be consumed. Rest. Cool shower, bath, or sponge bath. Get out of the hot environment, remove your armor/costume and get into an air-conditioned environment if possible. Do not put your armor back on, change into lightweight clothing. HEAT STROKE A form of hyperthermia, an abnormally elevated body temperature. Unlike heat cramps and heat exhaustion, heat stroke is a medical emergency that can be fatal if not properly and promptly treated Symptoms: High Body Temperature Rapid pulse Difficulty breathing Strange behavior Hallucinations Confusion Agitation Disorientation Seizure Coma Treatment Get the victim to a shady area, remove clothing and apply cool or tepid water to the skin. For example you may spray them with water from a garden hose. Fan them to promote sweating and evaporation and place ice packs under the armpits and groin areas. Monitor body temperature with a thermometer and continue cooling efforts until the body temperature drops to 101-102oF (38.3-38.8oC) Always notify emergency services immediately. If their arrival is delayed they can give you further instructions for treatment of the victim. Prevention of both Avoid becoming dehydrated and avoid vigorous physical activities in hot and humid weather. If you have to perform physical activities (troop) in hot weather, drink plenty of fluids (water and diluted sports drinks) but avoid alcohol, caffeine, and tea which may lead to dehydration. If you are out in the sun for prolonged periods, you will need replenishment of electrolytes as well as the fluids. You can obtain this by drinking diluted sports drinks - more on that later. Take frequent breaks to hydrate yourself. This applies to both working out and trooping.

A couple of things in this post, and then I'll post the hydration article that I want everyone to pay particular attention to. First of all, Richard, you look great and you did it in a healthy way. A blow out (the beer and pizza thing) every once in a while won't hurt you. If you didn't do it you would probably end up bingeing in a bad way. The eating thing before a 6am run...what I'll recommend is this, take a fanny pack with you (yeah I know, not cool-looking enough for a stormtrooper), but maybe you could pretend its a thermal detonator Put a protein bar, or preferably a carbohydrate bar (PowerBar) in it along with water. Some runners use gels to provide energy. This will keep you from running out of steam on your run, and keep you going until you can get to your breakfast. Also, eating a protein bar, or preferably carbohydrate bar, about 1 hour before your run won't hurt. Just see what doesn't make you ill. Remember, this is all subjective and everyone is different.

My two cents worth, go have your free session, but if you are purchasing their products, and services, you can get the same results using Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, etc. Also, "certified Doctors" could mean anything, up to and including someone with a Ph.D. in English who is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Technially they are a "Certified Doctor." I don't know about the whole water with Aloe, tea to give you an energy boost - any tea with caffeine in it will do that, and the milk shake full of nutrients... It is wiser to change your eating habits gradually and increase your energy output gradually. You might not lose weight as fast, but you'll keep it off longer and have less of a chance of it coming back. You could also discuss this with your physician when you see him or her.

Tanner, please tell me you are joking. You're only eating less than a bowl of corn flakes a day? This is not good. You need to be consuming more calories. I'm serious. If you are only consuming a small amount of calories, your body will use itself to provide the nutrients to maintain itself. Please refer to one of my previous posts about daily caloric requirements. It is on page 2 of this topic.

I know its a little late, but I'd like to remember those who served and who are still serving. I hope that the younger generations learn the sacrifices that were made to get to where we are today. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they will. thank you all who serve/served!

Hayes, you've come to the right place. I'm going to give you some advice. tkrestonva has some very good suggestions. First of all, see your physician for a complete physical. This will give you a general overall picture of your health, and how your body is doing. Second, there isn't an instant "cure-all" for anything. I strongly advise against using diet pills, or other supplements like that because the side effects are not good for your body. Stay away especially from those diet pills containing anything that has amphetamine, or a similar product. Basically those are mild forms of "speed" which increase your metabolism by increasing your heart rate, etc. As you are already overweight, this taxes the heart quite a bit, and can cause serious problems, including heart fibrillation (where the heart doesn't pump correctly in sync, each section pumps when it "feels like it") and upto and including cardiac arrest. Not something you want to have happen. Speaking as someone who needs to lose 150lbs still to get down to where I really want to be, I completely feel your pain. I'd love to be able to take a pill, and have it come off tomorrow. Unfortunately it doesn't happen that way. Slow and steady will lose the weight and keep it off. Just adding walking to your daily regime will help increase your lean body mass, and decrease your lipid body mass. For those of you waiting for the advice on hydration and heat injuries, it will be posted tomorrow. I am also including the information in the June Newsletter as this information is crucial to keep everyone safe. Tiffanie

Okay, I'm going to address two topics today...I'm going to answer a question and also give some advice. First of all, MiDri, unfortunately there isn't a diet to make you taller. Yes, the younger generations are taller than the previous ones, and yes, some of that is due to the fact that we have better nutrition, but genetics do play a role. If they didn't play a role, I should be 5'10" at least (mother 5', father 6'5") and one of my female cousins should be at least 6' (mother 6'1", father 6'3" - mother is my father's sister) but she is only 5'3", and I'm 5'5". So you may get some gains due to nutrition, but genetics plays a large part in height also. As for eating steak to gain height...um your bones dictate how tall you will be, as that is where your growth occurs, and bones are made up primarily of calcium, so if you get enough calcium and vitamin D as a child, you should be your proper height. Steak, or red meat can't hurt, and will help build red blood cells and contractile proteins for your muscles, but it won't necessarily increase your height based on human physiology. Enough said about height, onto what I had planned for today. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness I'm going to add another bucket to my head (anyone have that 2nd generation FX so I can fit it over my AP?) and bring out my sports medicine degree. Everyone that I know of experiences this sometime. You've overdone it in the gym, you ran an extra mile because it was feeling so great at the time, you cycled another 10 miles because you didn't feel like you were dying...and then the next day you can barely move without wincing. This is technically called delayed onset muscle soreness. Now this is different from injury caused soreness which occurs almost immediately and has accompanying swelling and bruising. I'll address how to handle those injuries another time. What do I do when I can't walk across my bedroom after sleeping all night? How do I prevent this? First of all, this is a normal reaction of the body to exercise. There is still some debate on the exact cause, but most agree it is microscopic tears in the muscle proteins which help in the hypertrophy process. It is most common in the "eccentric" phase of muscle use. The eccentric phase is not your muscles being a little odd...in this context it is like when you are walking down a flight of stairs, your muscles have to contract at the same time as they are lengthening, this is an eccentric contraction. This soreness usually occurs 12-48 hours after a hard workout. Okay, now some advice on what to do after this happens and you are gritting your teeth just to take a shower the next day. 1. When you have finished a hard workout, try icing your large muscle groups. For example, if you lifted a lot of weights using your upper body, ice your biceps, forearms, etc. If you ran a lot, or did a lot of leg presses, ice your thighs and calves. One of the best inventions for ice is frozen peas. Uh huh, you heard me correctly frozen peas. They are tiny little ice capsules that will conform to your body easily, can be re-frozen and used again and again until the bag disintegrates. However, don't plan to eat them afterwards. The defrosting and refreezing process renders them unsafe to eat. 2. Move, don't just sit, you'll make it worse. This is called "active recovery" and is beneficial because it will increase the blood flow to the injured areas. Yes, it will be painful, but it will help in the long run. 3. Gently massage the sore areas. Research has shown it can decrease the soreness by about 30-35%, even if it doesn't affect muscle function at all. I'm a big proponent of massage therapy for more than just this. 4. Take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin, ibuprofen, aleve aka naproxen sodium). Tylenol (acetaminophen) will not help heal this, just mask the pain, I don't care what the advertisements on TV say, most physicians don't recommend it for muscle pain. At least none I've worked with. 5. If you do any yoga exercises they may help (see active recovery above). 6. DON'T do any vigorous exercise until the soreness is gone!!!!!!! This is very important as the soreness means you have caused damage to the area. Yes, it may be part of the adaptive process, but you can make it worse by doing vigorous exercise, and may cause enough damage you have to stop exercising for a while to recover. Its better to tone down the exercise, keep moving than to cause damage that will lay you up for a while. 7. IF YOUR SORENESS PERSISTS FOR MORE THAN 7 DAYS SEE A PHYSICIAN! Prevention: 1. Warm up thoroughly and cool down afterward. I cannot emphasis this enough. 2. Part of your cool down should include GENTLE stretching. No bouncing, ballistic movements, etc. 3. Use the 10 percent rule. What is that? Start slowly, and increase your time of exercise and intensity by only 10% every week. 4. Start any weight lifting routines with high reps (10-12), low weights and gradually increase the amount you lift over several weeks. Yes, I know that is not the way everyone says to build bulk, but you're trying to be able to keep lifting on a regular basis, not nursing injury right? 5. Avoid making sudden changes in the amount of exercise you do. 6. Avoid making sudden changes in the intensity of the exercise you do. 7. Follow these 10 tips for safe exercise: 1 - get a physical to make sure you're healthy enough to exercise; 2 - Gradually increase time and intensity; 3 - Visit a personal trainer (if you don't know what to do they can help, or post questions here and I'll do my best to answer them); 4 - Warm up before exercise (walking, jogging, or your exercise at a snail's pace); 5 - Don't workout on empty - you can eat 2 hours before working out, and it will help keep you from "bonking." Just a light meal, and then you can eat again afterwards; 6 - Don't get Dehydrated, drink 16 oz 2 hours before you exercise, and then replenish during exercise; 7 - Listen to your body! If you experience sharp pain, lightheadedness, or dizziness during exercise STOP IMMEDIATELY! This is your body telling you something is really wrong. It is better to stop for a day or two than to "work through the pain" and cause a life long injury. Remember, you're not being paid millions to work out; 8 - Take time for rest and recovery. Take rest days during the week. The body needs time to recover and restore itself. So give yourself a day off, and you'll feel better for it; 9 - Cross-train, do something different for exercise than the same old, same old, your body will be happier, and you won't be bored; and 10 - Dress properly, shoes: make sure they fit well and aren't in poor condition, clothing: make sure it wicks sweat from your body and helps to keep you cool. Okay, that's my r e a l l y long lecture for today. Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back next week with my hydration lecture for the beginning of June. And yes it will be a slightly long one because hydration is so important. Cheers!

I agree, the Tantive IV boarding scene...and yes I did want to be Leia at first, but then when the TKs won out, they just looked sooooo coooool! I always felt sorry for the one that first saw Leia, "There's one set for stun." Because she took him out, but then the second one got her, YEA! And when they all line up in the Death Star Bay 327 when the Millenium Falcon arrives, again it is just too cool.