Fitness Challenge!

**tripleblessed** · 11th July 11, 12:57 PM

My apologies to all offended. Few if any will ever match what I have lifted, and I'm just short of 6 feet and under 200 pounds. I've been working with nutrition and health science longer than most on this thread have been alive, and my only interest is informational for your health and longevity. In this life, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances. Be well, live long, have fun. I'll not bother you on this thread again.

Joshua, thanks for the offer. Saw this information years ago, and through the years. Broader reading is a good habit.

Again, I regret any hurt feelings.

**tpa** · 11th July 11, 01:12 PM

Great thread, good idea, obviously a popular theme. I have been regulated by my kilt size since my teens. Now do about 25 mins a day on my mountain bike up and down about 500 ft. off road. Need some incentive to work on my upper body. Since I stopped selling crates of beer for a living, have been neglecting that, so hopefully this thread will be a good enough incentive to get me started on that on a regular basis.

**Joshua** · 11th July 11, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by tripleblessed

My apologies to all offended. Few if any will ever match what I have lifted, and I'm just short of 6 feet and under 200 pounds. I've been working with nutrition and health science longer than most on this thread have been alive, and my only interest is informational for your health and longevity. In this life, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances. Be well, live long, have fun. I'll not bother you on this thread again.

Joshua, thanks for the offer. Saw this information years ago, and through the years. Broader reading is a good habit.

Again, I regret any hurt feelings.

No hurt feelings... I just reversed basically every autoimmune disorder I had ever had (pre-diabetic, fatty liver disease, chrons disease, and am curing obesity) by eating this way... therefore I staunchly defend it, as anyone would who honestly considers their life saved by something...

What kind of lifting did you do? My background is strongman, Olympic style weightlifting, and the Games, of course.

**tripleblessed** · 11th July 11, 03:59 PM

Since you asked, I'll intrude again. First, kudos to all on this thread for taking on the challenge.

Joshua, to you, congratulations for taking personal responsibility for recovery, and making the improvements you have. The area of autoimmune illness is very complex, and often counter-intuitive. The main requirement is personal involvement.

I have never done the kinds of lifting you have, and have never reached the strength levels as the guys you have hung out with. However, I spent a lot of years doing heavy work, including feeding billets into the furnace on a rolling mill in a steel mill. I wasn't there long, but I broke production records at every size billet. Small were 28 feet long and 215 pounds, largest 32 feet and 500 pounds. Cut the wire holding bundle together, pull across the work table 1 or 2 onto the rollers on the side of the table, and shove toward the furnace. If any fell on the floor, they had to be lifted by hand. The crane operator didn't like my hair, so to mess with me he'd hit the back of the pile hard enough to knock 8-20 onto the floor. At the 215 pound size, I moved 231 in an hour, 201 was the prior record, with two guys working together (I worked solo). Any time I was above 180 an hour, I was lifting one to two tons off the floor, and 231 is right at 50,00 pounds moved by hand. At the 500 pound size, prior best was about 90, with 2 guys. I did 117, and above 80 would typically have 8-12 to lift off the floor (2-3 tons), so best was 58,500 pounds by hand, not machine. As I said, not the strongest guy around, but at 185, not too shabby. And in a mill that spanned about 80 years, I was the only idiot stupid enough to lift the 500 pounders by hand solo.

**tripleblessed** · 11th July 11, 05:09 PM

This was all a long time ago, and only in the last couple of years did the math totals come up, and having posted them, it later occurs to me that's only by the hour. My working partner (weighed about 265) and I chose to work solo, an hour on and an hour off during our shift, so 4 working hours, 4 playing cards. With 4 hours working, deadlifted 4-10 tons a day. On occasion, double shifts.

**cryerelizabeth** · 11th July 11, 05:11 PM

wow... thats some heavy lifting

**tripleblessed** · 12th July 11, 06:45 PM

Fairly deafening silence in response, but it got me thinking. I was mostly watching this thread to push me to get going on taking a few inches off the waist and get back some endurance. On my 61st birthday I walked 10 miles, but of late have been slipping. Admire all here who are participating.

Relevance to the thread of the work story. When I started there, I was pretty strong for my size and in in pretty good shape. 45.5 inch chest, 25.5 waist. Had done construction work which grew me that way. I was NOT, however, strong enough to lift the billets off the floor onto the rollers. Up, yes, but not high enough for the rollers. The Merchant Mill had been inactive for a couple of years while selling stock down, so we started slow, and with the smallest billets, around 45-60 an hour while the millwrights tweaked and recalled how to set the line for the product. Built speed. At the end of the first week, I could get one done. After two weeks, I could do two or three in a row, even the last hour of the shift. When we moved to larger steel, same song, second verse, but after a few days could handle the extra. So on up in sizes. Gradually built up to the final numbers above.

If the crane operator had not been such a jerk, I never would have achieved such production. I didn't want him to be able to brag about how he got the hippie kid fired for not being able to keep up, so I found ways to cope, and down the road the strength gained saved my life in motorcycle and work crashes.

All of us start from wherever we are. By regular work and regular increase in expectation, we gain strength and fitness. All of us profit from having someone who will push us beyond what we thought we could do. All that's required is willingness to keep playing, improvement WILL follow.

It can be helpful to change perspective. Einstein said everything, everyone is connected, related, joined. An inter-related field. Religious paths tell us the Divine Being is the Source from which we emanate and to which we are connected. If that's true, and I believe it is, then I am/you are the visible manifesting of the mind of the Divine. Or the center of the Universe, if you prefer. I am now less concerned with being strong and more aware of BEING STRENGTH. Less on fit, more on BEING ENDURANCE. Not any comparison of systems here, so I think/hope no violation of rules. Just a way to get yourself beyond your preconceived ideas of your limits.

At 64 and survivor of several crashes, being told in 1991 I'd never walk again, I'm in need of remedial work. Had to quit working 9 years ago. As a result, chest has slipped to 47", waist up to 35. Your good thoughts appreciated.