So, i've thought about things that might be good to change with my workout, and i'm moving to doing just about everything underhanded and when cycling, doing eccentric pedaling.

The underhanded stuff is because i've noticed that everythign i do, is done overhanded. Whenever i'm pushing, lifting, or pulling, i'm always use an overhand grip and it tends to favor certain muscles while leaving others underdeveloped. So, in order to help balance that, i'm going to start doing all lifting underhanded, and cycling using eccentric pedaling. I'm gonna try underhanded kettlebell swings as well, will start with a light weight so that i don't risk snapping my elbow ligaments. But it has worked very well with my rowing machine, and doing things like underhanded pulldowns and bench presses. I feel more powerful, which is a nice blessing.

So, i'm starting dry fasting today.

We hear people talk about how much they can lift, or how hard they can punch, but what about the inverse of that? Do you focus on lowering the weight or retracting your arm? The inverse of lifting might be thought of as fasting. I'm starting doing a couple dry fast days ( nonconsecutive) per week........ dry fasts are supposed to help with autophagy more, and help with the sympathetic nervous system b/c i'm always stressed, and also help increase dopamine so i'll hopefully get more motivated so that the juice is worth the squeeze and i'll actually go out get 'er done.

I kinda naturally fast during the day as I've always had morning nausea / no appetite and then don't eat until 4-5 pm. That works since I use Cannabis to sleep and before falling asleep I have breakfast at midnight. Basically living on 2 meals a day.

Does it reduce stress? The Cannabis does lol. But I do drink plenty fluids throughout the day, tea mostly and a cafe mocha in the morning. Not drinking at all during the day doesn't seem like a good idea, careful with headaches.



I got my stress relief and plenty dopamine today. It's finally above 0, +4c with the sun breaking through here and there. I put on my running shorts and just got back from a 3.2 hour, 27 km run. My legs are burning but I feel good, relaxed, happy. It was quite the workout as most of my run was on the trails. Melting packed snow either from people walking or snow mobiles. It's like running on the beach, energy sapping, every step sinking in. Hence taking over 3 hours. But only one chance today, next it will be too slushy and mud on still frozen ground.

The sun peeking out is my motivation to go. But generally, just the knowledge I'll feel better after exercising is enough to get motivated. Just some days are really hard to get going, those especially dark grey winter days, ugh.

Oh I'd say I done 50 at least. I usually can get more in but somedays I just want to get it over and done with to clear the mind with some post nut clarity.

I've been lazy with the workouts lately, and getting back into it, I fucked my arm and back doing weighted cardio about a week ago, and haven't been able to do even basic calisthenics without a lot of pain. Nothing I'll see a doctor about as it's already about 30-40% healed, but it's going slower than I figured it would. Hot/cold therapy works wonders, and weed makes the pain vanish (and each time I get high, it seems to fix it about 5-10%, but I'm not going to work out while high with an injury.

Thought I'd just warn, if it isn't common sense already, do not jump back in full steam, even after just a few weeks off - you'll regret it. And I've made this mistake multiple times before, usually injuring my chest, which takes a lot longer to heal (in my experience, 1-2 months).

Does fasting reduce stress?  yes, no, probably somewhat depending.  Ultimately though, i expect it to help more as weight is lost.  As they say, Rome wasn't built in just one day.  During the short term ( like a day or whatever) fasting increases cortisol.  But after that, cortisol drops and you start getting more of the "spiritual" effects of increased realization, closeness to a higher power, etc etc etc.  Fasting can also help decrease weight and inflammation, both of which increase cortisol.  As your organs start feeling better, your cortisol can drop.  

Your parasympathetic nervous system gets stronger with fasting.  This is the "brakes" of your central nervous system, or the rest and digest phase.  So that in itself, should decrease cortisol and help you sleep better. 

I feel a bit more stressed right now, but also things like memory, clarity, and motivation (the emobiment of dopamine i guess) are better today...... i'm also much calmer.  So it's a mixed bag.  I expect cortisol to decrease after i lose say 10 pounds or so because everything (like liver/heart/kidneys, mitochondria, etc) will all work better.  This fasting stuff should help with that. 

And stress is the reason why i'm cutting back on cardio and increasing things like yoga, weights, and kettlebell training.  But excessive cardio can jack up that cortisol, and cortisol gets higher as we age so eventually we'll have to figure out some way to keep that in control.  

Sorry to hear that, mate.  You'll feel better soon.  If you think it's going to be a while b4 u get better, check out the following:

-Red light therapy - a lot of gyms nowadays have a red light booth that you can get into..... i have a red light blanket but the good thing is that you can us as much as u like and helps with healing

-BPC-157  -  peptide that helps with healing 

lmao, yeah that's always nice to have.  The other day the same thing happened to me, i thought i had some clarity after that but then my hand started cramping and i had to eat a pickle.  

Interesting.

That's kind of a contradiction for me, as I find endurance cardio stress relieving. Hence going for a long run to alleviate stress. But if it increases cortisol, maybe that's why I have trouble sleeping lol. I'm 51 as well, getting older.

https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/4-things-to-know-about-cortisol-and-stress.h00-159703068.html

Seems it's good as well, depends on the mindset according to that link.


My 'problem' is, exercise has become part of my ocd. It's great to stay healthy but if I skip a day I get anxious / miserable which continues to build up. Another motivation to do the exercise albeit not a nice one. ocd as motivator. It made me great at my job, also nearly took me out :/

Here are some articles that i found, the most likely thing to increase cortisol too much is excessive cardio, such as more than 150 miles on your bike every week.  Also, low intensity workouts are good as well, such as yoga or tai chi.  I do the StrongFirst kind of kb workouts and avoiding excessive cortisol is a big thing with them.  Pavel said in his recent video on Huberman lab that excessive cortisol sucks and that the anti-glycolytic training that he has popularized is meant to avoid that.  He doesn't want you to be overly exhausted all the time from a workout.  So made up a bunch of EMOM stuff and has its practicioners to do that for 15 or 20 minutes.  I'm sure you get enough carbs since you do a lot endurance stuff, and carbohydrates help avoid cortisol.  Caffeine can increase it by a large amount as well.  I can't drink coffee any more, so had to ditch that.  I do other stuff, but coffee isn't good for me anymore so i've given that up.  

https://coactivehealth.uk/articles/training-advice/are-you-doing-too-much-cardio/

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/health/cortisol-weight-wellness/index.html