Gaining Weight

[Endoperez]

Sorry, long post.

Carbohydrates help your body process the protein and fat, some types of carbohydrates more than others. According to a book I'm reading, starting a meal with specific kinds of foods, and eating them with fat-and-protein-rich foods, will cause you to gain weight. Oven-baked potatoes are chemically easy to break down into energy, french fries as well. Rice cooked until it's soft and sticky and can be eaten with chopsticks is also supposedly bad if you combine it with other foodstuffs. White bread varies, but baguette and similar breads with crunchy crust also have a very high glycemic index.

You should ask your coach about that, and about ways to get muscles without lifting weights. You could start by telling him that you're being picked on, and you will do something to stop it, even if it hampers your running. Depending on how good a runner you are and how good a person he is, he might help you.
Second, even if you can't lift weights there are ways to get muscular. The coach can help you with that, but if it's at all possible you should bounce a few ideas between him and your your cardiologist to make sure it works for you. You should also ask your doctor to explain what kind of exercise you should avoid. Are you supposed to avoid the kind of weight lifting in competitions, where people try to lift as much as they can all at once, or the kind where you do lots of repetitions with relatively small weights? Your doctor might have meant the first kind. I can see why bursts of strenuous activity would be bad for you.

At the moment, you seem to be looking for trouble. I don't know your situation, but it could be just a period you're going through. Are you sure you can't talk the bullies off, and are you sure what they are doing is more than just rough horse play? Because you were in anger management/suspended, it seems your teachers don't think it's that bad.
If you did learn some kind of martial arts, you'd probably realize that there's no way you (a runner -> good legs, skinny -> weak punches?) can beat jocks (plural, probably heavily built), without something to even the odds. The odds are the "something" would result in legal action. You want to get the most out of the 60 years you may have left, so try to learn when not to pick a fight.

[Fournine]

60 years left? Man, your data is old. Current projections for longevity place 50% of girls being born now making it to 100. I reckon everyone here has good chances at hitting that figure as well, especially if they take care of themselves. But I digress...

If you have a cardiac problem, you should avoid gaining fat - belly fat, I mean; apparently hip/thigh fat is healthy - and definitely don't screw around with your circadian rhythm. From what I've read, having a deviant circadian increases cardiac risks.

Of course, the stress you're subjected to in high school is rather horrible for cardiac health as well... and for health in general. Which reminds me...

There's an experiment with rats and stress, in which the rat is shocked infrequently at random intervals. After a while, the rat will become depressed and just sit there, taking the abuse and all the ill effects on health that come with it.
However, rats that get certain "fixes" are able to obviate the ill effects:
1) Bite the crap out of another rat - abusive stress outlet. This is where a lot of domestic violence arises, and I assume the outlet your abusers chose.
2) Gnaw on a bar of wood - relaxing hobby outlet. Gaming, sewing, running, reading, what have you.
3) Warning light comes on before the shock - predictive information. Not really applicable in your situation, but worth the academic mention.
4) Press frantically on a lever to decrease the chance of being shocked - sense of control. I perceive this is the option you've been pursuing.

In another study involving Baboons, having meaningful social relations with someone - commonly termed "having a friend," I believe - also works.

[Reference: WNYC Radiolab episode, "Stress" - time index 45:30]


I read that some kids faced charges for lacing brownies with laxatives, giving peers at their school a nastily painful time in the bathroom. I suspect they used a high dose of the artificial sweetener, sorbitol, which is used as a laxative in hospitals. I absolutely don't recommend doing this, as it is illegal, irresponsible, and unethical.
And if you're a novice cook, make sure you don't accidentally put in too much artificial sweetener in your foods. I think some people can develop a tolerance to it, though, but just don't share it with friends and warn anyone who steals brownies from you of the dangers associated with eating your cooking.

Obviously, I'm not suggesting or condoning such irresponsible behavior. I'm a trained chemist, and take academic interest in the various effects that medicines, drugs, poisons, and toxins have on the human body. I've learned quite a few different ways to synthesize black powder, guncotton, and cordite from scratch in case civilization collapses due to a zombie apocalypse. It's all an academic exercise, though - always good to keep the brain active and learning.

Oh, I seem to have blathered on about random things again. Must be my sleep deprivation, making me write long paragraphs of random crap. I might edit or delete this later, since it's obviously taking up space.

[h2ostra]

I had a friend who was trying to bulk up for rugby, and was on a ridiculous diet, involving drinking gallon of whole milk a day, on top of his normal diet. I can't argue with the results, but I would definitely not recommend such a diet, especially without doing any research into it first. Also, I must say that I don't agree with your rationale, as I think such people would be just as inclined to pick on someone for being a "fat kid" as to pick on someone for being small (I understand about being at a healthy body weight, though). The problem is not your size, but rather your "defenselessness". If you want to bulk up in a way that does not require weights, you should see about swimming or some other, similar exercise. I know what it is like to be small, as I played football for two years, and was among the five smallest players on the team (I stopped after that, because all my friends on the team had stopped, and everyone else was a douche, plus I needed wrist surgery, and am still having shoulder and knee problems, three years afterward). Then I took up throwing (a very fun activity), and was yet again the smallest. Don't worry, though, you'll grow, and probably soon. I was 125 when I started football my freshman year, but peaked at 180 my senior year (before losing ~20 lbs to prolonged sickness)

[Endoperez]

Don't worry, though, you'll grow, and probably soon. I was 125 when I started football my freshman year, but peaked at 180 my senior year (before losing ~20 lbs to prolonged sickness)

Wow, pounds. At first I thought you were talking height and centimeters, and was weirded out.

[Assaultman67]

...but that was in the day and in a place when there weren't likely to be any guns or knives involved.

Nowadays you want to make a pretty careful assessment about just how psycho your opponents are: if they're just meathead jocks, I'd say go crazy, surprise the shit out of one of 'em ...

Haha I did something like that one ... I threatened a guy with a shoe ...

I was also in a locker room (there seems to be a danger about locker rooms in high school) and a guy threw his shoe at me ... i bent down picked up the shoe (it was a cleat) and then raised it up above my head with this mean really pissed off look on my face and just started advancing toward him as if i was going to beat the crap out of him with his own shoe ...

I got him backed into a corner and someone else jumped in and stopped me ... didn't even have to fight ... which is good because he probably weighed 50-70 or so more lbs than me ...

[Untadaike]

You just gotta get that air of confidence in your eyes... no-one touches me.

[Armored Wolf]

...but that was in the day and in a place when there weren't likely to be any guns or knives involved.

Nowadays you want to make a pretty careful assessment about just how psycho your opponents are: if they're just meathead jocks, I'd say go crazy, surprise the shit out of one of 'em ...

Haha I did something like that one ... I threatened a guy with a shoe ...

I was also in a locker room (there seems to be a danger about locker rooms in high school) and a guy threw his shoe at me ... i bent down picked up the shoe (it was a cleat) and then raised it up above my head with this mean really pissed off look on my face and just started advancing toward him as if i was going to beat the crap out of him with his own shoe ...

I got him backed into a corner and someone else jumped in and stopped me ... didn't even have to fight ... which is good because he probably weighed 50-70 or so more lbs than me ...

You just gotta get that air of confidence in your eyes... no-one touches me.

If you've got the right facial expression and the right look in your eye, you can threaten somebody with pretty much anything. I have found that some people will back off from a toothbrush, and other's from a ballpoint pen. Exceptions to this rule: Nobody ever back's off from a pink stuffed elephant, or any other stuffed animal, or usually anything cloth.
The above statement was not tongue-in-cheek, it was entirely true.

[Endoperez]

If you've got the right facial expression and the right look in your eye, you can threaten somebody with pretty much anything. I have found that some people will back off from a toothbrush, and other's from a ballpoint pen.

Would you want to be hit with that? All the force of a club forced into a single point... Warhammers made like this were made to punch through metal armour. (edit: that's for killing seals, though, and it's not a warhammer)
A toothbrush and a pen can be held like that. There's nowhere close the same amount of leverage with a pen, but then there's no metal armour either. Perhaps the people who back off (I would) have an active imagination.

edit
I knew there'd be a weapon like this in some Chinese martial art. In true Chinese fashion, it has at least a dozen names. The first few mentions I found were to "iron chopsticks", then "iron needles" or "bagua needles" (bagua is the name of a style), but there were no good images and only one, non-informative video. However, I did find a quote about "bagua needles or Judge's pen form", and checked what my favourite weird weapons expert had on Youtube. Only found an old favourite of mine, "Killing Pen of the Hell Judge", but in the comments someone again referenced to "a bagua weapon with the same name". Searching for "judge's pen" and then "judge pen", I found references to "judge brush" or "pan guan bi", and that finally got me some results (although the slideshow shows a different weapon, so several weapons use the same name once again).
http://www.tcmofny.com/PanGuanBiPhotoslideshow.html
http://www.chinatown-shop.com/Pointes-D ... pi-46.html
Now I found mentions of "scholar's brush", or "Zhaung Yuan Bi", which is sometimes written "Zhuang Yuan Bi". What is that? A brush. Or, an implement of writing with ink, a pen. As I said, I would back off from a pen, and yes, the Chinese train in using (a bigger relative of) pens as weapons.
/edit
edit2:
here's a totally different weapon, but few punches shown and especially the way the guy talks demonstrate why I'd back away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPr50_yHmM0#t=0m35s

edit: now I got the chinese characters: 判官筆. No good videos.

Exceptions to this rule: Nobody ever back's off from a pink stuffed elephant, or any other stuffed animal, or usually anything cloth.
The above statement was not tongue-in-cheek, it was entirely true.

Stuffed animals are designed not to hurt when a child hits you, or other child or himself or the pet, with it. I might still back off, if the eyes looked like the teddy bear was just for deception and camouflage.

[TheBigCheese]

It might seem like a great idea, but trust me, being small isn't bad.

Why was it that you couldn't learn a martial art? I skimmed the thread a little, so I may have missed it, but most of martial arts is not strength.

Check out Aikido. It's all about using your opponents force against them, and has a side effect of generally not hurting the opponent (compared to a more violent martial art).

The guy in this video probably isn't the best, but he's extremely easy to understand.



And this one's just cool.

[Untadaike]

Yes, THANk you. I was thinking of talking about Aikido, but I had second thoughts. I studied it for several years, and it's what gets me through the day.

[Sandurz]

I'm sorry to all the other people on this thread, I'll reply to you guys later, I'm really tired and want to post this before I forget it.

TBC, I know where you're coming from, but I've tried aikido, and then I realized it's mostly a showcase martial art -_-. It's really impractical to incorporate into a real fight, especially against more than one person. I tried learning for a few months, but...well it didn't work. The only useful thing I learned was ikkyo from a straight punch.

[Untadaike]

Don't study Aikido, study the meaning behind the moves. I agree that it's useless to use in a fight.
I studied Ki-Aikido, and I know what you're thinking, you don't want to hear about all that hocus pocus. Well, as soon as I put 100% into learning this shit, I could apply it everywhere. From walking down a crowded hallway, people will literally move and step aside for me (I'm a freshman) to in a "fight" where I could completely keep my cool until they tried something, like shoving me and they would be surprised to find that even though it was obvious that I wasn't bracing in the least, they could not budge me. (And I'm not a big guy).

I'm not doing magic, and it's very anti-climatic, much like what they say in Star Wars... "CLEAR YOUR MIND, MY YOUNG PADAWAN" and Ki-Aikido teaches techniques of how to do just that.

I'm realizing that this is becoming a very scrambled post and I'll look like a spaz, but I hope you can get some shit from all this.

In ancient Japan, the typical Samurai could maintain this level of concentration for 3-5 seconds or so. Well, guess what? That's all the time they need to win the fight. Miyamoto Musashi (gotta have respect for the guy, he won over 60 duels to the death, starting when he was 13) used this practice (as well as excellent swordsmanship of course) and he won again and again and again.

A common warm-up time thing in my classes is to stand and take a second to "calm our minds" then the instructor came around and pushes against our torsos. If you are doing it correctly, which after enough practice, comes naturally, your body will not budge for no man's pleasure. (Lol).

I also learned the art of falling down (I know, wtf?) called Ukemewaza. Since then, I never trip and my general awareness is increased, including my peripheral vision. If I do stumble, I always recover, and if I am shoved, I do not lose my balance. They might as well be shoving against brick wall. I can jump from greater distances and land safely, rolling if necessary.

All of these practices combined help for a better lifestyle in general. I get more respect and I can do well at almost anything I put 100% into. It really is as simple as that, and I encourage you look into it again.

Edit: And this post made me look like a real prick.

[Endoperez]

Don't study Aikido, study the meaning behind the moves. I agree that it's useless to use in a fight.

Edit: And this post made me look like a real prick.

I haven't had nearly as much experience with aikido, but I totally agree with your first comment.

The aikido I'm studying is a combination of rituals: bows like this, words like this, movements like this. You don't get to fight in the aikido class, and that takes lots of punch out of the moves. However, there are things that work in a fight long before you're good enough to apply any of the basic moves in a real fight: falling down without hurting yourself, staying calm when someone grabs you or moves you around, moving around people who try to do stuff to you. Personally, I adore the way you are taught to walk and move. Someone pushes you, and you follow and roll free, rotate and turn and walk around him. When it works well, the fight ends without anyone getting hurt, and people might not even realize it might have turned into a fight. That's important, because then the other person can walk away without losing face. Different style, different method, similar result:


To be effective fast, aikido would have to be trained differently. I'm not an expert, but I'd like more conditioning, and practicing the basic movements a lot more, and you learn to fight you'd have to know few extra things, like how people would attack you in a fight (enough punches, kicks, wrestling etc to have an idea of what might happen) and little headology to learn how to avoid and de-escalate fights.

Here's a systema-style training clip, but it's in Japan and those ukemis look really familiar. Practising something like this, standing up, would be really useful.

[Armored Wolf]