Absolutely not. At most they help strengthen the diaphragm, at the worst, they do nothing and limit your workout capacity. They make it harder to breathe but the air you're still breathing has exactly the same ppO2 as the atmosphere you're in.

By elevation training what are you asking about? How to get fit so when you get to altitude you minimize risk of AMS? If so then I hate to break it to you, but there is nothing "specific" you can do outside of somehow finding a hypoxic tent to work out in or living at altitude. The general approach to fitness for the mountains is a combination of strength and conditioning. The go to textbook for this is Training for the New Alpinism.

Other than the obvious that you're in the r/fasting subreddit....if you're into reading books, look into "The Obesity Code." Explains very well why the "Eat less, move more" movement doesn't really work

I'm going to have to butt in and specifically recommend against checking out the /r/fasting subreddit. Half the people in /r/keto have no idea what they're talking about and half that again in /r/fasting have any idea what they're talking about. /u/Obel34 I recommend you read the book The Obesity Code by Dr. Fung to get a good jumpstart into learning this stuff. You can also find all the contents in his book on his blog (free) or by searching on YouTube.

But yeah; autophagy can help reduce excess skin. Skin also takes years to really settle properly, and being active is important to let it tighten up and whatnot. Do all the things and be healthy.

https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Case-Donald-Trump-Psychiatrists/dp/1250179459

read this a few months back. it's fucking terrifying. it's actually outdated, but when you read it, you start comparing those events to present day chaos, and it magnifies the conclusion: the man is a dangerous combination of textbook narcissist and pathological liar. And his performance to date has done absolutely ZERO to detract from this conclusion, if anything, reinforced it's validity at every turn.

so here we are today. an entire party aligned behind this man who's not only wacky af, but actively working with foreign powers to subvert our own goals and destroy our historic alliances.

mueller save us, please.

Check out Training For The New Alpinism and Training For The Uphill Athlete. I've been reading TFTNA and it has a lot of good information on how to periodize your lifting and aerobic training, along with recommendations for specific workouts.

My advice is that most of us are climbing to live, not living to climb.

Steve Bechtel and Charlie Manganiello of ClimbStrong both advocate cutting down on cardio to truly hit your climbing peak, both of them ski and run, and have put plenty of thought into progressing while being a multi-sport athlete.

It also depends on your current goals. Trying to cut weight? eating right and engaging in some mild cardio can help. Trying to climb long trad routes and be a mountaineer? Buddy there's a whole massive debate about how to become the most insane cardio machine possible.

You should do the thing you feel is most rewarding. I tend to cycle in and out of climbing-heavy and running-heavy periods of my life because they both make me happy. Am I the strongest at either that I could be? Definitely not.

I did it with my first, hoping to do it again with my second. Honestly it’s a huge mental game. The birthing class I took mainly emphasized laboring at home as long as possible and to prepare yourself to feel like you’re running up hills and walking them back down over and over again (but way worse). Also Ina May’s book was also super helpful:

https://www.amazon.com/Ina-Mays-Guide-Childbirth-Gaskin/dp/0553381156

I do have to say, it’s awful that your pain management technique is being dictated by price. I wish this was a choice you were making because it is what you wanted, not because you feel financially pressured to :(

Good luck!

You have probably already read it, but just incase.

https://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Code-Unlocking-Secrets-Weight/dp/1771641258

More about IF than Keto, but is still a good read imo.

I hate Trump a fair bit, and that goes back to well before he was elected. He's a garbage human.

That said, there is really good body of evidence that he is just not well physically, and most likely has dementia or Alzheimer's. The anonymous op-ed in the Times is only the latest confirmation of it, not the first time it's been pointed out.

I mean, there have literally been books written about it. As much as it pains me to say it, Donald Trump is not completely to blame for every horrible thing he does because some of it is caused by a medical condition that affects him mentally.

What's important about that is that he shouldn't be serving as President because he's not able to do it, and everyone paying attention, especially everyone who interacts with him, knows it.

The other thing is that people shouldn't mock someone for medical problems or mental illness, even if that person is Donald Trump. I have great confidence that Trump would be just as shitty even if he didn't have dementia, but since he does I just want him to stop endangering the country, get help, and be taken care of. Get him out of office, let him watch as much Fox & Friends as he wants and rant on Twitter all day. It's what makes him happy, apparently.

I know what it's like to see people disappear slowly over time due to dementia, and it's horrible beyond imagining. I would not wish it on anyone. Not even Donald Trump.

He does a lot of horrible things, but he's also old and sick. If he was just some guy in a nursing home it would be just another Wednesday. The difference is he 's in the highest office in the land, so that needs to be removed from the equation.

This book was a good read on the issue you raise. The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss (Why Intermittent Fasting Is the Key to Controlling Your Weight) (Book 1): Fung, Dr. Jason, Noakes, Timothy: 9781771641258: Amazon.com: Books IF and a LC diet can really help. The supplement inositol is also helpful re: insulin sensitivity.

Insulin resistance builds over time to pre-diabetes and diabetes. Glucose is what is monitored so it can be normal while insulin is sky high. When glucose starts to rise, the conventional solution is adding MORE insulin.

I've been rereading Mindsight by Dan Siegel. In the second half of the book he describes sessions with his clients to illustrate his points. One of the stories sounded similar to yours. The book is about using what's been learned through neuroscience to guide therapy; focusing concentration in ways that stimulate the proper areas of the brain. It may be helpful in directing your sessions.

For positive stories about vaginal births a HIGHLY recommend Ina May's Guide to Childbirth https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553381156/ the whole first half of the book is just positive natural birth stories. I tried to read one or two a day because similar to you, I had only heard so many negative stories.

My own was positive! A week late, but with a membrane sweep spontaneously went in to labor. Only used gas, no epidural. Your body is meant to handle these things, so even when there’s pain it’s nothing you can’t do. I did have third degree tearing, potentially through my own fault of being eager to push, but it healed really nicely! Husband can’t tell a difference at all, I can of course but it’s really nothing bad just different.

Benefits post birth - I think my hormones really reset in a way. My periods are completely different. I used to have such intense pain I’d be on Advil through half a bottle of wine and still be moaning in the corner of the couch and doubled over in pain. Now sometimes I can’t even tell it’s started and it takes me by surprise!

I just had the surgery last week, so I'm not sure if it worked yet. I've had vulvodynia my entire life, have never been able to have penetrative sex, and have been in treatment over 4 years. I think I've just become used to it and have been to two therapists to try and tackle my feelings about it.

I can understand having anxiety about it. I was especially hyper-fixated on it after my diagnosis, when I started treatment. Your doctors are just wrong. There is a very well-established, research-proven connection between birth control that contains estrogen and vulvodynia! Most doctors know nothing useful about vulvodynia. The good news is that your pain is gone, at least for now!

You may find the book When Sex Hurts helpful.

I think it can be really hard to say because everything is connected. Sometimes, nerve pain can be actually caused by muscular tightness. The muscles can constrict blood flow to the region and cause a buildup of lactic acid, which causes pain. Also, sometimes the nerve pain can be desensitized by PT.

I think it's worth a shot, at least for a short period of time. The PT should be able to give recommendations. After I made some initial improvement in my muscle tightness, my PT knew I was slowing down with any improvements and referred me to a specialty gynecologist/surgeon, who helped me eventually determine that I should get a vestibulectomy.

I would recommend the books When Sex Hurts and Healing Painful Sex!

When I first tried to have sex and failed, I blamed it on anxiety. For me, it ended up being vestibulodynia and hypertonic pelvic floor muscles, not anxiety. I would recommend that she go to a doctor who knows about vaginismus or vulvodynia. They should be able to give her an idea of what's going on. My doctor knew right away that I had some issues when I had a pap smear, and she referred me to some specialists.

I would recommend the book When Sex Hurts. Also would recommend buying a set of dilators and water-based lube (Slippery Stuff is a good brand). She can try to meditate and relax comfortably on her own and then try to insert the dilators, which start off really small (fingertip) and increase to penis size.

"It wasn't going clearly in and out, felt like a maze." This actually seems "normal" to me haha I feel the same way about mine.

No I self medicated. I did some research and found out that I could be having iron deficiency. I never used to have regular periods until this year. From January 2021 I started taking these supplements and my periods got regulated. Every month my periods will come like clock work and my hormonal acne also reduced. This was a huge deal for me because it never really happened before. I started intermittent fasting as well. I occasionally eat junk food but it didn't affect my body like it used to before. I'd suggest you to read the book The Obesity Code. I learnt everything about healthy eating and how to keep hormones in check from this book. It has worked well for me. But I'd suggest you to go to a gynecologist because there could be other underlying conditions that can be behind hormonal acne. I'm not qualified to give advice on this front. Just sharing my experience.

https://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Code-Unlocking-Secrets-Weight/dp/1771641258/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=obesity+code&qid=1625337596&sprefix=obes&sr=8-1

Get the audiobook. Listen to the whole thing including all the appendices.

You are doing great. I have been using 16/8 for years now and love it. I'm just now reading The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung and he explains how insulin resistance is causing every body to be fat and IF helps the body to reset. Also folks didn't start getting fat until the 70's when processed foods became manufactured. https://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Code-Unlocking-Secrets-Weight/dp/1771641258/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=58605885240&dchild=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw2ZaGBhBoEiwA8pfP_jP5eiAVH5u4ucl1N5FIVJ-wEJRGHI6U1UrdRcmydgnKjkBRc6i6LhoCmWsQAvD_BwE&hvadid=40997410191...

Here are the answers from others about physio.

If you're interested, this book is full of medical information, diagnosis and treatment. It's fairly clinical, so if you're looking for a book that helps your state of mind, Come As You Are is a great read.

Check out my posts for online resources or product recommendations, and best of luck to you!

In addition to powerlifting/strongman, I'm also an avid hiker. In prepping for a backpacking trip coming up, I've been reading a lot from "uphill athlete" and "training for the new alpinism" (one of the authors is on the uphill athlete site). Another endurance coah, Phil Maffetone is very similar. They are all big fans of long slow cardio based around a measurement of aerobic threshold.

Basically, they argue that's how you improve your aerobic system and that most of us exercise at too high of an intensity. I've not done it long enough to notice big improvements myself, but I can't deny it's also healthy, so that's a perk.

I started thinking about it b/c I could keep up with my wife hiking, albeit with a heart rate that was in the 150's while hers was in the 120's. I was strong, I could move weight quickly, I could push myself hard, etc., but boy was my heart rate up there.

​

*edit: +1 on seeing a doc to make sure there's not an underlying condition

The vestibulectomy seems to be most successful for people who only have provoked pain (pain only upon penetration), and especially for people with primary pain (have always had it). I fit the profile of "congenital neuroproliferative vestibulodynia," and some doctors consider vestibulectomy to be an appropriate first-line treatment for that profile. This pain algorithm from Dr. Andrew Goldstein and the book When Sex Hurts can provide some insight.

I tried the following things and had no improvement in my pain, so my doctor agreed to the surgery: went to pelvic floor physical therapy for several months at 2 different times, did dilators daily, did daily diaphragmatic breathing and yoga, saw a sex therapist for a few months, tried gabapentin for several months, tried vaginal Valium for several months, estrogen/lidocaine cream daily for several months, and went off the pill. I could try vaginal Botox, other types of injections, nortriptyline, or Cymbalta, but I just decided to go for surgery.

Hope this helps!

This is the partial subject of the book Mindsight by Dan Siegel Amazon link. The book's overall subject is leveraging neuroplaticity to reconnect parts that have become out of balance: right/left brain, mind/body, past/present. It's been a while since I read it, but I thought it was a good read at the time.

TL;DR: mindfulness meditation

A great place to start with information on this topic would be Jason Fung's The Obesity Code. It's an approachable book that gives lots of fundamental basics on the nature of fasting.

No, surgery is only appropriate if you have neuroproliferative vestibulodynia. LOTS of people have huge success with PT! Or other treatments.

I highly recommend the book When Sex Hurts. Explains everything very well!

The Goldwater rule doesn’t apply to clinical social workers, that’s for the APA, so womp womp. Feel free to peruse the NASW Code of Ethics. Not only that, but the ethical implications of the Goldwater rule have been openly questioned and pushed back against by many established psychiatrists and psychologists particularly recently in the case of Donald Trump. A group of mental health professionals collectively wrote The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President to warn the world of his instability.

As fun as it has been decimating every ridiculous comment you’ve made, I’m tired and want to dive into a couple of hours of PS5 and then some light reading. If you like science fiction, Terry Pratchett’s DiscWorld series is quite enjoyable.

HAVE A BLESSED DAY 🙏⛪️🙏

I really like Our Bodies, Ourselves. It's for women though, and I haven't been able to find a good book about men's sexuality.

For something a bit more specific, you might check out Training for the New Aplinism - Steve House is always a good read. Sold all over the UK.

And published a book, which I pre-ordered and read as soon as it was released. These doctors are some of the foremost in their field and the prologue speaks extensively about the Duty to Warn and why the writers do not feel they violated the Goldwater Rule.
I was not aware, however, that Yale had fired Dr. Lee after 17 years and that she was suing them. I very much hope that she does get her job back, as she has a long career ahead of her and we as a society would benefit from her research.

Not only did they publish an open letter, they wrote a book titled The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. It’s excellent but scary as hell. It has an entire section on historical fascist leaders worldwide, how they came into power, what damage they caused, and how to stop malignant narcissists from assuming power and leadership positions. After reading it, I came to a much clearer understanding of politics, international relationships, humanity in general, but also felt a hopelessness for the future of our country and democracy. I truly believe that America is in decline.

As one of those Christian Sex Therapists, I gotta give this one my seal of approval. Perfect feedback! Also, for OP, a book I would recommend is When Sex Hurts: https://www.amazon.com/When-Sex-Hurts-Womans-Banishing/dp/0738213985