Exercise

[Nayto]

I never had anyone tell me that, and I think a big trap for me was hearing over and over that I needed to eat a lot to fuel my body since I am built like my father. Your mother is a good woman.

That she is

The food you guys eat sounds good though; it must be tough to not eat that much

Regardless, I suppose we can eat plenty if we're actually making use of it. I have a slow metabolism though, so about 2200 - 2500 calories a day does it for me.

[Vandal]

I personally am opposed to endurance exercise and am a proponent of build strength, muscle and speed. It's where our bodies function optimally. If you look in nature, very few animals are geared for endurance and if they are they have specific traits aiding them in it.

Very thoughtful post on a topic we Christians should consider more often!

Firstly, I concur with your observation about lack of activity causing aging and degeneration. As a trucker, when I spend a few months on the road driving and sleeping with little or no exercise, my energy levels drop and my weight goes up. If I get out of the truck for a few months, I quickly lose weight and gain energy.

On the endurance issue: men already have more innate endurance than animals. Our ancestors were able to "run game to death" meaning they could track and follow prey, and run it until the prey was exhausted and lay down to die. If you are a good tracker, you can run deer to the point of collapse, walk up, and kindly slit their throat as they lay panting.

Men have massive innate endurance. Once at age 17, I walked about 3 days nonstop in the winter, with no sleep and no rest breaks. I slept for about sixteen hours after, and was good to go. We don't need to work on endurance, as you say, rather, for most of us, explosive power is lacking.

[Vandal]

I own a pull up bar those you put in the door frames,google for Iron Gym,is just like that one,also a barbell with 50 kg on weights (110lbs) (thinking in buying more soon) and a bench press. I don't have that much space in my house but I manage to do it anyway. I can do pull ups/chin ups (king exercise for back),bench press,squats,deadlift etc. I also go out to jog sometimes. There are many routines out there.

Bodyweight Exercises:
Squats
Dogs
Back Bridges
Prone Pushups
Pushups
Good Mornings
Dive Bombers


Repeat until exhaustion. Work up to 500 squats per session. If you can work up to 500 freestanding squats in one set, you can tear the average "fighter" apart.

[Nayto]

That's a fascinating point you make there. Admittedly, I wasn't aware of this aspect of our ancestors. I'll have to look into it more. I know that it's possible to have power and endurance if one looks at training programs like what the Navy SEALs do. Even my brother is a big guy and runs the Comrades ultra marathon (58 miles). Having said that, marching and walking is a lower grade cardiovascular exercise which doesn't necessarily degrade muscle. Also I think our ancestors ate a diet high in grass feds meat and fat, which could provide the nutrition necessary to sustain that kind of high endurance activity and keep them strong. Anyway, these are just some initial thoughts.

I was reading Samuel and saw how some of the heroes of our ancestors killed lions with their bare hands, which is quite a feat! You'd have to be very powerful to wrestle with a 280lb killing machine. I'm sure you'd at least come out with cuts and a few tooth holes

[Filidh]

Weight can be gained and lost, and excess weight is only a temporary thing for most people. Someone who's fat one year may be athletic the next. When you see a glutton, how can you justify laughing at him? Was he not once you? Is he not still your folksbrother? Is he not still your fellow Israelite who perhaps needs a helping hand, rather than a scoffing condemnation?

There, were it not for the grace of Yahweh, go we. That applies to every.single.Israelite. No matter how vile or dispicable or gluttonous or deceptive or jealous or boastful or anything else, so long as they don't adulterate the blood then they are still us.

[Nayto]

Weight can be gained and lost, and excess weight is only a temporary thing for most people. Someone who's fat one year may be athletic the next. When you see a glutton, how can you justify laughing at him? Was he not once you? Is he not still your folksbrother? Is he not still your fellow Israelite who perhaps needs a helping hand, rather than a scoffing condemnation?

One can also be a race-mixer one year, and not one the next (dramatic example, I know). Just because something is potentially temporary doesn't make it right. I'm more than willing to help my kinsfolk be healthy and not overeat, which is partly the point of this thread. Having said that, I'm not going to tip-toe around sin I myself was a glutton at one point in life and just like I took the responsibility to stop when I became an Israelite, so should others as well.

There, were it not for the grace of Yahweh, go we. That applies to every.single.Israelite. No matter how vile or dispicable or gluttonous or deceptive or jealous or boastful or anything else, so long as they don't adulterate the blood then they are still us.

I'm not saying anyone is not one of us, but I'm not saying it's right either In my opinion, anyone who is offended by the contents of this thread is either a glutton themselves or needs to shake off some liberal shackles. We should actually rejoice in our identification of sin and the process of removing it.

If anyone has issues with exercise or gluttony, I'm more than happy to help. Admitting to the sin/problem, is the first step to beating it though.

[Filidh]

I agree with your original post entirely, and your latter posts almost entirely - almost everything you've said is spot on. The only thing I have disagreement with is the attitude with which gluttons were addressed - they should be addressed with love, and not with scoffing.

I myself am not a glutton, although I once was. This isn't about me.

Some folks escape the Beast-System with drugs, some with television, some with lust, some with overeating, some with sports-watching/ball-worship (as opposed to playing sports, which is healthy and unifying), and so on.

We shouldn't make comments that would drive Israelites away. If you had a fat little brother you wouldn't help him out and offer advice only to, in the middle of that help, scoff at him and make him feel bad. That's all that I'm saying.

[Nayto]

Fat people were usually likened to gluttons in days past

I would ascribe fatness to gluttony these days too

What is the matter with you? Statements like that are incredibly intolerant.

Yeah, we wouldn't want to make the gluttons feel bad, would we

Having said that, I was 45lbs overweight about 2 years ago. I remember my mother saying, "Nathan, you need to lose weight, you're getting fat." How I value those words now.

I'm assuming you're referring to the above. The point we're trying to get across is that gluttons should feel bad about their habit. We're not scoffing at them, but I don't like how even in the CI movement people tip-toe around the topic. Paul wrote that a man should be able to control his own family if he wants to lead Israel. What about people controlling their own bodies, let alone their own families? I mean, overeating is such a basic sin in that it succumbs to the lust of the flesh. Even Christ was tempted with food!

If someone feels offended at the fact that they ought to feel bad then I'm not worried. Like I said, my own mother pointed it out to me and I thank her for it and I certainly thanked her for it then too. What do the Proverbs say, "A fool reels against reproval"... Or something like that? If I were to start insulting looks then I'd understand your point, but it's really not about looks anyway.

Please don't take my disagreement personally as I don't take yours personally. We all know how it can spiral out of control. We are kinsmen after all.

[Filidh]

You're right. Looking back, I suppose a glutton feeling bad is just as necessary sometimes as a thief or a liar feeling bad. If they didn't feel bad then they wouldn't have as much motivation to change their ways to begin with. I didn't see it that way before. Thank you.

[edit]I just realized that I might've come across as sarcastic in this post. I wasn't. I was still of the belief that we should coddle our brothers rather than lovingly show them the absolute truth regardless of how it makes them feel temporarily, with the knowledge that they'll be better off for it in the long-run, at the time.

[Nayto]

I understood correctly then, no worries