phew - thought you were speaking of yourself in the subject line, given your recent events... was hoping you did not slip into a funk on us. ;-)

Woody

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Mike Hollywood
http://www.bostontriathlonteam.com
http://www.michaelhollywood.com

Nope, but thanks for checking. Got out of the funk groove sunday, saturday however was a pretty low spot for me. big thanks to the GF for letting me deal, and just being there with support. Nothing but blue skies and open roads ahead of me now. Big plus...I get to spend a little more time hanging out here too. :)

But on to the show, I say again WTF!!?

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Ian MacLean
http://www.imfit.ca
Success comes when fear of failure goes

79 miles - no freak'in way!

I'm all for these folks loosing wieght - I have watched the show and think they all have done a great job taking the pounds off. Just loosing weight is tough and to do it on national TV - way tough.

But 79 miles on a spin bike in the general shape (though improving) that these folks are in - no freak'in way!

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http://www.clevetriclub.com

rob reddy

Its amazing what you can do knowing you are being filmed on national television. I cite Fear Factor Versus Normal People, 25 NBC 1257 (2004, 9th Circuit).

I have a hard enough time doing it beyond 2.5 hours, using the hard core tapes. It ends up being actually a huge mental challenge just sitting there, gunning it at some heart rate for 10 minutes, and then at another, in another gear, on and on, for 2 hours or so. Then you have all the sweat piling up down on the floor. Your wife yelling at you wanting to know what's all over the floor and towels. And so on, and so on.

4 hours. Who cares they are all losing weight and working their butts off. Give them a break! Pretty inspirational for me.

I've watched a few episodes....I don't buy it. No way someone can lose 10+ (some have 20+) in a week in a healthly way! No way you can tell me that someone that weights 300 lbs should start in on a 3 hour a day exercise routine. What "professional" did they have ok that! So I don't buy, have to be something they aren't showing.

-bcreager

I agree with the above. Notice how they've all ended up injured at one point or another from doing to much. Knees and ankles mostly. In any private situation, that would probably be grounds for a lawsuit! I do believe that those who are that overweight can experience bigger losses than most, but that to me is pushing the line of plausibility pretty far.

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Ian MacLean
http://www.imfit.ca
Success comes when fear of failure goes

Funny, when I saw the subject, I thought you were talking about this:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/tfr/51360244.html

NBC CASTING CALL!!!!

WE ARE CASTING FOR NBC’S “THE BIGGEST LOSER 2”

COME BE A PART OF THE BIGGEST PHENOMENON IN REALITY TELEVISION. We are looking for OUTGOING, CHARISMATIC and CANDID individuals with PERSONALITY who have the WANT, DESIRE and COMPETITIVE EDGE to vie for this all expense paid chance of a lifetime. For 10 weeks, you will have access to two of THE BEST personal trainers in the country, have all of your meals paid for and be given a weekly stipend. And, a chance to win 250,000 dollars! But, THE REST IS UP TO YOU! If you want to be a part of the most incredible transformation of your life and make your weight loss dreams a reality THEN COME TO OUR OPEN CALL!

***Go to NBC.com, click The Biggest Loser, and Apply Now and make us a videotape – if you are unable to attend an open call***

(not affilated with NBC or the show).

Compared to most of the crap on tv, I thought this show actually had a positive and realistic message. Sure, it had it's voyeuristic moments, but compared to a show like 'Swan' (I think that's waht the plastic surgery reality show is/was called), 'biggest Loser' conveys a fantastic message that the majority of America needs to see and internalize. So ... I'll grant them a little artistic license as long as they remain true to their original message.

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*****
"In case of flood climb to safety"

Um. Just watched it too, and this is what I think is going on.

1. Resistance - First of all, I can keep about 25mph stead on my cyclops2, but when I screw it back so that the wheel isn't touching the trainer, I have to spin like heck, but in high gear I can keep 35 mph for a bit. There was probably no resistance.

2. Averages - I'm guessing about this one, but they might have calulated the current speed, multiplied by the total time divided by the passed time. Basically what distance they would go if they kept their current speed for the balance of the four hours. And this is why I think this is the case...

3. What happened - The first hour, most of the contestants (except dumb Maurice) went around 30 miles. Then, during hour two they got to 45-50. Hour three had them around 55-60, and the last hour had them from 60-70. It would seem that the surrent speed had to have been averaged over the remaining time.Or, they just threw out the footage of the contestants riding at 20% of their first hour speed.

4. Reality TV. - I agree that there is sometimes a huge lack of real reality.

5. Mistakes. - Did someone accidentally input 700c for wheel size instead of the actual wheel size (14" flywheel?!?)

OR, maybe these guys really could beat Mr. Stadler in a 1 hour time trial.

Jeez ... look at what's being said in this thread (i.e., the negative comments).

These folks are fat and are getting trashed by some of the ST crowd. They're gonna get trashed if they stay fat, lose weight, exercise, eat McDonalds, eat egg whites ... whatever they do, they are not going to to avoid the bashin'.

1. They are trying to lose weight.

2. They are exercising.

3. They are watching what they are eating.

4. They are showing themselves in the most unflattering fashion to the world.

The coolest thing I've seen about the show is how the folks that have been sent home have kept progressing. We also have no idea how many other obese people are inspired by these to change their ways.

It's weird ... but a lot of gyms almost require a person to "work out somewhere else" until you "look good enough to work out here".

Personally, I'm for whatever gets more people lean and healthy, less of a contribution to health care costs, and lowered insurance rates for all. ... and I think self-restraint is a redeeming quality that should make its dramatic return back into our society.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

so why don't they make the host work out?

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being one of those "nutrition experts", i'll throw my .02 out there. We had to do an analysis of the show for one of our classes so i'll basically summarize what i came up w/. This show is FANTASTIC in that it is a way for people who want to be healthier to get a jumpstart on that. I could not applaud the work that these people do any more. It's incredible that they are working out 4 hours a day, eating better, etc. etc. However,

1. Look at the trainers. They dont know what the hell they're doing!! first off, one of the trainers isn't even certified (check the nbc website, it has their profiles). This is shown by the fact that they take sedentary people and throw them into 4 hour exercise routines on the first day. This is a recipe for injury. Study after study shows that exercise needs to be introduced in moderation with sedentary people. Also, this is not something they can take off the show with them. How many of these people will have 4 hours a day to exercise when they get home?

2. Look at their diets. These people probably go from having McD's 2x/day and consuming about 5000kcal/day to eating about 1500-2000 kcal a day while they're burning upwards of 5000kcal/day. This also is not healthy! Is it maintainable? I dont think so, just look at how tempted they are over a single cupcake? they sit and debate for hours (this is probably part of the "reality") about whether they should eat it. The diet the female trainer has them on is ridiculous. A modified Atkins for people working out 4 hrs/day? that is a HORRIBLE idea!! Study after study has shown that atkins is not healthy (in the long run).

3. Look at the audience. Read the posts that are on the forum that is on the shows' website. People are begging for help and wanting to know more information. Where are they getting their information for living healthy? THIS DAMN SHOW!! That's not ethically right. (at least in my opinion). Not to mention the fact that the shows regimens are discouraging. Imagine the obese people watching the show at evening... they see people have to exercise 4 hours/day and eat so very little (relatively). Are they going to be motivated? If it was me, i'd continue eating my chips!

Now flame away :-D

Not speaking for everyone here, but for myself I'm not trashing the contestants/participants. I'm trashing the producers and directors who continually cram this psuedo-reality through our tv screens. I do believe that it is a great thing these participants are going through, and they each should be proud of what they've done. My comment was aimed more at the over-dramatization of the production. I'm not sure if this show is going to inspire others to get healthy either. they are being put through a pretty tough no-pain, no-gain regimine, and that is one of the prime reasons why most average people don't get healthy or don't stick to their plans. I would rather see a show that is based a little more in the reas world, following people around throughout their day to day, and the struggles they face as they try to slowly re-invent their lifestyles.

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Ian MacLean
http://www.imfit.ca
Success comes when fear of failure goes

How can you be so cruel to Sabrina (or someone who was on that show, I don't really know or care).

OK - it is funny -- but it is VERY ironic. I watched it the other day and thought that she may shed her outfit in the final show to reveal that she is, in fact, the biggest loser. But perhaps I'm the biggest loser for thinking such a thing... or watching...

Ditto here. I applaud anyone that changes to a healthier lifestyle. Making that decision in the first place is a huge step.

The message they are sending is definetly the wrong one. "Want to lose weight, then completely and totally change you way of life". Many small changes over time gooooooooood. Few large changes fast baaaaaaaaaaaaad

-bcreager

THANK YOU!!! That was exactly my point from the beginning.

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Ian MacLean
http://www.imfit.ca
Success comes when fear of failure goes

Anyone that's been around enough "trainers", knows that even *cough* certification doesn't guarante good advice. Too often exercise advice is "parroted".

I don't disagree with the criticisms of the trainers. I don't disagree with the criticism of many trainers. There are, IMO, very few really good trainers out there. From what I can see, most have a rather small, but highly loyal and productive, group of clients (hmmm, that almost seems to be by design *grin*).

I also don't disagree with the criticism of diet. These folks are losing "weight", rather than losing "fat". They are losing all sorts of [1] muscle, [2] fat, and [3] water. Generally you only want to lose "fat", but that is a long slow process that doesn't make for good tv.

I think reality TV (all of it) is just plain dumb. As I have said before, "when it comes to reality TV, I choose reality over TV". Reality TV is the prime example of "oxymoron". The WWE is less scripted.

I just don't see where the contestants deserve to be ridiculed. These folks are gonna get it from all direction no matter what they do.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

You nailed it. But forgot one thing. The reason this show is successful, the reason there are people begging to get on the show....people want a quick fix, and they want someone else to do it for them. They want a "week of hell" instead of a lifetime of commitment. They want someone to tell them what they should do instead of learning themselves. They want spoon-feed, turbo charged, no thinking required solutions. This show gives it to them. Its the next best thing to the "wonder" pill.

-bcreager

I couldn't agree more. That's the one point i left out (i was running late to my therapeutic exercise class... my teacher is doing IMFLA next year, how cool! ) The only reason people watch this crap is because it is so sensational. I personaly dont want to watch bi-weekly consultations with a dietician and personal trainer consultations, etc. then have to watch the show once a week for 4 years to see somebody get back down to a healthy weight! (which is really about how long it should take some of those people to lose all of their weight.) I'd rather watch em suffer and moan and groan and debate about whether they should eat the cupcake! ;)

First I have to applaude the participants for making the effort to change their lives.

My daughter ( a recent health and exercise graduate) and I both are both dumbfounded by soem of th ecrap these "trainers" are coming up with. having Mo at +300lb do a cross country run with some wicked hills, pushing people with injuries........please.

Smartest guy is the one that got voted off recently who would insist on listening to his body and did the workouts his way. The after shot they showed of him on th elatest episode was awesome......he got the message.

Only thing I have to add is I applaud the people for losing weight on national TV but reality TV needs to be real?

I have done a 6hr indoor spinning marathon for charity. Some of the big factors that they didn't show is calorie consumption and water intake along with sitting on a spin bike for 4hrs tends to make the rear end sore if your not conditioned for it. Heck 1hr to someone not used to it can cause some pain. Where was the food and water intake portions? Can you say big bonk?

Obviously they didn't have any tension on the bike. Notice how little they were sweating? Sure, they were a little, and the dude w/ the glasses was shown a few times with a towel. But 4 hours would create POOLS of sweat if at any level of tension.

I had bet they would crap out and be standing around, and maybe they did, but they sure didn't show that. I'd think the producers would want to show it if they did -- have scenes of ONE of them standing, looking pooped and frustrated, then flash to a shot of someone else still spinning (even if it wasn't live, but rather to just heighten the appearance of drama).

No way could my rear handle 4 hours on one of those things, so I wonder how/if they did. And I'd think someone heavy like that would suffer more pain, more chafing, more saddle sores, etc. Wow.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

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