i_like_sun

Hey, miladugga, THANK YOU. I can't believe the magnitude of genuine responses this thread has gotten. All these words are helping me hugely. Its a pretty tough game, deciding where to put one's energy. As I said earlier, the reason for my wanting to go into healthcare is because of my heart and mind. I want more than just to "help people", I want to change people's lives for the better - especially when it comes to injuries and lifestyle management. It seems like so many out there suffer every day for reasons that could easily be remedied, and I want to have an effect on that. I decided this year that medical school is probably not for me. You see, after putting myself through honestly the roughest battle I've ever gone through, I don't think that the stress and sleep deprivation of four MORE years is what I want to put myself through. On top of that, it seems as though doctors in general live higher stress lives than most (the national statistic for average hours worked per week is 60) and I want to do a lot more than JUST my career. Like climbing mountains and raising kids, for example. So there you have it. I'm pretty sure that I've narrowed my search down to PT, PA, or LNP. I've also considered Osteopathic or Naturopathic medical school. The problem I have with there are: Osteopaths are basically the exact same thing as MD's, so there are the same "not wanting to age myself any faster with excessive stress" problems; Naturopaths seem to have to bust ass super hard just to make a buck - mostly because the field is still "new" to this culture, and its not main stream (an ND friend of mine even told me "just go get your MD degree, and practice with the philosophy of an ND. The path has already been pathed for you when it comes to making a living"). Who knows anymore.........I seem to over think things so excessively that I work myself into a confused mess, and then I just want to say fugg it all and become a climbing dirt bag for the rest of my life. OK, ramble over.

"A gun requires no special training or expertise, other than when to use it" Uhm, yeah, exactly. Hense Americas statistics for the thousands of wankers who kill each other every year because of stupidity. Go to Canada if you are so f***ing scared of getting murdered....... -Only in this country do people fear each other this much. PATHETIC.

Heres an abstract for you, jackass. Williams MB, Raven PB, Fogt DL, Ivy JL. (2003). Effects of recovery beverages on glycogen restoration and endurance exercise performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 17, 1, 12. The restorative capacities of a high carbohydrate-protein (CHO-PRO) beverage containing electrolytes and a traditional 6% carbohydrate-electrolyte sports beverage (SB) were assessed after glycogen-depleting exercise. Postexercise ingestion of the CHO-PRO beverage, in comparison with the SB, resulted in a 55% greater time to exhaustion during a subsequent exercise bout at 85% maximum oxygen consumption (VO(2)max). The greater recovery after the intake of the CHO-PRO beverage could be because of a greater rate of muscle glycogen storage. Therefore, a second study was designed to investigate the effects of after exercise CHO-PRO and SB supplements on muscle glycogen restoration. Eight endurance-trained cyclists (VO(2)max = 62.1 +/- 2.2 ml.kg(-1) body wt.min(-1)) performed 2 trials consisting of a 2-hour glycogen-depletion ride at 65-75% VO(2)max. Carbohydrate-protein (355 ml; approximately 0.8 g carbohydrate (CHO).kg(-1) body wt and approximately 0.2 g protein.kg(-1) body wt) or SB (355 ml; approximately 0.3 g CHO.kg(-1) body wt) was provided immediately and 2 hours after exercise. Trials were randomized and separated by 7-15 days. Ingestion of the CHO-PRO beverage resulted in a 17% greater plasma glucose response, a 92% greater insulin response, and a 128% greater storage of muscle glycogen (159 +/- 18 and 69 +/- 32 micromol.g(-1) dry weight for CHO-PRO and SB, respectively) compared with the SB (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that the rate of recovery is coupled with the rate of muscle glycogen replenishment and suggest that recovery supplements should be consumed to optimize muscle glycogen synthesis as well as fluid replacement. See, sugar is good

It's all about MILK. $2 per gallon? w00t! I drank a liter every day one summer I was biking every day. I was wicked strong. EXACTLY! Milk is one of the most PERFECT sport nutrition drinks. Especially if you get 1% fat chocolate milk - its got near perfect ratios of carbs to protein to fats. Certainly beats the shit out of powerade. Probably the most important thing I've learned about sports nutrition is that its all about ratios. You can't just go eat a shit ton of protein and expect to gain anything. You've got eat roughly four carb units per unit of protein. Care to explain how 20 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving is the perfect sports drink? Dude, sugar is a very good thing when it comes to post workout nutrition.

FUCK HOTMAIL USE GMAIL.

OK yeah, that was a GOOD comeback! Hopefully she does a lot more than just spit when she talks!

It's all about MILK. $2 per gallon? w00t! I drank a liter every day one summer I was biking every day. I was wicked strong. EXACTLY! Milk is one of the most PERFECT sport nutrition drinks. Especially if you get 1% fat chocolate milk - its got near perfect ratios of carbs to protein to fats. Certainly beats the shit out of powerade. Probably the most important thing I've learned about sports nutrition is that its all about ratios. You can't just go eat a shit ton of protein and expect to gain anything. You've got eat roughly four carb units per unit of protein.

That sounds great! Heres one: Get paid a tax free $15 per hour restoring an antique craftsmen house while living in it for free. Also forgeting to mention that it is packed with food and has a giant organic vegetable garden in the front yard. Yeah, life hurts........

Whats the sickest summer gig you've ever had?

That is precisely why I want to go into health care. I want to offer people the very best of what I have and actually improve individual's life quality.

Yeah, thanks! I'm thinking of applying to PA school next year...... Everyone I talk to about it speaks very highly of the field, and I know that you can make a pretty penny at it too. I dated a girl who was a PA. Had been for about 5 years, worked in Vancouver, WA and made about $14.50 an hour. What do you consider a “pretty penny"? Uhm, yeah, right. Thats odd, considering that the national MEDIAN salary for PA's working at least 32 hours per week is around $81,000 per year, and for new graduates in a first time job, around $70,000 per year. The top 10% of all PA's in the United States make more than $100,000 per year, and the lowest 10% make less than $50,000 per year. Overall, from the statistics I've read, it looks like I could continue my current "lets play as much as possible" philosophy as a PA, and still provide a service to society while eliminating financial anxiety. As for graduate nurse practitioner programs, it looks like I would still have to go through the steps of first being established as an RN, then work on the Masters of Science. I don't know, seems like too much to do considering I've just spent the past five years earning my bachelors degree in something thats NOT an RN program........ UW offers a fast track (3 years) Masters in Nursing program that requires no medical or nursing experience; entry requirement is any Bachelors degree with the usual prerequisites -- courses which a PT grad has already taken. Also, your PT education might be adequately favorable for the subjective part of the entrance evaluation. The rest would be GPA on relevant courses and your enthusiasm for delivering health care. UW website states the first five quarters are intensive -- up to 7 days per week of classroom time and clinical rotations that clear the way for completion of the Masters and make you eligible to sit for the state NCLEX exam for an RN license. It will cost you, but completion of the Masters in Nursing would qualify you to sit for an ARNP license. As of a couple years ago, NPs in Washington have medication prescriptive authority and can practice independently within the scope of their licensure. Job listings for the same position often seek either a PA or an NP. Pay may be about the same, as may be demand for either profession in rural areas. Yeah, I just got done looking at that website...... Looks interesting. The nursing philosophy is different to that of PA's (I think) which are trained extremely similar to the ways MD's are trained to think...... Thanks.

Optimum Nutrition is actually one of the better tasting powders. All the other brands listed above (ie. Designer Whey, which has aspartame and is over priced) are pretty much a waste of money. Another good brand is Bioplex. They are located in Bellingham and seem to make the "cleanest" product that I've found - meaning that it has no artificial crap added. As for prices, Seattle Super Supplements beats Bodybuilding.com; believe me, I've looked at this a lot.... You'll also be buying local. Also, this is just my personal opinion, but I think that most of the meal replacement products out there are kinda a waste too. "Muscle Milk" is the only one that seems pretty solid, but it too is oober priced. You can make your own meal replacement with whole food ingredients, like peanut butter, coconut milk, bananas, oats etc..... I say that just because this whole thread comes down to protein "supplements", not solid nutrition, and making protein powder you main source of aminos is a BIG mistake. EAT MORE MEAT. OK done.....

Is that because giant symetrical muscles are so damn cool? Or are you scared?

Sorry, I was off a little bit.......... the 50K per year was from an older study I read........ Here is the data from the 2006 annual income for PA's from the American Physician's Assistant Association: Respondents of study 17346 Mean $84,396 Standard deviation $21,975 10th percentile $62,472 25th percentile $70,016 Median $80,356 75th percentile $94,260 90th percentile $110,721 *Excludes self-employed PAs

Yeah, but I got guns! Yes, guns are GOOD.

Not to mention, I like his odds in a masters program with ~ 90% + women. EXACTLY!!!

Yeah, thanks! I'm thinking of applying to PA school next year...... Everyone I talk to about it speaks very highly of the field, and I know that you can make a pretty penny at it too. I dated a girl who was a PA. Had been for about 5 years, worked in Vancouver, WA and made about $14.50 an hour. What do you consider a “pretty penny"? Uhm, yeah, right. Thats odd, considering that the national MEDIAN salary for PA's working at least 32 hours per week is around $81,000 per year, and for new graduates in a first time job, around $70,000 per year. The top 10% of all PA's in the United States make more than $100,000 per year, and the lowest 10% make less than $50,000 per year. Overall, from the statistics I've read, it looks like I could continue my current "lets play as much as possible" philosophy as a PA, and still provide a service to society while eliminating financial anxiety. As for graduate nurse practitioner programs, it looks like I would still have to go through the steps of first being established as an RN, then work on the Masters of Science. I don't know, seems like too much to do considering I've just spent the past five years earning my bachelors degree in something thats NOT an RN program........

Normal....... BMI still doesn't take into account athletes with a lot of lean muscle mass however. I know people who are considered "over-weight", but they are very strong athletes and have very low body fat percentages.

Hey thanks Archy! Yeah, I'm getting more pummed about this. It also seems like a good profession for climbers. You can make plenty of $$ to support gear and holidays, and you can work ANYWHERE.

Thanks for the replies! After five years of preparing myself for PT school, I'm finding that I'm getting a bit bummed out with all the degree inflation and conservative politics put in by the APTA. I mean seriously, new PTs with doctoral level degrees still can't order X-rays, MRI's, prescribe medicine, or EVEN have direct access to patients! Its pretty much bullshit. PA's can do all that, and I even just learned that orthopedic PA's can do much of the manual musculoskeletal manipulation that PT's do. So yeah, I'm certainly interested. I've also talked with several MDs, new PT grads, and a PA student, and they all say that the profession is SOLID.

HOLY FUCK MAN. You've got some skills AND balls! A lot of my BMX buddies bad mouth trials riding, but jeeze, your gaps are knarlier and more calculated than all the tech shit that seems to be popular in BMX these days. Thanks for the video!

Yeah, thanks! I'm thinking of applying to PA school next year...... Everyone I talk to about it speaks very highly of the field, and I know that you can make a pretty penny at it too.

Anyone on here a practicing PA? If yes, do you like your job?

psssst. Only 98% of the climbing world cares! Seriously, getting up any moutain would be unthinkable without caffeine gurgling through the legs veins!

Well, yaaknow, everything IS better wraped in bacon.