@render I feel the same about feeling like you have to start from the beginning again after an injury or something like that. I've got somewhat weak knees too from a meniscal tear injury I had at work. Obviously that + plantar fasciitis means I really have to build up strength in the surrounding muscles before I attempt anything high impact. I nearly always have an inflamed coccyx as well for some reason, I get that from sitting on uncomfortable chairs like at the dinner table and certain desk chairs so I'm mainly a sofa/armchair/bed guy when I'm at home. I know there is a correct way to sit but I just find it really uncomfortable so I prefer to be as horizontal as possible.
PE was a mixed bag for me at school, I played rugby for a team when I was young so I was praised when we did coaching modules on the syllabus and used my pre-attained knowledge to build the training courses but generally I was pretty bad at sports.
My top 3 "traumatising" memories from PE at school:
1. This wasn't so bad and I found it quite funny after the fact. My friend was throwing a discus like a frisbee so I showed him how to throw it properly like Hercules in Jason and the Argonauts. I don't know how he missed the instructions, the teacher literally showed us how to do it minutes before. Well anyway, my mate didn't believe me and asked the teacher. The teacher confirmed my method was correct but my mate told him that I said to use the frisbee method! The teacher then called me an idiot haha😂
2. At a gymnastics demonstration for parents (I weren't the best at gymnastics but I enjoyed it, probably because it was non-competitive), we had a routine to do. Anyway, I botched a cartwheel and landed on a girl who spent the rest of the night in tears. I was mortified and never did gymnastics again!
3. Dodgeball. Just Dodgeball. I hated it so very much. We had this real jock of a teacher do this class and he would revel in it. It was basically just having balls thrown at you. They were kind of these soft, not quite fully inflated balls but when they hit you, they would slap really hard and it really really hurt. I guess the point of this game is to take the pain but you would feel good about dishing it back out in revenge. Well I had a stupidly weak throw, whip, fling, whatever the method of throwing was so I could never get the satisfaction of revenge shots. This was just embarrassing and painful. Even worse when the jock teacher joined in the games or would just be cracking up at the sidelines!
@ralphdibny my arthritis is “everywhere” unfortunately but generally it’s up and down. More down than up these days I’m happy to say. My feet are probably consistently the worst, mainly my Achilles’ tendons (hence I don’t run) but I’ve had plantar fasciitis in the past - it’s nasty.
If you can stretch to it, I’d strongly recommend a Thergaun. It’s like having a sports massage every day, works well for plantar fasciitis. I have this one and it’s made a massive difference for me.
@ralphdibny I have the same problem with my coccyx. I once had surgery to remove a pilonidal abscess and it's been painful to sit on ever since! Plantar fasciitis is horrible, too. I inherited flat feet from my Mum (cheers, Ma), so guess that makes me more susceptible to it. At the moment they're quite inflamed, so I just do some stretches and roll it over a ball.
I cannot overstate how much I loathed P.E. at secondary school, especially when they made us play football in the middle of winter on a practically waterlogged field. As a teenager I was quite a good swimmer, but for some reason the school kept the pool closed for the entire seven years I was there, so I just used the local leisure centre. However, the most memorable session for me was probably when we were playing rounders one afternoon at junior school. Some utter fool landed the ball in my gut with what seemed impossible force for a ten-year-old, and the pain was quite intense. Surprisingly it didn't bruise at all.
Hey dudes, i think this is a great idea so this is my share.
I'm 180 cm (5'11) and 87 kg (192 pounds). Also i'm an endomorph (I think this is important to say because a lot of things differ from body to body).
Before the pandemic i went to the gym almost everyday for almost 3 years. When the lockdown started at the end of february i was 99 kg (218 p) muscle > fat, in the first two months i gained around 4 kg (8 p) which is a lot so i compromised to eat as simple and healthy as possible. And I drink 2.5 l of water per day.
My meals are the same everyday as i used to do at the gym, grilled chicken and vegetables (mainly broccoli, spinach and carrot). Some days i eat legumes like beans and lentis.
When it comes to exercise i have a pair of dumbells that were gifted to me when i was a kid (i'm 26 now) they aren't that heavy 15 kg each (33 p) but with them i do al kind of exercises for arms, shoulders, back even i use them for squats. Also i do push ups in different positions and exercises for transverse abdominis (the inner layer of the abdomen). I'm doing 4 sets of 12 reps of everything i do in aprox 90 min. For the number of reps the exercise is to define the body so i don't do any other kind of aerobics. Other thing is that i walk a lot, i live alone so i hame all my place to walk, it helps me to think and also i kind of enjoy it, i put my favourite music or maybe even a stream on twitch and the walk is on.
Till this day i have lost 16 kg (35 p) in 8 months. When the lockdown started i knew i was going to lose my gains (wich is very sad for me lol) because if i can't train heavy i can't eat as i used to (6 times a day) or drink protein shakes (i miss them too) but my new motivation is to lose as much fat as possible to be ready for the day when i will finally be able to go to the gym again.
I'm from Mexico and i know that's not going to happen anytime soon so for now the goal is to lose 7 kg more (15 p) to reach 80 kg (176 p), that's the lowest i have weighed as an adult because before the gym i was 125 kg (275 p) fat > muscle. And for my type of body 80 kg is actually slim.
If i had to give any advice i would say the most important thing when you start to do exercise is to have in mind that it will take time and it's a commitment. Start slow and get better with time. Also it doesn't matter what you do just do something, walk, run, ciclyng, push ups, anything. I will be here a few times a week to encourage everyone lol, i was lucky enough to roll in a gym where almost all people was nice so i miss that too, encourage others to reach their goals while you are working hard to reach yours.
@kyleforrester87 ah damn, that really sucks. It's certainly not something I'm looking forward to as I get older. Especially in terms potentially not being able to play games.
Cheers for the recommendation on that Theragun, it probably is a bit of a stretch for me at the moment but I'll keep it in mind for when I have a bit of cash flow. It does look good for sure. I'm just too much of a cheapo with both my money and my time. One of the most common treatments for plantar fasciitis is rolling a ball under the foot. I think that would be ok if you had a desk job and sat down all day but I don't really so I had to work something else out that suited my lifestyle.
@mookysam ahh that really sucks, have you been back to the doctors or anything about the ongoing pain the operation caused you? I wouldn't blame you if you hadn't, I'm notorious for just letting myself fall to bits instead of facing an unsympathetic jaded GP receptionist who gatekeeps doctor appointments because with her unqualified opinion thinks that every patient is making it up. You normally have to call my GP two or three times before you get an appointment and you normally have to whinge and over exaggerate your reaction to pain before they'll let you see one. I can feel great pain but I don't necessarily feel it's very productive to sort of make lots of pained noises to demonstrate it, if you know what I mean. But that's what the GP receptionist wants! Sorry that was a bit of a tangent/rant about my doctors...
Ahhh rounders! The game where every student refused to hold the bat in one hand and insisted on holding it two handed like a baseball bat despite its diminutive stature!
@dudeAmarillo hello and welcome! Sounds like you are quite into fitness and know a lot of details about yourself. I didn't really know about the different body shapes but I had a look at Google and endomorph is quite a broad shape isn't it. I'm quite tall and therefore broad but I don't think it's out of proportion to my height. Im definitely not the ectomorph, probably a mesomorph (albeit currently a very fat one haha) and possibly an endomorph.
Sounds like you eat a balanced diet. I have heard that a 6 meal a day schedule is good for you and I have done it before and perhaps will again in the future. Currently I live with my family so I don't get much of a choice in what I eat. I get given a large late dinner and occasionally lunch which I'd skip if it wasn't given to me. I'm not up early enough for breakfast at the moment so I basically have one large meal a day and then I might snack before bed to make me comfortable enough to sleep. I know that probably sounds horrifying to someone who is quite into fitness but it works for me and I'm happy with it. If I stop being happy with it then I'll certainly make an effort to change it.
What you mentioned about time and committment in the last bit. I think that's my problem really! I like quick fixes. I've mentioned some of them such as the Insanity workout (I lost a lot of weight very quickly doing that) but I also devised a diet where I swapped crisps for ready washed salad bags from the super market. I was inspired by seeing a friend of mine eat his dinner, but instead of putting the salad on the plate, he just ate it like a bag of crisps. I did that a few years ago and lost a few stone within a couple of months and kept it off for a while but then I had to come back home to my family and the massive dinners ballooned me out again. I know it's not the best way to lose weight and can cause either gallstones or kidney stones (not sure which) but I wanted to try it to see if it worked and it did. I probably wouldn't repeat the same diet though because I think I got a bit sick of spinach and having a green tongue and green you know what lol.
@ralphdibny
That Splinter Cell costume sounds awesome, got to love a home made costume.
I've not tried Insanity but I've heard of it.
Rest day for me today. Once you get into a routine, people will sometimes exercise every day but it is essential to have days off.
@kyleforrester87
That sounds really useful, first time I've heard of that before. Think I'll have to get something like that.
@Th3solution
I've been using Nike trainers for running, last pair were Nike Zooms. Seem to do a decent job but I rarely get new trainers so I've not got anything to compare them to!
@ralphdibny Sounds like you were definitely sportier than me at school but you still had the traumatising experiences. I remember being shouted at for being weak by my PE teacher when taking a note from my doctor into school to say that I shouldn't play in the scrum in rugby because of my back. I still suffer from back problems today but have found a way to manage it doing pilates, strength training and stretching.
I don't know if anyone else had similar but when we played team games one team would have to play "skins", so basically take your top off. That was fine for anyone modestly athletic but if you were like me, podgy and basically labelled as a fat kid, then it was definitely not fine.
I think you'd probably call it an eating disorder but that's what I think I developed over the last few years at high school so I ended up shedding loads of weight through not eating at all during the day. The upside to that was that I was saving all that lunch money and spending it on games for my megadrive 😂.
The realisation that I was getting on in my years and probably not living that healthy through uni and the first years of employment pushed me to start running and cycling. I got to know some friends through that and now use it as motivation to get out, that's when we can meet up of course. I can definitely appreciate issues with sitting down for long periods and on chairs that aren't particularly great for the job. The one thing that I've found really helped me is a standing desk. It's great as now I don't sit down much during the day, move around a bit more than I would have done if sitting and when I do sit down in the evenings I feel like I've earned it. I also lost about a kilo when I first started using it so can definitely say that it works on that level.
@LieutenantFatman nice one! I have a tape to do today, my gut is still hurting from Wednesday though. I'll still do the tape but I think I'll try and keep to the "modified" positions like the plank with my knees down instead
@render ahh that's so lame! Some teachers can be such A-Holes but then again, some teachers were so damn cool. I keep in touch with a few, even now. No PE teachers though, funnily enough.
I think I just hated the competitive team based sports because I was no good at them. I don't have an interest in football so that was boring for me. I played basketball and rugby but I don't think I was good at them. One thing I did like were the really odd extra curricular sports. My primary school had fencing for some reason and I did that for a while. My secondary school had archery, which I did until I discovered the hour of Dragonball Z they showed on cartoon network that I had to be home for 😅. All the extra curricular sports at secondary school kind of reminded me of going to Pontins or something like that! But yeah, at that age (and even now) I never liked watching sport on TV or real life unless it had a storyline like WWF haha
I remember when I first started primary school, they would make all of us do PE in our pants and vests for some reason :S I'm pretty sure my mum wrote a letter and put an end to it though. By secondary school, we had those fluorescent bibs to show which team we are on.
I think another thing that put me off sports was all the different versions we played that had different rules. Tag Rugby, non contact rugby, contact rugby etc. Cricket was the worse though, I still don't understand Kwik Cricket, 20/20 Cricket and regular cricket. It became so confusing to the point of inaccessibility.
It may have been an eating disorder, I think I was similar at university. The resources for this sort of thing were less readily available back then so it's hard to know! I think I'd definitely look into a standing desk if I ever got a desk job, at least a VariDesk as you can adjust the height. I probably wouldn't stand up a lot because my feet would get mashed up but having the option can atleast stop you being in one position for too long
Well I just did Day 3 which was a 25 minute tape. The fitness tracker had my heart rate in the fat burning zone for 16 minutes so that's good I guess. I did try and go a bit easier on myself because I strained myself on Wednesday.
I'm supposed to have a 2 day break now because the schedule is currently Mon/Wed/Fri. I've got a job to do next Wednesday though so I might shift the tapes for Mon and Wed to Sun and Tue respectively. Hopefully its not too much
It's funny how it hurts a bit more for longer this time as opposed to when I started it last March/April. I wonder if it's either because I had some minor built up fitness from going on walks before starting it last year where as I don't this time. Or if it's because I went at it with a similar intensity to when I stopped doing it last time without having a 9 week build up to that intensity.
@ralphdibny It's just one of those things. It still gets inflamed and slightly infected now and then, but to be honest it's the least of my physical problems so doesn't bother me compared to everything else! 😂
Haha, yep, going back as far as I can remember GP receptionists were sometimes be quite uppity, but thankfully aside from one lady they're mostly friendly at my current surgery. I used to be able to book appointments online without giving details, but a few years ago they moved to a system where the receptionists ask why you need an appointment and then gets a GP to ring the patient back. The doctor decides if you need to go in or not.
@kyleforrester87 The Theragun sounds great. I'll look into getting one.
@mookysam@LieutenantFatman Massage guns are in a different league to traditional massagers, I’ve got the Prime and it is very good (the different heads are great) but in hindsight I would have gone for the Elite for that extra pressure before the motor stalls out and also the adjustable neck so I can more easily do my own upper back. The Prime is still very good though and you have to apply a LOT of force for it stop, but I really like to give my glutes a pummelling and with it between my legs wrenching it into my ass cheeks with both arms I can stall it out lol.
There are cheaper alternatives, some which seem to review well. You are paying for the Theragun name to a degree.
Before I started regularly using it I didn’t realise how knotted my muscles were, and on a Friday after a week of cycling my legs really ached. Now I recover a lot quicker and I’m able to stretch more easily and do more exercise which in turn makes you stronger and reduces pain further.
@mookysam I actually quite like the doctor ringing you back method. They started it this year to reduce attendance during the pandemic. I had an ear infection and had a phone appointment and got all my meds prescribed over the phone. It was quick and easy and way more effective than their usual procedure of speaking to the dungeon keeper and answering 3 riddles
@kyleforrester87 that does sound like a really good massage. I couldn't help but laugh at this bit though:
@Th3solution Yeah, there are (were) loads in the UK and there is a big thing called ParkRun where areas have set 5k routes that anyone can turn up to at 9am on a Saturday and take part. You get a unique identifier so your times are online and you can see them across all different places. I never did one but they're a neat idea and it looks like they're in a few places across the US too.
As for shoes, I use trail shoes as I like the grip for slightly less off road routes. I have some North Face Gore-Tex ones which are great. Everyone on another forum I use swear by the Adidas Ultrabooster shoes for road running.
@render Thanks! Strava tells me my records are 23:17 for 5k and 51:41 for 10k. I could probably beat both if I did purely flat routes but they're not easy to come by around here without running the same bits over and over I'd be keen to try more fell running but it's finding good routes and I'm always worried about slipping over to be honest. Not sure I could manage it around the Peaks/Lakes though!
@ralphdibny I'm learning not to mind the inclines so much as that's when I'm working hardest. Plus it makes the flat sections feel much easier! My trainers are fine in the mud being Gore-Tex
@Thrillho I've just checked out my Strava stats and both of those are pretty much unrealisitic on my profile. Best 5k is recorded as 17:46 which looking at the GPS trace has managed to include a bizarre egg timer shaped extension to my run that's made it look like I've covered a good amount of ground in a very straight line. Best 10k is showing 45:44 which was from a 20k run I did when I was in Crete years ago and basically ran up a mountain (well walked the last bit) and then ran like a b***ard back down again so I could get back for breakfast. That 10k will definitely be from the downhill bit so a total cheat. I most likely wouldn't keep up with you on an honest run on the flat 😆.
Slipping over can be an issue in fell races however in all the years I've usually hurt myself more running around where I live than I ever have in the lakes or peaks. Plus there's a few companies that make shoes with ultra aggressive grips on them like the Inov-8 mudclaw or x-talon. I've got the x-talon and it's amazing how much grip they will give you going down the side of something quite steep, they can make most descents quite fun.
Parkrun is a great event btw. I've got friends who take part in the adult ones in various places in the UK and my daughter takes part in the junior version which is run on Sunday mornings at 9am so we either run with her or volunteer to marshal the route. It's a great place to start either as an adult or a kid though, they are just really well organised and friendly events.
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