Topic: The Health, Fitness and Exercise Thread

@ralphdibny do you have a lot of junk food in the house though? I am snacky right now but the besides a bag of sugar the sweetest thing I have is jam on toast 😂 so I’m just having a cup of tea. My girlfriend has a habit of buying multi-packs of chocolate bars, even if she just wants 1, because it “works out cheaper” 😖

Hey, what do I know - but if I were you I’d maybe set the exercise goals to one side a little while (aside from some basic exercises to maintain mobility if you have injuries) until I got my diet a little bit where I wanted it. I’d do food diaries, calorie counting and meal planning for 6 months. I’d just do 1 big controlled shop a week, avoid small shops where I am likely to buy junk and eat packed lunch for work. I mean, you can’t do it all at once, and you definitely can’t out-train a bad diet. But that’s just my 2 cents and what I think would work for me and how I operate, if I was in your position. Of course I have never been overweight, and I’ve only had to control my diet for other reasons (I went gluten free for a long time to help with my arthritis, and I am better at avoiding crap these days) so I appreciate I may be way off the mark! I hope I am not sounding insensitive, really not my intent - I know things are never as easy as they sound!

@ralphdibny It was quite a while ago I saw this now but there was a program the BBC did a while back about exercise. I don't remember the fine details but it was something along the lines of taking several families and getting them to each do a different activity and then finding out which group burned the most calories by the end of the day. I think one group did a circuits session, one something outdoors like a run and another they just got to do housework all day.

It turned out that it was the group doing the housework all day that burned the most simply because they were moving all day apart from when they sat down to have lunch. The other groups did their activities and then sat down for most of the rest of the day so even though they burned more calories while they were doing their activities over the entire day then ended up burning less. Even though I take all these programs with a pinch of salt I can definitely see there's some truth in that. If I go for a 5k run say I might work off 200 - 300 calories, which is pretty much a Mars Bars worth. You can burn pretty much the same number of calories from just standing all day instead of sitting and that's not even taking into account any activity you are doing whilst standing, which would obviously make it a lot more. I've actually seen the results of that first hand as when I went from a sitting desk to a standing desk I lost a good 5kg along with the other benefits such as my back feeling better and feeling more awake etc.

I'm not advocating doing housework all day everyday for exercise, personally I'll take the run any day, more that simple changes can have a big impact. It could be things like if you can't stand for work you could stand while you watch TV in the evening, you could go for a walk at lunch rather than just going back to work etc. Obviously those things won't work in isolation and you still need to try and eat less of the bad stuff. I'm the same as you guys though and I'll eat badly at times and fancy things like salty snacks and chocolate etc but I try to use those as a last resort and if I'm feeling hungry between meals I'll more likely have a cuppa to see if that just takes the edge off before I open the snack draw.

I'm sorry it's not great advice but hopefully it's something you can think about as a way to get yourself back on track.

2 weeks later I had my first pain free ride this morning, too early to get excited as I am expecting the knee pain to creep back as I ride more during the week but compared to how sore it was 2 weeks ago I am very happy. I've been consistent with the strengthening exercises and icing, and it's nice to see a bit of pay off...

@kyleforrester87 yep! I do have lots of snacks in the house. I use them to top up my mood throughout the day. I think I always buy them because I always get that feeling worse at night when I'm in bed. I need that one little sweet treat to help me feel nice enough to fall asleep. Otherwise I feel like I get too like, I duno, unfulfilled to sleep?

But your defo right though, need to cut out the junk. I've just been under a lot of stress and pressure lately and while I initially lost my appetite (and about 5kg) from it, I ended up just going back to what is pretty much my only health affecting vice.

I think I might start doing the food diary again on the My Fitness Pal app. I need to get it under control a bit.

@render nah not at all, it's great to hear new perspectives!

It's just a tough one to balance for me to be honest. Work is a whole other ball game. I actually used to (technically I still do but I'm just not going in any more) do a job where I was on my feet all day. Unfortunately, it didn't really work out like that for me. I maintained an unhealthy weight and just found my self spending every evening too tired to do anything apart from shower-eat dinner-sleep-repeat. 3/4 weekends a month were spent monging out trying to recuperate for the following week. Not to mention my feet injury which just means standing for long periods is a complete no-go.

Unfortunately the whole thing didn't suit me very much! It's kind of weird ya know, there are like things that people know are healthy but there is also the reality of what people are actually physically and mentally capable of. Recent years for me have normally been either diet or exercise, not often both. I'll normally get the idea that I'll want to do something and I'll do it for a while before inevitably falling off it.

I actually think I had the most successful weight loss recently doing weights and other resistance exercises. I read somewhere that it's good because you burn calories for a long time after the exercise as your body repairs itself. I did that last year for a good while before I fell off for reasons I can't remember.

Unfortunately, injuries and stagnation have cropped up too much for me to get straight back into that so I think I'm going to start off light with a spot of yoga and see if I "get the bug", so to speak and diversify into other exercising.

Now the clocks have gone forwards so I have daylight after work again, I am doing my yearly attempt to try and complete Couch to 5k. Maybe this is the year I finish it. Probably not, but I can try.

I found a podcast from the NHS where they talk to you, play music, give you all the timings and stuff so all you gotta worry about is the exercise and they do everything else, definitely makes it easier. Especially like mid way round a session when all you're focused on is not stopping.

Always kinda blows me away how much I struggle with this every time I try, though. I'm definitely not fit and healthy, but I do try and get on the exercise bike or go for walks a couple of times a week, not for any real crazy distances, but I at least try and do something. It isn't like I am completely sedentary and I generally feel pretty comfortable doing indoor bike classes or walking for an hour or two, but then as soon as I need to run, it is like I haven't moved my body at all in about twenty years. 😂

@Pizzamorg Go get it, I am the same with running. I can ride hard for hours and hours but struggle after a few hundred meters when it comes to running I am too injury prone to really try but I do dream of getting better at it as I used to run a lot when I was younger. There is a field near me, I should just get my trainers on and do morning laps this winter.

Just make sure to warm up properly before you get on it.

@Pizzamorg go for it! Couch to 5K is my favourite exercise app and I honestly find it so surprising how easy it is to hit the goal within 2 months.

I think the good thing about it is that it's more about building stamina than speed. So early on while you struggle, you can just jog at the same speed that you'd walk.

Then when you kind of become aware of it, you can start pushing for faster times!

It's the right ratio of app provided guidance/user input in my opinion!

I did it quite a few times without finishing it too though. I didn't actually hit the 5K properly until a couple years ago and I was well proud.

I do need to do it again soon once I've shed some weight by other means. (I'll be too heavy on my feet otherwise)

The race on Saturday went pretty well in the end. Finished at just over 2h30 which was the minimum I wanted but it was really tough and I ended up walking some of the hills towards the end as I was pooped. The Strava gradient graph doesn't do some of them justice!

I feel I could have done better. Maybe I should have gone quicker on the easier bits to give me more time in the bag for later on but maybe I would have finished myself off even sooner. That said, no-one was overtaking me from the halfway point and I was going past people so I probably played it fine. I finished 12/95 too which was pretty pleasing.

The hamstring wasn't too bad either. It was a bit stiff for the first few km while I got going but fine on the hills.

I was still smiling towards the end though

@Thrillho nice, well done! Glad the hamstring didn't give you too much jip.

I love the wooly spectators in your photograph too! 😂

@Thrillho Well done! Feels good when you realise no one has come past you for a while lol. Do you have another lined up yet?

@Thrillho Well done on the race. I've done plenty of running around the coast down in Dorset / Cornwall and it's pretty challenging stuff with the uphills usually being short and sharp.

@ralphdibny I much prefer running through a field of sheep to one with cows! And why do cows always hang around the corner of the field with the gate??

@kyleforrester87 My persistence with wearing my jacket the whole race gained me some places as lots of people stopped to take them off

No more booked up at the moment but I’ve got my eye on a couple. One is an interesting one of a two team relay race around the whole of the South West coast path where you sign up for a 10 mile leg. I have no idea how it would work logistically though seeing as it takes over 5 days to complete.

@render And yes, the mentioned SW coast path is a killer and most of the above race was on it. I do plenty of hill running but normally ones with standard hills. The constant up and down is much more of a killer.

@Thrillho Pah, I don't even stop and get off my bike when I take my rain jacket off!! Logistics of these multi-day and/or point-to-point events almost always seem harder than the event itself, to me. There is a 200 mile "chase the sun" coast to coast event which I would like to do, but how the hell am I meant to get to the start and home again from the finish..?

@kyleforrester87 Most point to point runs normally offer the option of a coach from the car park at the end of the race to the start but that’s certainly harder with a bike. And with the relay one I’m looking at I assume it goes overnight too? And how do you know when you might be expected to do your section??

@Thrillho Yes you'd need bike transfer and obviously the distances can get quite long on a bike so travel time increases. The one I am talking about for example starts at sunrise on the east coast and you aim to arrive before sunset in the west. So I'd need to get to from London to the East coast with my bike and riding gear, cycle across the country and then drive 150 miles back to London, or if I drove to the East coast initially I'd have to drive 200 miles back to the car and then drive 50 miles back on myself to London. They wouldn't run a coach and bike transport back to the start line over that distance at the end, so you'd need to have a method of transport at the other end - then what do you do with THAT once you're either back in London or back to your own car on the East coast. And all of that on no sleep after being awake basically 24 hours and cycling 200 miles, which is just unrealistic so you probably need to have a hotel on either side as well. Oh, and I don't actually have my own car at the moment either.

So a 200 mile loop from your front door is the much more attractive option lol

Does anyone else here fence? I've found it's a great way to keep myself getting consistent exercise and I great alternative to tossing a ball around. I love playing with swords in games (and always loved them as a kid too), so I just went and started doing it in real life too. It's fun to do the real life application of what you do in some games.
It's a great workout.

@Jaz007 I have never fenced or considered trying to be honest. It looks really fun, but I honestly have not ever seen anywhere I could take it up. Obviously there must be places but it doesn’t seem very common. I’d also assume it’s quite an expensive hobby to get into?

@kyleforrester87 I think it’s often within a good distance (I imagine this would be especially so in the UK, given everything is closer over there), but if it’s line mine, you have to intentionally look for it as opposed to stumbling across it. It’s not necessarily common (not like Karate places at least), but I don’t think it’s rare either.
I’m sure you’d find one if you searched in google maps.
As for expensive to get into, I think that depends on the club. The club I’m in has gear for students to use, so it doesn’t require you to buy anything, just to pay for the lessons. Mine starts at about $75 a month.
If you get into enough and want own gear it doesn’t cost some money though.
A starter set costs with everything costs about $400-$500, then extra board and whatnot would add more to it. I as fencing for at least half a year I think before I got my own set of gear.

I do get a bit scared if I'm ever in a field with cattle actually 😂

@Jaz007 I actually did fencing in primary school actually. It wasn't a posh primary school or anything, I think one of the teachers randomly had an interest in it and had all the gear to run a club there.

I can't say I've taken it back up as an adult though!

@Jaz007 I have some friends who were really into fencing at one point. I can't remember why they stopped but it did sound like a really interesting. I'd probably be terrible at it as my reactions aren't great. That's the same thing that lets me down at gaming really.

On a general note I'm really hooked back on mountain biking. The kids have been doing skills sessions for over a year now and they've come such a long way. It's been great being able to take them out on the graded routes near here and letting them show me what they've learnt. We've even swapped a few skills as there's a few things I never really learnt to do when I first started such as scooting and track stands which they've shown me, and I've managed to guide them over a few rocky features that they weren't confident with. I'm hoping that this will all carry over into something they will do for life, or at least use it as a way to see that exercise can be fun and that it doesn't have to always be connected with sport but can also be a way to challenge and push yourself a bit.