The Fitness thread

Joining in... slightly out of my depth based on some of the stuff you guys are doing!

Currently a fairly unfit moderately podgy git with a desire for a more active lifestyle.

In my yoof I used to cycle 10+ miles most days on my fairly cheap steel frame mountain bike. Past 10 years I have become less active and more partial to pies and real ale, not what one would call ideal.

Since I like pie and ale, I am starting out on my quest to improve my fitness levels.

Last year I walked up Mam Tor in Derbyshire. It about killed me. First goal is do the same walk in about a month without that underlying near death feeling I had last year.
 
Phil Young said:
What is this fitness test you speak of???
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Every 2 weeks in Insanity you do a fitness test to gauge progress.

One minute max reps of the following:

1. Switch kicks
2. Power Jacks
3. Power Knees
4. Power Jumps
5. Globe jumps
6. Suicide jumps (basically a burpee with no pushup)
7. Push up jacks
8. Low plank oblique

With warm up, stretch and cool down it takes about 25 mins so you have limited recovery between each one. The video above is a guy doing it and swearing a lot about it.
 
Phil Young said:
What is this fitness test you speak of???

Don't know much about insanity other than it looks like a pretty cool cardio session.
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If you believe the marketing hype it's along the lines of P90X and the more extreme home workout regimes.

The programme lasts for 9 weeks, two 4 weeks blocks with a recovery week in the middle. There's a diet plan to go with it but being honest I haven't followed it although I've tried to eat sensibly.

The video a few posts back is like a summary of what Insanity is all about.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Did you do max interval plyo yet today? If not you really do have a treat in store.
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And what a treat it was!!!!

Although it was frickin' tough, I prefer the plyo workouts as I can almost feel it making me stronger (if you get what I mean?).

Mind you the squat push ups and power push ups nearly left me with a broken nose :lol:
 
Oh yeah. Squat pushups. I was wondering why the backs of my shoulders really really hurt today. I'd forgotten those.

Don't worry Russ. I've just done Max Cardio Conditioning and it's a walk in the park. It's more like a gentle stretch routine with just enough light jogging to get you mildly out of breath. I was actually sorry it only lasted 45 minutes.















I'm lying of course. You're going to die.

Also, when he says "ski abs" I challenge you not to swear.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Oh yeah. Squat pushups. I was wondering why the backs of my shoulders really really hurt today. I'd forgotten those.

Don't worry Russ. I've just done Max Cardio Conditioning and it's a walk in the park. It's more like a gentle stretch routine with just enough light jogging to get you mildly out of breath. I was actually sorry it only lasted 45 minutes.















I'm lying of course. You're going to die.

Also, when he says "ski abs" I challenge you not to swear.
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I got all excited with the prospect of an easy night then BOOM!! :lol:

Pure Cardio was my least favourite month 1 workout....... Think I'm gonna die! :lol:
 
Russ77 said:
I got all excited with the prospect of an easy night then BOOM!! :lol:

Pure Cardio was my least favourite month 1 workout....... Think I'm gonna die! :lol:
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'k joking apart I got to love Pure Cardio. This morning in Max Cardio I nearly passed out in the cool down........

Wanna hear the bad news about tomorrow's recovery?
 
RichardtheSane said:
Joining in... slightly out of my depth based on some of the stuff you guys are doing!

Currently a fairly unfit moderately podgy git with a desire for a more active lifestyle.

In my yoof I used to cycle 10+ miles most days on my fairly cheap steel frame mountain bike. Past 10 years I have become less active and more partial to pies and real ale, not what one would call ideal.

Since I like pie and ale, I am starting out on my quest to improve my fitness levels.

Last year I walked up Mam Tor in Derbyshire. It about killed me. First goal is do the same walk in about a month without that underlying near death feeling I had last year.
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Welcome

I'd say the first thing is to ease in slowly (do not try to keep up with these nutters)

Diet wise theres nowt wrong with ale and pie in moderation ( lot of carbs and protein an a nice bit of pie) but do try and eat some other healthy stuff as well
 
Russ77 said:
Go on... hit me with it :gag:
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Apparently, the "max" bit is accurate, the "recovery" not so much.

I'm getting advice to make sure you use a mat near the end or your elbows will bleed. Really.

@BSM - I object to the term "nutters". We're just doing Insanity. Oh, right..... :lol:

Just looked up Mam Tor - looks a decent climb.
 
Well the good news is I didn't die during Max Cardio..... I may have seen "the light" though :lol:

I didn't swear at "ski abs" for one very simple reason.... I was totally incapable of speech by that point!
 
Sweet! And you don't have to do it again until Monday.

I must admit, this month I'm a bit confused which the hardest/easiest workout is. They all seem pretty tough in their own ways. I think Mac Cardio might be the hardest and MIC the easiest but I might revise that.

BTW do you have the deluxe set with the bonus workouts? Apparently I can substitute Core Cardio and Balance with Max Interval Sports Training. Which doesn't sound very sensible......
 
RichardtheSane said:
Last year I walked up Mam Tor in Derbyshire. It about killed me. First goal is do the same walk in about a month without that underlying near death feeling I had last year.
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A month is way too long to walk up Mam Tor :shrug:
 
JonathanRyan said:
Sweet! And you don't have to do it again until Monday.

I must admit, this month I'm a bit confused which the hardest/easiest workout is. They all seem pretty tough in their own ways. I think Mac Cardio might be the hardest and MIC the easiest but I might revise that.

BTW do you have the deluxe set with the bonus workouts? Apparently I can substitute Core Cardio and Balance with Max Interval Sports Training. Which doesn't sound very sensible......
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I was having the same debate about which is the toughest..... think I'm of the same opinion as you for now!

I do have the deluxe set, don't think I'll be subbing anything soon :lol:

Perhaps once I've completed it I may take a look at the bonus workouts...
 
Cut 'n paste of my current cardio day, done on a rower
It is 9 sets in total.

For treadmill: Sprint for 30s then jump of treadmill and perform the 2 exercises. Repeat 3 times before resting.

30s @10kmh/10%
10 DB thrusters
10 Press-ups

Rest 3 minutes

30s @10kmh/10%
10 DB upright row
10 DB lateral raise

Rest 3 minutes

30s @10kmh/10%
10 Burpess
10 sit ups

The exercises can be changes about as much as you want to keep it interesting. The speed and incline can also be adjusted to make it more difficult. Be careful when jumping on/off the treadmill while its still moving.

Abs

Reps Sets Rest
Hanging leg raise 12-15 3 60 sec rest
Cable Crunch 20 3 60 sec rest
Roll outs 20 3 60 sec rest
Back extensions 20 3 60 sec rest
 
My workout today (2 rounds anyway):

I'm the little guy :)

The gigantor is my sensei.

Since I struggle with taller opponents, we came up with a strategy to keep moving and keep the kicks to a minimum...I felt it works very well but need to hone it a bit now. The idea is to video again in 3 months and be more of an aggressor.
 
looks more like a dance class :lol:

I would have thought the way to neutralise the advantage of a taller opponent would be to close the distance so that he can't keep you away from him with long kicks (but then I know b****r all about kick boxing)
 
Phil Young said:
Jon you need to have the carbs pre and see if it's still as hard ;)

You have to try, you're robbing your potential otherwise!
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Forgot to say.....I am taking your advice. Unfortunately I made the switch just as I started on the new tougher workouts so it's hard to gauge.

First 2 days I was falling asleep mid morning though :(

Nutrition looks like this:

7am 30g of maltodextrin in water
7:45 train for an hour (about 600 calories) - drink about 1.5 litres of water
8:45 protein shake with skimmed milk and a cold porridge of oats, oatbran, hemp seed, greek yoghurt and fresh berries.

Mid morning I'm slumping :(
 
JonathanRyan said:
Forgot to say.....I am taking your advice. Unfortunately I made the switch just as I started on the new tougher workouts so it's hard to gauge.

First 2 days I was falling asleep mid morning though :(

Nutrition looks like this:

7am 30g of maltodextrin in water
7:45 train for an hour (about 600 calories) - drink about 1.5 litres of water
8:45 protein shake with skimmed milk and a cold porridge of oats, oatbran, hemp seed, greek yoghurt and fresh berries.

Mid morning I'm slumping :(
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That'd be because you're having around 1/4 of your carbohydrate needs...

If you're using 600kcals per hr of exercise, we can assume that's roughly 80% mhr and you're breathing heavy for the majority of the time.

At 80% we know that around 80% of that 600 calories works out to the amount of glycogen needed. Divide 480kcal by 4 (4 cals per gram of carbohydrate) and you get 120g.

"seems like a lot"???

It's either that or muscle protein gets broken down for amino acids (which you then get back with shakes and meals etc).

Try that and see how you get on.
 
Phil, what??? I have almost literally no idea what that means...... :)

Are you suggesting 120g of maltodextrin? That's, um, a lot of calories....
 
JonathanRyan said:
Phil, what??? I have almost literally no idea what that means...... :)

Are you suggesting 120g of maltodextrin? That's, um, a lot of calories....
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Lol ok...

Look at it this way...

Only 120kcal / 13g of your workout was energy from fat and the rest is your choice, you can either stuff yourself with carbs which will give what you need...or you can believe that you don't need that much but you WILL still use 480kcal but... it'll be from muscle instead.

You don't have to worry about weight gain from it - you're only putting in what you need to use anyway and if you don't, you'll "reimburse" the lost protein in the absence of carbohydrate, the only difference is, the latter is much less efficient.
 
OK. that makes a kind of sense :)

Apart from this bit...

Phil Young said:
Only 120kcal / 13g of your workout was energy from fat
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How do you work that out?

I really should read that book on nutrition my wife bought me......
 
JonathanRyan said:
OK. that makes a kind of sense :)

Apart from this bit...

How do you work that out?

I really should read that book on nutrition my wife bought me......
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Yeah... that's pretty accurate give or take a few calories here and there...

The intensity of effort determines the amount of fat used. If it was a 60% maximum heart rate (working but still comfortably talk) then the percentage of fat would be higher but still translate to just 20-25g or so.

This happens because at higher intensities you need a fuel that works without oxygen and this is carbs or amino acids to put it simply.

The real shocker is this... if you didn't work out you'd have used about 8/9g of fat during that hour anyway which means the difference of fat used from your workout is just over a teaspoon ful of olive oil lol.

Bottom line is - fuel yourself before your workout to get the maximum efficiency for improving strength and cardio efficiency etc, don't worry about fat because the amount used is always going to be very small in comparison to the amount used during the rest of the day.
 
Oh right. Interesting. Though slightly depressing.

I guess that's why they say that all the hard work is done in the kitchen.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Oh right. Interesting. Though slightly depressing.

I guess that's why they say that all the hard work is done in the kitchen.
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Lol, sorry, I'm the bearer of reality.

Not everybody stops to think about the mathematics and that ignorance is the reason gym chains are still doing well ;)

But, this knowledge of where your efforts should lie allows people that are ready to accept it to get better results and have more time for themselves or family etc. Problem is, denial is what gets in the way of potential and I don't think most people are ready to accept that exercise is a teeny weeny part of weight loss.

When ready to accept it, it also allows people to enjoy workouts more because they aren't doing what they "need" to do, but what they enjoy.
 
I knew the numbers were bad - and that exercising harder decreases the weight loss. But I'd no idea they were that bad.

The other thing that irks me is that the fitter you get, the fewer calories you burn both because of decreased weight and faster recovery/slower HR. It's a vicious circle ;)

I've mentioned your numbers to some friends doing Insanity as a kind of end of week demotivator :D.

Just as well I'm not trying to lose weight :)
 
big soft moose said:
looks more like a dance class :lol:

I would have thought the way to neutralise the advantage of a taller opponent would be to close the distance so that he can't keep you away from him with long kicks (but then I know b****r all about kick boxing)
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I agree Pete, and it doesn't need to apply to shorter people, it can relate to different skill sets.
I once watched a fight in a car park (didn't want to be involved, unless it got really nasty which it didn't), where one guy was attacked by another weilding a steering wheel clamp. The unarmed guy simply waited for his chance (a wild swing with the wheel clamp), and then moved in with a leg sweep, which put the "chav" on his arse, and then could have led to a serious beating if security (who had been watching - can you believe it), had not at last decided to intervene.
 
andy700 said:
I agree Pete, and it doesn't need to apply to shorter people, it can relate to different skill sets.
I once watched a fight in a car park (didn't want to be involved, unless it got really nasty which it didn't), where one guy was attacked by another weilding a steering wheel clamp. The unarmed guy simply waited for his chance (a wild swing with the wheel clamp), and then moved in with a leg sweep, which put the "chav" on his arse, and then could have led to a serious beating if security (who had been watching - can you believe it), had not at last decided to intervene.
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Ooops missed these because I started banging on about nutrition :)

Yeah the objective is clearly to close the gap but the shorter person has to move so much. You can see that Phil (my sensei) can easily take me out if I don't move so the strategy for us is movement, change of speed and staying in.

They are two rounds out of about 15 that I just cut down but my legs are useless when fighting someone so much taller, the only thing I can do is not be hit and counter.

Well...that's the plan right now anyway :)

Shame I can't show anything with a shorter opponent because my kicks are much better lol
 
Phil Young said:
They are two rounds out of about 15 that I just cut down but my legs are useless when fighting someone so much taller, the only thing I can do is not be hit and counter.
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My inclination would be to shoot in and take out a knee - but i'm guessing that's against the rules :lol: (as I said I know b****r all about kick boxing)
 
big soft moose said:
My inclination would be to shoot in and take out a knee - but i'm guessing that's against the rules :lol: (as I said I know b****r all about kick boxing)
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Lol... yes... it would be most frowned upon ;)

Optimum way is to wait for a jab, push it away and dive in with some boxing. If I went in as an attack, 8/10 times it lands in me being front kicked in the gut.

Thai boxing incorporates low kicks so might have an advantage over traditional but traditional kickboxing is usually all above the waist.
 
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JonathanRyan said:
How's it going? Still doing the burpees? :D
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Still doing the thinking about it - i didnt say how much later :lol:

Tbh I'm on my 14th working day straight, i'm getting **** all sleep at night, and its only caffeine thats keeping me awake during the day

this doesnt seem like a great time to start insanity - or indeed any exercise program

once ive had 48 hours of doing sod all i'll think about restarting
 
Max Cardio Conditioning straight into Insane Abs with no breaks.

It's possible only Russ knows how that made me feel. Assuming he's not dead ;)

BTW anybody want to talk to me about the differences between regular hemp/soya/pea protein and something like Sun Warrior? Worth it?
 
JonathanRyan said:
Max Cardio Conditioning straight into Insane Abs with no breaks.

It's possible only Russ knows how that made me feel. Assuming he's not dead ;)

BTW anybody want to talk to me about the differences between regular hemp/soya/pea protein and something like Sun Warrior? Worth it?
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Still alive!

Had a bit of a disrupted week last week, only managed to get 3 workouts done, although I lost around 4lb over the week.

Still busy this week so haven't started up again so I think I'll start month 2 week 2 again next week.

As for MCC then Insane Abs...... faaaahoook that!!! The most I can do after MCC is crawl outside for air and when I'm stopped dripping everywhere crawl up the stair to the shower :lol:
 
Having lost just about 3 stone since April by loosely following the Slimming World diet, I'm now starting to think about a little jogging to get into some sort of shape and to lose a little more.

I've started out this week on the Get Running with Couch to 5K program which is an NHS podcast, which is allegedly really easy for beginners to follow. It basically takes around 9 weeks to get running 5k.

Nice and easy but hopefully for me as a completely unfit guy, perfect!
 
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