The Fitness thread

Hmm, only got 6 months til I'm 40 and seriously need to do something about my lack of fitness/excess weight.

I am 5ft 11 and weigh 17 stone - I am big boned :) (or read that as having 4 chins, moobs and a jelly belly).

My vice is not fizzy drinks, alcohol or smoking - it is junk food - specifically chocolate and crisps - oh and a lack of exercise.

I need to adjust my diet and start exercising - probably cycling as I do enjoy that.

What's an ideal weight for my build/height? About 14-15st I reckon?
 
Phil Young said:
The ideal is whatever you feel most comfortable at :)
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That's an extremely good point!!

I'm 5ft 11in and sitting at around 15st 3lb - 15st 5lb, much more than that and I don't feel comfortable at all.

14st 7lb - 14st 10lb is a nice weight for me, anything less and everyone tells me I look ill :lol:
 
BMI is a load of [PLEASE DON'T TRY TO BYPASS THE SWEAR FILTER] though , it was devised by a medical insurer and has very little science behind it.

For example according to the BMI scale Hugh Jackman is morbidly obese ... it kind of overlooks that he's nearly all muscle not fat.

Phil is right, so long as they aren't rolling you home then the ideal weight is what you are comfortable with ... the important thing to focus on is being healthy , not being thin per se
 
bl0at3r said:
Ridiculous statement! :eek:

I feel comfortable at 17st but I'm sure my doctor and straining organs would say different!

I thought there was some calculation - BMI ?
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Maybe it wasn't completely obvious but I did mean between a healthy range.

You could be a good weight for your height but still hate what you see in the mirror so there lies the "whatever you want" statement...and if you are MOST comfortable now and that's your choice and where you want to be then;

a) who is anybody else to tell you otherwise?
b) you won't change anyway because you don't want to.
 
If you really want to put some "sciencey" numbers on it you could use this.

http://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html

4 carefully calculated formulae by proper doctors who have thought about this - all different ;) Plus the WHO's BMI guidelines.

Plus near that page there's the always useful "are you too fat for the army?" calculator.

If it helps, all of those apart from BMI say I'm underweight and the army reckon my body fat is 6%. Which seems somewhat inaccurate ;)

That page will tell you to lose 5 stone..............
 
Right, new challenge. (Remember don't blame me if you have a heart attack trying this)

I nicked this off another group - 5-4-3-2-1

500m on a rowing machine (any resistance will do) - if you don't have access to a rower I guess you can use a treadmill or eliptical
40 squats
30 press ups
20 burpess
10 overhand pull ups

Start the timer with 500m on the clock and stop it after the 10th pullup. Take as many breaks as you need but the timer keeps going.

I decided I should probably be able to do it in 6 minutes. Unfortunately I tangled my feet in the straps trying to get off the rower due to rushing. Also, part way through the burpees I realised I was technically doing suicides (instead of the pushup at the bottom you do a vertical jump at the end - I reckon they are about as hard).

Anyway enough excuses.

1. 2m06 (really that's shocking - the C2 recorded 1m53)
2. 1m11
3. 0m35
4. 0m59
5. 0m32

Total: 5m23
 
I will have a go of this, reckon I can give you a run for your money, definitely knock 20s off the row time but haven't done resistance training in a long time so probably struggle on the push ups and pulls...

At the moment I have a sprained toe so the rower will be painful. Give me a few days (been 2 weeks now) and I should be ok!

Come on everyone else, get involved!
 
Go for it ;) It's been a good 6 months since I touched the rower. I reckon I could beat 5 minutes with a bit of practice.

Plus I was shocked that I had to pause half way through the pull ups. I'd done 10 to warm up before I started so really don't know why I couldn't just bang them out at the end.
 
None this morning. I hadn't eaten. Feel free to carb up if you think it will help ;)
 
Well, did run 1 of week 2 of the c25k thingme and, having taken your advice re eating before hand, I was stunned at what a difference it made... granted it was longer runs, but I still reached the end with more energy than previously.
 
VirtualAdept said:
Well, did run 1 of week 2 of the c25k thingme and, having taken your advice re eating before hand, I was stunned at what a difference it made... granted it was longer runs, but I still reached the end with more energy than previously.
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You're welcome ;)

Everyone thinks it's counterproductive because all most people think about is calories out but don't stop to think about where those calories are coming from.

Well done sir.
 
Phil Young said:
Tell you what...do it again with 50g maltodexrin 30mins before and I'll do it after that. Your time isn't reflective of your Fitness because your nutrition has let you down.

That's my challenge in response to your challenge!
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Friday ;) But I'll be faster anyway - I'll leave the foot straps loose.
 
Did run three of week two last night... Noticed I've picked up pace, though I'm keeping a close eye to make sure I'm not going two quick.
 
Well it's approaching my annual fitness time.

I often fluctuate a stone over a year and during winter moths shed the weight by going to the gym straight from work.

I now have a daughter and after she was born last summer didn't do last years gym winter so have two years to make up.

This year I'm gonna buy some proper trainers from a proper shop and run around local streets/roads. Try and maybe do 10-15 miles a week over 3/4 runs.

I prefer running on treadmills but by the time I've put my daughter to bed etc I can't be arsed to drive over to the gym so will run instead.

No idea how I'm going to approach it. I.e interval running, one fully timed run, not even sure of routes.

Wish me luck.
 
dan_yorkshire said:
Well it's approaching my annual fitness time.

I often fluctuate a stone over a year and during winter moths shed the weight by going to the gym straight from work.

I now have a daughter and after she was born last summer didn't do last years gym winter so have two years to make up.

This year I'm gonna buy some proper trainers from a proper shop and run around local streets/roads. Try and maybe do 10-15 miles a week over 3/4 runs.

I prefer running on treadmills but by the time I've put my daughter to bed etc I can't be arsed to drive over to the gym so will run instead.

No idea how I'm going to approach it. I.e interval running, one fully timed run, not even sure of routes.

Wish me luck.
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Welcome Dan.

What's your height/weight??
 
When do people run?

I am just getting into it as I usually just ride my mountain bike but want to improve my fitness and shed a few more kilos

I tried Monday straight after work at 6pm and really struggled so Thursday I tried at 8pm after dinner and that was worse with a full stomach.
 
I used to run in the mornings before work - i found getting up an hour earlier and running gave me more buzz and energy than the extra hours sleep.

unfortunately i knackered my ankle last year and currently can only run a few miles without pain - so i'm doing more gym and swimming instead
 
I've just started running and am getting up at just after 6 and going out for half hour or so 3 or 4 times a week. Air feels clean, no one else is around and it feels good.

I'd rather do it first thing in the morning than later in the day. As Pete says it kind of sets you up for the day ahead.
 
Mmm, not really a morning person but might be worth a try. Does one need to eat anything before heading out at 6am?
 
I'm sure phil will say yes, but I never did - I used to reckon i was still sufficiently carbed up from my main meal the night before
 
big soft moose said:
I'm sure phil will say yes, but I never did - I used to reckon i was still sufficiently carbed up from my main meal the night before
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Lol.

You won't notice any side effects if it's just a moderate intensity but you should be aware that most of your energy comes from broken down amino acids from muscle which you will then replace by eating additional (to your daily requirements) protein.

So whilst it's not dangerous to your health, it's a bit pointless and you night as well drink some lucozade.

One should also be aware that with the fasted route to energy, you can't work (much) at the level required to improve fitness so if you do improve your fitness, it will be a very slow progress and very incremental.
 
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jacob12_1993 said:
Day 1 of Insanity done = Me feeling like death
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Certainly lives up to it's name doesn't it!! :lol:

I made it through to month 2 but found it increasingly difficult to fit in 1 hour or more per day so I've got hold of Insanity "Fast & Furious" which is a 25 min workout, will be giving that a go soon.
 
Phil Young said:
One should also be aware that with the fasted route to energy, you can't work (much) at the level required to improve fitness so if you do improve your fitness, it will be a very slow progress and very incremental.
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I'd agree if you were running on a fast - but if you ate a slow release carb based meal the night before (whole wheat pasta, rice, spuds etc) then slept for maybe 7 hours you aren't fasted - your body has had time to digest the food from the night before and carb up your blood , so theres no need for additional supplement prior to exercise

Also I know from experience that I can (or at least could until I knacked my ankle) run a five to seven mile fartlek inspired course , alternating jogging and sprinting flat out.. which did substantially improve my fitness

I was working toward running the 20 mile Grizzly - one of the three hardest races in the uk (the other two being the running iron and the fan dance - both of which I competed in when I was younger) , unfortunately I managed to turn my ankle the wrong way and its not been the same since.
 
Completely b*****ed my knee and haven't run since Sunday. It feels like an impact injury too, so really not happy as I was starting to feel like I was making progress. :(

Looks like I'm going to have to consider lower impact exercise once the knee's a bit stronger.
 
do you have decent impacted protected running shoes ?
 
As above, look at footwear.

I'm on the treadmill but have found that my calf pains have eased since sticking it on an incline of 1%. But it's affecting my forefoot and I plan to get some inserts.
 
and impact absorbtion in the heel - they don't have to be super expensive (mine were about 50 quid) but running in a pair of generic trainers is asking for trouble , especially if you run on hard surfaces
 
I bought mine from sportsdirect or something like that. They were around £55. I didn't want to splash out on special running shoes because at the time I was at risk of dropping out of running.

Running on hard surfaces is interesting. As humans, we were designed to run on relatively firm ground but we have shoes at a young age. Yet people often run on the road/pavement which is much harder than we're designed for so we need shoes to cushion the impact.

Still playing around with gait but I try to avoid heel-striking when running and largely go on my forefeet.
 
I've been using my trainers I used to run in, which maybe past their best. They were bought a few years ago when I used to run a lot, but I guess my stance and style may have changed since then.

Off to see the Doc tomorrow and once fit again I'm off for a gait analysis and new trainers!
 
If I remember rightly, trainers should be no more than 6 months old. Once they reach that age, chuck'em and get a new pair.
 
omens said:
As humans, we were designed to run on relatively firm ground but we have shoes at a young age.
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WHO DESIGNED US!?!?!?!

I wrote this specifically for running problems and the debate of barefoot running trainers vs heel striking.

The argument of "we were meant to sprint over short distances and hunt lions" is really quite silly. For injuries and performance, we need to take a very long hard look individually and asses the needs of whoever.

It's no good going down the route of bare-feet running exclusively without the necessary antagonist stretching / training programme to combat the inevitable achilles problems.
 
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