Exercise & Fitness: it’s a marathon, not a sprint

[Starkess]

Between my Achilles being off and making running out of the question for the time being, my new schedule making it difficult to do daily workouts, my depression making everything feel insanely difficult, and the overindulging of the holidays...not at my best health right now. But I'm telling myself that at least I've been doing something (about 2x/week lifting) and that's better than nothing. And it won't kill me to lay off the desserts for a night or two...

[baxus]

Holiday season hit me hard this year. The amount of food my mother and my wife's mother are making for the holidays is insane. I'm trying to control myself and not overindulge, and I'm doing better than in previous years, but I'm still not there. I don't think I've felt hungry in the slightest for over a week now, and Christmas is still to come (we do Christmas on January 7th in Serbia).

Edited January 3 by baxus

[Paladin of Ice]

In the last week and a half or so I've been hitting the gym for the virtually the first time since the pandemic began, aside from a couple of sessions in the summer of '21, right before the Delta variant started kicking all our asses. I knew I'd lose a lot of muscle performance from being out of commission that long, and especially after spending the last few months mostly sedentary (it was another story when I was running specimens across the street and up three flights of steps a dozen times a day at my old job), and it's not like I was at the top of my game back in early 2020 either, but I did not expect to be set back as far as I was.

Not only am I nowhere near where I was on various weights and such, but my cardio is also a shadow of its former self. I was apparently one of the rare freaks who actually liked cardio (so many people I knew always bitched about it), at least on a good elliptical machine when I got in the rhythm and had the right music urging me along. Every time so far I've fallen short of my cardio goals and simply had to stop at some point because I couldn't go on.

On the plus side I can already feel a difference in how clothing fits and some exercises I was recommended years ago by a doctor who was also a big fitness guy have already cut down significantly on pain in my knee. Looking forward to hitting it again in a few hours.

[Erik of Hazelfield]

Ok, so I slipped pretty badly the second half of the pandemic as my girlfriend was pregnant and I didn’t want to go to the gym and get Covid. And then of course our son was born and between all the sleepless nights, diaper changes and us moving to a new house, there just wasn’t enough time to exercise or energy to watch my diet. Add Christmas on that, with all the food and sweets. 

Now the result is in: 92.9 kg (205 lbs). That’s a 10 kg gain over the course of less than 2 years. This has to stop now. Yesterday I signed up for a membership of the local gym and today I started counting calories again. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep it up, but I got to do something. 

[baxus]

I actually lost 1kg over the holidays, and have no idea how. It sure wasn't due to lack of trying. 

Thankfully, now the holidays are over, I can get back into the regular routine. I need to improve my shape in the upcoming three to four weeks, since I'll be going snowboarding for a week with my family. It will be my daughter's first time on the slopes so I'm very much looking forward to it.

[Iskaral Pust]

Good exercise for me over the weekend.  I’ve been increasing weight load steadily these past four weeks after I returned to weightlifting, and now getting close to prior highs before my long break.  Pull-ups still incur some strain on my right shoulder so I’m still combining sets of pronated wide grip with some sets of neutral grip.

Still struggling to get any midweek sessions when I’m working full time, and not disciplined with my sleep pattern.

I had cut out desserts (late night sugar snacks) for a few weeks but have returned to those as I’m more fatigued from lack of sleep.

[BigFatCoward]

Back on my bike (after chest infection for 2 months), and back in the gym at work (this is more because due to lack of sleep i really struggle in the afternoon, by going to the gym then having a shower i'm more productive in the afternoon). 

I'm so so so f'ing weak and out of shape. 

 

[3CityApache]

As running is still not a best friend to my knees and stationary bike bores me to death, I added rowing to swimming, which I'm not able to do more frequently than once a week. It's also quite boring, I won't lie, but so far I find it bearable with a music on. Hopefully will start to see changes to my miserable cardio form.

[baxus]

4 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

As running is still not a best friend to my knees and stationary bike bores me to death, I added rowing to swimming, which I'm not able to do more frequently than once a week. It's also quite boring, I won't lie, but so far I find it bearable with a music on. Hopefully will start to see changes to my miserable cardio form.

Rowing on a machine is just as boring as stationary bike, with a bonus of not being able to look anywhere other than the screen if you want to maintain proper head position. You can make it a bit less boring by going with a rowing workout plan other than "I'm going to row for X minutes every time I do it" but it's still a soul-crushing slog.

Water sessions are a whole different story, though.

[BigFatCoward]

Yeah, I could happily cycle for an hour/90 mins reading my kindle, 20 mins is my absolute maximum on the rowing machine. 

[3CityApache]

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

Yeah, I could happily cycle for an hour/90 mins reading my kindle, 20 mins is my absolute maximum on the rowing machine. 

I do 30-40 mins and it's a torture to do as much on a bike, though I admit I never tried reading on it. Maybe it's because I just bought a rowing machine, so it's a novelty, so far I've only been occasionally rowing at the gyms.

On the other hand, rowing is supposedly more complex at least, meaning more muscles are activated, ergo - it should do the trick of improving my cardio shape faster. @baxus Can you at least confirm this much? I'd be devastated otherwise.

Edited January 12 by 3CityApache

[baxus]

16 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

On the other hand, rowing is supposedly more complex at least, meaning more muscles are activated, ergo - it should do the trick of improving my cardio shape faster. @baxus Can you at least confirm this much? I'd be devastated otherwise.

I would prefer the rowing machine to the stationary bike, but would prefer real, outdoor versions of both to each of the indoor alternatives.

Not sure erg would improve your cardio faster than the bike but you would get a full body workout on the erg while you wouldn't on the bike, so there's that at least.

Btw, if you're doing 30-40 minutes on the erg I'd say your cardio is pretty good already. Try to vary your workouts for better results (intervals, tempo and distance, just like for running). I'm sure you could find some workout plans online.

[kiko]

So I finally bought a nice ergometer. With Bluetooth!

Currently I'm using Kinomap on my iPhone. While it is nice, I'm not prepared to pay a subscription fee that is similar to a gym membership. I'm not going to use most of the fancy functions anyway. Just the training programmes and it would be nice if it keeps some statistics and tells me how awesome my improvements are. What would be good alternatives?

[baxus]

I've been training with a personal coach for a couple of months now in order to strengthen my shoulders a bit before going back to group training. It's been going pretty well, though my sessions are in the evening and I'm a morning person when it comes to training. I just love starting the day with a workout and having it done before coming to work. It clears my mind and makes me feel much better, not to mention giving me free time to do whatever after work.

In a couple of weeks my family is going to the mountains, it's time for my daughter (4 years old) to try skiing and/or snowboarding. We'll be going to a local ski spot, the one I've ridden a lot so I won't have that "I must see the whole place and go down every slope" buzz I usually have and will be able to spend time in the snow with my daughter without feeling like I'm missing something. Unfortunately, my wife won't be skiing this time, so I'll have to ride by myself (unless I run into someone on the slopes, which is not impossible).

[Iskaral Pust]

For the past two weeks I’ve shifted my pull-ups back to 6x8 with pronated wide grip instead of doing half with a neutral grip.  I still have some soreness in my right shoulder as I do them but it seems to be tolerable.  I’ll see how it responds to this renewal of stress.

Otherwise exercise is going well and I’ve been gradually increasing weights each session.  I’m pretty much back to my prior highest point if I can just do another set at the heaviest weight before dropping back.

I do need to improve my sleep discipline and cut out the late evening sugar snack.

[Tywin et al.]

Ha! I was able to do jumping jacks today, almost three months removed from breaking my foot! Still a long ways off from being back to 100%, but the last month has progressed pretty well after a period in which there was no improvement at all.

[Oneily]

On 1/12/2023 at 11:41 PM, 3CityApache said:

I do 30-40 mins and it's a torture to do as much on a bike, though I admit I never tried reading on it. Maybe it's because I just bought a rowing machine, so it's a novelty, so far I've only been occasionally rowing at the gyms.

On the other hand, rowing is supposedly more complex at least, meaning more muscles are activated, ergo - it should do the trick of improving my cardio shape faster. @baxus Can you at least confirm this much? I'd be devastated otherwise.

I know lotsa people are conditioning themselves to do something they hate(cardio) with something they like(reading, watching a movie or listening to podcast). Whenever I tried it I've just lost enjoyment on reading on top instead of cardio becoming better  Not like it lasted for long since I've switched from treadmill to jogging(game changer was getting a decent pair of running shoes, ended up going with Saucony Endorphine from nearby running store)
If you can handle 40 minutes on a bike I feel like you're pretty good on cardio! Try rowing anyway, see if you like it(Few judo folks do only rowing in my gym, told me works better for judo movements so it's hitting 2 birds with 1 stone basically).

Edited March 1 by Oneily

[3CityApache]

@Oneily I actually meant I do rowing for 30-40 minutes and I'd say so far, so good (roughly 3-4 times a week). As for cycling, I'm happy to do 30-50 km on a real bike when the weather allows (which can easily take 2-3 hours), but at the same time 40 minutes on a stationary bike is a torture. That's why I switched to rowing in a first place.

Edited January 25 by 3CityApache

[ithanos]

I started Brazilian Jujitsu earlier this month. I've never before done any form of martial arts in my life, but was drawn to the skills of grappling as an application of full body movement - so I'll try Jujitsu for a few months to see if I enjoy it and in turn find value, physically and mentally, from it.       

After 5 lessons I can identify my strengths and weaknesses, and where to apply focus and attention for future practice. My signature move is the tap out - I can tap with either hand, and when that's not possible I plan to incorporate a foot tap into my repertoire that doesn't look like a leg spasm. It's very humbling but I'm cool with that.  

I still go to crossfit classes, but these days I only give full effort when practicing the strength movements. If choose to do the conditioning work, that always follows a strength element, I scale back the intensity so I'm not burnt out. To avoid over-training I plan to reduce crossfit to 3 sessions a week, allowing 3 sessions for Jujitsu. So far, I'm enjoying both.

[ithanos]

Its February already, damn. Early lessons after seven classes of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. One, keep your fingernails very trim. I was just discussing this matter with another practitioner and noting, though my fingernails were trim, that my thumbnails were a bit too long. Ten minutes later, after trying an escape, I accidentally gouge my chin with my thumbnail. Took some skin out and there was claret flowing. Got bandaged up to continue but couldn't avoid getting some blood onto my brand new pristine white Gi. I should have an interesting scar right in the centre of my chin in a few days time. Two, I never realised one could develop bruises on top of bruises.