FH Fitness Thread

[TdC]

stonking pic chumlar

Send it off to Cy, he may well put it on his blog! Also, fyi I am >< that far away from getting a 27.5 Soul. I wants it, yes, yes I wants it...


*fap*

 

[Scouse]

I am >< that far away from getting a 27.5 Soul.

Do it. I see 'em at trail centres a fair bit and there's a cotic nod - and often than not a stop-the-ride whole conversation - which annoys your mates just the right amount. People absolutely rave about their souls. There's enough of 'em about so it brightens your day regularly but they're rare enough that you feel like you're part of a secret club.

And, of course, they get tested all over the peak district as sheffield is on it's doorstep- and if they ride half as good as my solaris does, as I'm told they do, then you're on a mahoosive winner m8. It fair sings.

 

[Scouse]

@TdC have you bought it? Have you bought it? HAVE YOU BOUGHT IT?

 

[TdC]

haha chumlar no I haven't

in the end I decided to do the smart thing and not impulse-buy a 4K euro bike; I got a new fork and headset instead. The shorter fork (I currently run a 130mm fork) will change the ride characteristics of my bike to suit it much more to the NL environment. This, and just getting out and riding, will get me through a couple months of adjusting to actually being able to ride again. After that I will decide if I will get the Cotic (it's been decided) (I will get it) (just not right now )

 

[Tom]

Hope headset, good man. I have a hope hub on the rear wheel of my MTB, it's superbly made. Chris King BB though Hope hubs on my old winter trainer too, although that's now an "emergency second bike".

Hope are a superb company, you won't be disappointed. I wish they made more stuff. BTW, if you like shiny, have you checked out Superstar?

http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/

They have the shiny.

 

[Tom]

Anyway I've put the diet on hold. I did 45 miles today and it was fucking grim as fuck. Even though the sun was out for most of it, I was freezing cold and had no energy at all. I think the running must be taking its toll on my legs because while I never really get out of breath, I just couldn't be bothered to maintain any kind of speed. Although I'm wondering if eating nothing but meat for breakfast (no carbs) might have something to do with that...

So until it gets above 10C every day, I'm going to just continue exercising while eating whatever the fuck I want. I only have about 7lb to lose so that'll be piss easy to do in a month or two. To celebrate this change of direction, today I ate a full tub of peanut butter ice cream, a 150g bag of crisps, 3 supermarket cookies and a pint of cider. Fuck it, I deserve it.

 

[Scouse]

To celebrate this change of direction, today I ate a full tub of peanut butter ice cream, a 150g bag of crisps, 3 supermarket cookies and a pint of cider. Fuck it, I deserve it.

I'm kinda with you but just to be a killjoy that mindset of "no diet = go nuts" could be counterproductive. How about "no diet = eat relatively sensibly"

 

[Tom]

Looking at my net calorie intake for the last 7 days I won't gain any weight and on nearly every one of those days, I've been out either cycling or running - 7.5 miles running on Sunday. Every so often you have to treat yourself.

 

[Scouse]

Looking at my net calorie intake for the last 7 days I won't gain any weight and on nearly every one of those days, I've been out either cycling or running - 7.5 miles running on Sunday. Every so often you have to treat yourself.

I agree. Was reading some stuff about a lot of people who ditch diets often go over the top for a while. Not saying you're going to tho

 

[Gumbo]

I found when I was running 3 miles plus, 5 days a week, I lost fat no matter what I seemed to eat. (Deliberate use of fat not weight, scales are a gash way of viewing fitness)

HOWEVER!!! I also found that my inclination to eat bad food and drink a lot of alcohol diminished the more I exercised. I believe that my body was telling my mind that I needed to put decent stuff in because I was using so much of it up, it didn't want useless junk to go in.

I didn't do any of this low carb/high protein bollocks either, and still shed fat despite eating a lot of bread and pasta type things.

Consistency is, I think, the key. Get off your arse and do at least a half hour of something 5 days a week and the rest will pretty much take care of itself.

 

[Gumbo]

On a more general fitness note. I was fucked for much of last year. I had a hip issue which almost saw me using a stick to get around, followed by the addition of an achilles tendon injury on the other leg which meant walking more than a few feet was an ordeal of pain and misery.

There was no one thing which caused these that I could find, and I just had to wait them out. I think the achilles problem was probably as a result of compensating for the hip.

Anyway...

They have largely resolved now, so I'm easing my way back in and did a lot of walking in December and January, which my gammy legs seem to have survived.

The lack of exercise last year hasn't turned me into a quivering blob of fat, but I am a little soggy in the midsection which I would like to address. I have also noticed a big loss in strength and flexibility compared to my fittest at the beginning of 2014.

Soooo...

I am stepping it up a bit in February, but in as varied a way as I can. I've set myself 2 goals to keep it simple and end February fitter than I entered it with a few % off my bodyfat too, hopefully.

I am not drinking in February, with the exception, possibly, of Feb 14th as it has some significance for her in my avatar apparently... I wasn't a big drinker, but had perhaps 5 pints a week with a few scotches thrown in.

I am also trying to average 500 calories of measurable exercise per day, which is hardly earth shattering, but as in the post above, should be achievable consistently.

This will be done with walking, swimming, cycling, rowing on my concept2, and a bit of indoor workouts, Insanity etc.

This will hopefully set me up to raise the intensity a bit in March and onwards. I'm 40 in April It's my hope that before I'm 41 I can be in the best shape I've been in since my teens. But I am aware that I now have a bit of a shit body with some fairly worn out parts, so I need to do this all a bit carefully.

 

[Scouse]

Had a cracking few hours on Saturday in snowy Coed Llandegla - gently coerced the missus into doing the black route.

Going to go on a MTB road trip to Courchevel with a few of the lads later in the year. Out of season chalets are dirt cheap so we're going to book one of them. Just need to figure out the best way to get all the bikes there. Dunno whether to hire a van and bung 'em all in the back or car it with 3 on the back of a rack and one in the car (four bikes) - two to drive down and two to fly...

Anyone done this sorta thang before? Any advice? @Tom, @TdC, anyone?

 

[Tom]

Just hire one of those Kangoo things and shove them in that.

I've just run 11.3 miles. I could have done a half marathon but there's a groin muscle that keeps reminding me of its existence from 6-7 miles in. I'm sure it'll go away by the time I'm ready to run a full marathon. I've cut down the cycling a bit to compensate, but I still did a nice 62 mile ride on Friday when the sun came out all day

 

[Tom]

Gah, and now my leg joints don't want to work

 

[TdC]

a mate has an old Kangoo he uses for that specific purpose, as well as many other handy things. haD I should say. his gf made him get rid of it, because it wasn't practical and too expensive to keep (she said). so...small van, hella practical, not too expensive. another plus is that you can cut down on the car loads, so the people in the cars will be much more comfy which saves on the psycho bill on the trip back

 

[Scouse]

Turns out that there's only 4 of us going now so we'll all get in the car with 3 bikes on the rack and one wheels-off in the boot with the luggage.

12-14 hour drive from nottingham. If we get the midnight ferry on the Friday night then we'll be there in time for breakfast on saturday morning

 

[CorNokZ]

Going to start doing some pilates to build up some core strength. Don't want to be ripped and cba to lift kettle bells for hours.

Anyone got any experience with pilates and got some good advice for a newbie?

 

[Gumbo]

Pilates really frustrated me as I am the least flexible person I know. To be fair I didn't give it much of a shot, but I found it easier to muddle through yoga than pilates. Also the breathing thing is just a bit weird.

 

[Scouse]

Going to start doing some pilates to build up some core strength. Don't want to be ripped and cba to lift kettle bells for hours.

Anyone got any experience with pilates and got some good advice for a newbie?

I've been doing a version of it for 18 months and it's great. Much more flexible and much better core strength - my lower back problems have gone.

The version I do is much faster than standard pilates (the instructor pulls the same moves but at three times the speed, not particularly focussing on the breathing). But it's been working great over time. As Bruce Lee says - long term consistency trumps short term intensity.

Plus, a few fit birds go along with all the old women

 

[CorNokZ]

I've been doing a version of it for 18 months and it's great. Much more flexible and much better core strength - my lower back problems have gone.

The version I do is much faster than standard pilates (the instructor pulls the same moves but at three times the speed, not particularly focussing on the breathing). But it's been working great over time. As Bruce Lee says - long term consistency trumps short term intensity.

Plus, a few fit birds go along with all the old women

I've been having a ton of back problems for quite a few years now, and everyone says I need more core strength, which is why I think pilates will be ideal for me.

Do you have a link to your version or do you go to a gym? I'd love some more info before I jump into it head first and follow some videos on youtube that turn out to be shit

 

[Scouse]

Do you have a link to your version or do you go to a gym? I'd love some more info before I jump into it head first and follow some videos on youtube that turn out to be shit

I go to the council run gym once a week (used to go twice for the first 6 months - not pilates for the second time but working with one of those big rubber fitballs on core strength exercises). Core strength is the win for back pain and almost all of pilates is based around that. In addition at the start I'd advise doing crunches on a weights machine (and the opposite - weight bearing whilst leaning backwards - balances it up) - gives you a quicker start.

Give it 3 months concerted effort and back pain will be a thing of the past prolly.

If I miss pilates for a couple of weeks and get out on my bike then I get lower back pain on my rides - especially if I'm pushing a bit. Pretty much all body movements are stabilised with your core. As you'd expect.

IIRC @Moriath has back pain too. Give it a go m8?

 

[Moriath]

I go to the council run gym once a week (used to go twice for the first 6 months - not pilates for the second time but working with one of those big rubber fitballs on core strength exercises). Core strength is the win for back pain and almost all of pilates is based around that. In addition at the start I'd advise doing crunches on a weights machine (and the opposite - weight bearing whilst leaning backwards - balances it up) - gives you a quicker start.

Give it 3 months concerted effort and back pain will be a thing of the past prolly.

If I miss pilates for a couple of weeks and get out on my bike then I get lower back pain on my rides - especially if I'm pushing a bit. Pretty much all body movements are stabilised with your core. As you'd expect.

IIRC @Moriath has back pain too. Give it a go m8?

Been told I have disk degeneration and need steroid shots in my spine. Went to what I tought was have them just to be consulted by another specialist. Shots to commence in four or so weeks time.

Nothing exercise can sort out. Only make worse. Unless I get them fused.

 

[Scouse]

Nothing exercise can sort out. Only make worse. Unless I get them fused.

Man, get 'em fused. Mate of mine had it done. He then lost a fair bit of weight as he'd not been able to exercise for a while and wanted to sort his body out. Now he's all smiles.

Have to say it hurt him plenty for a while tho.

 

[Moriath]

Man, get 'em fused. Mate of mine had it done. He then lost a fair bit of weight as he'd not been able to exercise for a while and wanted to sort his body out. Now he's all smiles.

Have to say it hurt him plenty for a while tho.

Yeah but the nhs won't go straight to fusing. Have to try the delay tactic of steroids in the spine first. That they admit is not alway effective and only a temporary fix.

 

[CorNokZ]

Why not go for the permanent fix instead of spending excess ressoruces?

 

[Moriath]

Why not go for the permanent fix instead of spending excess ressoruces?

Cause the nhs is going for delay today pay tomorrow so the money shows in books further down the line.

Anyone can see it doesn't make sense. But anything to delay putting costs on the books today is apparently good for them.

 

[TdC]

currently lusting after this. it's a Bombtrack Arise. I'm such a bike whore

 

[Moriath]

So @Scouse et al. Can you debunk

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptin

And being over weight. Or is it still you fat fucks go exercise more and eat less even thoug every ounce of your being is telling you not to?

 

[Gumbo]

I'm not sure I really understand the question?

 

[TdC]

biked 35+ km today. it was cold