Official Workout/Fitness Thread (Re-born)

[dobrojim]

what heat?

I biked to worked today and in so doing surpassed 1000 miles commuted
for the year. Also set my low ET for the year on the return trip. Felt good.

Gotta hit 2000 miles bike commuted this year.

[Zerocious]

had a nice work-out yesterday. I strapped by laptop to my treadmill with some bungee cords and plopped in Bourne supremacy and hit 5! Decided to mix it up a little so i ran for 30 minutes, then dropped down to do 35 sit-ups hands behind my head (no pulling - but stretches your abs the most) and hit 20 push-ups. i was feeling good so i ran another 10 minutes on 5 and hit another 35 sit-ups and 20 push-ups. did this every ten minutes untill last 15 minutes of movie. did in total 8.5 miles, 140 sit-ups and 105 push-ups.

Did about 6 miles on my mountain bike on the trails today too! My wife is being a B, so i did laundry, cooked breakfast lunch and dinner for me and the kids took a load of garbage to the dump and made birthday card crafts with the kids.

all in all some good work-outs....

[nate33]

With my abdominal injury restricting my running, I took up biking and swimming. I did that for about 3 weeks and now my injury has healed enough so I can run again.

I'm now doing cardio 6 days a week trying desperately to get back to my former conditioning level. Today I ran 5 miles (and then swam a few hundred yards just to cool down). Yesterday I lifted. The day before, I swam 2000 yards and biked 5 miles. The day before that, I ran 4. The day before that, I swam 1600 yards and biked 8 miles. The day before that, I ran 4 miles.

I think I like this whole cross training thing. I can work out every day, but my muscles get enough rest that I don't feel any repetitive stress injuries. I'm definitely going to try a triathlon next year. For now, I'm just trying to get in good enough shape to break 1:40 in the Columbus Half-Marathon this October. That's a 7:37 per mile pace.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

had a nice work-out yesterday. I strapped by laptop to my treadmill with some bungee cords and plopped in Bourne supremacy and hit 5! Decided to mix it up a little so i ran for 30 minutes, then dropped down to do 35 sit-ups hands behind my head (no pulling - but stretches your abs the most) and hit 20 push-ups. i was feeling good so i ran another 10 minutes on 5 and hit another 35 sit-ups and 20 push-ups. did this every ten minutes untill last 15 minutes of movie. did in total 8.5 miles, 140 sit-ups and 105 push-ups.

Did about 6 miles on my mountain bike on the trails today too! My wife is being a B, so i did laundry, cooked breakfast lunch and dinner for me and the kids took a load of garbage to the dump and made birthday card crafts with the kids.

all in all some good work-outs....

Zero, I get some of my best workouts after being "inspired" by my wife's less-than-kindly attitude.

I do all that stuff about 90% of the time, along with making sure three boys homework gets done. When football season starts, it really gets hectic. I've discovered the harder I work out the more energy I get to do the routine stuff and the less likely I am to even bother arguing with spouse over what she's not doing.

[dobrojim]

Had a very solid week of training

141 miles of biking so far and I plan to add another 47 to that tomorrow

Track workout on Wed night. a couple 800s but I cut it short since I had
donated blood that afternoon and they told me no aerobic exercise the
rest of the day (say what? I don't think so). Plus 2 nights of swimming
in the 2300-2500 METER range. Yards? You need to swim in a better
class of pools

Nate, good luck in your half. I'm doing the Philly half which is a huge
race on Sept 20th (or 21st I forget). 1:40 is pretty respectable. I haven't run a
half in a couple years but have done some in the 1:30-1:33 range. I'd
be pretty satisfied with a 1:35 but it's supposed to be a fast course (flat)
so we'll see. The other halfs (leesburg/LAWS and Quantico) I've run were
actually moderately challenging as far as hills go.

My next big goal is to run under 3:20 at NY on Nov 1. I better run well
since I'll have to miss the Wiz home opener the night before.

I hope I can get my weight under 180 by then. Right now it seems to
have leveled off btw 185-190, depending on my hydration status.

If I can drag my sorry butt onto the bike for work tomorrow
I'll have put in my record mileage bike week, 188 miles.

X-training rocks!

Oh, I'm doing a triathlon (reston) in a little less than a month, week
before Philly. It's a annual thing for me. Olympic distance.

[Zerocious]

Nate and dobs, we pale in comparison to your 'routines'. my jaw 'routinely' drops when i hear hwat you guys are up too. I am gong to hit the treadmill right now!.......





....





right now!....









Now!.....







Awww, shucks....

[Zerocious]

7.5 miler today on gunpowder trails. lots of elevation and at one point a few hundred yards through 10 inches of water in river bed because of down trees.

[yungal07]

I just pounded 8 reps at 230 lbs. Proud of myself today.

[nate33]

I just pounded 8 reps at 230 lbs. Proud of myself today.

I try to lift once or twice a week, but it's real hard with all the running I do (while also trying to fit in basketball). I can bench 185 eight times. That's not bad for a guy who weighs 162 pounds I suppose, but I can't seem to get significantly stronger.

I keep telling myself that I'll hit the weights hard in the winter when it's too cold to run regularly; but usually, by winter, I'm kind of burned out and I end up slacking off of the workout routine.

[Zerocious]

Have to be at howard county police dept on saturday for my agility exam. it's hard to not work out in the days leading up to it. my legs are sore from biking and my abs are killing me from doing sit-ups. i usually treat that with a healthy dose of shut up and do some more, but today and tomorrow i am not doing anything. after that i might get lost on the trails for a day or two. i lost 20 pounds btw!! 182 as of today! gonnna get rid of another 10-15 i hope. trying to get myself to do some squats and hopefully soon to doing it with some weights. i wonder what it'll do to my hops being so much lighter. in my earlier 20's i could dunk on regulation, i hope i can do that again being over 30!

[Zerocious]

Just got back from Howard county PD agility test. Ran a PB 10.48 1.5 mile. and i know i can run much faster, but i had weary legs today. also hot and humid.

i just ordered apidexin. researched the S out of it and seems to be best thermogenic fat burner out there. reasonable priced to. want to get to 170 or less and then bulk from that point on.

here a reason to call me gay; (where you at BTH?)i looked up how ryan reynolds got his ass in shape, that boy has some serious abs. 500-1000 sit-ups a day, before working out?!? Holy crap

[fishercob]

Finally went to the doc yesterday for my knee. "infrapetlla tendonitis," which he basically said is/is caused by weakness in the surrounding muscles and doing to much too fast. Said that the surrounding muscles probably never recovered from the labrum tear in my hip a couple of years ago, and so even when I felt like I was easing into my workouts I was actually giving my body more than it could handle.

Well F.

Starting physical therapy (again) next week to build strength back up in the area. I admit to being depressed that at 32 I've had more lower body injuries in the last few years than most 50-year olds. I don't know if it's crappy genetics, domino effect of one injury to the next, but it sucks.

I worked my ass off this spring/summer to get back into shape, and now I fear that it's all going to go "to waste," the low-grade seasonal depression will kick as the days get shorter, and I'll be feeling like bloated crap again soon.

Good news is that DC just re-opened the pool at Wilson High School near my house and it's supposedly beautiful, so I'm going to give lap swimming a try. I have concerns about not being able to zone out with an ipod or TV screen during a workout; Mrs Fish says that it's "peaceful," but I don't do peaceful so well.

If anyone has any uplifting stories or pearls of wisdom/encouragement, feel free to share them today. I haven't felt like myself lately.

[queridiculo]

Alright, stepped on the scale last morning and weighed in at 267lbs. That's down 25 lbs over a 3 months period, with the biggest loss (15lbs) having come since I've started working out with my personal trainer 5 weeks ago.

Also tackled my first mile run yesterday and came in at 9 minutes even. Started at 6pmh, increased 0.5mph at every quarter mark and ran the final 0.1 mile at 8mph. That was my warm up and my previous warm up routine was typically 2 miles alternating run/walk in quarter mile intervals.

I'm stoked by the progress I've made so far, but I'd like to take my cardio to the next level, and more importantly, tackle the cardio in between PT sessionson a more consistent basis.

Any suggestions on a running program for me? Should I slow down and aim for longer duration, or should I simply include rest/cool down intervals every 1 mile aiming for a total of say 3 miles ran?

[tkunit]

I have been really really bad about getting to the gym these last 2 weeks. Luckly it was time for the month membership to come around and I am once again motivated to not waste my money. Holding steady at 200lbs will check back in 2 weeks see how I am doing. Also that ball kicks my ass every day.

[nate33]

Good news is that DC just re-opened the pool at Wilson High School near my house and it's supposedly beautiful, so I'm going to give lap swimming a try. I have concerns about not being able to zone out with an ipod or TV screen during a workout; Mrs Fish says that it's "peaceful," but I don't do peaceful so well.

If anyone has any uplifting stories or pearls of wisdom/encouragement, feel free to share them today. I haven't felt like myself lately.

There's no way around it. Swimming laps is substantially more boring than other exercises where you can listen to music or watch TV.

One way to make it a little less boring it to use a clock and do interval training. Do sets like: 6x100 meters, the first two on a 2:00 pace, the next two on a 1:50 pace, the last two on a 1:40 pace. You can also do sets like: 8X25 meters on a :45 pace, the first 2 you are permitted 3 breaths, the second 2 you are permitted 2 breaths, the third 2, one breath, the last 2 no breath. Obviously, you can minipulate the time and distance to suit your fitness level, but the idea is to have the clock provide a challenge for you to meet and overcome.

Another set I like to do at the end of a workout is to swim an indefinite number of consecutive 25 meter sets, with a slowly descending time inteval. Start at 1:00, and then drop 2 seconds off the time in each successive lap. So the first is on 1:00, the next on :58, the next on :56, etc. When you get down below :40, start descending by 1 second. The goal is to last as long as possible before you fail to make an interval. (You do it by starting out slow so you don't waste energy early.) Another side benefit is that you spend so much time doing math in your head that you forget about how tired you are.

Also, mix in some backstroke and breaststroke throughout your workout. It'll help stretch out your muscles and allow you to swim longer and it also gives you something different to do.

If you really want to commit to swimming for any length of time (and if you're a pretty decent swimmer already), I suggest looking for a Master's Swimming Program in your region. Swimming is much less monotonous if you can do it with a group of people at your same general fitness level, and it helps to have a coach who comes up with different sets to make things interesting.

[nate33]

Alright, stepped on the scale last morning and weighed in at 267lbs. That's down 25 lbs over a 3 months period, with the biggest loss (15lbs) having come since I've started working out with my personal trainer 5 weeks ago.

Also tackled my first mile run yesterday and came in at 9 minutes even. Started at 6pmh, increased 0.5mph at every quarter mark and ran the final 0.1 mile at 8mph. That was my warm up and my previous warm up routine was typically 2 miles alternating run/walk in quarter mile intervals.

I'm stoked by the progress I've made so far, but I'd like to take my cardio to the next level, and more importantly, tackle the cardio in between PT sessionson a more consistent basis.

Any suggestions on a running program for me? Should I slow down and aim for longer duration, or should I simply include rest/cool down intervals every 1 mile aiming for a total of say 3 miles ran?

That's awesome hermitkid! Nice job!

I suggest working up to a 3-mile distance on your run/walks. Once you can do that, then start to reduce the portion of your time spent walking. Instead of alternating at 1/4 mile intervals, run for a 1/4 mile then walk for an 1/8th mile and repeat. Then work up to 1/2 mile run and an 1/8th mile walk. Keep reducing the walk duration until you can run all 3 miles. Then start adding mileage.

[dobrojim]

re swimming -

try survivor 100s

start on a pace you can easily make, for me that might be 2:15 or 2:20.
After each interval you drop five secs until you can't make the interval
anymore.

Or just do some 'broken' 200s. 200 with 20 sec rest between each 50.
For time.

I had a setback on vacation. In addition to all the IPA that had to be
drunk, I stepped on something while boogie-boarding in the ocean (S Nags Head).
My foot is sore, like I got a splinter or something in it.

And I was going to ride a century bike ride on Sunday, the day after we got
back. But my rear wheel appeared to have suffered damage, possibly dragged
it pulling into a lot while it was hung off the back of the station wagon on the rack.
It assumed a pringles shape. Looking into a new wheel now.

I did do one 42 mile ride while I was down on the OBX. Great ride. Had a solid
headwind heading south. Could only average about 13.5 mph. Did 21 miles that
way, then turned around after stopping for a gatorade and put the wind at my
back. That was fun. It's a little hairy riding on Rt 12, two lane road with the occasional
semi, RV or boat trailer.

Gotta get this foot better so I can get serious about my running for the upcoming
half and full marathons.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Have to be at howard county police dept on saturday for my agility exam. it's hard to not work out in the days leading up to it. my legs are sore from biking and my abs are killing me from doing sit-ups. i usually treat that with a healthy dose of shut up and do some more, but today and tomorrow i am not doing anything. after that i might get lost on the trails for a day or two. i lost 20 pounds btw!! 182 as of today! gonnna get rid of another 10-15 i hope. trying to get myself to do some squats and hopefully soon to doing it with some weights. i wonder what it'll do to my hops being so much lighter. in my earlier 20's i could dunk on regulation, i hope i can do that again being over 30!

That's great what you're doing, Zero. This post and hermitkid's latest have inspired me to tell what's up with me.

I've been working out decently for the past two months, but my weight hasn't budged much because I haven't had much discipline at all with respect to my eating. Over the months I've only lost a few pounds. I went from 269 down to 255, but my weight fluctuates to around 260. My goal is to get back down to 205, so right now I'm feeling like a failure in the weight loss department. Just today a kid asked me if I used to be skinnier when I was in the military. "About 100 lbs skinnier" was part of my matter-of-fact answer.

That said, even at over 250 on a 5'8" frame, Zero, something I did about a month ago really encouraged me....

About 30 years ago, when was around 18, I had enough hops to dunk a volleyball. Even goaltended a couple times in pickup games. However, with injuries (had ankle surgery 20 years ago and a ruptured achilles 2 years ago) and age I got to the point I couldn't even dunk on an 8 ft basket. However, a month ago I was shooting around on a regulation goal. There was a brand new, tight net on the goal. A ball I shot went through without touching the rim, but got caught in the net. Without even thinking I jumped up and easily got the ball out of the net. I think I reached within 6" of the rim. That was like a miracle to me considering everything. (Never had surgery on the achilles and its healed totally, apparently.) If aged, short, fat me can get close to rim what else is possible?

Zero, it made me wonder what I could do if I weighed about 185-195. Also made me wonder how I jump higher now at this advanced age and weight than I did about 10 years ago and 40 lbs go.

As for my fitness goals, I am still too heavy to run pickup games (with the memory of my achilles rupture fresh and the the thought I need to weigh less than 210 before I will play even recreationally--I say no when guys ask me to play ball). I also want to lose weight to do Ju Jitsu. Right now, it's all about a lack of control at the dinner table. But I otherwise feel fine and do workout pretty well.

[Zerocious]

Have to be at howard county police dept on saturday for my agility exam. it's hard to not work out in the days leading up to it. my legs are sore from biking and my abs are killing me from doing sit-ups. i usually treat that with a healthy dose of shut up and do some more, but today and tomorrow i am not doing anything. after that i might get lost on the trails for a day or two. i lost 20 pounds btw!! 182 as of today! gonnna get rid of another 10-15 i hope. trying to get myself to do some squats and hopefully soon to doing it with some weights. i wonder what it'll do to my hops being so much lighter. in my earlier 20's i could dunk on regulation, i hope i can do that again being over 30!

That's great what you're doing, Zero. This post and hermitkid's latest have inspired me to tell what's up with me.

I've been working out decently for the past two months, but my weight hasn't budged much because I haven't had much discipline at all with respect to my eating. Over the months I've only lost a few pounds. I went from 269 down to 255, but my weight fluctuates to around 260. My goal is to get back down to 205, so right now I'm feeling like a failure in the weight loss department. Just today a kid asked me if I used to be skinnier when I was in the military. "About 100 lbs skinnier" was part of my matter-of-fact answer.

That said, even at over 250 on a 5'8" frame, Zero, something I did about a month ago really encouraged me....

About 30 years ago, when was around 18, I had enough hops to dunk a volleyball. Even goaltended a couple times in pickup games. However, with injuries (had ankle surgery 20 years ago and a ruptured achilles 2 years ago) and age I got to the point I couldn't even dunk on an 8 ft basket. However, a month ago I was shooting around on a regulation goal. There was a brand new, tight net on the goal. A ball I shot went through without touching the rim, but got caught in the net. Without even thinking I jumped up and easily got the ball out of the net. I think I reached within 6" of the rim. That was like a miracle to me considering everything. (Never had surgery on the achilles and its healed totally, apparently.) If aged, short, fat me can get close to rim what else is possible?

Zero, it made me wonder what I could do if I weighed about 185-195. Also made me wonder how I jump higher now at this advanced age and weight than I did about 10 years ago and 40 lbs go.

As for my fitness goals, I am still too heavy to run pickup games (with the memory of my achilles rupture fresh and the the thought I need to weigh less than 210 before I will play even recreationally--I say no when guys ask me to play ball). I also want to lose weight to do Ju Jitsu. Right now, it's all about a lack of control at the dinner table. But I otherwise feel fine and do workout pretty well.

Thanks for the support CCJ, and i'm glad my experience encourages you! This'll be the third time i'll be losing 30+ pounds, but this time it's for good. I dealt with the same issues you dealt with, albeit, not at the same weight class i am addicted to food. It has to do with an oral fixation i have had since i was a kid. It caused me to smoke for years, chew gum like a fiend, and do weird things with my breathing, grind my teeth etc. Food was never a nutritional thing for me, i just needed food.

I think i was able to break the cycle though. I learned that food is just fuel to keep your body in motion, not as leisure exercise. and too much food does your body damage as it can not process all of it. Eating should not be, and is not a hobby!! If you just need food to live, no more food is needed when your body has all it needs. NOW, that's where i stop eating. No more finishing the plate because i paid for it. No more medium size meals where i am fully satisfied with a small. (or medium vs large meal - not fast food ever though!!!) this is a learning process. it takes a while. the more you leave food on your plate the sooner you will learn that your body functions on a lot less food.

I drove up to delaware yesterday to a mountain bike park just north of Neward. I managed to outdo experienced mountain bikers on hill climbs, decends, jumps and i even managed to complete the extreme expert track on my first try - including seesaw, rope bridges. i have only been mountain biking for a few weeks now, and i do it all on a HUFFY!!!! i did break off my rear derailleur and had to work the entire park with only 3 gears, and bent my front wheel, but it was all worth it. In the process i burned enough calories to shed a quick two pounds according to my scale this morning!

As for getting the ball out of the net, CCJ, good for you! ( how 'bout this the ball stuck in the net is the weight issue you struggle with. the more you train the closer you get to your goal of getting the ball loose. once you get it loose a whole new world will open up now you can PLAY BALL!!) seriously though, that in itself should be plenty of encouragement to get back on (the) track. Youmight be in better shape at 190 or so now, then you were at 190 the last time. Mostly because you train so hard to get down to 190, you'll be in much better shape then when you were gaining the weight to make it to 190. or even 210 for that matter. i was still able to touch the rim at 205.

good luck, CCJ, let me know how you progress.

Also, buy a mutha ff'n bike and go riding and crosstraining. pick some hills and burrrrrrrnnnnnnnnn!!!

[Zerocious]

Finally went to the doc yesterday for my knee. "infrapetlla tendonitis," which he basically said is/is caused by weakness in the surrounding muscles and doing to much too fast. Said that the surrounding muscles probably never recovered from the labrum tear in my hip a couple of years ago, and so even when I felt like I was easing into my workouts I was actually giving my body more than it could handle.

Well F.

Starting physical therapy (again) next week to build strength back up in the area. I admit to being depressed that at 32 I've had more lower body injuries in the last few years than most 50-year olds. I don't know if it's crappy genetics, domino effect of one injury to the next, but it sucks.

I worked my ass off this spring/summer to get back into shape, and now I fear that it's all going to go "to waste," the low-grade seasonal depression will kick as the days get shorter, and I'll be feeling like bloated crap again soon.

Good news is that DC just re-opened the pool at Wilson High School near my house and it's supposedly beautiful, so I'm going to give lap swimming a try. I have concerns about not being able to zone out with an ipod or TV screen during a workout; Mrs Fish says that it's "peaceful," but I don't do peaceful so well.

If anyone has any uplifting stories or pearls of wisdom/encouragement, feel free to share them today. I haven't felt like myself lately.

wouldn't you feel much better if you had been paid 111Million before your injury?

There are still a billion things you can do to not become 'bloated crap!

1. do not eat more then needed
2. do not sit more than needed
3. ride a bicycle
...
...
999.999.999. push-ups
1.000.000.000. lift weights

pfeww...anyway, building muscle and keeping muscle burns tons 'o fat and calories, nearly as much as cardio exercise etc.

as much as i want to encourage you, (and i do, i feel bad for you and the injury) if you turn into bloated crap this coming season because of a knee injury, it's still your own fault!

love ya, mean it!!