Official Workout/Fitness Thread (Re-born)

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

nate, I think it is as simple as the water cools you off. You don't get the burn from swimming.

I know another guy who swims a lot, this one in the pool. He does his swim before he does weights or other exercises, because he thinks if he swims at the end it cools him down and doesn't burn as much fat.

Personally, I like to work out, take a quick shower, then go sit in the hot water sauna, swim, and take a real shower before I leave the gym. I think it reduces some of the soreness and does cool you off. I agree with nate, that swimming doesn't do it for me as a workout. Probably because I'm not a strong enough swimmer to be putting an hour in the pool, I guess.

[nate33]

CCJ, you will be a lot less sore if you avoid the hot tub after lifting. It promotes inflammation.

A hot tub can be good as a means of warming up the body before a workout, and it can be good therapy for damaged or sore muscles that need to be loosened and stretched out. They're really bad right after a workout though. Actually, you want to do the opposite. Use cold immersion to reduce swelling after a particularly hard workout.

None of this matters much if your workouts are just a modest means at getting some exercise and getting the heart pumping. But if you've really attacked your muscles with heavy lifting or with a long distance run, cold baths are good and hot tubs are bad. You'll be surprised at how much less sore you will be on the next day after trying cold therapy.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Thanks, nate.

I don't know how not to go hard. The guy at my gym and I always get a laugh when I tell him I'm almost done.

I shower before the hot tub after my work out for hygiene and compliance with gym rules. But I sort of neglect stretching afterwards. My hot tub time is mostly like a stretch. But I will consider what you're saying--hadn't thought about it actually promoting inflammation.

I know i suffer from SOMETHING--I assume arthritis in my shoulders. My shoulders crack, pop, seem to pop out of joint and ache big time after I lift. That's the one area I have trouble with chronic pain.

I will use caution with the hot tub. I also need to use and ice bag afterwards. I'm usually rushing for time. No way I can work out and ice before work.

[nate33]

I bought a nice ice pack from Wal Mart last year for 7 bucks. It's just a bag filled with glycerine antifreeze that fits into a pouch with a velcro strap. It's really easy to wrap it around any injured area with no leakage. Get something like that and you can ice your injured area while driving to work.

[dobrojim]

Flattered to be called a 'pro' but I gotta say there's lots of guys (and women)
just like me in terms of running. My totals are adding up but my body
seems to be holding up pretty well. 36 marathons, 3 50Ks, 11 50 milers
and 2 100 milers. All since 1996. So starting at age 39, I improved
for 7 years and then started to deteriorate at least with respect
to my performance. I think it's arguable what contributes more
to the deterioration, wear and tear or simply aging. I peaked
at age 45 running my 7th marathon.

Ice/cold is absolutely the best thing for recovery and healing.

Agree with the sentiments expressed about swimming but with
the added note that swimmers get injured more than you might
think. Shoulders are particularly susceptible to a range of injuries.

Lower body muscles are simply bigger so by working them you're burning
more of whatever you're burning. The gluteus max is called that for a reason.

I kinda believe the thought that because you don't get hot in the water,
generally speaking, that your body gets a signal to store fat for insulation
purposes. I'm not sure there is any actual scientific evidence to support that,
but it sounds good.

I had a big meal and a couple brews yesterday at my sis-in-law's. But my
rule of thumb or rationalization if you prefer, is that I do not have to follow
any diet for a number of hours equal to miles raced at the conclusion of
a race. Sat's 50K ended for me between 1:30 and 2 in the afternoon so
I was good for 31 hours after that so Sunday dinner was an allowable
splurge.

Swimming can be good for the truly obese since they have trouble
even walking. Water aerobics are probably a good idea for those types
as well. I totally agree with cakes that lap swimming is unparalleled
boring.

pick up hoops is definitely intense, moreso when it's full court
with guys who actually try to beat each other up and down the court.

My 50K was a great way to kill half a day. I got solitude as well
as brief intervals of moral and food/water support. Enjoyed the WV countryside
and the chorus of untold songbirds while running/jogging/walking.

Ultras are very laid back with a bigger demographic basis towards
older runners as well as runners that don't obviously look like runners
(like me).

One of the best ultra runners I know is a retire veterinarian in his mid
to late 60s who still competes in numerous ultras on an ongoing basis.
He's running the 100 that I will be pacing a guy (for 40 miles) this weekend.
He probably averages 1-2 ultras a month all year long. I can beat him in
a marathon or shorter race but he has an amazing capacity to just
scamper along a mountain or other dirt trail at a pace that is deceptively
fast. And he can do it for what amounts to an indefinite period of time.

[Induveca]

The thing with running vs swimming is, if you run too much and don't back it up with serious upper body workouts you end up looking like Steve Jobs, it's not a healthy look.....and as a singleish guy women hate it. On the other hand, swim too much, you get a much more healthy look..........shoulder/chest/back grow quickly and you still drop fat rapidly. Combine that routine with solid weightlifting you'll burn exponentially more calories than running alone. And, swimming burns MORE calories minute by minute than running. So does elliptical.

You may lose less weight in the pool depending on your approach in the *short term*, purely because you are actually building A LOT of muscle over your ENTIRE body unlike running. I've seen people transform their bodies doing ONLY swimming and light weight training........and end up looking much fitter than the treadmill guys.

- Swim 20 olympic laps a day over 30 minutes 4 days a week
- Workout for 45 minutes in the gym for 3 days a week.
- Stick to under 2000 calories a day.
- Eat a lot of lean protein in that 2000 calories.
- Avoid excessive white carbs.

Follow that for 2 months and I guarantee you'll be utterly shocked at the transformation. You become vastly more muscular/lean than running/weightlifting or any other regimen you've done in your life.

It's a very easy thing to keep up for your entire life. Join the YMCA, whatever. It's 75 minutes four times a week, All combined around 4% of your waking hours in a week.....zero reason not to attack that program. You can even do Saturday/Sunday back to back then a tuesday/thursday thing.

[nate33]

Induveca, I agree with most of what you posted above. My only small disagreement is that it isn't true that swimming burns more calories per minute than running. Running and cycling, because of their emphasis on larger, lower body muscles, burn calories faster (at least if we're talking calories spent per hour of exercise). The rest of the stuff I agree with. Swimming builds up your entire body and promotes more overall muscle mass.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Got a new exercise aid: A weighted vest. I'm starting off with a 20-lb vest and as my fitness level increases, I'll keep adding weight.

Today I had a nice, short workout. Warmed up by shooting baskets with vest on. Did 3 miles on the tread mill, also with the vest on. Did three sets, 12 reps of dips. Worked abs with crunches on the Swiss ball. Did pushups gripping the bosu ball while balancing my feet on the Swiss ball. Finished up with lap swim.

I feel better and better. I am very thankful that God has allowed me to grow into the person He wants me to be--spiritually, physically, emotionally. l feel like I am not getting older but just getting better with age.

I am very grateful for all the support and encouragement I am getting from you guys and others.

[Induveca]

Keep it going CCJ! One week try nothing but swimming 10 laps a day. You'll be shocked at the OVERALL change!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Will do in the next month, Induveca.

Sounds like it will be a nice change of pace, and I'm curious to see the results. Thanks!

[pancakes3]

3x12 dips with a weighted vest? you're a beast, CCJ.

[likwitdesi]

I am now about a month away from achieving my personal five year anniversary as a fitness nut. Over the past five years, I've worked out less than 5 times a week 7 or 8 times.

I am now 22 and my knees don't feel the same after I run vs. when I was 17 and could run 4 miles and then play basketball for 3 hours.

At this point, as an investment banker, I still make it a point to get exercise in 5-6x a week and it is an even split between cardio (either running or elliptical first thing in the morning / HIIT in the early evening - wind sprints or cycling) and lifting (I used to be much more focused on doing supersets and circuit training but these days I'll isolate one muscle group, get at it for 40 mins and then do some light cardio for 10 minutes).

From my experiences, I would say that, if your focus is on HIIT, you can't really do it on the elliptical or through swimming. You can't hit a high enough heart rate. Sprinting or running stairs work best. It is true that they are not the healthiest for your knees, but if you are around my age, I highly recommend these exercises while you can handle them.

[nate33]

Today I had a nice, short workout. Warmed up by shooting baskets with vest on. Did 3 miles on the tread mill, also with the vest on. Did three sets, 12 reps of dips.

I need to get a weighted vest. Right now, I'm using an old duffel bag with 45 pounds of plate weights thrown in it. I did 3 sets of pull ups (5-8 reps) and 3 sets of dips (8 reps) but that strap hurts my shoulders.

[dobrojim]

I paced another runner at a 100 mile mountain endurance race on Saturday
night. I met him at the 63 mile mark after he had been running/walking for 14 hours.
It was just slightly after 8 o'clock. He had stated that his goal was simply to finish
and he had attempted this race one prior time. We had a good run together
and at the 77 mile mark I suggested to him that he had a solid chance to run
under 30 hours which is darn good. It's an insanely difficult course with over
18,000 ft of climbs and an often difficult surface that can be rocky or muddy
or both. I was able to hang with him all night and into the morning. One of
the last climbs took a serious toll on both of us and when we got to the final
aid station before the finish at mile 95, I told him I was done. He cajoled
me into continuing and I went to fill up my water bottles. By the time I
turned around to set off with him, he was gone so I took off after him.
I couldn't catch him even though I was maintaining a solid pace, especially
when I got to the final 3 miles which are road sections and slightly downhill.
I might have spotted him 2 minutes at the most from the last aid station and
he beat me to the finish by btw 15-20 minutes. He not only came in under
30 hours, he darn near came in under 29. I was pleased with myself for
being able to keep up with him until the very end.

[dobrojim]

I forgot to explicitly say I did this as a training exercise for the
100 miler I will be doing (again) in Vermont in July.

[Induveca]

I'm 35 years old, and have been in the best shape of my life over the past 5 years. What works for me is SERIOUS weight training, and a TON of swimming, and occasional 90 minute stretches on the eliiptical machine jacked up to near max resistance. I've had no injuries aside from small muscle tweaks when I've gone "too heavy" at the gym.

A few acquaintances of mine back in Miami are MMA fighters, and they swear by a similar regimen. Heavy weightlifting, swimming, and they do EXTREME cardio on the elliptical as well as daily sparring. For elliptical setting around 30% of max resistance, and they literally go as fast as possible for periods of time for interval training, both backwards and forwards. This is ALL the cardio they do when in a cutting mode. The reason? Running has destroyed the knees/achilles etc etc of too many of their peers.

That being said, their elliptical approach is unrealistic for someone like myself. I'm not trying to train to fight and keep my stamina up near superman levels. 30-45 minutes a day of swimming and constant weightlifting keeps me in great shape, just looking from the outside in you can't tell a difference physically. That being said they'd run around me in the ring for hours while I'm passed out and exhausted. They are just going to extreme levels which no one really needs unless they are a professional sportsman at some level. There's no need to go extreme if you just want to get in shape, just protect yourself by not going overboard. This is a slow race of health, not a quick fix because you like to eat fast food and drink too much beer.

HIIT is unrealistic long term, P90x is unrealistic long term, 50 kilometer runs are unrealistic long term......for 98% of people. You need to find a system you can keep up with daily, which YOU create out of research and true desire to become healthy. The system shouldn't drain you excessive amounts of your time, destroy your joints, and become something you can carry with you into your 50s and 60s and live a long/healthy life. You won't get that from the crap they sell on TV "P90x", "Insanity" and all those silly things. Do they work? Sure they do, but EXERCISE works, not the silly brand name they give a workout anyone could come up with by reading a book and educating themselves on getting in shape.

If you see yourself doing interval training or P90x, or spending 12 hours a week running for the next 15 years of your life, you're fooling yourself. Find something you can do 5-6 times a week, 45 minutes a day and you'll be well on your way. If you find out you love lifting weights, even better........you'll become sculpted within 12 months and healthier than you ever imagined.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

3x12 dips with a weighted vest? you're a beast, CCJ.

pancakes, I think nate gets the beast award for putting a 45 lb vest and doing dips at a body weight that's probably 75 lbs less than mine

(Then again he is a young whipper snapper. )

I will say this, that which doesn't kill you really can make you stronger.

As I went through a lot of family court stuff during my divorce, it was more than therapeutic to go to the gym. I am certain I will keep this up the rest of my days because I am astonished at how resilient God made the human body. I am making gains at 50 that are very thrilling, pancakes.

(Perhaps I will eventually do sets of 25 reps on the dips, with 45-50 lbs on my back. Why not?)

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Got another notice today. This time from a very attractive young lady who works at my kid's daycare. "Have you been working out?" I have seen her many times over the past year, but this is the first time she made a point of speaking first. Hmmm ...

In the moment, I just smiled and said to her, "Yes, thanks." (Note to self-esteem: "Act like you've been there. Expect the best and watch and see when all kinds of good things unfold"). I'm actually kinda shocked, still. It wasn't what she said. It was the way she said it. Things are definitely looking up, if you know what I mean.

On the fitness front, I'm enrolling my sons in swimming lessons and I'll be taking a swimming course, too. The lessons will improve my technique and allow me to lap swim better and farther.

[pancakes3]

"act like you've been there" is the greatest bit of advice in sports and womanizing. of course once you land the championship for the first time and have never actually been there before? then you can let the bubbly fly and showboat all you want. no one would fault you for it.

buying a pullup bar today.

[Buffy]

wow there must be some fit people on here, i like it, a lot of good info in here