The Fitness Thread

[Parkins left foot]

Started doing a few press-ups when I get up in the morning now I haven't got to rush off to work, struggled to do 10 when I started just after Christmas, managed 50 this morning.

Putting me to shame then - since I've retired I've done bugger all - really should start & considering I have a fitness centre 5 min walk one way & a leisure centre 5 min the other have really got no excuse

 

[ROVERT47]

Putting me to shame then - since I've retired I've done bugger all - really should start & considering I have a fitness centre 5 min walk one way & a leisure centre 5 min the other have really got no excuse

Ha, that's about as far as it's gonna go, I couldn't imagine ever joining a Gym.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Ha, that's about as far as it's gonna go, I couldn't imagine ever joining a Gym.

This one isn't a gym as such and most of the clientele is pensionable (well that's true for most of Dorset!) so no competing with the Mr Universe types

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Signed up to do a mud run with a couple of lads from work in April.

10km with 60+ obstacles, should be good fun. Looking at the course map from last year the obstacles were pretty evenly spaced so never more than a few hundred metres running at a time, which should hopefully suit me as I won't need to force myself into doing any longer runs to build myself up to it.

I got "conned" into doing something like this - tough Mudder, 10 miles in May. When they said it was obstacles I just thought it was similar to school obstacle races...turns out it is walls, ice pools, monkey bars, electric shocks... Sounds horrible. £115 to enter too.

 

[Alan]

The shocks are the worst part of it by far. That said, everyone is very jovial so it ends up being hard to come away from it feeling like it was a bad experience.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I got "conned" into doing something like this - tough Mudder, 10 miles in May. When they said it was obstacles I just thought it was similar to school obstacle races...turns out it is walls, ice pools, monkey bars, electric shocks... Sounds horrible. £115 to enter too.

Don't think our obstacles are as extreme as that, only half the price to enter too!

Think I've got to contend with things like walls of hay bails, chest high walls and massive piles of logs. There's a swim across a pond which could be pretty brisk depending on how April's weather pans out but thankfully no electric shocks.

 

[ROVERT47]

Probably one for Penk or THM, I've ordered a set of Dumbbells (30kg), I only want to do stuff at home not interested in going to a gym, so I want to know where to start, advice appreciated, ta.

 

[Alan]

You can do just about anything with a set of dumbbells. If you have anything like a traditional gym bench then you basically have all you need. Chest press, bicep curls, military press... You can manage all the core exercises with just the dummies.

 

[Langers]

Thought I'd bump this as I'm really enjoying my running just recently. Decided to ditch RunKeeper and installed Strava which is MILES better.

A few friends of mine did the London Marathon yesterday and it's inspired me to carry on with the training and maybe enter a 10k or even a half marathon once I feel I'm at that sort of standard.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

My advice would be to start with a 5k run, and then build up with a couple of 10k runs. Once you feel comfortable with them, try to do a 10 mile run. It is important that you gradually build up to the longer distances.

 

[Langers]

Yeah, my problem is always doing too much too soon. I've increased my usual distances from 3 miles to 5.5 miles and I'm managing to keep the same pace, but I always end up overdoing it and injuring myself! So my mate (a fitness instructor) has told me to build up slowly, maybe only a couple of runs a week and forget about timings for now.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Times are irrelevant at the moment. The important thing is to build up your fitness and stamina. At my peak when I was running marathons, I was running 70 plus miles a week. It took me a fair time to build up to that level.

I would also advocate good rest periods. Maybe set up a weekly plan, with two or three gentle runs, a couple more of a longer distance, and two rest days.

 

[Langers]

I didn't know you ran marathons. Impressive!

Ta for the advice - sounds very sensible. I'm going to build up to a run from my house to my girlfriend's - that's about 7 miles. I don't think I'm too far off that but it won't hurt to ease into it a little bit as I've only just got over an injury.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Yes I did quite a few marathons, including the London in 1991. I also did loads of half marathons. I really enjoyed it, but Father Time and a dodgy knee ended my long distance running a few years ago.

 

[Langers]

I misread that as Father Ted. :icon_lol:

 

[Wombat del combate]

From what I've read you want to build distance by about 10% a week to ensure that you don't injure yourself; you might be able to run further than that but it puts a lot of pressure on parts of the body which quite frankly aren't ready for it and you'll end up injured for longer. So that means in about nine weeks you'll be in a posiiton to run to (from?) the better half's.

 

[Langers]

From what I've read you want to build distance by about 10% a week to ensure that you don't injure yourself; you might be able to run further than that but it puts a lot of pressure on parts of the body which quite frankly aren't ready for it and you'll end up injured for longer. So that means in about nine weeks you'll be in a posiiton to run to (from?) the better half's.

I think that's exactly what happened. My new routes had much tougher gradients and my joints couldn't take it!

 

[Wombat del combate]

Yes, I did see that you'd suddenly gone from 3-odd to 5+ miles and was waiting for some manner of injury to befall you. Not out of malice of course, just that I'm aware of how much it takes to train the body properly. It's similar to my mate who I cycle with who told me that he tried running a couple of miles - from a base of zero - last summer and it wrecked him for a week: putting that much stress through your joints is not going to end well. I mean, you wouldn't run a good 5k* and then go and try to bang out a half marathon and expect to enjoy it and not suffer would you?

* = Try and find a local Parkrun which is free (unless you live near Bristol) as it'll give you people to train with and acquire tips from. No obligation to attend every week either.

 

[So Long Architect]

I've done a few Parkruns recently and started out slowly, walking part of the way at the beginning. Then managed to make it all the way round at a jog. Then got excited cos I'm quite fit generally, went too fast, and did my calf. Then had an eight week layoff and then repeated pretty much the exact same pattern so now I'm injured again (for running purposes). Not sure I can really be arsed to give it another go.

 

[Langers]

Yes, I did see that you'd suddenly gone from 3-odd to 5+ miles and was waiting for some manner of injury to befall you. Not out of malice of course, just that I'm aware of how much it takes to train the body properly. It's similar to my mate who I cycle with who told me that he tried running a couple of miles - from a base of zero - last summer and it wrecked him for a week: putting that much stress through your joints is not going to end well. I mean, you wouldn't run a good 5k* and then go and try to bang out a half marathon and expect to enjoy it and not suffer would you?

* = Try and find a local Parkrun which is free (unless you live near Bristol) as it'll give you people to train with and acquire tips from. No obligation to attend every week either.

I think the main problem was incorporating those steep climbs into my new routes. One of them was an absolute bastard. I was using muscles that I don't think I've ever used before so you're right - it ain't a good idea to rush straight into it without building it up a bit first.

The newer route - although slightly longer - is far gentler in terms of gradients and that seems to be fine, no adverse effects.