The Exercise & Fitness Thread: The Struggle Is Real

[Will]

I've been doing pretty well with my fitness, to the point that all of my jeans are now too big for me. I've added my Pocket Monkii and WonderCore back into my daily routine and it's definitely having a very positive impact. In terms of my targets for the year, I'm now at:

1. Run 1,000km over the course of the year - Currently at just over 250km 400km
2. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes - Current best 21:35 21:25
3. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes - Current best 48:34 46:40

Pretty happy with that progress in less than a month since my last update. Still a long way to go but it feels possible.

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by will'

[Fierce_LiNk]

This whole lockdown hasn't really affected my exercise progress because I went down the whole gym route years ago. Must be 8 or so years ago now. Initially I started off with just a few dumbbells, but then bought myself a good adjustable bench. After that, when I realised that if I was going to do this, I may as well do it properly, I bought a set of squat stands and then also purchased a barbell and additional weight plates. Originally, the dumbbells were just meant to supplement my gym progress, but as time went on and my teaching career took off, I found that it was getting much more difficult to even make it into a gym as much as I had wanted to.

The downside is that I started off with standard weight plates. A standard barbell can only take so much before it starts to bend, which mine eventually did when my deadlift numbers started to go up. At that point, I had to make the decision to either get a new barbell and know that pretty soon it would give out and I would need to get another one, or to invest in Olympic weights. In the end, I invested in a set of Olympic bumper plates and eventually (slowly) got rid of the standard plates and equipment.

When we moved into our house, we converted the garage and I purchased a cage, which I had been eyeing up for years up until that point. One of the requirements for purchasing a house was that it had to have a garage or some sort of area where we could work out. Luckily, we found a house that seemed to tick this box. Believe it or not, we took a measuring tape with us and measured from floor to ceiling in the "potential areas" where this cage could go. 

The picture is a few years old, but that's mostly what it looks like now in the garage. Since then, we've moved the elliptical trainer to the other side of the garage and my e-drum set is in there on the right. The weight tree at the back is gone and we've invested in a toast rack style weight holder. Also purchase a few small incremental plates and a pair of Olympic dumbbell bars. We got rid of the garage door (which is an up and over door) and went for a set of French doors instead, so you get tons of light in there. 

The plan was never to get huuuge but to keep my fitness up and keep the routine going. Due to my job being extremely time consuming, I can't make it to the gym 4 or 5 times a week to exercise. So, this was really the best way of keeping that going. With the current state of things as they are in the world, I've been extremely lucky that I can still maintain this structure in my life. I can't imagine not being to lift weights for months...

 

 

 

 

[Will]

That looks great, would love to do something similar in the future.

I've decided to add a new personal target for my current regime. Over the next however long it takes I'm going to attempt to become capable of doing a sustained handstand. Other targets are coming along well, I'm definitely the fittest I've been in years, possibly going all the way back to university.

[Goafer]

Got ol' Trusty Rusty out of storage and went for a cycle. Some of the muscle memory is there, but I'm no where near as good as I used to be. In my prime, I could cycle a 50 mile/4-5 hour route no problem. Now I can barely make it to the nearest village. I'm hoping I'll get back to my previous levels quicker than it took me to get there originally. I've still got a decent amount of muscle in my legs, I just have a lot of extra weight on other parts!

And I had to snap a photo, because I'm actually a child:

[bob]

@will' How to do a handstand

[Will]

2 hours ago, bob said:

@will' How to do a handstand

That's great - thanks! I watched a good amount of tutorials on youtube and I'll add these to the things I'm trying out. Based on my first few days, this is going to take me a long time.

[Charlie]

On 4/25/2020 at 5:39 PM, Fierce_LiNk said:

This whole lockdown hasn't really affected my exercise progress because I went down the whole gym route years ago. Must be 8 or so years ago now. Initially I started off with just a few dumbbells, but then bought myself a good adjustable bench. After that, when I realised that if I was going to do this, I may as well do it properly, I bought a set of squat stands and then also purchased a barbell and additional weight plates. Originally, the dumbbells were just meant to supplement my gym progress, but as time went on and my teaching career took off, I found that it was getting much more difficult to even make it into a gym as much as I had wanted to.

The downside is that I started off with standard weight plates. A standard barbell can only take so much before it starts to bend, which mine eventually did when my deadlift numbers started to go up. At that point, I had to make the decision to either get a new barbell and know that pretty soon it would give out and I would need to get another one, or to invest in Olympic weights. In the end, I invested in a set of Olympic bumper plates and eventually (slowly) got rid of the standard plates and equipment.

When we moved into our house, we converted the garage and I purchased a cage, which I had been eyeing up for years up until that point. One of the requirements for purchasing a house was that it had to have a garage or some sort of area where we could work out. Luckily, we found a house that seemed to tick this box. Believe it or not, we took a measuring tape with us and measured from floor to ceiling in the "potential areas" where this cage could go. 

 

The picture is a few years old, but that's mostly what it looks like now in the garage. Since then, we've moved the elliptical trainer to the other side of the garage and my e-drum set is in there on the right. The weight tree at the back is gone and we've invested in a toast rack style weight holder. Also purchase a few small incremental plates and a pair of Olympic dumbbell bars. We got rid of the garage door (which is an up and over door) and went for a set of French doors instead, so you get tons of light in there. 

The plan was never to get huuuge but to keep my fitness up and keep the routine going. Due to my job being extremely time consuming, I can't make it to the gym 4 or 5 times a week to exercise. So, this was really the best way of keeping that going. With the current state of things as they are in the world, I've been extremely lucky that I can still maintain this structure in my life. I can't imagine not being to lift weights for months...

 

I am very jealous of your home setup, and I can't even see the picture at work. Whenever we next move I will have a similar stipulation in place about having a place for a home gym.

Very fortunately, I purchased a OnePeloton bike in mid-February and what a time to purchase it turned out to be. I'm on it every single day doing various classes. I'm concentrating mostly on Power Zone training which I love. Frankly I would have doubled in size without it considering my weight has gone up by 1kg since lockdown began.

In terms of strength training, I managed to find some 15kg dumbbells locally and trying to do as much as possible at home but it's difficult when as high as I can go for any exercise is 30kg. I started following a Peloton strength class this week which is 30 minute workouts split between upper and lower body. They're designed to be done at home which works well for this situation.

[Ike]

Wish I had the space for a home gym like @Fierce_LiNk's.

I've been pretty unmotivated so I've ended up not doing much.

I've some some 3kg dumbbells I bought a year ago but I kind of feel like they are too light now considering I was moving onto a 15kg bar. Of course everywhere is either sold out or the prices have been inflated.

Was considering getting some resistance bands, are they worth getting?

[Goafer]

I'm quite amazed by how quickly my fitness has come back after not cycling for about 8 years. I've only been cycling for about a week, but I've gone from getting exhausted within about 10-15 minutes, to being able to go for the best part of an hour. Today I even managed to sprint (by my standards) a large portion of the return journey. Slight uphill sections were also draining to begin with, but I barely notice them now. Steeper hills are still a bit of a pain, but I put that down to me weighing about 6 or 7 stone more than when I cycled before.

I've settled on a route for now, which is about 6.5 miles. I used to do 10, but the roads round here are a bit thinner, so finding a good route is a bit harder. I'm aiming to do this route every other day, as I found daily riding wore my knees out. That said, if I feel like doing it consecutive days, I probably will. Now that I've settled on this route, I'm trying to improve a little bit every day. A rough diary:

First attempt: Multiple stops for a rest both on the way there and the return journey.
Second attempt: No stops on the way there. Rest on a bench at my destination. No stops, but I did walk a bit on the return journey to have a break and look at the scenery.
Third Attempt (today): No stops on the way there. Rest on the bench at the destination (I didn't really need it, but it's a natural break as it's where I turn around) and no stops on the way back, with a decent sprint most of the way back.

And have a picture of a different route I did before settling on my current one, just because it's pretty.

[Charlie]

On 4/30/2020 at 5:29 PM, Ike said:

Wish I had the space for a home gym like @Fierce_LiNk's.

I've been pretty unmotivated so I've ended up not doing much.

I've some some 3kg dumbbells I bought a year ago but I kind of feel like they are too light now considering I was moving onto a 15kg bar. Of course everywhere is either sold out or the prices have been inflated.

Was considering getting some resistance bands, are they worth getting?

I have this one that I bought last year for physio exercises and I've been getting some really good use out of it for home exercises during Covid.

It's obviously not as good as having proper weights but it works well in addition to my 14kg dumbbells. I do a lot of push and pull work with them.

Push:

• Push Ups (behind back)
• Chest Flye (behind back)
• Tricep kickback (stand on it)
• Shoulder press (stand on it)

Pull

• Lat pull down (I have a pull up bar I tie it to, but you could put it on a door frame)
• Sitting rows (loop round feet)
• Bicep curls (stand on it)

Legs

• I don't do any but there are lots online

 

[MindFreak]

Working from home (which I still do) really has its benefits regarding fitness. Now that I don't "waste" 40 minutes a day biking, I can do much more varied and interesting exercising at home. Having a kettlebell (20 kg and 12 kg), a barbell (up to 60 kg) a jump rope and a rowing machine really helps with variety as well and I can do quite a lot - the barbell is garbage so can't do anything like cleaning because of the screwlock-system.

Also, not being at work means that I don't eat so much candy and chocolate anymore. That's nice.

[Eenuh]

I've been doing pretty well during this lockdown in regards to my weight/fitness.

I've been following a schedule of two days of cardio (crosstrainer), followed by one day of weight training (alternating between chest/back/arms one day, then legs and arms the next) and then have one rest day. On top of that I have been loosely following the keto diet as well, cutting out carbs and sugars, though still allowing "cheat" days once in a while. I also do a bit of fasting as I don't eat breakfast (thanks to keto I don't feel as hungry as I normally would so that's fine). 

I've managed to lose 7kg since mid-March, which may not sound like a lot but is quite a bit for me! I had not been able to lose weight for years, even though I was doing exercise and calorie counting, so I'm happy that something is finally working.  
I'll keep up with the diet and exercise and try to get rid of even more weight, need to get fit for my wedding next year! 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Eenuh

[killthenet]

7kg in a couple of months is really good going @Eenuh, I've lost about the same in just over 3 months and feel pretty happy with myself. With the lockdown easing slightly I have decided toto to start doing a second walk in the evenings again and cutting out the time on the turbo trainer. Will see how things go over the next couple of weeks, my weekly weight loss seemed to drop to about a pound a week during the strictest weeks of the lockdown so I'm hopeful returning to how things were before the end of March will get me back up to the two pounds a week I was losing then.

 

 

[Goron_3]

Started doing some regular exercise in the garden during lock down which has done wonders for my mental health. I don't think I've lost any weight but 3-4 sessions a week has definitely gone some way to countering all the weight I likely put on drinking 2-3 beers every day when lock down started.

We don't have any weights here so generally speaking it's just been body exercises and HIIT work outs whilst listening to music. 

[Shorty]

I have a weight bench which, when I moved to a smaller house, was tucked away and relegated to the garage.

Now, it has pride of place in the living room since a dining table has become a second home working space for my SO

Before covid, I was about the strongest/fittest I'd been for a long time since I'd been going to a bouldering gym twice a week for a year. Absolutely gutted that I can't do that at the moment. A huge number of people online have been building their own bouldering walls for the workout, but given the inconsistency of British weather and the faff that would be to move when I move house, not to mention a cost in the £500-1000 region... not something I'm taking seriously yet.

So weight bench it is. And man, do those gains fall off quickly if you don't keep them up. I can still do bodyweight excerises quite well since that's the core of climbing, but my presses and squats have completely faded away.

I was also walking to and from work every day before lockdown, so I've lost a huge amount of mobility, flexibility etc. And put on a loooot of that beer weight

[Goafer]

Haven't cycled in just short of a week, so decided to go a bit further today. 10 miles instead of my usual 6. Managed to do it in about an hour, with 2 very short rests towards the end.

I've also started drinking 2 meal replacement shakes a day (breakfast and lunch usually) to try and eat less. It's weird, they really don't seem like enough to replace a meal, but they do fill me up and I don't feel hungry at all until the next meal time. I've not noticed any weakness whilst cycling, so I'm guessing I'm not missing out on anything either.

Edit: just weighed myself and I've lost half a stone. Noice.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Goafer

[Ike]

On 11/05/2020 at 9:43 AM, Charlie said:

I have this one that I bought last year for physio exercises and I've been getting some really good use out of it for home exercises during Covid.

Thanks, ordered it and it arrived today. I'll give it a try in a couple of days.

[Goafer]

Seeing as it's the weekend and I had nothing much that needing doing, I thought I'd up my game and go on a longer bike ride. Ended up doing 14 miles to my nearest town. I think that may have been pushing it a bit, as I was pretty knackered on the way back and had to stop a few times. Could be to do with the heat too, as it's bloody hot today.

Either way, I managed it.

[Fierce_LiNk]

30 minutes ago, Goafer said:

Seeing as it's the weekend and I had nothing much that needing doing, I thought I'd up my game and go on a longer bike ride. Ended up doing 14 miles to my nearest town. I think that may have been pushing it a bit, as I was pretty knackered on the way back and had to stop a few times. Could be to do with the heat too, as it's bloody hot today.

Either way, I managed it.

Great work, it has been baking hot today, so you're a brave man for doing this. 

[Goafer]

5 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Great work, it has been baking hot today, so you're a brave man for doing this. 

I took the same route that I normally take in the car and I discovered that there really isn't much shade on that route. Ended up having a break in a church doorway as there was a nice place to sit and it was nice and cool. Beyond that, I got to play the game of "Am I rested enough to get to the next shade-giving tree?".

The thing I really like about cycling is that just the act of moving is enough to create a cooling breeze. Probably still get sunburnt to fuck eventually, but at least I don't overheat too badly.

[MindFreak]

When I'm running against a clock, I can't decide whether to pause the clock or let it run when I stop at red lights. It's never more than 10-20 seconds but it's a rest nonetheless which will give me a better result but I feel that letting the clock run while resting here will make my times less comparable. What do you guys think?

 

I've had some bad runs lately, going slower than usual (a pace about 4:08 ish on 6 km). It's probably just daily variation but still, it's offputting.

Edited June 3, 2020 by MindFreak

[drahkon]

5 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

What do you guys think?

I let the clock run and do some jumps or run in place. While it's sitll a bit of a break I don't mind it that much, especially since I'm not going after a certain time.

Haven't run in a week, 'cause I'm a lazy bitch  Last time was 10km in 71 minutes. Not great but it was the first time ever for me to run 10km without a break.

[Will]

I think as long as you're consistent in what you do it doesn't make much difference. On my route, I know there are certain places I'm going to have to stop for traffic and plan my routes with those in mind. I mostly base my training plans around time per km so I choose to have the clock stop when I'm not moving.

[bob]

I just do a Qui Gon at the lights while i wait for them to change.

[Goafer]

I'm so dang close to my first stone lost. The overall goal is to lose quite a bit more, but I can practically taste that first milestone (pun very much intended). Hopefully in the next week or so.

On the up side, I've noticed a change in myself. Not necessarily in how I look, but I feel better overall and clothes fit a bit better. I guess that's what counts.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Goafer