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Fierce_LiNk

The Exercise & Fitness Thread: The Struggle Is Real

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19 minutes ago, Goafer said:

My clothes were feeling a bit baggy, so I decided to buy a t shirt one size smaller than usual and try it on every so often as a gauge of how much I've lost. I figured when it feels comfortable, I know I've achieved something tangible.

Turns out that's now. I've gone from feeling uncomfortable in an XL to feeling ok in a large.

The downside is that I'll now have to replace all my shirts...

Have you tried putting on some weight so they fit again?

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6 hours ago, Goafer said:

My clothes were feeling a bit baggy, so I decided to buy a t shirt one size smaller than usual and try it on every so often as a gauge of how much I've lost. I figured when it feels comfortable, I know I've achieved something tangible.

Turns out that's now. I've gone from feeling uncomfortable in an XL to feeling ok in a large.

The downside is that I'll now have to replace all my shirts...

The costly downside to losing weight! I think over the last few years I've had several "new" outfits. Enjoy the new stuff! :)

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7 hours ago, Goafer said:

My clothes were feeling a bit baggy, so I decided to buy a t shirt one size smaller than usual and try it on every so often as a gauge of how much I've lost. I figured when it feels comfortable, I know I've achieved something tangible.

Turns out that's now. I've gone from feeling uncomfortable in an XL to feeling ok in a large.

The downside is that I'll now have to replace all my shirts...

That's a great sign. Well done! A fun thing to do is to try on clothes that you used to wear and see the difference. 

My weight and size fluctuates a lot throughout the year and I can go anywhere from feeling comfortable in a medium to feeling just about right/almost pushing it in a large, with even one or two small shirts fitting. We often hear about women's clothes having a huge variation in sizes wherever you shop, but I find that men's clothes are just as bad. A medium in one place is the equivalent of a large in another, plus you may have a large that fits well on the back and shoulders but then is too long or baggy around the midsection, or the opposite problem with a medium. It's almost a massive punt buying shirts online because there isn't a size between medium and large, and again there isn't one between large and XL. 

Trousers are another one. It's hard to find a pair that fit well, look good, without being too tight when moving around. Suit/smart trousers in particular. There's no stretch.

Pro-tip: Sainsburys do AWESOME jeans. My best pair of jeans that I've ever worn for comfort and mobility have been from there. 

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3 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Trousers are another one. It's hard to find a pair that fit well, look good, without being too tight when moving around. Suit/smart trousers in particular. There's no stretch.

Pro-tip: Sainsburys do AWESOME jeans. My best pair of jeans that I've ever worn for comfort and mobility have been from there. 

I've never really had an issue with trousers. I just do my belt up as needed and the rest just kind of fits.

That said, I have got a favourite pair that just seem to have a better fit that the others. They're skinny-ish jeans, with just a bit of stretchiness to them. Perfection.

Edited by Goafer

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Yesterdays run - I ran for a total of 83 minutes, in which I covered 11.77km.

Knees are paying for it today though :(

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Our elliptical trainer finally gave up on us about a week or so ago. It's a great machine, but the middle piece (like the spine where the handles attach to) finally eroded away. We had a damp problem in our old flat and a crack started to form in that area of the machine. Over time, the crack grew larger and larger. We tried a few things to keep it secure, but always knew eventually it would need to be replaced. Unfortunately, I used it a week ago and it was just wobbling so badly in the middle that it was unsafe to use anymore. So, got that taken away and bought a new elliptical machine.

I'm enjoying using it, but it feels slightly "heavier" to use, maybe because the flywheel is about twice as heavy as the previous machine. It's sturdy as hell, but you do have to put a bit more effort into it to get moving. It'll take time to get used to it, but the goal is to keep fit, so this will help achieve that. Numbers wise, I'm not doing the same distance or calories burned as the previous machine...in fact, it appears closer to half even though I'm moving the resistance levels up and going for the same time. It might be because the pace is a bit slower due to the machine requiring more effort to use it, or maybe the older machine was quite a way off. It's a new scale to get used to, so I guess there's no use in comparing it to the old one, too much. Hope we can get years of usage out of it!

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4 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Our elliptical trainer finally gave up on us about a week or so ago. It's a great machine, but the middle piece (like the spine where the handles attach to) finally eroded away. We had a damp problem in our old flat and a crack started to form in that area of the machine. Over time, the crack grew larger and larger. We tried a few things to keep it secure, but always knew eventually it would need to be replaced. Unfortunately, I used it a week ago and it was just wobbling so badly in the middle that it was unsafe to use anymore. So, got that taken away and bought a new elliptical machine.

I'm enjoying using it, but it feels slightly "heavier" to use, maybe because the flywheel is about twice as heavy as the previous machine. It's sturdy as hell, but you do have to put a bit more effort into it to get moving. It'll take time to get used to it, but the goal is to keep fit, so this will help achieve that. Numbers wise, I'm not doing the same distance or calories burned as the previous machine...in fact, it appears closer to half even though I'm moving the resistance levels up and going for the same time. It might be because the pace is a bit slower due to the machine requiring more effort to use it, or maybe the older machine was quite a way off. It's a new scale to get used to, so I guess there's no use in comparing it to the old one, too much. Hope we can get years of usage out of it!

It's really hard to compare two different devices as they could measure distance differently. They could use a different algorithm or method to compute the distance as it's relatively arbitrary to measure distance on a static machine. 

Also, you say that the wheel is larger? That could mean quite a lot if that isn't taken enough into consideration. 

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On 7/29/2020 at 12:56 PM, will' said:

I’ve done something really weird to my foot. If I stand on my tip toes my heel gets pins and needles. Doesn’t hurt or impact movement, just a bit strange. Sounds like it might be Tarsal tunnel syndrome so need to go and get it checked out soon.

Like the idiot man that I am I never went to get this checked out. I haven’t since before I posted this and it does seem to be going away on its own. Still no pain and  I now have to put my foot in very specific positions for anything to happen. Thinking of going for my return run today.

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The weather has been a bit shit recently, so I've not been able to cycle as much as I'd like, but despite that I finally lost a third stone.

I've also bought some weights to try and build up some arm muscle. Nothing too drastic or noticeable. It's been all leg day for the past 4 months, so I really should start on the top half and get some sort of balance.

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I’ve really let my riding fall off to the side the last few weeks, just seemed to be the worst timing each week after taking a week off to let my legs heal a bit, then rain, then a heatwave that I refused to ride in. Finally managed to get back out yesterday for about 10 miles so I need to make sure I keep that up.

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I started running again this week after a few weeks off to see if my foot would get better. Managed to do 3 x 10km but way slower than I’d been doing before. I was getting close to 45 minutes for a 10k and am now back up to 53 minutes or so. I did manage to do a couple of km in each run below the 5 minute mark but those were a lot of effort at the end of the runs.

On the plus side I only have about 150km of my target for the year left. If I can keep up the schedule I might be done by the end of September which I’d be incredibly happy about.

Will try and get back into the body and arms this week, but my setup at home isn’t great for much progress on that front. We do have a gym in the complex but it’s always busy and I don’t really enjoy the environment. Also thinking of taking up more swimming but not sure what the best way to track it is - any suggestions on that front?

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On 15/08/2020 at 7:48 PM, MindFreak said:

It's really hard to compare two different devices as they could measure distance differently. They could use a different algorithm or method to compute the distance as it's relatively arbitrary to measure distance on a static machine. 

Also, you say that the wheel is larger? That could mean quite a lot if that isn't taken enough into consideration. 

Yeah, I think comparing two machines is always a bit tricky. I'm getting used to this machine a lot more now and think that, in time, it will be a good purchase. When it comes down to it, the reason I'm using this machine is to get in shape and burn off those excess calories, so as long as it helps me do that, that's fine. 

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One month of PT sessions and decided to bump up from two to three going forward. That is in spite of him making me do "death by Burpees" yesterday which lived up to its name. 

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8 hours ago, Ashley said:

One month of PT sessions and decided to bump up from two to three going forward. That is in spite of him making me do "death by Burpees" yesterday which lived up to its name. 

How many did you manage?

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1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

How many did you manage?

I completed 9 minutes and got through half of the next in the first time and then completed 7 minutes and got through half of the next so....82?

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3 hours ago, Ashley said:

I completed 9 minutes and got through half of the next in the first time and then completed 7 minutes and got through half of the next so....82?

Ah, so you did x burpees on minute 1, then x+1 on minute 2 and so on? Sure way to die, yeah. 

As a movement, I love burpees. They are so effective and use every muscle in the body as well as builds cardio. But they sure are hard. 

Edited by MindFreak

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4 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Ah, so you did x burpees on minute 1, then x+1 on minute 2 and so on? Sure way to die, yeah. 

As a movement, I love burpees. They are so effective and use every muscle in the body as well as builds cardio. But they sure are hard. 

Yeah. You get a minute each round and do a number of Burpees equal to the round number, so at the start you do one and have a minute to do it and by the end you have a few seconds between rounds. 

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It reminds me of doing the bleep test at school. I’m going to try this Burpees until death this week and see how I do.

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1 hour ago, will' said:

It reminds me of doing the bleep test at school. I’m going to try this Burpees until death this week and see how I do.

Thankfully the timer noise wasn't that horrendous bleep.

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6 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Thankfully the timer noise wasn't that horrendous bleep.

Ha, I always quite liked it. I think I’ll see if I can do this too - must be 20 years since I last did it.

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6 hours ago, Ashley said:

Yeah. You get a minute each round and do a number of Burpees equal to the round number, so at the start you do one and have a minute to do it and by the end you have a few seconds between rounds. 

Burpees belong in hell. You are a sadist, Ashley!

 

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1 minute ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Burpees belong in hell. You are a sadist, Ashley!

 

I didn't have a choice 😭

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Just now, Ashley said:

I didn't have a choice 😭

#Pray4Ashley #Justice4Ashley #Nomoreburpees #Noburpstheyhurts #painisnotalwayspleasure #goodbyelegs #burpeedtodeath #nochoice #2020crisis

1 share = 1 prayer

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I can also recommend 10 burpees on the minute for 30 minutes. That was draining! 

Or going down from 20 with at most 1 minute rest between sets. So do 20 burpees, take a small break, do 19, break, 18, break,... Also something that leaves you tired! 

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I've booked myself down for a spin class, to actually make me go to the gym, as opposed to my "I'll go after work, definitely this time as I brought my kit to work with me, actually I'll just have a nap as usual"

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