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The Exercise & Fitness Thread: The Struggle Is Real

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I never use a spotter when benching. I just don't put on the clips in the end of the bar so I can slide the weights off if I fail. 

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So my 2020 went quite well, I hit my main target but missed the secondary ones I set for myself, end the year with:

  1. Run 1,000km over the course of the year - Actual: 1,168km 
  2. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes - Best: 21:25 X
  3. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes - Best 46:40 X

This year I’m going to set the speed targets as my main and the distance as a secondary one. The distance ones are too easy just to slog out. So, this year’s running targets look something like:

  1. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes (H1 Target)
  2. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes (H2 Target)
  3. Run more total distance than last year

I’m also going to try and build more strength but not really sure how to set a target for that, think it will just be something like looking significantly better than I do now.

Finally, I want to try and do the bleep test that came up a while ago, will try and figure out a way to do that and report back with my score. Also maybe some sort of burpee challenge after being inspired by @Ashley.

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On 21/12/2020 at 5:40 AM, MindFreak said:

I never use a spotter when benching. I just don't put on the clips in the end of the bar so I can slide the weights off if I fail. 

I think someone at the gym would give me death glares if I did that. But its certainly an option. I'll probably end up with a PT once the gyms reopen at any rate.

 

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1 hour ago, Will said:

I’m also going to try and build more strength but not really sure how to set a target for that, think it will just be something like looking significantly better than I do now.

5 reps for body weight in squat and bench, and 2*bodyweight in deadlift. Those are the big three lifts that are easily measured. 

Or you could go for a total of 200 kg for 1 rep across all three.

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4 hours ago, Will said:

So my 2020 went quite well, I hit my main target but missed the secondary ones I set for myself, end the year with:

 

  1. Run 1,000km over the course of the year - Actual: 1,168km 
  2. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes - Best: 21:25 X
  3. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes - Best 46:40 X

This year I’m going to set the speed targets as my main and the distance as a secondary one. The distance ones are too easy just to slog out. So, this year’s running targets look something like:

  1. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes (H1 Target)
  2. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes (H2 Target)
  3. Run more total distance than last year

I’m also going to try and build more strength but not really sure how to set a target for that, think it will just be something like looking significantly better than I do now.

Finally, I want to try and do the bleep test that came up a while ago, will try and figure out a way to do that and report back with my score. Also maybe some sort of burpee challenge after being inspired by @Ashley.

Congrats!

This was the challenge if you wanted to use it as a starting point. 

 

 

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18 hours ago, Ashley said:

This was the challenge if you wanted to use it as a starting point. 

Thanks, will give it a go! Maybe start in the middle of the month on that one.

Managed to find an app to measure the bleep test, going to set my target as getting to level 15 on that. When I was a kid I used to get to about mid-way through level 12 so I doubt I can make 15 but got to set a tough target.

Did my first 5km run of the year tonight to get a starting time to measure from. Managed to do it in 22:06 which is not too bad. 

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Yeah about a week into it he did say to me he thinks he made it too easy.

 

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On 1/5/2021 at 1:08 AM, Ashley said:

Yeah about a week into it he did say to me he thinks he made it too easy.

 

Decide to start it this morning. Definitely seems like it’s not enough during the ‘training’ part of the challenge. The 20 minutes on the final day is going to be considerably longer than anything that’s gone before it. Will let you know how I get on.

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9 hours ago, Will said:

Decide to start it this morning. Definitely seems like it’s not enough during the ‘training’ part of the challenge. The 20 minutes on the final day is going to be considerably longer than anything that’s gone before it. Will let you know how I get on.

I think it was more designed as "keep yourself moving during lockdown" than anything else, but could use it as a basis and modify the numbers.

I got the last day wrong as in my head it was "do as many as you can" so I got up to 100 and then realised it was to do it in 20 minutes. I think I did that in about 30 minutes with two minute gaps between each sets of 10.

So far this week I've been given two core-based workouts (and a legs one) so it seems 2021 is the year I get abs. Or stomach cramps. 

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Got inspired by the burpees and did the famous challenge of 20-19-18-...-2-1 burpees for time. Rest as needed between, I took about 30 seconds between each set in the 10s and then just went with the flow for the remaining sets (between 1 second and 20 seconds I believe). My time was 18:36. When I did it last time it was 19:26 so a nice improvement.

Edited by MindFreak

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54 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Got inspired by the burpees and did the famous challenge of 20-19-18-...-2-1 burpees for time. Rest as needed between, I took about 30 seconds between each set in the 10s and then just went with the flow for the remaining sets (between 1 second and 20 seconds I believe). My time was 18:36. When I did it last time it was 19:26 minutes so a nice improvement.

That sounds like a good one too. Will give it a go once I’ve completed the current challenge.

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Tried the beep test today and my god it was harder than I remember. Really struggled and managed to get to 7.2 almost dead.

I’m just hoping that my rough distance measurement was wrong and actually I can do better. Will take a tape measure with me next time to ensure I do it properly.

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2 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Got inspired by the burpees and did the famous challenge of 20-19-18-...-2-1 burpees for time. Rest as needed between, I took about 30 seconds between each set in the 10s and then just went with the flow for the remaining sets (between 1 second and 20 seconds I believe). My time was 18:36. When I did it last time it was 19:26 so a nice improvement.

What's this?

I did something once where you had to do burpees where x = minute (so 1 in the first minute, 2 in the next etc) until you could no longer fit them all in within that minute. This looks like some kind of inverse?

@Will if you really want a challenge you could do the one where you do a burpee for each day of the calendar year. New Years Eve will be fun for you!

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58 minutes ago, Ashley said:

@Will if you really want a challenge you could do the one where you do a burpee for each day of the calendar year. New Years Eve will be fun for you!

Will see how the 20 minute thing goes at the end of the month. Not sure there is enough time in the day for anywhere close to 300. I’d also probably die which I’m not super keen on.

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34 minutes ago, Will said:

Will see how the 20 minute thing goes at the end of the month. Not sure there is enough time in the day for anywhere close to 300. I’d also probably die which I’m not super keen on.

I don't know if you have to do them consecutively. Over the space of 12 hours you need to do 30 (and change) per hour to get to 365. That's only one every two minutes!

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2 hours ago, Ashley said:

What's this?

I did something once where you had to do burpees where x = minute (so 1 in the first minute, 2 in the next etc) until you could no longer fit them all in within that minute. This looks like some kind of inverse?

@Will if you really want a challenge you could do the one where you do a burpee for each day of the calendar year. New Years Eve will be fun for you!

You do 20 burpees, rest for a short amount of time, then do 19, rest, 18, rest ... All the way to 1 burpee after which the clock stops. It'll be a total of 210 burpees. :) 

The other one is also a good one. Suicide burpees. You could do that with any exercise; squats, swings, lunges, running... 

1 hour ago, Will said:

Will see how the 20 minute thing goes at the end of the month. Not sure there is enough time in the day for anywhere close to 300. I’d also probably die which I’m not super keen on.

I think you'd better aim for 200 and then go as far beyond as possible once there. 

I know someone who did the burpee year challenge. The last couple of months were terrible, I figure. You need to go beyond 300 burpees every day, it would take half an hour every single day. It was impressive following him.

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4 hours ago, MindFreak said:

You do 20 burpees, rest for a short amount of time, then do 19, rest, 18, rest ... All the way to 1 burpee after which the clock stops. It'll be a total of 210 burpees. :) 

The other one is also a good one. Suicide burpees. You could do that with any exercise; squats, swings, lunges, running... 

Yeah that was it (although he called it death by burpees but same thing). 

Cheers!

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On 03/01/2021 at 2:46 PM, Will said:

So my 2020 went quite well, I hit my main target but missed the secondary ones I set for myself, end the year with:

 

  1. Run 1,000km over the course of the year - Actual: 1,168km 
  2. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes - Best: 21:25 X
  3. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes - Best 46:40 X

This year I’m going to set the speed targets as my main and the distance as a secondary one. The distance ones are too easy just to slog out. So, this year’s running targets look something like:

  1. Do a 5km run in under 20 minutes (H1 Target)
  2. Do a 10km run in under 40 minutes (H2 Target)
  3. Run more total distance than last year

I’m also going to try and build more strength but not really sure how to set a target for that, think it will just be something like looking significantly better than I do now.

Finally, I want to try and do the bleep test that came up a while ago, will try and figure out a way to do that and report back with my score. Also maybe some sort of burpee challenge after being inspired by @Ashley.

I got close to a 20:00 5K when I was running regularly, but that was after following an intensive training programme. It really is the best way to do it. Set off on a 12 week programme with the planned 5K attempt at the very end of it. This was one of my plans:

Training Date Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Miles
Week 1 July 25th 2016 4M 6 x 800m @5K Pace 5M 6M 5M Fartlek 7M Rest 32
Week 2 August 1st 2016 4M 5M Fartlek 5M 6M 6M 7M Rest 33
Week 3 August 8th 2016 4M 6 x 800m @5K Pace 4M 6M 8 x 200m Hills @5K Pace 8M Rest 32
Week 4 August 15th 2016 4M 8 x 400m @ 5K Pace 4M 6M 5M 8M Rest 32
Week 5 August 22nd 2016 4M 6 x 800m @5K Pace 4M 6M 7 x 500m Hills @ 5K Pace 9M Rest 33
Week 6 August 29th 2016 4M 10 x 400m @ 5K Pace 4M 6M 6M 10M Rest 35
Week 7 September 5th 2016 4M 8 x 800m @ 5K Pace 4M 6M 7 x 500m Hills @ 5K Pace 6M Rest 30
Week 8 September 12th 2016 4M 6M 4M 6M 6 x 400m @Sub-5K Pace 8M Rest 33
Week 9 September 19th 2016 4M 10 x 400m @ 5K Pace 4M 6M 10 x 200m Hills @5K Pace 7M Rest 31
Week 10 September 26th 2016 4M 8 x 400m @Sub-5K Pace 4M 6M 6M 6M Rest 31
Week 11 October 3rd 2016 Rest 6M 10 x 200m Hills @5K Pace 6M 12 x 400m @5K Pace 5M Rest 27
Week 12 October 10th 2016 Rest 8 x 400m @ 5K Pace 5M 5M Rest RACE DAY   18
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Totally agree, @Mr_Odwin. That’s actually very similar to the type of program I was following for 10k at the start of last year and making good progress with. Will definitely be figuring out something similar for the 5k and see how it goes.

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1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

What does 5M, 6M etc. mean? Miles or? 

Yes. miles. When I first started running I worked in metric, but that was quickly beaten out of me by more experienced runners.

 

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Metric makes more sense... Although honestly with distances I always find it hard to visualise so either way it doesn't really make a difference.

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9 minutes ago, Mr_Odwin said:

Yes. miles. When I first started running I worked in metric, but that was quickly beaten out of me by more experienced runners.

Experience doesn't matter, it seems. :p

But then you kept 400m - I assume that doesn't mean 6*600 miles? ;) And your goal is still in metric - 5K. :D 

Sorry, couldn't help it. But it seems like a good programme, even though it's for very experienced runners - running 6 days a week is tough. I know my feet would be killing me (I have a high arch in my foot - slightly supinated - and thus land with a lot of weight on the front of the foot, causing pain on longer runs and very hard skin that hurts).

Edited by MindFreak

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12 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Experience doesn't matter, it seems. :p

But then you kept 400m - I assume that doesn't mean 6*600 miles? ;) 

That's a little m! Clearly different. :grin:

It's all mixed up. Everyone would call it the 100m race, or 200m race ... 5K, 10K. But I would say 5 miles rather than 8-ish K. How long is a marathon? 26.2 miles or 42.2KM?

Seems it might be a US/UK thing? https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9659956

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Marathon is 42.2 because, well, 42! :D

But yes, in the US, they don't do science properly so have kept miles, while we here in Europe swear by the metric system. It's a common discussion. 

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