The Ongoing Fitness and Exercise Thread

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

… am struggling with consistency… hard to make anything happenw with only 1-2 gym days/weekly. At least am getting outside 2-3x weekly (bike commuting and the odd walk/run followed by inside stretching)

I also struggled with this for a long time. What changed for me was joining an F45 gym. I'm turning 60 soon and I have been going to the gym 5 days a week for about 1.5 years now. I like the accountability for going not just in that I reserve my class but in the people I have made friends with at the gym.

[EldrickOnIce]

I need to start something a bit later this spring. Had surgery a week ago to repair the ventral hernia from my abdominal surgery 18 months ago. Another 30 staples in my belly will take a bit of time to heal before I can get started.
I turned 60 in January and have now dropped almost 40 lbs since my high (low?) point last August. I'm happy with my weight now, and my cardio was good prior to this last surgery, so now I'm not exactly sure where or how to begin a fitness regiment for the rest of my life. Am looking at exercise/fitness to compliment, not rule, my life. Any thoughts on where/how to start would be appreciated.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

I need to start something a bit later this spring. Had surgery a week ago to repair the ventral hernia from my abdominal surgery 18 months ago. Another 30 staples in my belly will take a bit of time to heal before I can get started.
I turned 60 in January and have now dropped almost 40 lbs since my high (low?) point last August. I'm happy with my weight now, and my cardio was good prior to this last surgery, so now I'm not exactly sure where or how to begin a fitness regiment for the rest of my life. Am looking at exercise/fitness to compliment, not rule, my life. Any thoughts on where/how to start would be appreciated.

I'm the furthest thing from an expert. I started at the gym at 41. Part of me is shocked I'm still going.

Here's what I did, it may work for you, it may not.

1. I signed up for a membership. (As dumb as that sounds, it's actually huge).

2. The YMCA (where I joined) has a program called Y-Thrive. It's a session of basic introduction. The kid that took me around was half my age (later found out well under half my age). But showed me three machines, and helped me see that no one really cares who's there and everyone kinda does their own thing. It made me realize I could actually do this.

3. I worked my schedule around it. My job is bacially structured out of office work in the morning, in office work in the afternoon. I put the gym in the middle. Out of office, gym, in office. If you can structure your day that it natrually fits in somewhere, that helps. Otherwise I'd never be able to find the time.

4. Don't worry about anyone else, hell I don't even worry about a program. I ask myself what I want to do today, I mix it up, I don't worry about a plan or program or system. I'm sure I'd see more progress if I had a dedicated specialized plan, but really I'm seeing progress and something is better than nothing. I'm not getting in shape for anyone else, I'm doing it for me. And frankly the fact my kids are getting bigger but are getting easier to pick up and play with is the best result.

Just remember it takes time. People are supportive. You'll find your own little groove. If you want gym buddies, you'll make them. If you want to be friendly but keep to yourself (like me) that's cool too.

[curves2000]

I think something that hasn't been addressed too much is just general "work" around the house and not being overall just plain lazy. Lot's and I mean lot's of able bodied people who don't shovel their walk/driveway, mow their lawn, plant flowers, clean their home and more. It's always "too busy" and some weird justification why paying $300 a month to someone for that work is justifiable.

There is manual labour fit and then there is I workout hard for an hour at the gym. Keeping moving, bending, standing, moving things around and just general "work" helps out a lot.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I think something that hasn't been addressed too much is just general "work" around the house and not being overall just plain lazy. Lot's and I mean lot's of able bodied people who don't shovel their walk/driveway, mow their lawn, plant flowers, clean their home and more. It's always "too busy" and some weird justification why paying $300 a month to someone for that work is justifiable.

There is manual labour fit and then there is I workout hard for an hour at the gym. Keeping moving, bending, standing, moving things around and just general "work" helps out a lot.

None of the above things you mentioned is going to make anyone fit, unless the “and more” is going for a bike ride or run or some daily activity that gets your heart pumping. Your bi-weekly lawn mowing is negligible.

[D as in David]

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I think something that hasn't been addressed too much is just general "work" around the house and not being overall just plain lazy. Lot's and I mean lot's of able bodied people who don't shovel their walk/driveway, mow their lawn, plant flowers, clean their home and more. It's always "too busy" and some weird justification why paying $300 a month to someone for that work is justifiable.

There is manual labour fit and then there is I workout hard for an hour at the gym. Keeping moving, bending, standing, moving things around and just general "work" helps out a lot.

lol wtf this is a terrible take.

Doing household chores don’t make you fit. You can’t control how much it snows and when, or if the grass grows or not. You plant the flowers once.

You can try eating healthier meals, and going to a gym or even home workouts.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

lol wtf this is a terrible take.

Doing household chores don’t make you fit. You can’t control how much it snows and when, or if the grass grows or not. You plant the flowers once.

You can try eating healthier meals, and going to a gym or even home workouts.

I will expand on this a little more. It's not that being busy around the house and more is going to get anybody jacked, but it does maintain some level of fitness and long term longevity for our health.

A LOT of us sit in some sort of chair 10/12/14 hours a day. A 1 hour workout is helpful without a doubt but it's not the be all.

Being busy and active helps a lot with everything. Moving, cooking, mowing the lawn, cleaning the house and general walking and doing things.

Sometimes a lot of people, myself included may overstate what a 1 hour workout may do for us if we are going to be fairly lazy the rest of the day.

Jaromir Jagr recently gave an example about how doing 1000 squats a day + a mountain of pushups was a cake walk when he was growing up. Going to the gym for an hour was easy, a lot of times you don't feel good, you take off early, cheat here and there. When he was growing up working in the fields on the farm, that was the real work. When you can't stop cause the work isn't over, that is the real workout.

I catch myself sometimes. No problem busting out a 90 minute cycle on the bike at the gym. Snowboarding for 6 hours. Walking 10 minutes to the grocery store instead of driving seems a lot more challenging for whatever reason.

A lot of people don't really cook anymore, don't shop much as everything is on Amazon or Skip. That walking, that movement, using your different muscles I think is overall important throughout the day.

[GGG]

I think mobile and fit are two different aspects of physical helps. There is some evidence though difficult to show causality that people who are generally mobile live longer.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

lol wtf this is a terrible take.

Doing household chores don’t make you fit. You can’t control how much it snows and when, or if the grass grows or not. You plant the flowers once.

You can try eating healthier meals, and going to a gym or even home workouts.

That's not the point of that post. It's not chores replaces gym. It's general mobility is helpful, and then perhaps staying in motion is something that supplements and amplifies your fitness long term when combined with other physical activity.

IMO it's also great in the sense that you aren't training your body on going from 0-100% hard acceleration constantly. There's some cruising speeds in between there too.

[Winsor_Pilates]

People in Blue Zones are usually far more active in day to day menial tasks as well. Walking to a market to get fresh produce, going up a bunch of steps, tending to a garden. These things add up over time.
Not replacement for exercise and maybe not what the thread has mostly been about, but curves isn't wrong about the value of that.
The amount of people who sit at a desk all day and then come home and sit on the sofa all evening has contributed to declining fitness in modern society.

[indes]

Originally Posted by indes

On day 16 of 75 Hard right now. Needed a lifestyle change so going all in!

Picked a macro diet of 1800cal limit with 180g of protein minimum. (207lbs/29%BF to start)
Doing a strength building program on the Lululemon mirror as my inside workouts 4 days a week then running/biking/walking for my outside workouts. The 3 non strength days I'm doing stretching or just walking.

It's been pretty easy so far but today was the first day I didn't feel like working out and tracking everything haha. 59 to go.

At 200/26%BF as of now and looking better every day.

Hit day 40 tomorrow and I can honestly say this is best I've felt in at least a decade. I'm down to 191lbs and 25%BF and the quality of my life has dramatically improved.

Not only have I gotten much stronger but I can breathe better, I don't snore anymore, I'm not tired and don't hit that 5pm wall anymore.

I'm not sore. My back and knees have stopped aching, I can focus better at work, I have more patience with my kids and wife.

I needed this. It's not easy everyday, but the momentum has definitely made it less hard. I wish I would've done something like this 5 years ago, it's a great feeling to feel great.

[indes]

Originally Posted by indes

On day 16 of 75 Hard right now. Needed a lifestyle change so going all in!

Picked a macro diet of 1800cal limit with 180g of protein minimum. (207lbs/29%BF to start)
Doing a strength building program on the Lululemon mirror as my inside workouts 4 days a week then running/biking/walking for my outside workouts. The 3 non strength days I'm doing stretching or just walking.

It's been pretty easy so far but today was the first day I didn't feel like working out and tracking everything haha. 59 to go.

At 200/26%BF as of now and looking better every day.

My wife and I are done! Got through all 75 days and have never felt better, physically or mentally. When they say its not a fitness challenge, its a mental toughness challenge - they mean it.

Finished at 184lbs/23% BF and am now the lowest weight I've been since I was 18 years old (34 now). I started running quite a bit and on my first attempt I was able to run for 14 minutes before gassing out. My best 5k ended up being 26:30 and am now looking to start some marathon training!

Honestly I can't recommend this challenge/program enough. If you would've asked me what I thought of my life a few months ago I would have told you that everything is good. My family is healthy, my wife and I have good jobs, we have lots of friends and yada yada. What a load of bull####. I was coasting. Clocking in and out of work, watching my kids instead of engaging with them, sitting around watching hours of TV with my wife eating garbage. Just looking forward to the next beer league game, round of golf or night out to have a few beers and hang out. I feel like that's the status quo and the expectation of "good".

Through nutrition tracking (probably the most important part of the whole challenge for me) my eyes have been opened to how much garbage and filler I was eating. I cannot believe how many unaccounted calories I was consuming before measuring everything and checking the labels.

I didn't even think I was fat. At 211/29%BF I thought I was just dad bodding around (down from 227/33% last summer). I play beer league and coach hockey/lacrosse so thought I was in okay physical shape. What a joke that turned out to be when I could run for 14 minutes. Now I realize I'm still not even close to being in shape and have a ton of work still to do.

I didn't think I was weak. I did weight training 3-4 times a week throughout the challenge and boy did that fat ever make me look like I was stronger than I was. I had to start training with 10lb dumbbells or body weight for most exercises just to avoid hurting my joints, or my stupid back. By the end of the challenge I'm up to using 30lb dumbbells for the same workouts, my knees don't hurt, I haven't had back pain for 2 months now after having it follow me around for the last decade.

Mentally, this is probably the strongest I've ever been. What I mean by that is that I feel capable. I feel in control and like I'm writing the story instead of reading it. The energy from exercise and proper nutrition is a huge help, I didn't even know I was so tired all the time - it was just my status quo. Between my wife and I, finding 1.5 hours a day to exercise was a real challenge. Then it wasn't. It's just what we do now, we make the time. Applying that to other things we had been putting off (purging the house, finishing the garage, fixing the yard) has helped us realize how much of our time we were wasting, just being tired and lazy. I have a new determination and discipline that I intend to keep up and hope it rubs off on my kids.

Alcohol. As a 34 year old male there was no shortage of beers in my life, nights out at the pub with the boys, beer league, golfing, working outside or in the garage. You know, they were always just there. I don't think I've ever gone more than 3 weeks (working in a dry camp for 21 days) without a drink since I was probably 14. While I haven't made a decision to quit drinking, not drinking has really given me a new perspective on alcohol. Don't need it. I had lots of fun without it, and no rough mornings, no Ubers. I'll update on this later. I had a couple of beers golfing the day after the challenge ended and it felt different. Like my mind didn't want the inhibition that it used to always crave. Like I said, I never set out to quit drinking, but we'll see where I end up.

If you need a change, this is an "easy" way to get it done. It doesn't require anything but discipline. Every single one of our friends has said "I could never do that, I don't have the time". We're the only family of 5 with 2 full time jobs. I can't recommend it enough. I'm already looking forward to the next phases of the program and some other goals we're looking to put on the horizon.

Book recommendations:
Can't hurt me
Atomic Habits
75 hard
Never finished
Girl, wash your face (for the women out there, this was my wife's favorite)

[Muta]

indes - love to hear how far you've come on your program. Those kinds of transformation stories are always ones I can get behind. You're absolutely right that the nutrition part IS the most important part of the journey - it's amazing how much crap most of us put into our bodies on a regular basis and don't even think about it. The age old adage of 'results are 80% kitchen, 20% gym' absolutely holds true. One of the things that was interested in hearing earlier was how you don't hit that 5 PM tiredness wall anymore - that's what I'm trying to overcome more than anything, so it's great to hear someone else hitting that milestone. Also - you're MAKING the time to get in shape, and you're proving that "I'm too busy" is just a convenient excuse for the masses. Well done.

I hope the next phases you take go just as well, if not better! Keep us updated on your journey! This is great stuff!