the Fitness Thread

[Silas13013]

Yo, any of you lot practice Wing Chun or Tai Chi??

I drink chai tea

[Kamikaze_Badger]

I did a little bit of Tai Chi when I was practicing Tang Soo Do. But it was mostly basic stuff like qi gong breathing.

[Fogel]

Does anyone have suggestions on how to stay in shape while working ~12 hours a day?

When I lived in DC I gained a lot of weight because I couldn't get used to the humidity and became extremely lazy. My goal was to lose the weight without any diets I couldn't see myself stick with the rest of my life or going to gym. Small simple changes. I still ate fatty foods, sodas, and ate deserts. Lost 40ish pounds and went back to what I think my normal weight is. I could still stand to lose a few more pounds, but its amazing what you can do with will power. Honestly though, the biggest thing was knowing for a fact I would lose the weight. People kept telling me it was impossible, I was fat and I would never lose the weight. It honestly didn't matter what they said because I knew they were wrong.

 

For the small things you have to know your own body and what works for you, but here the basic philosophies I followed:

 

• Believe that you WILL lose the weight ...above all else, if you follow nothing else follow this rule
  
• Eat a bigger lunch then dinner, you are still active during the day where as night time you typically veg out till bedtime
  
• If you can, move around in middle of eating ...such as going to the kitchen to get the rest of the food or another glass of water. Get the blood flowing, increase the metabolism, move around right after eating if you can't while you are eating.
  
• Eat slowly... the faster you eat gives the body less chance to know it is full and less chance to digest and process the food
  
• Yogurt is a good morning snack/meal
  
• Moderation - you can still eat what you like, just don't go overboard on it. I actually believe in still eating the things you love because your body will still know how to process the food. Ask a vegan how they feel when they go back to meat for the first time. Also, if you deprive yourself of something you love sooner or later you will be tempted to indulge yourself again and people tend to pig out when that happens. If you just keep your portions in control you are still giving your body what it wants but there is no urge to over indulge. Sooner or later you will find you that you've had it for so long you naturally get tired of it.
  

 

This way is extremely slow. You won't see the immediate gratification that someone going to gym or someone going on a crazy diet will, but the slower you lose the weight the more natural it is for the body and the chances of you gaining it back will be very small because you are modifying your metabolism rate. The downsides I found to this method would be the following:

 

• Since I did not use a gym or excercise to lose the weight my strength and stamina were pretty pathetic. When I got back into training my friend pushed me really hard (a lot harder than most here would have to worry about it) so I sustained quite a few training issues by rushing back into training. So if you use this method to get to a weight you think is natural for you and then decide to implement an excercise program either for fun or to improve the shape you are in, then start slowly. Do not go balls to the wall, ease in, build it up and you will surprise yourself at how well your body responds.
  
• Even though your body will be in good shape, you are still living a sedentary lifestyle this way. Just keep that in mind.
  
• Weight will bounce up and down so checking everyday isn't necessary or it will drive someone nuts. The overall result is losing weight over a pretty lengthy period of time.
  

 

Arrived at the conclusion the other day that my body appears to be getting old for any fitness. I am not completely unfit as it were, but that football game the other week, well .... .. that hurt. Gonna get back into MA and will try Wing Chun again, plus the gym I suppose. Cycling everyday is not enough really.

 

Yo, any of you lot practice Wing Chun or Tai Chi??

 

No, but I do practice martial arts - Chow Gar Tong Long. Similar in some ways to Wing Chun, we use some of the same hand positions. If I lived in London like quite a few people here do I would be in a training mecca! Trying to get out there next year to see Sifu Paul Whitrod - will see if it actually happens though.

[SpeedCrazy]

Just got back from a backpacking trip along a section of the AT.

Great exercise, more stamina than anything but still an awesome way to get out and be active.

Helped that it was my first time and i had a 50lb pack......

Try climbing 2800 feet in 2 miles, with a 50lb pack, in the rain, awesome way to burn calories......

[t0asty]

Full time job + full time student doesn't leave too much time for working out. I've been losing weight simply because I'm not eating anymore. Does anyone have suggestions on how to stay in shape while working ~12 hours a day?

 

If you can, I get an hour at lunch every day and usually do Insanity, P90X or some other HIIT videos for about 40-45 minutes. Take a quick shower while my food is cooking and I am good to go. I am down 40 pounds since the new years and back to my high school weight of 160 and ready for the ladies

[Il_napoletano]

Just finish a shoulder/arm workout...I've gain 6lbs in the last 3weeks

[Stonerboy779]

missed a day in my bike and 100 steps routine so was going to make up for it by doing the steps twice this evening but...... well terns out having maccas a half hour before training is a shit idea and it was getting dark quick so i only went once.

[Silas13013]

If you can, I get an hour at lunch every day and usually do Insanity, P90X or some other HIIT videos for about 40-45 minutes. Take a quick shower while my food is cooking and I am good to go. I am down 40 pounds since the new years and back to my high school weight of 160 and ready for the ladies

I'll probably start doing this once summer session ends. Full time job + full time student means my workouts are usually limited to what I can do sitting at my desk while studying.

 

Only a week left

[bilcliff]

jumped on the scales for the first time in a while the other day. since starting the training early last month i've dropped ~3-4kg (~6-9lbs). Not massive weight loss for 2 months. but not bad either considering diet hasn't changed much

 

last night upped the distance by 500m. jogged 4.5kms last night & tonight in ~23min. much prefer this route to the 4km route i was doing. aside from it being longer, there are fewer hills / they're not as steep

[Transk53]

jumped on the scales for the first time in a while the other day. since starting the training early last month i've dropped ~3-4kg (~6-9lbs). Not massive weight loss for 2 months. but not bad either considering diet hasn't changed much

 

last night upped the distance by 500m. jogged 4.5kms last night & tonight in ~23min. much prefer this route to the 4km route i was doing. aside from it being longer, there are fewer hills / they're not as steep

 

 

Damn, if only I could convert myself to the actual benefits of running. I know I should etc etc. However, could you please suggest how one forces the issue. IE, how do you motivate the issue of being a lazy runt, into yeah, I'll go for a run?

[Fogel]

Damn, if only I could convert myself to the actual benefits of running. I know I should etc etc. However, could you please suggest how one forces the issue. IE, how do you motivate the issue of being a lazy runt, into yeah, I'll go for a run?

You have to be completely unsatisfied with where you are at and where you are headed. Without that motivation it wouldn't even matter if we were there to drag you out of the house because people typically find any excuse to stop working out.

 

For me it was being a size 36" waist size, realizing I need to buy 38" size jeans and saying... OH HELL NO!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2JSWgkwRL4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG82FnZx9dk

Edited July 26, 2012 by Fogel

[bilcliff]

Damn, if only I could convert myself to the actual benefits of running. I know I should etc etc. However, could you please suggest how one forces the issue. IE, how do you motivate the issue of being a lazy runt, into yeah, I'll go for a run?

Without trying to be cliche it was just kinda one of those things where something switches on in your head. There were numerous contributing factors. My boss would be easily 110+kgs and he goes to the gym after work 3 times a week. so there's the "if he can do it i can too". and as stupid as this sounds, part of it is having a goal. Hear me out. I used to scoff and snort at all the motivational speaker people who give lectures on setting goals. You got to have a reason why you want to do it.

 

~2 years ago my mates at uni ran a 5.5km marathon. they signed me up to do it as well but i pulled out cause i was sick at the time and i didnt want to do it. i was never much of a runner. and after all the years of the light hearted ribbing I wanted to do it to "tick the box" so to speak. anyway that same marathon is coming around in october and i figured 4 months was plenty of time to train. So my goal became to do that marathon. To achieve that goal, i need to train as there was no way i could run 5kms normally.

 

Make sure you set a goal that is a "stretch goal". so something thats just out of reach but not too hard. Setting one thats too hard such as win a gold medal for running, is likely to make you give up because its too much work. but setting one too easy like run to the end of the block, you're only cheating yourself. You gotta find that middle ground that pushes you. this blog explains it in alot more depth although some of it is a bit BS. It is very long though

 

once you start and do it for a couple of weeks it becomes routine.

 

Hope this helps