Do you have an exercise routine?

[Bob]

General physical exercise.  Nothing to do with piano really.

If so, what is it?  How often?  What are the results?   And what's your age?

[amanfang]

no.      But my doctor tells me I should.

[thalbergmad]

I cycle to work every day. It's only a 10 mile round trip but i often set out in the wrong direction to increase it. If the weather is nice, i do a few miles over the weekend. I also go to the gym occasionally, so i am not ignoring the rest of my body.

So i get about 5 - 7 hours exercise a week which helps keeps the weight down.

Age 40

Looks 25

Mental age 8

[g_s_223]

Swimming once a week. Do 20-odd lengths of a 25m pool. Just a holding exercise against flab accumulation. Swimming is pretty easy on all the joints, which is good.

[rc]

I try and get some exercise every day, usually don't do too bad, but I have a real hard time keeping a routine for too long. Any kind of routine is something I have to always be reminding myself of.

Nice weather I like to ride my bike as well. It's part for fitness, part aesthetic in nature, part being able to go fast down a hill, and part the challenge of getting back up the hill.

I usually like to have an excuse to go out (I want an apple, I think I'll go to the store across town and get one)... Not too crazy about going somewhere for no reason. That's why running never appealed to me, I felt like a goof running for no reason "what am I running from?".

Can't stand the cold, so in winter I'll skip rope in the house. Put on some music and giver. I like to think skipping rope is good for coordination and concentration as well, if I get too distracted when the TV is on I'll whack my toes and get tangled, which frustrates the hell out of me.

Fitness is good stuff.

Age 21

Looks 30

Mental age 40

[ted]

I do stationary cycling at least three times a week and resistance training with weights, expanders, tubes and a bullworker usually twice a week. I have found that this latter requires a longer recovery cycle than the aerobic stuff. In addition I do a lot of walking and work in the section, handmowing and so on, but do not count this as training. The amount of training I do is gradually increasing. However, I have found that stationary cycling on high resistance tends to undermine the muscle training, so over the last few months I have used it purely as fat burning, at high speed for an hour or so, but just medium pressure.

I think I have the balance just about right now and feel great on most days. Sleep and diet are very important too though, as is serenity and lack of stress. Days of complete rest are essential too.

Results:

Since I implemented my sessions four years ago my belt has gone in six holes (six inches near enough) while my weight has remained constant at 83kg. I am 185cm in height.

My rest pulse went down to between 47 and 55.

I am fifty-eight. When I was younger I played very strenuous competitive tennis for twenty odd years so I have always had a certain amount of residual fitness. However, lapsed diet and exercise, injuries, coupled with a few negative life events gave me a short, sharp awakening.

The difference training makes has been amazing, but I find people just don't believe it because they only know what it's like to feel grotty and don't realise there is something better.

[pianistimo]

when i go into the ymca with my son, we experiment.  you know those big red balls - well i tried them out a few months back (before broken leg).  then, some balancing apparatus that looks like a skateboard.  my son could balance for a very long time.  i, on the other hand, seem to have lost my balance already.

then, we went and played some volleyball.  some very athletic tall girls came in and joined us.  it was fun because we got to see how professionals play and they didn't kick us off the court. 

ok.  the ymca is my exercise routine.   a little stationery bicycling, a little back strengthening, a little walking.  done.  but, if i'm outside exercising, probably acouple of hours.  it helps to exercise with someone.  they can motivate you to try something new or to exercise to your max.

[Bob]

Ran across this just now.  Amusing.  It's 9+ years later and I'm still working on this/thinking about this.

[ahinton]

Ran across this just now.  Amusing.  It's 9+ years later and I'm still working on this/thinking about this.

Shouldn't that confession be in the procrastination thread?...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Did 3,000 miles on my bike in 2014.

Still fat.

Thal

[lostinidlewonder]

Well I lost almost 10kgs (22lbs) two weeks while in Singapore over the Christmas/New Years. About 25,000 steps a day and eating good food, not even thinking about exercise! The humidity probably helped too lol.

[ted]

I had not realised I had increased my training so much over the last ten years. According to my diary, over the last 2041 days I have had 1968 full training sessions. That is considerably more than I described in my 2005 post. It would be a rare day now when I do not have about forty minutes resistance and about an hour of stationary cycling. My weight decreased to 80 kg and has remained there for several years. According to my Fitbit, my rest pulse is still much the same, high 40s to low 50s, although I didn't know it dropped to the low 40s during sleep, which apparently it does.

The only negative effect I have had is the occasional tendon reaction in my feet, but the consequences of not training are far worse, so I accept that. I still walk a few miles rather than use the car and still mow my kikuyu grass with a hand mower.

[diomedes]

Being goal oriented i've committed time to getting fitness goals, some of which made me proud. But experience dulls the feeling of achievement. Recently I've learned that i can drink every single night and not get fat if i ignore food, and if i do get a bit of belly obstruction I can efficiently deal with it. Right now i'm much too preoccupied with cerebral pursuits for exercise  but if and when i do get fat:

Super sets, 4 of them.

Chin ups 8 reps + Squats 8 reps + Bench press 8 reps + something for shoulders 8 reps.
No pause or resting time until all 4 sets are done. Then rest, then do it again 4 times. In all, the workout takes about 10+ minutes and has benefits of cardio and weight training with minimal time commitment. It's a little unpleasant and looks like you're attempting to kill yourself but it saves time.

If i'm at low enough body fat i do leg lifts for larger stomach muscles. Otherwise no purpose for work on abs since you can't see them.

Also if my mind gets tired, i would use the above as temporary relief and revitalization mentally.

[Bob]

Exercise / injury routine... Might be a little more accurate.

[ted]

Exercise / injury routine... Might be a little more accurate.

I think it significant that almost all my injuries (not just mild pains and strains) resulted, not from disciplined training, but from sudden, silly movements in everyday life. I tore a calf muscle running up a steep bank at the beach after a very cold swim, damn stupid thing to do. I strained my back lifting heavy bags of compost out of the car boot the wrong way instead of doing it slowly and taking the weight properly. These are the types of movement which cause injury. Training sometimes produces a rather pleasant sort of mild soreness, but it isn't injurious.