Anyone else getting fit in Covid?

[popcorn]

I just shit on the stairmaster.

[popcorn]

Had my first proper go on the elliptical last night. I didn't really like it - it was strangely boring in a way that other cardio isn't, and even with the resistance cranked to the max, it didn't feel like I was actually working very hard. According to my Apple Watch I managed to burn a decent lump of calories nonetheless, but... somehow I don't believe it.

I fell off the treadmill the other week. Stepped on the bit that wasn't moving. Catapulted my shoe off my foot and into the wall at 100mph. Chumbawumba!!

[Ferris]

The elliptical is great you lemon. You can even watch telly while you do it.

[Dusty Substance]

I'm still unable to shift the weight I gained during the two lockdowns, as well as no longer having much of a social life these days, but I've taken to doing daily sit ups.

Been doing them for about a month now, having dug out the exercise matt I bought last year. The first week, I struggled to do fifteen. Now, I can easily do 50.

Doing my absolute best to eat sensibly, too. Although I've cut a bunch of stuff out, sometimes I can't help myself and will end up putting a big bag of crisps in my basket in Tesco's.

Getting there though.... Very slowly, but surely.

[popcorn]

Still can't fucking do deadlifts. My mate is trying to teach me but but no matter how much I try everything I do causes him to suck his teeth and go "Well, that was a bit better..."

[jobotic]

50 mile cycle on Saturday. Furthest for a while, and 14km run a couple of days before.

I'm coming for you Brownlee

[popcorn]

Just finished my second ever 5k. 34:19, so 8 minutes faster than my first pathetic attempt. Is it too late for me to join the olympics or what

[Norton Canes]

They're on for another week

[Fr.Bigley]

50 mile cycle on Saturday. Furthest for a while, and 14km run a couple of days before.

I'm coming for you Brownlee

Nearly knocked him (Alastair) off his bike with the car near his mums house. Two weeks before the Olympics where they won gold. Imagine.

[bgmnts]

How do you people deal with chub rub? I am a big fattie now so I get it almost semi regularly. I wear tight boxers that cover thigh area but still every once in a while i'll get a sore little rash and I cant really do anything for a day or so.

Is it just a power through the pain until you dont get it anymore thing?

[popcorn]

vaseline my friend!

[JamesTC]

vaseline my friend!

Not until I get to know him first.

[bgmnts]

vaseline my friend!

As a curative measure or a prevantative one? I mostly talc before I walk but I usually only vaseline as a respite from the soreness.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Still can't fucking do deadlifts. My mate is trying to teach me but but no matter how much I try everything I do causes him to suck his teeth and go "Well, that was a bit better..."

If you're doing deadlifts to strengthen your muscles and have no desire to master the lift so you can enter powerlifting events, you could try Romanian deadlifts instead. They start from the top position so you take the bar from a rack rather than the floor, and you simply lower it as far as is comfortable (probably mid shin for most?) before returning to the upright position.

It still works the posterior chain: lower back, glutes, hamstrings, plus the traps and forearms and is easier to perform for many. There are loads of instructional videos on YouTube but this one is short, simple with no macho grunting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j-2w4-P14I

[popcorn]

If you're doing deadlifts to strengthen your muscles and have no desire to master the lift so you can enter powerlifting events, you could try Romanian deadlifts instead. They start from the top position so you take the bar from a rack rather than the floor, and you simply lower it as far as is comfortable (probably mid shin for most?) before returning to the upright position.

It still works the posterior chain: lower back, glutes, hamstrings, plus the traps and forearms and is easier to perform for many. There are loads of instructional videos on YouTube but this one is short, simple with no macho grunting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j-2w4-P14I

This looks exactly like the thing I can't do. My posture always just goes completely wrong apparently.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Oh well. As good as they are when done correctly, it's entirely possible to hit all your main muscle groups without deadlifts anyway. Plus, if you're struggling with your form, there's always the risk of injury to the lower back.

To be honest I always found excuses to avoid them because I found them a struggle at first too. I was comparatively strong in the upper body so concentrated on bro lifts like the bench press rather than the hard stuff like DLs and squats. Still do, actually, and I'm way old enough to know better.

[Magnum Valentino]

Was there a calorie tracking app recommended earlier in the thread? By Popcorn maybe?

[popcorn]

I use Lose It. It's not great but it works. Lots of people use MyFitnessPal.

As far as I could tell from playing around with a few different ones, there is no great calorie counter app yet. They're all a bit ropey with slightly crap design and writing and slightly dodgy integration into other apps, but they basically do the job. I really want Apple to make one to integrate into their Health app but it isn't there yet.

FWIW, I used Lose It for three or four months, then stopped using it and started estimating my calorific consumption instead for a couple of weeks as an experiment. I continued to lose weight so I haven't used it since. I still highly recommend trying one as an educational tool at the very least - it has genuinely changed my perspective on food.

[bgmnts]

I've been outside once in the past 10 days and have stuffed my face. Covid is ace!

[Chollis]

decided it was time to get fit a few months ago after doing almost 0 exercise throughout lockdown and piling on the pounds. lost 8kg so far but I've got another 15 or so to go i think. at the moment exercising mostly consists of a 45 min walk/jog most days, which will hopefully become a run when i get my fitness levels up. if nothing else the regular outdoor exercise has helped improved my mental health noticeably.

anyway, figured I would need some waterproof gear if I'm to continue doing this through winter, and I might even become a full running wanker and get running shoes too. S4C or worth it? there also only seems to be "running tights" as a non-shorts option for your bottom half. that ain't happening. is there a good place to buy this stuff? Decathlon?

[Drygate]

Another reason to go for a run and hit the gym

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/21/bjsports-2021-104203

Conclusion Adults who engaged in the recommended levels of physical activity were associated with a decreased likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-19 related death. Our findings suggest that engaging in physical activity has substantial public health value and demonstrates potential benefits to combat COVID-19.

[peanutbutter]

Got some dumbbells a few weeks ago and I'm honestly surprised how big of a revelation they've been. I just do a few lifts and my heartrate is up and once it's actually up I'm super keen on doing an extended exercise.
Trying to do planks and squats and other shit to try and balance it out. Then I'll do a couple of tracks on beat saber on hard mode at the end just to keep a stable heartrate going for a while.


Might try and actually start running at some point over the next couple of weeks.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Ran a half marathon in 1 hr 49 mins the other week. Also ran 26k in 2 hrs 25 mins at the weekend.

Just signed up for the Berlin 25k in October. Providing you haven't already perished at some point along the route, you get to run the last 400 meters in the Olympic Stadium!

[Blue Jam]

Been slacking with exercise lately, or so I'd thought. I hadn't been for a run in a couple of months, the only exercise I was doing was a lot of Beat Saber and Synth Riders and a bit of Thrill Of The Fight.

Just went for a little guided run, mainly to see how fucked my lungs had become. Managed the whole 2.5K and felt alright afterwards.

I guess VR is good exercise after all...

[Blue Jam]

Just saw an ad for this while Googling for "VR fitness":

https://uk.vaha.com/product

It's a "fitness mirror" which allows you to see exactly how wobbly you look while a virtual coach shouts at you. It's a bit Black Mirror, in that it's quite literally a black mirror.

At least with VR you can't see how daft you look.

[Dex Sawash]

^ that makes complete sense that it is turned portrait format but it makes me very angry anyway. Hope I don't live long enough to  be forced to orient my TV that way (2025?)

[buttgammon]

Running is a bit unpredictable for me because I have achilles trouble, so I'm actually going to go to the gym instead, which is something I've never done before. What's interesting is that I'm going to get an actual measure of how unfit I am this week.

[JamesTC]

I have hardly ran in the last two months and it is pissing me off. Was ill after a trip at the start of September and then I was back running for a week at the end of September and I got a bad ankle sprain at the start of October which is still healing now. No pain now and I walked quite far today without any adverse reaction, so I am hoping in two weeks I will be able to return.

[popcorn]

I've got out of running too. I found I was randomly able to do 5k occasionally, but lately when I set off it immediately feels intolerably boring and punishing and I fuck it off within 1 or 2km. It's not like I'm puffing and panting and going to die and can't go on, it's more like I just cannot be fucked.

[Magnum Valentino]

I became able to do 5ks without realising it - After about 4 or 5 weeks in the gym, my trainer asked me how I fared with the app last year and I gave some wishy washy answer, and he told me we'd be doing 5k the next day having only ever run for 30 minutes twice in my life twelve months ago.

Managed it with one short walk in the middle so as not to die, and I'm up to running three a week in increasingly shorter times since then. I think the c25k app was holding me back, it was very much a case of just getting out and doing it and not overthinking about when my walk breaks were coming. I think running is the one thing I'm really good at out of all the fitness stuff I've experience for the first time in the past 12 months.