JCC 2020 Fitness Goals

Did a little running today. Trying to lose weight by May

 

i am a little out of shape. i had to stop eating ice cream like a month ago because it was starting to get a little out of hand, lol. i would like to get in better shape, but i have seasonal depression coupled with some regular depression and it's not easy to get motivated. i'm not a gym person at all. i like to exercise outside. and when it's dark both when you go to work and when you get off work, and it's like 20 degrees or whatever it makes the prospect a little daunting. ugh. i know not exercising only exacerbates the depression too. but i also know that i will feel better in the spring and i will be back to running and playing lots of tennis. just need to find some kind of thing to bridge the gap between here and there.

 

Going back to regular workouts after slacking off.
Push-ups/situps with a 4-6 mile run. The pull up bar too depending on my route (a variety of options where I live)

 

Happy 2020 everyone...

Thank you for being here and inspiring me with your awesome fitness goals ( )

Stretching, walking more again and using mom's hand weights.

Working on the diet, not stressing over most things, being more direct in my communication, getting more sleep, and moving toward a more positive mindset.

 

I've been watching Scooby Doo while I'm on my treadmill. Everytime they start running, I have to sprint. It's bloody exhausting!

Been serious with the weights for a week now. Pleased to discover I can still do 40 odd push ups in one go but when I went full Rocky and switched to one arm I collapsed like a bear on a deckchair. Mission: 30 one arm pushups by spring.

 

Zoinks! The treadmill Scooby idea is great.

Seriously, that's amazing with the push ups.

 

My goal this year for fitness is to keep up with strength training. And unfortunately, my other big goal is to not get injured. So no PR's or big feats. Just staying in the shape I'm in.

Also health related I officially have up meat. Kinda for health, definitely for the animals and kinda for the environment.

 

This year I want to cycle more, keep up with my hour walk a day and keep consistently around 75kg.

 

If you don't mind any suggestions, how about at home exercises via YouTube or something? A pull up bar, some weights, and a jump rope could go really far with the right exercise routine. And it sounds like you just need a temporary fix until spring.

Do you dislike anything in particular about gyms? You could probably do lots of cardio in one with minimal to no interaction, if that's a concern.

 

This year, I’d like to start doing more physical activities purely for pleasure. A few years ago, I used to go hillwalking with a group of friends. We’ve been friends for many years and we still see each other quite regularly, but we’ve become less active as a group. I want to encourage these guys to climb a couple of mountains over the summer.

Also, I’d like to try something new and I haven’t decided what that will be yet. I’ve never been one for ball games, but I’d like to get involved in some kind of sports club. Maybe I’ll try a new martial art. I’ve also got my SCUBA kit gathering dust, so I want to get into the water for fun and maybe do a bit of scalloping.

As far as personal fitness goes, I’m going to keep up with my running and try to improve upon my strength. I’d also like to maintain my (mostly) plant-based diet and try to get my body fat % down to single figures.

 

The new year brought some (bad?) news for my workout regiment. My MMA school has switched around a few class schedules. While I still get my personal training sessions in the mornings (for the most part), my striking matches have been moved to weekends (when I actually work), and the previous time slot is now given to Jiu-Jitsu training and matches.

I do not enjoy Jiu-Jitsu. Striking is just more enjoyable and seemingly more practical to me. Playing chess with another human's limbs while they're doing the same to you does not come naturally to me. But at the same time, these classes fit with my work schedule, and they're included with my membership. So. I might just have to suck it up and go to these, unless I want to change around my work schedule to accommodate the school's new schedule.

 

oh i meant to reply to this but got sidetracked. as for the gym, i just pretty much hate the whole experience. interacting with people is a small part of it, but it's also the smells, the noises, just pretty much all of it. i know a lot of people (maybe most) like to listen to music or otherwise distract themselves when they work out, but i really don't. i like to be mindful of the experience and it becomes almost meditative for me. that's kind of impossible at the gym..

as for working out at home, yes that's exactly what i need. the issue now is just finding some kind of routine that i actually enjoy. i just know myself well enough to know that if i don't really enjoy it i won't be able to make myself do it more than 2 or 3 times. i already have a pretty nice exercise bike that is gathering dust in my laundry room, so that's out. i tried yoga for a while a few years ago and didn't completely hate it, so i might try to pick that up again.

 

I hate the gym too. Driving there, the crowds at the peak times, competing for equipment, the bad music, the bros grunting and screaming, the disgusting sweaty strangers who get stuff wet and don't even bother to wipe it down, the worst looking weirdos parading around naked in the locker room, the need to secure my wallet, phone and keys. I bought my own basic equipment and that's cheaper than a membership anyway.

I also don't like listening to music because it's distracting. I find exercise boring so I prefer to concentrate on it.

I've got a decent routine going for months now. The problem is keeping it up. I might be tired from work, didn't sleep well the previous night, might have eaten something that disagrees with me, might have something else that needs doing, might have a cold, etc. Also sometimes my muscles don't feel up to it and it's really difficult for no reason.

 

I was actually going to suggest looking for a Yoga Youtube channel, as that would require minimal supplies and yields a decent workout for your body.

What kind of gyms are you guys going to? I hop between different gyms and seldom have these experiences. I go to a gym 5-6 times a week, and might overlap with equipment with someone else like once every 2 weeks, deal with someone else's sweat residue even less. Sure, nudity is present in the locker room, but you don't have to look. I will agree that the nudity does only come from the less savory of people, which should make it easier to not look.

I can't workout without music. I used to run without music and focus on the activity like you both are doing, but I can no longer do this. I now rely on music to help me get in a mindset for whatever I'm about to do. One time I forgot my headphones and actually came back home to get them. :/

As for equipment overlap, most people at the gym are very cooperative with sharing equipment and will let you hop in between sets or whatnot. Every now and then (again, maybe like once every couple weeks), I'll bump into the kind of person you're describing where it becomes a conflict--like when said person just "reserves" equipment by leaving a water bottle or cell phone there while he works out on something else. I suppose I used to just quietly fume over this rudeness, but nowadays (probably a little spark of machismo from doing MMA) I call someone out if they try to spark a conflict over this ridiculousness. Thankfully, I've only had to have this type of confrontation once ever (and I've been doing my 5-6 gym visits a week routine for the past 4 years), so it's not a common thing. It also helps that my sets are 40 seconds each for my full body circuit, so most folks don't mind letting me hop on real quick.

One of my friends at the gym did however observe some types of guys who hop onto equipment being used by women (when the women are taking a pause between sets or whatnot) without asking or going up to the other guys using the same equipment. This frustrated her so much that she called out one such guy. It was kind of amusing, as the guy argued back but then felt like a jerk, so ever since he's now extra friendly to her. But again, these aren't common occurrences. Just once in a while. For the most part, people at the gym leave you alone and are only there to get their own workout in.

But yeah, I definitely avoid peak times for sure. Early mornings or late evenings are best, imo.

 

I have used several gyms in different cities and countries over the last two decades. Rarely have I experienced any confrontation while using the gym. Most gyms are pretty friendly and supportive environments. I have experienced guys coming up and asking “are you going to be much longer on that?”. There can be a certain aggressiveness to that, in which case I like to take a nice long break between my sets and make them wait. That said, if someone comes and asks nicely, I’m happy to share any equipment that I happen to be using.

 

Just had my first round of Jiu-Jitsu matches in several months. At least going my to watch my kids' matches helped me from getting too rusty.

I attended a taekwondo class beforehand, so that plus Jiu-Jitsu training and matches puts me at 3 hours of back-to-back training this evening.

Despite being away from Jiu-Jitsu for so long I won my first match. Got utterly destroyed in my second match, though. I was severely out classed by this guy. And then I had a speed match against another opponent (a woman since our school doesn't separate genders). I came out on top but it was very close. She's very strong. I have faced her before in striking matches, and even though I've blocked her kicks with pads on, I felt my teeth rattle every time.

My body actually hurts quite a bit right now. Jiu-jitsu definitely hurts a lot more than striking matches. I feel like the entire surface area of my body is bleeding everywhere. Everything is so raw.

I also got to feel the unique displeasure of a rear naked choke.

Good news is that in Taekwondo, my trainer was the instructor there this evening and he said that I can be an honorary member of their black belts class. So it was just me and black belts. I got the train with them going over black belt techniques, mostly different aerial kicks but it was pretty cool.

 

Happy new year, everyone! Good luck to everyone with their goals this year! I hope to check in here more often in 2020.

Some of you may remember I finally got my dream spin bike last fall. And now I think I have something else...(!)...IT band syndrome.

I watched several YT vids on how to set up the bike before using it, and I thought I got everything positioned right, but now I wonder if something about the position I have been using is actually wrong.

No pain with actually spinning or walking on my treadmill yet, but my first sign seems to be a burning pain on the outside of my knee when I'm in a squatting/kneeling position and my knee is in pressure contact with the floor. I had my annual wellness visit with my GP last week and asked her about it and she said to check my bike position and look up IT band stretches online.

I'm uncertain if I should stop spinning completely until I stop having symptoms. I wasn't even doing it that regularly--some weeks I would get in 2 or 3 workouts, but then several weeks would go by with me not doing any spinning at all. Maybe that was part of the problem. I'm going to send a follow message to my doc via her web portal but I'm kind of bummed because spinning is the kind of exercise I love the most, but I'm worried about making the pain worse/more frequent.

 

@Pensivia have you tried any of those IT Band stretches?

I have no experience with spinning or IT bands though. I hope you are okay.

I dislike gyms too for all the reasons mentioned.

I have to learn patience, focus, and keep setting my boundaries (which is an uphill battle with mom and one sibling now).

 

Thanks @Master_Lok . No, I haven't tried any specific stretches yet, but I've been googling the topic and will plan to try some of them soon.

 

I love my gym, for $36 a month I have access to a 25M pool, full indoor basketball court, treadmills, ellipticals and I use the classrooms to do free weights/abs cause I am never there when they hold classes. I've been in public locker rooms since I was super young due to winter swim at the rec center so I don't notice the naked people or the hairballs in the shower. I also love the smell of the gym.

Don't get me wrong outside is awesome. But my schedule doesn't work around outside. It's usually dark when I workout (think 4:30 - 6 AM) and the weather sometimes cooperates.

 

I'm thinking of trying a free trial of "Studio Sweat On Demand" on YT sometime and then signing up if it seems good (it's about $20 a month I think). That service has a bunch of different stuff from "boot camp," to pilates, spin classes, yoga, and stretch classes.

I find I do a lot better at getting at least some exercising in (even though I'm still far from my goal in that regard) when I can find ways to do it at home.

 

Ran my first race of 2020. Set the bar higher than I expected. 1:26:20 for a 10 miler. Ran it really good, first mile was my slowest and last mile was my fastest, and overall it was fairly evenly paced. Fastest mile was 8:08, slowest mile was 9:11 middle miles mostly fell around 8:30. Warm morning for January, that worked in my favor. Last week it was cold here, like it is supposed to be in January and I was so frozen it took me 4 miles to warm up. The older I get the more I dislike the cold, it makes me feel weak, but it is what it is. Tomorrow will be an easy swim day for sure.

I'm also about two weeks in on becoming vegetarian, haven't had meat for 13 days. I didn't feel like peanut butter after the race, so I came home and made a morning star veggie burger, well I'm not sure it's really veggie, I think it's mostly soy. Not sure they are that good for you, but they taste good. Especially with ketchup.

Have a great weekend all