Fitness, Exercise, Etc.

[Frosty]

If this is posted in the wrong thread, feel free to scold me. I'm new here. At the MBF forum, we had an ongoing workout thread. Mrs. Frosty is a personal trainer, and she's gotten me pretty into exercise as well. I know I'm not the only one here who enjoys a good workout. So what do you guys and gals do to stay in shape?

Currently, I do 30-40 mins of cardio, 2-3 days a week and about an hour of fairly intense strength training 2-3 different days a week. I've been at it since roughly May of '12. I'm about 40 lbs lighter, now working on the 6 pack. (I had a knee injury that slowed progress, plus I love food. I WILL get there). We also started juicing a couple weeks ago (as in fruit/veggie juice), and I love it.

As part of my strength warmup, I did 20 burpees tonight. I don't know if that's good or not, as it was only the second time I ever did them. They're known for being notoriously rough, though. So, maybe someone here can take it as an at-your-own-risk challenge. How many consecutive burpees can you do?

Burpee:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JZQA08SlJnM

[mashani]

I'm 48. And I weigh between 130 and 140 depending on the time of year.

I've done Burpees as HIIT intervals. As in 20 seconds of doing them as fast as you can, then 10 seconds of rest - repeat 8 times. Then 1 minute rest. Then do it again. Repeat the whole thing 4x. If I typed that right, that should work out to 20 minutes with 3 of them rest minutes. I can do between 4 and 5 burpees per 20 second interval. So that works out to somewhere between 128 to 160 Burpees in that timeframe. I've never tried to just do them until I could not without any rest. I guess I need to now LOL. I do burpees with dumbells on the floor as hand grips. I can't put my hands flat on the ground due to a hand condition.

In any case, that workout is killer.

My actual thing is run, bike, swim and cross country ski. But I run on grass or trails, not roads (unless there is no other option). I will do track workouts on occasion. I can run sub 5:20 pace on the track if I want to, but that sucks like the burpees. A 10k at around 37-38 minutes is a somewhat comfortable pace for me. I can cycle up to around 31-32mph on flats when sprinting. I can't sustain that for very long, but I can average 20mph if I want to on a long ride, although I don't push that pace normally, my regular pace is between 17-19mph depending on what kind of ride I am doing, with some slow noodling 12-16mph recovery rides mixed in where I just spin in my lowest gears. I don't swim fast, being skinny is a big problem when it comes to going fast - my arms are lousy paddles - but I can swim very long distances in open water.

Cross country skiing done right is the best workout on the planet. I do both classic (track skiing) and freestyle (skate), I will do one day of one, one day of the other, or mix them together when I go out. I ski 5k to 10k almost every day in the winter that there is skiable snow. Sometimes 20k+, and a few times as much as 50k. I will do ski biathlon if I can hook up with a tournament or a pick up group doing it.

I do various types of cross training IE the burpees, planks, side planks, some lifting, etc. in between. I have to be careful lifting because of said hand condition. So I don't lift as often as I would otherwise.

I drink homebrew to keep from vaporizing. I need the calories.

[MadBrewer]

I work on the 6 pack too Frosty...every night.

[Beer-lord]

I go to the gym three days a week and work out at home two days a week. It's mostly cardio but I do some free weights. I also walk 2-2.5 miles in the morning M-F. I still could lose 10 lbs but it's hard even though I eat very well all week and only enjoy one day on the weekends for cheating. When you get old the metabolism slows down so I guess I'm fighting that.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I love food and beer and my doctor's been telling me for a while now I need to lose some weight. I walk 2 miles at least three days a week and really try stay a little hungry in between meals most of the time. It took me 10 years to put on this extra weight and I feel like it'll take me 10 more to lose half of it especially now that I'm getting older. I won't give up the struggle or drinking beer but I will be doubling my efforts and stay committed to dropping 20 pounds or so this year.

[Gymrat]

I raced bicycles in criterium and road races until I was 40. I then took up powerlifting competatively until I was 50. Now I strength train twice a week and do 25 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. Plus walk a mile every day while my dog Ralph runs around on a 50 foot rope.

[RayF]

My wife owns a gym! I take her lunch now and again! Does that count?

[RickBeer]

I sit with a beer contemplating the ways I despise Mashani and Gymrat, which exercise my mind...

With a major herniated disk, I am limited in what type of program that I can do, but I've never had the discipline of either of them. I used to work out daily for nearly 2 hours with half of that cardio, then got relegated to doing stretching at home. I did a few months this year of going to the gym, but found it hard to stay motivated, every time I read about Mashani drinking beer to just keep his weight I get depressed...

Last summer I hoisted nearly 8 tons of scrap metal out of a building, into a pickup, and into a scrap container. This summer it's been tamer, only 0.6 tons so far. Setting up and taking down garage sales three weekends this summer is also fun, including moving very heavy old picnic tables.

Last week I edged our beds and shoveled the majority of 33 yards of mulch over 4 days. Lost nothing but sweat.

[Rebel_B]

I get most of my physical activity quotient done while at work 5 days a week, staying on my feet 8-9 hours each day, including walking to/from work & bus or rail stops. Doing a walk, hike, or bicycle ride on my 2 days off each week.

[mashani]

I didn't even count the dog walks. I walk a mile or two every day with the dogs. On my rest days, where I am not doing one of the things above, I take the dogs for a 4-6 mile hike somewhere, unless I'm sore or tweaked something.

[RickBeer]

SURE, RUB IT IN...

I forgot my walk to the mailbox to get the mail and paper, sometimes 2x per day. That's an extra 300 feet.

[John Sand]

I'm with Rick. I don't exercise and I don't diet. When I'm a little heavy I cut down on beer and dessert. I think about bicycling sometimes.
There is rowing and sailing though. While I don't think of it as exercise, rowing back and forth, and then sailing the boat does help. I'm 6'5, 240. 230 would be better, but no one looks at me and thinks "fat". Least of all my wife.

[berryman]

Acording to my IPhone I walk between 2 1/2- 4 miles a day at my Job and I don't always have my phone on me and I don't know how accurate these numbers are anyways. When I retire which is coming up soon, I think I still should walk almost that much every day. I see older people walking the roads every day, but I'm thinking I'd rather walk to my woods a few times a week, it would be more fun, check out the wildlife, and take my boy dog with me, my woods is 500 yards down hill across the road, and then a lot of walking after you get there and then back up-hill to get home. I think that should do me good.

[mashani]

If I worked a job where I was on my feet/walking/lifting/doing physical stuff all day, I'd tone down my exercise levels to some extent. But my job is sitting on my butt typing and thinking. And stress. So the exercise is an outlet / make up time for all that.

[John Sand]

I'm not knocking it. I have a friend who turned 90 this year. He still works out, and says he's just 45 for the second time.