Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Health & Fitness => Topic started by: Greenbank on 03 April, 2020, 02:26:16 pm
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Notes and suggestions for keeping fit (other than just a daily walk/run/cycle or endless turbo trainer)
Mon/Wed/Fri:-
* 3 x 5k runs a week (daily outdoor exercise - no chance for cycling) now aim to end it by meeting up with wife/daughter out on their walk - will try and build one run up to 10km
* 100 pushup programme - https://hundredpushups.com/index.html
Tue/Thu/SatOrSun:-
* Walk with family (daily outdoor exercise)
* Leg Blasters - https://sawback.com/articles/leg-blasters/ (whilst outside rather than annoying downstairs neighbours)
* Skipping in the garden (daughter led activity)
Eating meals a lot more regularly now, proper portion control and less snacking and the weight is slowly sliding off.
Cycling and swimming fitness will go to pot, but not worried about that. I'll happily take being Xkg lighter and running/core fit and needing to rebuild cycling/swimming from scratch.
Burpees seem popular but I'll use the current exercises to get my core fitness up a bit first.
Need to do more stretching and other core exercises, luckily I have a terror foam roller and even a bosu ball from recent ankle injury.
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Most days
30 minutes Pilates at 7am
1h bike ride at lunchtime
Weekend might be a different/longer bike ride
Some days I might skip Pilates
Some days I might substitute pushing a wheel barrow to the recycling centre for bike ride
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Running on alternate days. A bit over 5k on weekdays, 10k at the weekend.
Other days, going for a walk with MrsC as our 'permitted exercise' (we've spent more time walking round the village in the last week than in most years).
I really ought to try some strength exercises.
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Step repeats - run up steps, walk down steps, run up steps.
Squats
One leg step ups swing other leg up high. Done on fallen trees in woods.
Pull ups on random trees in the woods away from main footpaths
Tricep dips on stairs with bent legs
Planks and press ups
Standing on one leg touch toes with opposite hand, return upright, repeat. Do with other leg as well.
One leg hip raises
Standing jumps. Mark a line on the grass in your garden or local park. Jumpers, spare socks, whatever you have to hand. Stand behind line. bend legs , swing arms back then uncoil swinging forwards and mark how far you get. Try and beat your previous best efforts.
Piggy back races if your kids are young and light enough.
Wheel barrow races
Old wheel rims and sticks. Mark out a basic course on grass then race each other round it trying to move rims with sticks like when you were young.
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A bit of jogging, maybe 3 times a week. Arthritic hip won't stand more.
Was starting to paddle 5-10km 3 times a week from home, but there is a huge backlash against that. For some reason, paddling kayak on river is bad, running or cycling is good.
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I think some of the paddling stuff is that's its unlikely you can paddle from home with the general guidance to not travel to exercise.....im missing my canoeing too.
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Get up at midday. Beer and crisps for breakfast.
Back to bed for a siesta. Take biscuits in case wake up hungry. Eat biscuits pre-emptively.
Wake up 5pm. Go downstairs and have a congratulatory beer for achieving daily step count.
Telly 5pm until midnight, snacks as and when necessary (ie. all the time)
Nightcap. Bed.
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I think some of the paddling stuff is that's its unlikely you can paddle from home with the general guidance to not travel to exercise.....im missing my canoeing too.
Depends on where you live. My brother in law was told it was OK to travel a short distance (couple of miles) in the car to go surfing. So if you live near to the river you'd be OK...
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Get up at midday. Beer and crisps for breakfast.
Back to bed for a siesta. Take biscuits in case wake up hungry. Eat biscuits pre-emptively.
Wake up 5pm. Go downstairs and have a congratulatory beer for achieving daily step count.
Telly 5pm until midnight, snacks as and when necessary (ie. all the time)
Nightcap. Bed.
:thumbsup:
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I'm hoping things will have calmed down a bit by the time the sea is warm enough for me to swim in. That's absolutely no earlier than mid-June. I can be there in 10 minutes on my bike.
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We have purchased an exercise bike, which will arrive on Thursday this week...
... you can therefore expect the Covid19 lockdown to be lifted this Friday, as a miracle cure sweeps the planet.
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We have purchased an exercise bike, which will arrive on Thursday this week...
... you can therefore expect the Covid19 lockdown to be lifted this Friday, as a miracle cure sweeps the planet.
Followed by Basil's post-lockdown rain arriving a couple of months early.
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Can I unashamedly report that I am being particularly crap at this. I've gone from 22 miles/day to nothing. Hardly been out of the front door. Conscious this needs to change. Thank you all for explaining how you're approaching this.
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Do an hour per day on the exercise bike. We go for a long hike at the weekend (we live by the North Downs, so it's a short walk out into the countryside) and shorter ramble on a Sunday.
I'm tempted by a rowing machine, so my swimming arms don't fall off.
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I am really fortunate being able to commute to the hospital which gives me 6 hours per week (3 days).
I used to do an hour of Pilates as well but now my wife and I are doing about 20 minutes most days. Online Pilates classes are really good.
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Long walk if I have the Little Misses. Otherwise, either a 2 mile run or a turbo session, or a 10 mile ride. Something every day. Fitness is how you knock this thing back.
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I'm hoping things will have calmed down a bit by the time the sea is warm enough for me to swim in. That's absolutely no earlier than mid-June. I can be there in 10 minutes on my bike.
I noted a chap swimming in the sea near us yesterday. He was certainly OK with the social distancing business.
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I'm exercising at least once on most days. Getting up an hour later than usual and doing half an hour on the exercise bike most mornings and still ready and logged in by 8/8:30. I'm liking this not getting the train to work side of things at least.
And then I'm either taking a long lunch and going for a bike ride by myself or a walk (sometimes combined with a shopping trip) with my partner. Monday I had off work and I decided to weightlift for the first time since I had a tummy bug mid Feb. I kept to just warmup weights and even with that I'm sore today.
Aiming to up the weightlifting and start doing some yoga in the evenings. My flexibility is awful.
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Currently purchasing a rowing machine (I was contemplating taking up kayaking this summer, so it might hurt less if I get around to it, the last time I kayaked was in the Florida Everglades about fifteen years ago, I think East Sussex will have fewer alligators).
I am going to be like He-Man when this is over.
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I am going to be like He-Man when this is over.
Camp and poorly animated?
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I am going to be like He-Man when this is over.
Camp and poorly animated?
;D
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I am going to be like He-Man when this is over.
Camp and poorly animated?
I merely prepare the ground for these.
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A daily dog walk (about an hour) plus turbo trainer (about 45mins at the moment) and pilates 4/5 times a week.
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Almost done with the Strava April Walk Challenge (15h of walking in April, doesn't include running).
63.0 km - 13h 56m
Just another 1h4m walk which I should get done by the weekend (run tomorrow and Saturday, and Friday's walk will be a family one that's under an hour so it'll require Sunday's walk to tip me over 15h).
Also on track to do ~70km of running in April. (Aiming for 80km in May)
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Here's a weird one...
Normal working day: 12 mile commute at brisk pace, twice a day, 3 days a week. During day I rarely sit, or stand still. Maybe 3 runs a week.
Lockdown: No commute. 3 runs a week. 30 mile ride most days.
Resting pulse rate has gone from about 46 bpm to 60.
Vo2 max, however, has increased by 3 (garmin)
So one marker suggests that I am fitter, the other that I am less fit ;D
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Resting pulse rate has gone from about 46 bpm to 60.
Background Covid-related anxiety?
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Well, in all seriousness, my sleep has been heavily disturbed since about 2 weeks before lockdown. Often waking up at 2am, wide awake for a few hours. Could be a factor.
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I suspect the sleep thing.
I’m doing 5 days a week; have done one outdoor ride this week and last. Around an hour. The rest has been indoors. I’m also walking the dog.
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I'm struggling a bit, I rely on work to get my exercise so finding the motivation to do exercise for the sake of it rather than just sitting around the house is really difficult!
I've dug out an old bike and do half hour most days but I could/should be doing a lot more, as ever motivation is zero.
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Lucky enough to have invested a long time ago in a Concept II Rowing Machine that sits in the garage. So am training for a marathon (42195m) on that in 10 days time - that gives me 3 - 4 days a week. Then 2 runs (45 - 50min) per week. Plus gardening without powertools. Although that did give me tennis elbow from scarifying the lawn manually.
I might reintroduce some cycling after the rowing marathon as I suspect that after a 3 hour session on the ergo I will need a break from it.
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Here's a weird one...
Normal working day: 12 mile commute at brisk pace, twice a day, 3 days a week. During day I rarely sit, or stand still. Maybe 3 runs a week.
Lockdown: No commute. 3 runs a week. 30 mile ride most days.
Resting pulse rate has gone from about 46 bpm to 60.
Vo2 max, however, has increased by 3 (garmin)
So one marker suggests that I am fitter, the other that I am less fit ;D
I think the fitness effect of being on your feet all day and constantly moving a bit, even just between desk and board, is vastly underrated. I felt the effect instantly when I went from teaching (TEFL, not proper teaching but equivalent for this) to a desk job. (Not that I would claim to have been "fit" to begin with but the decline was instant).
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Failed on W3D2C2 of 100 pushup challenge. Needed to do at least 19 in the last set but only managed 15. Week 3 again next week, not looking forward to W3D3C2 tomorrow but will try and do as much as I can which should make repeating the week easier.
I'm also 36m away from completing Strava's "April Walk Challenge" which was 15h of walking (moving time, not elapsed time, and it doesn't count Run activities) and that should be ticked off when we go out for a family walk this afternoon.
I was 96.4kg on the weigh day before lockdown began, and was 93.75kg this morning, weight is tracking nicely down.
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100 pushup challenge ....
Hmmm, might give that a go.
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100 pushup challenge ....
Over how many days?
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All depends on your current strength:
https://hundredpushups.com/index.html
It's about building up to be able to do 100 in one go.
That's a lot different from being able to do 100 in sets of 10 with a 60s gap between each set. I could do that now, but the most I've done in one go without a break is 22.
I'm on week 3 but I've already failed one day this week so I'll need to repeat the week. I expect it to take 10 weeks for me as I'm sure I'll have to repeat more weeks in the future.
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Since this wouldn't have happened without lockdown I'll put this here.
I've been dieting (11kg gone) and exercising a bit during this weird time. Couch to 2k is going slowly but today I got the bike out. I haven't ridden it in about 2 years. So I pumped up the tyres and off I went. It's a very heavy bike and I was never a fast rider so this wasn't going to win any medals. 22km mostly flat. It seemed fine but my legs are feeling it now.
I've been using a wrist heart monitor on my walk/runs which seemed, in comparison to a chest monitor, to be recording stuff accurately. So I used it today. This is the first 25 mins of it:
(https://images2.imgbox.com/11/4d/eRSuK0F1_o.jpg) (http://imgbox.com/eRSuK0F1)
Is this credible? I've never tried heart monitoring on a bike ride before so I've no idea what to expect.
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Sadly that seems common for wrist based HR monitoring. Seems OK then decides that your heart can't be that high and drops right down, then slowly builds up again.
Here's an example from two days ago. It was a 50 odd minute walk at a steady pace, no real elevation changes, no stairs:-
(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/wristhr.png)
I would have expected it to be somewhere around the 110bpm mark the entire route but it obviously struggled.
The optical Polar OH1+ I have is much better, I wear that just below the bicep and it works well for running, the wrist based optical HR is nowhere near reliable enough for running.
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It's a bit odd isn't it? The highest figure on my log is 175. I would have thought I might have noticed it at the time but I never seemed to work particularly hard. I'll drag out the old chest monitor (non recording) and see if they agree next time.
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It's a bit odd isn't it? The highest figure on my log is 175. I would have thought I might have noticed it at the time but I never seemed to work particularly hard. I'll drag out the old chest monitor (non recording) and see if they agree next time.
Useless, it is.
I went for a very similar ride this morning with the chest monitor as well as the wrist one. Agree? Ha! Sometimes 50+ difference. The wrist one appears to not like any sort of vibration so if I take my hand off the handlebars then it agrees with the chest one. So not a lot of use for cycling. Max on wrist was 154 on some random flat bit, max on chest one was 137 whilst pushing 25.5kg of bike up the cliff steps.
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Have been going out for walks with Mrs A, also stripped the wallpaper on hall stairs and landing, smoothed the walls and painted over, also do turbo sessions with Zwift.
Zwift is tough; they started me with a 230 FTP and a 73 minute FTP test pushed it to 255; I am 3kg lighter. My last ride I did half an hour and got 9km up the Alpe d'Zwift, just over half way, averaging 246. I need a better fan. Tomorrow I will have another go on the Alpe now it is cooler.
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Until about a year ago I was on about ten miles a day, but not much else, and more commuting miles than anything. A double bypass interrupted that :o The exercise programme afterwards got me onto one gym session and one long, brisk walk a week, plus commuting mileage again. Lockdown mucked that up, so I have finally started to experiment with Zwift, partly because the club was doing Zwift rides. Am beginning to get into it a bit, but no plans to do the serious FTP stuff. I got up the Alpe once on a club ride, but struggled when I tried it on my own (very unimpressive W/kg). Also lots of long walks once we were allowed out.
I also got into the heart monitoring thing, for fairly obvious reasons and because we were using them in the physio sessions. Quickly gave up on wrist monitors, as they don't seem reliable at all.
In short I may become a Zwift convert just as everyone is giving it up to go back outside ::-)
Working nothing like as hard as some people above, in other words.
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I have now lost 2 stone in weight in lockdown, got back to structured training on the turbo and started running again. I have 13lbs to get to my aim. New friend is a very keen runner and has offered to take me out in a couple of weeks.
Lightweight climbing bike ordered and aim is 3w/kg before end of September for cycling up Teide. Then continue over the winter and go climbing iconic hills /alps next year.
Currently wondering if I can swing a T6 conversion as an investment?
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308,738 steps so far in July, so only 1,262 short of 10k per day and with a whole day to spare.
But what's bad about that is this includes 110km of running in July and given my stride length is about 1m that means 110,000 of those steps were running. That means I only walk about 6,500 steps a day on average. I need to work on upping this.
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I'm gradually slipping backwards :(
Loss of volume is the main problem;prior to lockdown I was commuting 10miles each way. Then 2-3 paddles a week and occasional gym workouts.
Now it is down to 3-4 sessions a week (either run, paddle) plus a bit of bodyweight workout.
Increasing weight isn't helping, although some of that is muscle. Put on at least 6kg overall.
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I've been able to get down to the rowing club for a while, as they are allowing singles and bubbled pairs and doubles. I don't want to bubble with anyone in a boat, so I've been going out in a single. Started with the stable single as I was rusty but a few weeks ago I got some coaching from the bank and first thing I was told was "Why are you in the stable single, you're actually quite good". So next session was in the fine single, tentative at first but got more confidence and covered about 4km during the outing. Had a two break due to a sore wrist (long standing issue) and was back yesterday. The same coach was now out in the launch, as a winch has been installed so it can be launched and landed without breaking social distancing, and I was asked to make sure I made use of this. Good feedback and I covered 50% more distance in the same time, feels like progress is rapid, though I'm still rubbish.
During lockdown itself - I've done mostly indoor cycling; I started with 219W from 31 Mar FTP test, and tested this week at 243W. So steady progress back to the sort of fitness I find is required to have a decent experience on a long Audax and actually get some sleep. I hope to be at 250W by mid September and then try to build on this over winter so ready for a return to normality that I hope could happen next year. Next FTP test is scheduled for 22nd Sept.
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Spending most of my time on the bike now. Using RidewithGPS to plot anti-social / social-distancing routes, so I virtually never enter centres of population. July was my third best month for mileage on record and am aiming for a PB in August.
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Local (council run) leisure centre opens Wednesday.
For Wednesday I have booked a swim (45 mins) and then a gym session (1h) to do a ramp test (I've done 8km of cycling since mid-March so it should be beyond poor!)
Then Thursday I've booked a spinning class.
I'll be looking to do 3 swims a week (building for Swim Serpentine 2 mile swim in late September), 4 runs a week, one or two spinning classes and a couple of longer rides round Richmond Park maybe.
Long slog back to all round fitness begins...
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1600m swim today done in alternating 100m/200m sets with 60s rest between each. Fitted perfectly into the 45 min swim session with most of it around 2:00/100m. First 20 strokes felt great but then reality of no swimming for 5 months hit and arms/shoulders let me know I had no stamina.
Never seen the pool so clean. Staff were great. One way system worked well. 3 big wide lanes, about 20 people in total and only 4 of us in the fast lane and overtaking was easy when necessary.
Did a ramp test afterwards in the gym (easy to book more than one session in advance). Only 3 people in there when I got in, Covid capacity is around 50. Didn't even bother with the 300W minute but the 275W minute means I'm roughly where I was before, although I guess this is due to just having fresher legs as my old routine was pretty full on.
Will look at my plan/calendar and book a load more swim and spinning sessions.
Spinning class tomorrow. Not sure which of the two instructors it is, hoping for my preferred one obviously.
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Good effort. Swim then ramp test then spinning class the day after? Rather you than me.
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And at least a 5k run on every other day. Need to remember to plan a proper rest day...
5-a-side starting up again next week. Due to my ankle fracture and Covid-19 I've played 4 times in the last 12 months.
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Spinning class was a different instructor to the usual ones. Still structured but much more "spinning" (e.g. out of the saddle, slow/fast, etc) than my preferred instructor who does proper varied interval sessions and describes the upcoming sections so you know how hard to push.
It's a good workout anyway and will still be doing some good after all of this time off the bike. NP of 163W.
Easy 5k run tomorrow and then another 1600m swim in the afternoon.
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I miss spin classes. Likely to be another month at least before they start up again here. :(
In the meantime, I've pretty much given up and am not doing anything at the moment. :facepalm:
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Tried spin classes once. Couldn't keep up. Which is odd on a static bike ;D
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Spin classes are too unstructured for my liking.
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That's the reason why I like the usual instructor (Mike). The session is effectively something ripped from TR or similar.
Look at the power/cadence curve from this activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4155630367
You can clearly see 3 x 1min all out efforts near the beginning, middle and end (I was aiming for holding 400W). Then built around that is a reasonable warm up to begin with. Over/unders between the 1st and 2nd minute efforts, then 10 x 45s intervals with 15s rests with the end being a constant increase in resistance (and cadence falling) as power ramps up until legs give up. A nice recovery and then the last 1 minute all out effort.
The good thing is you know that each sub section will be explained to you in advance and he'll give hints as to how much you need to put in and when you're going to get a recovery. (This washes over the majority of the class that just plug away doing whatever they want, but there are a few of us in the class that know exactly how to read what he says and translate it into our expected power outputs.)
All of the subjective "Now you're climbing a hill, add a bit more resistance, add some more, out of the saddle, add some more resistance, come on guys[1] you're doing great" bollocks can get in the sea. If I get that I just revert to doing a bunch of intervals from previous sessions.
1. In a class that's 90% women.
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Spin classes are too unstructured for my liking.
Depends on the instructor. The ones I go to (well, went to before lockdown) are very structured and based around power (instructor is a cycling coach and knows his stuff). I've also been to some utterly terrible classes in the past, with instructors who had clearly never been near a bike. I didn't go back to those!
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All of the subjective "Now you're climbing a hill, add a bit more resistance, add some more, out of the saddle, add some more resistance, come on guys[1] you're doing great" bollocks can get in the sea.
This, 100%.
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Spin classes are too unstructured for my liking.
Depends on the instructor. The ones I go to (well, went to before lockdown) are very structured and based around power (instructor is a cycling coach and knows his stuff). I've also been to some utterly terrible classes in the past, with instructors who had clearly never been near a bike. I didn't go back to those!
Indeed, if you have power meters (local gym in Cheddar doesn't) and they know their stuff, I'm sure it can work very well.
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That's the reason why I like the usual instructor (Mike). The session is effectively something ripped from TR or similar.
TrainerRoad was founded by a guy, Nate Pearson, who used to go to Chad (TR head coach) Timmerman's CompuTrainer classes. Those classes would have been very similar to TR workouts, from what's been said on the podcast.
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Spin classes are too unstructured for my liking.
Depends on the instructor. The ones I go to (well, went to before lockdown) are very structured and based around power (instructor is a cycling coach and knows his stuff). I've also been to some utterly terrible classes in the past, with instructors who had clearly never been near a bike. I didn't go back to those!
I had one instructor who I found mesmerising, I have never seen anyone throwing themselves around on a bike like that. A little ginger thing she'd be bouncing around all over the place, she wiggled around with her upper body as her legs maintained an utterly impractical cadence. Bless. Absolutely no transfer to cycling so a pointless waste of time for me.
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Ooh. My gym has emailed to confirm it's reopening on 2nd September. :thumbsup:
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Spin classes are too unstructured for my liking.
Depends on the instructor. The ones I go to (well, went to before lockdown) are very structured and based around power (instructor is a cycling coach and knows his stuff). I've also been to some utterly terrible classes in the past, with instructors who had clearly never been near a bike. I didn't go back to those!
I had one instructor who I found mesmerising, I have never seen anyone throwing themselves around on a bike like that. A little ginger thing she'd be bouncing around all over the place, she wiggled around with her upper body as her legs maintained an utterly impractical cadence. Bless. Absolutely no transfer to cycling so a pointless waste of time for me.
I watched a spin class of that ilk (instructor was more the classic male PE teacher / drill sergeant type) with bemused horror while waiting for the physioterrorist one time. Concluded that someone had managed to come up with the least fun thing you could do with a bike, other than actually crashing it. :hand:
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one of the most bizarre i had was "...and now we'll pedal backwards, c'mon everybody!" :facepalm:
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Almost everything I hear about spin classes suggests they have as much to do with cycling as, say, basketball.
But I've never actually done one so I'm just talking impressionistic bollocks. ::-)
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Weight up a bit to 11st 4 but still a stone lighter than pre lockdown and a long term stable weight. Will this become new stable weight? Trying to keep fitness push going into autumn then keep it steady into winter rather than completely slack off and have to start again in 21.
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Still no pools here, nor any clue when they will reopen (or what the issue is, it's a wide pool that could easily support a couple of socially distanced lanes), presumably with the schools reopening at which point the opening hours will be restricted to the point that they're effectively off-limit). I suspect that it's not cost-effective to staff the pool at the moment.
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Our Nuffield gym re-opened, at least a week ago, pool and all. You have to book the pool, only 3 lanes, one person a lane, half an hour. I am told there's hardly anybody there - it never was very busy anyway. I've not been, and we'll probably cancel as Mrs A is not at all keen.
I used to do spinning and we had a good 'leader' who made it tough provided you increased the resistance as instructed! He's left however. I'd done a lot of January and February riding with a club and now thanks to my turbo I have kept fit in lockdown.
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The gym reopened on a fairly spartan schedule with limited opening hours. The pool didn't and is still in mysteryland, but like I say, they're waiting for the schools.
I also swim at the NSC in Crystal Palace, they've open the 25m training pool but not the 50m pool (the last time I looked), which tbh, doesn't make much sense. It's offers a normal 8 lanes of social distancing.
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The university sports centre has re-opened, so barakta's back in the pool for hydrotherapy. Hopefully that will be able to continue without everyone getting coronavirus, as she's lost an alarming amount of mobility since the start of the lockdown.
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The university sports centre has re-opened, so barakta's back in the pool for hydrotherapy. Hopefully that will be able to continue without everyone getting coronavirus, as she's lost an alarming amount of mobility since the start of the lockdown.
Hope that goes well.
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Our Nuffield gym re-opened, at least a week ago, pool and all. You have to book the pool, only 3 lanes, one person a lane, half an hour.
Ours is set up as a 33+1/3m pool with 3 double width lanes (slow, medium, fast). Maximum 45 people per 45 minute session, so that could be 15 people per lane. No excessive dawdling at the ends (get out if you want a longer breather).
Most I've seen in the fast lane is 5 of us although the slow lane did have 10 or so in one session. I'd imagine it'd be quite horrid if the lane was full with 15 people as that'd be 15 people in 67m length of pool, so not much more than 2m separation between each person if everyone is swimming.
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I'm impressed that the Government's latest 'anti-obesity drive' means I can go rub shoulders in Wetherspoons but can't use the local sports centre pool.
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I'm impressed that the Government's latest 'anti-obesity drive' means I can go rub shoulders in Wetherspoons but can't use the local sports centre pool.
Lifting pints counts as your daily 30 mins exercise
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Works for me.
It's one of those strange situations - the leisure centre was run by the local council who palmed it off on the attached school who, of course, know zero about running a leisure centre, so they outsource that to a leisure centre management company.
All fine and good, but it means that if you ask a simple question about the running of said centre, in which whoever you ask will refer you to (or blame) one of the other two.
So the council will include a missive in their monthly magazine telling 'Surrey get healthy' in one of their leisure centres (you ain't going to outrun the bears otherwise). You'll contact the leisure centre and ask 'when can I do this?' and they'll say they'll waiting for the school to confirm their use. You'll ask the school and, well, unless you've a got a child at the school, you'll be lucky to get any response but they'll say opening hours are down to the leisure centre management company.
So, if this is a representative experience, then as a country we'll eventually get so fat that we'll likely sink.
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Our leisure centres were handed over from the City to a charity that specialises in leisure facilities. They haven't re-opened any in Oxford since Covid. David Lloyd, Lifestyle fitness, Anytime Fitness, Park club, and various others have all opened, with various restrictions and rules. I suspect there is a funding shortfall that the charity and the City council are arguing over, and at least while the furlough scheme is in operation it's far cheaper to keep everything shut. Maybe they might open some when schools start block booking the pools, but I fear a number will have to close if there are no subsidies from central gov't. :(
I've done no actual exercise since May thanks to my hip. Whatever fitness I had will be entirely down the drain, then again, I have no timetable for being able to do anything, so maybe it's a moot point anyway. This time last year I did a 10 mile PB and was starting racing my new (to me) CX bike. I miss riding.
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Welcome back to 5-a-side football. Hope you like running:-
(https://lfgss.microco.sm/api/v1/files/caba847be76a1bc6b068f24e21c7c856663ba28c.png)
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First gym class in 6 months this morning. :thumbsup: Only 5 people in a big sports hall, so no problem social distancing!
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And first spin class done, albeit a "virtual" one with no instructor. The normal spin studio is still closed, and the bikes have been moved to a big sports hall to allow more space between them. Good to be back, though I am as hideously unfit as I'd feared, and I'm glad I took my FTP down a chunk to allow for it.
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Spinning class was a different instructor to the usual ones. Still structured but much more "spinning" (e.g. out of the saddle, slow/fast, etc) than my preferred instructor who does proper varied interval sessions and describes the upcoming sections so you know how hard to push.
It's a good workout anyway and will still be doing some good after all of this time off the bike. NP of 163W.
Back to the usual instructor this week, very happy, he's obviously following a proper intervals session and lets you know exactly what is coming up.
(http://www.greenbank.org/misc/spin_20200907.png)
NP of 185W so it's heading in the right direction but it's nice to do something properly structured.
Bonus was the boiler was broken at the pool so I didn't have to do my swim session, will replace it with a long walk to Decrackalon to stock up on some unnecessary items (and some necessary ones, like a new swimsuit for my daughter).
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First "proper" spin class last night, with an instructor and everything. Oh dear! Even with an FTP ~15W lower than 6 months ago, I couldn't manage the 120% FTP intervals at the end. :-\ Still, onwards and upwards, I hope - it's good to get back to decently structured sessions. Next one tomorrow...
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First "proper" spin class last night, with an instructor and everything. Oh dear! Even with an FTP ~15W lower than 6 months ago, I couldn't manage the 120% FTP intervals at the end. :-\ Still, onwards and upwards, I hope - it's good to get back to decently structured sessions. Next one tomorrow...
...and then last night they made us do an FTP test. :sick: It wasn't actually quite as bad as I'd feared - it was slightly down on my last test (which was over a year ago, as I avoid these things) but not too bad, and 18W up on the guesstimated FTP I've been using of late. Of course, this just means tonight's class will be harder... :facepalm:
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As we enter Lockdown 3, it's clear my fitness has fallen to a woeful level.
Excuses are plentiful but I don't want to turn this into a whinge-fest.
The Gyms are shut, and the nearest one is 25 minutes away in a car. The obvious solution seems to be Peloton.
Seeing as it hardly ever gets mentioned on YACF, is it a terrible idea?
I don't own a 5000 square foot apartment looking over Central Park, but I reckon we could fit the bike in on the ground floor somewhere.
I fully admire cyclists who can deal with horrible weather but I hate it and so does Mrs Morat. I'm also on call at the weekends now, so my proper bikes are languishing :(
Clearly, we're both lacking in time and motivation and maybe fake spin classes are the answer, does anyone have better suggestions?
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As we enter Lockdown 3, it's clear my fitness has fallen to a woeful level.
Excuses are plentiful but I don't want to turn this into a whinge-fest.
The Gyms are shut, and the nearest one is 25 minutes away in a car. The obvious solution seems to be Peloton.
Seeing as it hardly ever gets mentioned on YACF, is it a terrible idea?
Good luck buying one. Last time it came up elsewhere there was an 8-12 week lead time on orders.
Same with many of the smart trainers, they all get snapped up whenever places go into lockdown.
Personally I'd buy a Wattbike Atom (again a reasonable lead time I believe) and then be free to choose Zwift/Rouvy/FullGaz/etc rather than being tied into Peleton completely (you can't use one as a Smart trainer attached to something else).
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Peloton: 6-8 weeks minimum in the UK right now
Wattbike Atom: 15-17 weeks according to the website
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Thanks for looking it up. So, yes at least 10 weeks leadtime for the bike+ which is about the same leadtime for getting into a gym, assuming they open in late Feb.
The cost is about the same per month as well seeing as it's £50 each per month at the gym.
Hmm. How much sense would it make in a year?
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I had an FTP at the end of 2019 of 246W (TR ramp test). Then I had a cold and didn't train for a couple of weeks. Tested mid January at 225W, then had another - bad - cold and by the time I was training again, FTP was 215. Trained for a bit then lockdown started, which disrupted things initially, and then I had June off training as I dealt with real life stuff that lockdown had prevented. My FTP had increased to 243W by September when I developed a heart rhythm* problem which ended up with loads of tests and advice to avoid max intensity effort for a while. ECGs, heart monitor for two weeks, cardiac echo, and CT angiogram eventually decided I was probably ok. The heart rhythm problem went away on its own last month. While I was avoiding max intensity I followed a more Z2 focussed plan with more volume and less intensity.
Upshot is I did the ramp test in December and FTP was 251. This is the best score I've ever had on the TrainerRoad ramp test. I did pretty much the same number of outdoor rides in 2020 as 2019 (around 30 in both cases). But the longest ride in 2020 was 129km; the longest in 2019 was 1230km.
For this lockdown I'm not doing the long z2 focus as it's not compatible with sanity indoors. I'm doing something in-between the mid-volume and high volume Sweet Spot Base plans from TrainerRoad. I'm trying to do a couple of long z2s a week, aiming for Wednesdays and Sundays. Goal is 3h. As long as I can actually leave the village this can be done locally with a loop of 10 or so miles. The village is too small, and its streets too narrow, for any sort of training ride to take place within its boundary. I'm unlikely to be exposed to Covid in day-to-day life and haven't had any sort of cold since those two colds in January, so I'm aiming for steady progress.
Edit: also did some rowing during the summer, and gained some confidence in a single. Stopped when the heart problem started and have been scuppered by usually being in a different tier than the rowing club, there being too much water in the river, etc.
* Premature ventricular contractions - usually benign but can be a sign of a serious issue. I was having them basically all the time, roughly 1 beat in 8 over a two week monitoring period, which is very frequent.
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Definitely get yourself a smart trainer of some sort. I got a KICKR in late October and a third of my mileage last year was on it.
Previously on the dumb trainer I found it harder to motivate but with the assistance of Zwift and structured plans I was more motivated. Personally I’d avoid Peloton for the reasons Greenbank says but get something that’s not tied to a specific plan and see what works best for you from Zwift, Trainer Road etc.
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^^
What he said.
Peloton membership will give you yoga and other stuffs too, but I'm not convinced they're any better than the free stuff off youtube.
There is an element of 'I've paid so I'll bloody well use it' I guess.
If you respond well to gamification Zwift is probably a better fit than Peloton anyway.
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Back at start of lockdown I was getting into my distance training in kayak. Once a week I'd do at least 2 hours in the boat. A bit of jogging.
Sometimes both on same day - I'd do a short 1.5hr session in kayak, carry boat home, strap on trainings and do 5km running.
Was able to sustain about 10.5kph for a long session. That is a good pace at my level; 10.5 kph sustained plus a sprint will win a race. So I was hopeful for wins; I was sustaining 10.5 for 20km and my races are 12.8km.
Now . . .
I can't jog 15km at the speed I could paddle. Motivation through the floor.
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My main argument against Peloton is that it's a closed system.
You can't get the Peloton bike to broadcast power/cadence data to be recorded in another system (e.g. a Garmin or received by ANT/BT stick to be used in Zwift/Rouvy/etc). That means you're stuck with it.
Some people are trying to reverse the information sent over various cables internally and then use a small computer like a Raspberry Pi to analyse these and then broadcast the appropriate things over ANT/BT but it's very much a Heath Robinson solution (and isn't complete or reliable).
Also the Peloton isn't controllable like a Smart Trainer is. If I ever get a turbo (living in a first floor flat makes this unlikely) I want it to be able to give me programmes where it dials up the resistance in order to simulate hill climbs without me having to twist dials manually.
If you just want to sit on a bike and pedal, with manual difficulty adjustment (like many spin bikes in the gym), then Peloton is great. Along with the extra motivation of tirelessly cheery people shouting at encouraging you from a big screen in front of you, plus yoga/stretching/ploymetrics/etc.
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Unsurprisingly I'm still at the same weight I was when last lockdown started.
But the motivation to not waste this lockdown has returned. Back running again. Making sure I do at least 10,000 steps a day (WFH, home schooling and lockdown rules make that interesting).
Pushups (with MiniGB) and Leg Blasters (see original post) will return. Skipping can get to fuck though, it was fine in the summer but not interested in the winter.
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Back on Ms Evil the Exercise Bike. I hate her. She hates me. But needs must. It's less boring than the rowing machine. I broke my turbo thing through excessively furious pedalling* during lockdown one and replacements were (and it seems still are) unobtainium.
I just fire up an educational podcast and off I go, futilely pedalling frantically to nowhere. I try to keep the watts north of 200. Seems to work, though I have to grind for the better part of an hour to come even close to what I'd get in a 40-min swim (close enough that I complete my movement ring for the day, oh the tyranny of a smartwatch). I do five minutes on the rower to stop my arms working loose.
I really, really had hoped to have confined the infernal machines back to the garage by now (that's technically the 'gym' but too cold at the moment, so it's still set up in the dining room).
*lie. It was the resistance toggle.
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I rode the turbo for most of the last lockdown. Then stopped because getting off to stretch several times per session was deemed to be bad by my physio. My hip is not improved, so I'm contemplating lending out my turbo (wheel on but smart) as I'm pretty certain I'm not going to use it in the next few months. Trainer Road suspended my membership so if I get back onto it again I can resume at my grandfathered price, which is remarkable customer service.
As for fitness, I do my physio mandated exercises every 2-3 days and go for the odd walk (infrequent rather than silly!). It'll probably maintain some level of strength, but my FTP must be at an all-time low.
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Wattbike Atom does look like a very nice bit of kit! I guess the queue speaks to its quality.
I'm in two minds :( This is a significant chunk of cash to be throwing at something that has every chance of being a white elephant (in a falling white elephant market) in six months time. However, I need to get fit and so does my wife who has just received a T2 diabetes diagnosis.
Diet is key, for both of us, but just as I can get hangry - unless I'm on keto - I get a bit of the old cage-pacing syndrome if I can't get out for a good walk/bike ride.
Keto isn't a good option for my wife atm, according to the quacks and seeing as I'm in charge of the kitchen I really don't fancy making three different meals at each meal time (one each for me, wife, no1 son).
The answer is obvious. Get out and walk, ride when possible, put a diet plan together and stop whinging about it. Why isn't the good stuff fun?!
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I would question the Keto thing. The Newcastle 800C diabetic diet is “essentially” Keto and proven to reverse t2 diabetes.
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I agree with Chris above - the NHS are currently recommending 2 diet programs for T2:
https://www.secondnature.io/guides/nutrition/nhs-trusted-diet-plan
https://www.lowcarbprogram.com/
Both of these focus on reducing carbohydrate - particularly processed - and increasing healthy fat.