The Sports/Fitness Thread

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by OJneg, Oct 21, 2015.

  1. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    Continued from Chang: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1745.0.html

    Audiophiles aren't known for being the most athletic bunch, but I think it's good to have a thread to remind us to go outside and play. Whether you're Michael Phelps or Danny Devito, feel free to let us know what athletic activities you do.
     
  2. AustinValentine

    AustinValentine Friend

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    Good thread. I've been out of the fitness loop for a bit - goal is to get back in respectable shape over the next two years.

    I used to be a pretty solid epee fencer (NCAA Division 1, Class A Varsity, just shy of a 70% win record over 160 division/club matches). Graduate school and happy married life have the effect of putting the weight on. While it's unlikely that I'll ever get back to a conditioning level where I won't blow a knee out on the strip, I'd like to be in shape enough to enjoy some some lower impact sports.
     
  3. Mikoss

    Mikoss Friend

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    Nice thread, I enjoy running myself, and try to get in 5 miles a day... usually at the gym on the track or treadmill since the weather here is cold 9-10 months of the year. I used to find it impossible to run without listening to music, but after having earbud issues, as well as hyperacusis, I've given it up. I often spend a lot of time thinking about what songs to listen to once I'm back home, though.

    Running can be very solitary, but it's also kind of cathartic at the same time... and addictive if it doesn't destroy your knees. I've definitely felt the runners high myself many times, which is interesting.
     
  4. Maxvla

    Maxvla Friend

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    In 2011 I lost about 75 lbs following a pretty strict (but easy) diet and doing some high intensity cardio and some light lifting for about 5 months. Very slowly I added 2/3 of it back until about 2 1/2 months ago when I started controlling my eating once again, and then about 3 weeks ago I've started walking every day after work. I've dropped 40 lbs in those 2 1/2 months and am within 15 lbs of my low from 2011. My aim this time is for 20-30 lbs below that low, which will put me in a place I haven't been since early high school when I used to play basketball in amateur leagues.

    I'm enjoying the loss plan more this time as I'm eating mostly normal foods (but still being careful), just focusing on clean foods and small portions. The other reason is when I did the workout routine before I ended up looking too bulky in the shoulders/arms/neck. This time I'm focusing almost entirely on legs with minimal arm exercises and nothing around the neck/shoulder area. I'm averaging 4 mph on my walks, which is 'very very brisk' according to most calorie burning calculators and I'm walking with a long stride to engage as many muscles as possible. I do 6 miles on Sunday (my day off) and 1.5 miles (once around the park) after work every other day, so 15 miles at a brisk pace per week. I'm also doing limited body weight leg exercises on non-Sundays like hip abductions, squats, deadlifts, and lunges.

    I have 10 and 6 year old nephews who are into and getting into sports at a low level now, so this is added incentive for me to be more fit so I can play with them and keep up (and be better than them.. for a while). I'm enjoying the best balance since my teens with all these leg muscles getting toned, and feeling very light on my feet despite still being 35-45 lbs off my goal.

    Additionally I find my walks a great time to get a chapter or so in on an audiobook, or part of an album. Phone + UERM is light and very high quality audio.

    I don't really follow sports too much except getting caught up in local teams' successes (OU Sooners/OKC Thunder). I enjoy playing basketball, but not (as much) watching it. I don't like playing football at all, but do enjoy watching it from time to time.
     
  5. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    I have quite the story for my health over the last 3 years or so. But I'll shorten it down since I doubt most are interest in a long winded retelling.

    About three years, I moved in with a new roommate for about a year before I came to Korea. And he was a huge health/fitness nut, and basically got me to reevaluate my entire outlook on what I was putting in my body on a regular basis.

    He is the one that got me into juicing on a regular basis. And really trying to limit how many animal products I was putting in my body. Realizing that getting enough vegetables, the leafier and the greener the better, into your body every day led to huge benefits in all aspects of your life. To this day I still juice about 5 times a week. I'm also a huge advocate of drinking enough water. I average between 1.5 and 2 gallons every day. And also see benefits to almost all aspects of life from doing that as well.

    As for fitness(the actual topic of this thread...oops) it comes and goes for me. It can never go to far though, being in the Air Force I'm required to maintain at least a somewhat reasonable level of fitness at all times. But my personal involvement waxes and wanes. My most active periods of fitness were always when I was working night shift and had nothing better to do after work than to go to the gym at like 6am, I would lift and run almost every day.

    Since I got to Korea though, I've had two major running kicks. Last August I decided I was going to run a half marathon in October, something I always felt I could do and so wanted to accomplish at least once. Well I ended up hurting my feet almost every time I went for a long run and would have to take several weeks off at a time and wasn't ready for the half marathon and didn't end up doing it. After that it got pretty cold out for the winter, but starting back up in like may I was running a couple times a month. And in about July I was running 4 miles once or twice a week and decided I wanted to do a half marathon again. Scheduled again for the middle of October. This time my feet were mostly ok, and I trained till I went and did it. My goal the whole time was to be under 2 hours which I managed, I pulled out a 1:59:08 on my first last and only half marathon.

    Now for a somewhat meta commentary on running, I've found I can really enjoy running anything up to around 6 miles. Its fun, and that distance feels like you really accomplished something, but not so far as to take up too terribly much of your time. From 6-10 miles I'm kind of ambivalent about, it's fine and I could do it on a regular basis, but it's just too big of a time sink. But this recent training is what made me realize 10 miles is where the ambivalence ends. I've learned that anything over 10 miles is just pain. Every step hurts and basically just isn't worth it at all. I enjoyed doing the one half marathon I did, and I'm incredibly proud of my time, but it won't ever happen again. I can see myself doing quite a few 10Ks in the future though, as that is my sweet spot.

    All that training for the run though really hurt my calisthenics. So now I'm trying to refocus. My goal moving forward is to do 100 each of push-ups, decline sit-ups, Roman chair back extensions and squats, all body weight, followed by a 4 more run 4-5 times a week. I think that is a relatively sustainable and not too time consuming workout plan for myself. I will say though that the first couple attempts have been brutal since all I did for so long was long distance running..

    As for sports, I love watching them, but am not nearly coordinated enough to play them even remotely competitively. I do play random games of basketball or ultimate frisbee at unit PT from time to time though.

    That didn't then out to be that short or condensed at all, my bad haha
     
  6. Maxvla

    Maxvla Friend

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    But... the official sport of South Korea is Starcraft/LoL/etc, so what sports do you REALLY play? |\/|
     
  7. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    Haha this is true. They go hard for some LoL these days. I keep meaning to get to one of the public competitions just to see it.

    But alas, I basically quit gaming like four and a half years ago. Not willfully, it just sort of happened...
     
  8. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    The way I figure diet is a big part of fitness, so feel free to discuss all approaches :)

    Over the last 9 months I've tried a variety of diets to lower my body fat. The bottom line is none of them worked for me. When you get a sedentary deskjob and life-stress starts dragging you down you naturally want to drop into the excuse of not doing regular exercise. Diet seems like an easier option to save time and energy. But for me it comes down to self-discipline, and counting calories is hard when you feel like you don't have any energy. I changed things up about a month ago. 7AM morning run, ~30 minutes. Every day no excuses. An alternating hypertrophy regiment every night,10-11PM. Every day no excuses. An absolute PITA to get into the groove for the first week, but once it becomes a habit your body gets restless at those times and you get the urge to be active. And that's an awesome feeling because you're going to be snappy and receptive the rest of the day*. It's only been a month, and I was never that heavy, but I seriously look at my face in the mirror and I look like a totally different person. The whole process has made me a believer that regular exercise is the key. There's really no substitute.

    In terms of diet I've gone back to the food of my ancestors. Basmati. Goat products. Cream. Yogurt. Beef. Chicken. Leek. Mint. Onions. Anything fresh I can get at the market. I still avoid packaged stuff, sugary carb abominations, etc. but for the most part I don't sweat what I put in my body anymore so long as it's fresh. I'm sure a dietitian or fitness trainer could tell me that my method is 26.5% suboptimal but I can only speak from experience about what works for me. A rich diet + regular sweat feels like something I can sustain over the long-term, although time will tell. My bones are still young so I have an advantage there.

    *Lifting at night gets the blood running and you end up browsing SBAF until 2am if you don't put yourself to sleep.
     
  9. Eric_C

    Eric_C Friend

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    I'm trying to lose my gut and get back into shape. Recently been trying to eat brown rice instead of white, and dividing up my dinner plate as: 1/6 rice, 1/3 veg, 1/2 meat. Also, eating overnight oats for breakfast: soaked in yoghurt and a bit of milk--hope that much dairy is ok for the body?
    Was getting back into a bit of gymming (squats, pull-downs, bench presses) until I fell and hurt my left forearm. It still hurts a bit one month after the fall, so I'm wary of even doing push-ups.
     
  10. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    Haha yeah man, everyone has to find a sustainable way for them to maintain a reasonable level of health and weight and that will be different for all people for sure.

    Back in March is when I first realized/really decided i needed to lose some weight, not a bunch but like 25 pounds. Id put on some weight since I got to Korea and wasn't completely happy with how I looked. I'm 6'4" and was up around 220-225. I'd prefer to be under 200.

    I took a bit of an extreme tack, but one that I knew I could maintain. I decided to replace breakfast and dinner every day(mostly just during the week, I cheated most weekends) with blended vegetables. About 12-16 ozs of almond milk, huge handful of spinach, a big leaf of kale, a couple sticks of celery and a whole kiwi. After a couple weeks I added in two big spoonfuls of plain Greek yogurt as well. And since I was blending so much I quit juicing as well. I'll say I was rarely hungry. That usually came out to about 25-32 ozs of blended veggie, which was very filling. The hard part wasn't even that it tasted bad, it actually tastes pretty good all things considered. It's just that you miss the flavor a of your favorite foods a lot, so it takes a bit of willpower. But with minimal working out in a few months I got back down to under 200. I stopped blending, but I'm much more careful now about portion sizes and what I'm eating so I can maintain the weight I want. The running all the time to train for the marathon didn't hurt either haha

    So now I'm juicing again, and I try to eat these delicious veggie tacos that I learned how to make with my old roommate. They are corn tortillas fried in coconut oil, black beans, spinach, salsa/avocado/guacamole and a little bit of sour cream(which I recently started using Greek yogurt instead). Super easy and fast to make, specially since I'm almost always cooking for 1 and very healthy and low calories, while still being tastey and very filling. Usually eat 3 or 4.

    Anyways, my current goal for diet is to start limiting how often I'm going out to eat, I'm ok with eating out for lunch with my co workers but I'm really trying to cut back on how often I eat out alone for dinners and on weekends.
     
  11. Eric_C

    Eric_C Friend

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    Yeah, eating out with friends leads to some of my unhealthiest meals every week! Ugh.
    I can't really avoid that, so I need to start being disciplined about what I eat on my own. Choosing foods based on nutritional value and not craving is the hardest part for me.
     
  12. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Hey all...

    Just wanted to pop in and say that I coach cross country. If anyone wants any running advice or training tips, feel free to hit me up anytime. I focus primarily on 5/10k training, but have enough knowledge to get someone through a half or full marathon as well.

    Stay fit!
     
  13. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    Awesome. I ran XC my freshman year of HS. Fittest (and lightest) I've ever been.
     
  14. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    In hospitality know I am constantly moving around.

    When my new job starts with more regular hours I will pick up squash again. At home minor lifting exercises and stretching are enough.
     
  15. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Very cool. We won state last year, which was amazing. I lost 6 of my top 7, though, so it's a rebuilding year.

    Region meet on Thursday...we should win, but we're going to get our tails kicked at the state meet.
     
  16. Eric_C

    Eric_C Friend

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    I'm seeing a lot of "30 day push up challenges" and "30 day plank challenges" on the social webs. Are any of them good for someone with nearly zero fitness?
     
  17. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Currently hitting the gym at nights as much as I can. Getting back in shape little by little. Don't think I have lost any weight. But I think I have replaced some fat with muscle and that's always good.
     
  18. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    First set a personal goal or several goals. Then I would start with a basic warm up and some running to gradually get a feel for your stamina and breathing.

    When the place where you want to work out has good personal trainers, ask for advice or some guidance. Before I got into shape again I started with warming up and running.

    Really start with setting a or several personal goals. They keep you motivated and focused.
     
  19. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Resurrecting this thread since I'm really on a fitness kick now. I've been logging my progress on a spreadsheet and I feel like I'll share my numbers if someone is curious about what it takes to get somewhere.

    About a month ago I was 210 lbs and my BP was regularly north of 145/95. I resolved to do something since both my grandfathers and my father died of heart disease before the age of 60. Before college almost 100% of my exercise was sports or just regular activity. I never did a workout because I thought that was wasted effort. Instead of lifting weights, I preferred helping someone move. Instead of treadmill, I liked riding my bike to the store or a friends house. I just always hated exercise for the sake of exercise.

    Well organized sports are kind of out of the question so I need to do some kind of workout. I never liked long runs but loved short intense movement like sprints or jumping. So I wake up early to do 30-60 min of interval training on most days. Currently doing 1min sprint and 1 min rest. I try to incorporate pushups, squats, burpees and leg lifts when I can. In two weeks I brought my BP down to 127/77 and after a month my weight is 201lbs. Goal weight is to get down to 160-180lbs and to run 400m in 60s. These are my current sprint numbers:

    200m: 40s
    400m: 93s

    Of note is that I'm exclusively doing nasal breathing and running barefoot on a track. There's a couple reasons for this. One is it keeps me from going too hard too soon. As my oxygen capacity increases I can increase my pace. Same reasoning for going barefoot; it forces me to go slow until my feet adapt and than I can pick up the pace. But also running barefoot is ultimately to improve my running form.

    Also noticed my flexibility has gone to shit. So I'm avoiding chairs a lot more and I do floor sitting when I watch TV, play with kids or use my laptop. I got myself to a pretty comfortable asian squat now. Hopefully might actually do splits if I'm consistent with my stretches.

    As far as diet goes I do 16:8 intermittent fasting now. Basically means I have zero food until 2pm. I was actually doing this quite a bit in high school by accident. I usually woke up too late to have breakfast and I often forgot my lunch money. So I didn't eat until I got home to eat dinner. I never weighed over 155lbs at 5'9". I always thought this was terrible and that things would be better if I listened to the propaganda that I needed 3 meals a day. So in college that's exactly what I did. My weight shot up to 180lbs and I was always tired throughout the day. Its not until 20 years later that I read about a lot of benefits of intermittent fasting that I realized I was doing something right. I've also had a lot of cramps so I'm eating foods with as much potassium as I can get. My main protein is oily fish (mackeral, sardines, etc) because it's cheap and has a ton of omega-3s.
     
  20. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    I did triple jump, high jump, soccer and tennis. I kinda wish I did cross country because I feel like that was something I could have continued doing anywhere.
     

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