Fosse is bored this morning. Why don't you go and annoy Ern on the match day thread. It won't take much.
Cycling is usually my go to, but I thought this was more cardio work and not as efficient at burning fat that weights or steps ? I don't know. The good thing with cycling for me is that I do a lot of it (when I have time!) and usually 1:30hr at a time. It's all off road and a mix of trails and technical stuff. I guess I'd like to get a good mix of workouts. Surfing is great, the paddling can be relentless, but often comes in short intense bursts. Cycling is steadier as is the swimming. I need to work out a good plan for myself as I should have a bit more time now that the summer is coming to an end.
The best exercise is the one you enjoy and will stick to. But weights I think are especially important as you get older and muscle mass deteriorates if you don’t do anything to maintain/grow it. You’ll be glad you did a bit when you’re Fosse’s age. Gets harder as most things do (not another Fosse gag) the later you start.
My work involves a lot of carrying heavy stuff around, but I guess it's in a fairly uncoordinated way. I've mostly just ended up with a bad back from lugging **** around this summer. I'll have to build in some weights I reckon, I've no idea where to start with any of it though... And good tip about doing what you enjoy, I've never been a fan of the gym and prefer to get my exercise doing the outdoor things that I enjoy anyway. But if somebody can convince me that doing weights in the gym is fun, I'm game...
Some people get more into it over time and some people just never do. Nothing you can really do about it if that’s the case and there’s always other stuff. I know a guy who weighs nothing, hates gyms but he does a lot of climbing and he’s exceptionally strong for his weight.
I'll give it go, or maybe get some weights for home. I've always just gauged my fitness and strength on how I feel, rather than having any particular plan. I just know that I'm happiest (and fitter) when I'm actively doing 3-5 fairly intense workouts each week, but I've never really done it in any organised way. Guess I've noticed the lack of it this summer because I've been completely tied up with work, looking after my old dear, juggling family stuff and not finding the time for myself.
If doing 3 a week I’d just have a push day, a pull day and a leg day. Message me and I’ll suggest a routine in the week if you want. Track what you’re lifting and how many reps and just progress each week.
The 180 - your age thing is a very approximate equation. If you know your max heart rate then take 40 off that. I'm 44 now and my max heart rate is 184. So for me, the anaerobic line is around 140. My long slow aerobic exercise is usually cycling and I try and keep my HR around 135. If it goes up to 140 then I ease off, if it goes to 125 then I put a bit more effort in. For performance in competition I used to work on 80/20. That means 80% of my workouts would be at aerobic and 20% would be full gas or intervals in anaerobic. For weight loss, you don't really need anaerobic at all. You can take it 'easy' and just burn the fat. The fact that we all seem a bit older hints that aerobic has another advantage in that you don't put your body under too much stress as everything is "conversational" so less injuries occur. The down side is that you have to spend hours in this zone to really reap the benefits. Sounds like hiking is ideal. You'll be going for hours at a time. To really get the aerobic benefits though you might have to walk fast to get that HR up to the line. You should find that as time passes that you can walk/jog/cycle/swim faster with the same effort. When I started aerobic training for running my pace was steady. Aerobic line was 154 back then and I trundled along at 6:00mins/km for 10km. After 18 months of aerobic training I could run at 4:15mins/km for 20km. Mine was performance related but the 'side effect' was huge weight loss. I went from 82kg down to 72kg and I'm 6ft 2". I maintained the power and got very quick. I've done plans for older people specifically for injury free weight loss and had alot of success with it. Specifically walking/jogging and cycling. As Bwood suggested, it's very important to do weights or circuit training for strength. Impact training like walking or running is important for cyclists and swimmers to increase bone density. Also, an easy tip for diet is to eat within 1 hour of exercise because your metabolism is still high after exercise so your body will use that food for energy/recovery instead of storing it as fat.
Fair call ... got a pair of dumbells to keep the arms in order ... more pretty long walks than anything for the legs these days ...
I dropped a good amount of weight a couple of years ago skipping breakfast, doing an intense cycle and then having a brunch straight afterwards.
Be careful with fasted workouts. They should never be intense. Its very dangerous to do too intense workouts whilst fasted. It can kill you if you push it too hard. If you want to do fasted workouts then they are great for weight loss as your body is forced to break down fat cells to get the energy to fuel your workouts. They MUST be low intensity though. At higher intensity the body doesn't have time to convert fat to glycogen to glucose because the intensity requires energy urgently. The body basically starts breaking down it's own internal organs to frantically find fast energy. It can lead to organ failure. Fasted morning workouts should be aerobic only and hydration is key. Don't skip the water.
Bear spray or, a top tip I picked up bear gel spray. As an aerosol can blow back in your face and render you incapacitated and thus easy picking for Yogi
Okay that's good to know. When I say skip breakfast, I actually usually start those days with a Banana smoothie
