Fitness 2020

[GuitarStv]

My rack is pretty sturdy.  I've had more than 300 lbs in the uprights and it has worked fine.  All the wood is under compression, so it's pretty stable.  You're depending on the shear strength of your bolts there with yours (which is a pretty nicely constructed rack though - don't get me wrong!)

:P

[oysters]

Goal Achieved!


Just did a 10km run in 55mins17seconds. Super happy with that. My goal for 2020 was to get back to running 10km in an hour, so did it easily less than halfway through the year!


Gyms are about to re-open here in South Australia (we have 1 active case of Covid that was a recent import, but over a month really without any community transmission, and we have some of the highest test rates in the world). The restrictions are a 20 person and 1hr visit limit, with cleaning etc in place. I'm planning to go a few times a week and try and do the original Tabata protocol workout on a spin bike. Then I'll try retest the 10km run, see what happens :-)


I think there is a fair chance if I keep improving I should be able to do a 12km run in under an hour this year...which would be a PB.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Way to go @Eucalyptus ! That's awesome.

I'm almost to my 100 day working out streak, and am feeling good. Haven't made a ton of weight loss progress, but tried on some older/smaller jeans today, and everything fit. I'm definitely feeling better, things are more toned, I have a bunch more energy than ever before, and my mood is generally improved. I'm work out regularly anyway, but no commute, international travel (work) or vacations means I've achieved a level of consistency I've never had before. It's been pretty eye opening.

[sui generis]

I went through a couple of weeks of ennui recently and just was not looking forward to my workouts.  I still did probably 80-90% of what I would do, but it wasn't great.  I am also finding that I definitely am lifting less lately, which is frustrating.  Amounts I've always lifted have become, in the last few weeks, nearly or actually impossible to finish my sets with.  I'm trying to think through why I might suddenly be getting weaker, but everything seems sort of far-fetched or hard to prove/conclude.

I've also been struggling with a decent amount of ankle pain. For the last year, I'd have some pain my outer right ankle and the top of my foot.  Now I've also got pain in my inner left ankle. So it seems pretty clear I'm lopsided!  Must have some kind of biomechanical issue that puts undue strain on my right side.  I've been doing icing and compression which helps a bit and the interesting thing is the pain is worst when I'm sedentary and non-existent with exercising.  But it feels like something I won't be able to get to the bottom of or solve.

[mm1970]

I quit my run streak a few weeks early.  My Achilles is just not happy and I was forcing it.  I also looked at my monthly mileage this year:
38.83 Jan
44.05 Feb
53.59 Mar
61.7 Apr
66.78 May

And last year, and it looks like around 60+ miles is when things start to hurt.

It took me 3 months, but I finished a round of LIIFT4 on beachbody, go me!  My husband and teen just started it after watching me.  Today, I started Hammer and Chisel.

I do better with a schedule and a calendar, and I like following along with a program.  This one so far seems well suited to work with running.  So in another week or two, I'll try running again.

I've really wanted to get more weights, can't find them anywhere.  I have 10, 15 lb dumbbells (plus a set of adjustable that are 4/9/14/19/24 etc), and really wanted 12.5, 17.5.  Ended up on rep fitness for 4 hours to see what they had (they had a "lobby" system for ordering).  I was number 22000+.  All the dumbbells were sold out by then, but I did snag 2 kettlebells - both 10kg, for double swings and squats and deadlifts.  These were the largest ones they had left 4 hours into the site opening up...really wanted a 25 lb and 35 lb, but ah well.

[GuitarStv]

I have 10, 15 lb dumbbells (plus a set of adjustable that are 4/9/14/19/24 etc), and really wanted 12.5, 17.5.

Buy some bits of chain at your local hardware store, and you can add/remove to your 10 and 15 lb dumbbells as necessary for micro-loading.

[chaskavitch]

Kettle bell swing question:

I stopped doing these for a while and recently started adding them into my workouts again.  I don't THINK I changed my form, but it's been making my traps incredibly sore, to the point where it's giving me a headache for a day or two afterwards.  Could there be something specific that I'm doing wrong that would lead to that, or is it just my traps being a weak link in my strength?

[mm1970]

I have 10, 15 lb dumbbells (plus a set of adjustable that are 4/9/14/19/24 etc), and really wanted 12.5, 17.5.

Buy some bits of chain at your local hardware store, and you can add/remove to your 10 and 15 lb dumbbells as necessary for micro-loading.

Mostly, I'm just using the bigger weights and fewer reps. Yeah, could probably do 10 reps with 17.5 lb, but 8 reps with 19 lb is fine...

[sui generis]

I went out for a long, steep day hike yesterday.  I haven't done that much in a long time. Just haven't wanted to have to do a tough hike with a mask on, and have been assuming the local hiking trails would be super crowded as folks wanted to get out and do something.  Luckily, not many people were out there.  If we've been doing day hikes lately, they've all been pretty flat and/or short, so this was the first time I really tested my fitness and I was pretty unhappy!  Apparently 3-4x per week strength training and 2-3x per week HIIT doesn't do as much as I hoped to keep me in shape.  I was struggling up the steep hills.

I was really under the impression that HIIT was supposed to be super efficient as far as cardio fitness.  That quite short bouts (8-15 minutes per workout) of getting your heart rate up to 90% max can be really effective.  But, for the couple hours I was climbing the mountain, my heart seemed like it was at 90% max for a majority of that period.  Also, I think my heart rate is only either at normal (75-80bpm) or at 90% max.  I never seem to get to a place of good cardio fitness.

I am trying to congratulate myself on sticking to my workout schedules, to still pushing myself to do do hard workouts, within what I think is safe.  Even though I thought I would achieve more results, there's something to be said for just sticking to it as well, I guess.

[GuitarStv]

I went out for a long, steep day hike yesterday.  I haven't done that much in a long time. Just haven't wanted to have to do a tough hike with a mask on, and have been assuming the local hiking trails would be super crowded as folks wanted to get out and do something.  Luckily, not many people were out there.  If we've been doing day hikes lately, they've all been pretty flat and/or short, so this was the first time I really tested my fitness and I was pretty unhappy!  Apparently 3-4x per week strength training and 2-3x per week HIIT doesn't do as much as I hoped to keep me in shape.  I was struggling up the steep hills.

I was really under the impression that HIIT was supposed to be super efficient as far as cardio fitness.  That quite short bouts (8-15 minutes per workout) of getting your heart rate up to 90% max can be really effective.  But, for the couple hours I was climbing the mountain, my heart seemed like it was at 90% max for a majority of that period.  Also, I think my heart rate is only either at normal (75-80bpm) or at 90% max.  I never seem to get to a place of good cardio fitness.

I am trying to congratulate myself on sticking to my workout schedules, to still pushing myself to do do hard workouts, within what I think is safe.  Even though I thought I would achieve more results, there's something to be said for just sticking to it as well, I guess.

Your body optimizes for things you do more often.  A high heart rate doesn't necessarily mean that your heart is unfit, it could just be that your body is not as efficient at performing the motion you're asking of it.  Your heart also works differently at different altitudes (not sure how high you were hiking vs what altitude you usually work out at).  Finally, different temperatures will drain your heart more.  My heart rate is much higher when I'm cycling in the winter than in the summer, even when taking it easy.