The Exercise Motivation Thread - 2016

[jtbo]

JTbo, for what it's worth, I was told that when I'm using the elliptical, I should put my Fitbit Flex in my pocket or stick it down inside my sock. The reason for that is that the elliptical does not track well with the Flex. I found that even sticking the tracker into my pocket gave me a better reading when using the elliptical.

Yes, when hands are not moving much those trackers can't pick it up properly (if doing tasks where only hands move they count too much), roads here are enough uneven that when bicycling it registers a lot of steps, but it might work more reliably when put to ankle there too.

I just wish that they would reply to my mail and that I would get problems with this tracker fixed up, so that I could use heart rate belt and GPS together (currently it just crashes/dies if I attempt to start a workout), also I can't transfer any data from it currently.

Today's ride I had to record with android pocket computer that has gps and it is not very reliable, altitude is all over the place with it as well as speed and location, but at least today it did record something, yesterday it just crashed. Software these days seem to be quite unreliable.

 

[tammat]

So I was complaining about cooler weather them out of the blue 39 deg Celsius today!!! It was 40 in the shed and I did my legs. I had a fan blowing right at me so it wasn't so bad. My second set of torq was disgraceful 8 reps instead of 20. I'm not beating myself up over it. I will do better next time. My heavy sets were good.
Keep going everybody.
Oh and I ate more carbs yest 45% and today I feel much better. The scales even went down this morning which was a wonderful surprise [emoji]128512[/emoji]

 

[Norachan]

 
Well, we worked on the treadmill again over the weekend.....for now, it seems to be ok again.

2 miles on the treadmill this morning.

3 miles walked during my lunch hour today.

@Norachan. I looked through the posts....nothing on Sophie?? 

Not yet. I moved the camera to a different spot last night and a cat turned up less than 5 minutes after I left. Only got the ears and the back of his/her neck in shot, but it wasn't obviously not Sophie. Going down to set it up again now, try and get a better camera angle.

30 minutes on my bike and about 60 minutes walk today in total.

 

[catlover19]

A little over an hour walk this morning and close to 5,000 steps. Will walk again later today. I probably won't do a workout today because I'm really stuffed up and my throat feels yucky.

 

[jtbo]

30 minutes of bike ride, I did try to keep heart rate steady, it was challenging at first because it changed so quickly when intensity changed, but after warming up it was easier. Barely broke a sweat, while same route and same intensity earlier was pushing a lot of sweat and felt lot of work.
Asthma has been behaving today, also got over 9 hours of sleep, which cut sleep debt a bit, has been quite short sleep for some time now.

I think I have been cheating myself on earlier rides, I have been even coasting on downhills, I rode lot harder so heart rate did not drop too much, but this slower pace and having to maintain heart rate withing 10 beats is really feeling more, so I guess I really use muscles lot more now.

There are benefits to short fast bursts and slow steady grinding, I have omitted latter too much and I think that has slowed progression a bit. So no more HIIT until end of summer or so, even it is lot of more fun really.

 

[tammat]

30 minutes of bike ride, I did try to keep heart rate steady, it was challenging at first because it changed so quickly when intensity changed, but after warming up it was easier. Barely broke a sweat, while same route and same intensity earlier was pushing a lot of sweat and felt lot of work.
Asthma has been behaving today, also got over 9 hours of sleep, which cut sleep debt a bit, has been quite short sleep for some time now.

I think I have been cheating myself on earlier rides, I have been even coasting on downhills, I rode lot harder so heart rate did not drop too much, but this slower pace and having to maintain heart rate withing 10 beats is really feeling more, so I guess I really use muscles lot more now.

There are benefits to short fast bursts and slow steady grinding, I have omitted latter too much and I think that has slowed progression a bit. So no more HIIT until end of summer or so, even it is lot of more fun really.

I have exercise induced asthma. If I forget to take meds before a jog then that jog is very hard work. In Australia we can buy ventolin over the counter without a script. If you can get it then I highly recommend you get a puffer and try it. It's completely safe and if it works then you have asthma. If it doesn't work then you don't. Then you can visit Dr to get a management plan. Our bodies do not want to burn fat and build muscle. They just don't so yes our natural instinct is to take it easy. It most definatley is a mind game to push ourselves harder. Some days it's easier than others too. What you need is someone behind you on a motor bike poking you with a big stick. That will make you go faster [emoji]128512[/emoji] Lol!!!
We are all doing great.

 

[jtbo]

I have exercise induced asthma. If I forget to take mess before a jog then that jog is very hard work. In Australia we can buy ventolin over the counter without a script. If you can get it then I highly recommend you get a puffer and try it. It's completely safe and if it works then you have asthma. If it doesn't work then you don't. Then you can visit Dr to get a management plan. Our bodies do not want to burn fat and build muscle. They just don't do yes our natural instinct is to take it easy. It most definatley is a mind game to push ourselves harder. Some days it's easier than others too. What you need is someone behind you on a motor bike poking you with a stick. That will make you go faster [emoji]128512[/emoji] Lol!!!
We are all doing great.

Problem is more that I like to go too fast, it does not improve my endurance and my development has been not very fast because I'm doing too hard workouts.

I have read how many runners for example have reached much lower heart rates at same pace by going slower.

I have Beclomet and Buventol for Asthma (ordered by doctor), other is for opening and other is long term reduce to inflammation, but few days have been really difficult even with those, today was lot better in that sense, but our dry winter air is not good for me.

One of the problems have been that no matter how hard I ride, I don't get my legs sore and maximum heart rate is 20 less than it should be, I can keep pushing flat on, but heart rate tapers off and starts to decrease after a while, it does not really hurt or feel painful/horrible, I just run out of air.

I haven't done base training for a long time, I have fallen probably mostly to that higher aerobic and little anaerobic which some warns about that it is area that gives most endorphin, it is hard, but one should take care to have more base aerobic and little anaerobic when training for endurance.

Few months base building should allow me to run more than 200 meters before exhaustion and with winter and asthma that might be best as I get to anaerobic way too early, well before I should, in last two days it was around 130bpm when it should be near 150bpm, when running out of air, you end up anaerobic.

I think I need to visit also doctor, I really would like to get VO2 testing and see if asthma medication needs adjustments for exercising, I think what I have diagnosed is only common Asthma, so they might need to change medication and maybe that allows me to improve little more.

When I got current medication my performance on bike jumped quite a lot.

 

[tammat]

Problem is more that I like to go too fast, it does not improve my endurance and my development has been not very fast because I'm doing too hard workouts.

I have read how many runners for example have reached much lower heart rates at same pace by going slower.

I have Beclomet and Buventol for Asthma (ordered by doctor), other is for opening and other is long term reduce to inflammation, but few days have been really difficult even with those, today was lot better in that sense, but our dry winter air is not good for me.

One of the problems have been that no matter how hard I ride, I don't get my legs sore and maximum heart rate is 20 less than it should be, I can keep pushing flat on, but heart rate tapers off and starts to decrease after a while, it does not really hurt or feel painful/horrible, I just run out of air.

I haven't done base training for a long time, I have fallen probably mostly to that higher aerobic and little anaerobic which some warns about that it is area that gives most endorphin, it is hard, but one should take care to have more base aerobic and little anaerobic when training for endurance.

Few months base building should allow me to run more than 200 meters before exhaustion and with winter and asthma that might be best as I get to anaerobic way too early, well before I should, in last two days it was around 130bpm when it should be near 150bpm, when running out of air, you end up anaerobic.

I think I need to visit also doctor, I really would like to get VO2 testing and see if asthma medication needs adjustments for exercising, I think what I have diagnosed is only common Asthma, so they might need to change medication and maybe that allows me to improve little more.

When I got current medication my performance on bike jumped quite a lot.

That's good to hear you have asthma meds from Dr. It's a great idea to go back and see if they need adjusting. You are doing amazing!!! Keep going
I did my chest and biceps today. Took some progress pics and got photo bombed by black cat The cats couldn't give two hoots about me any other time!!!! Pics show that I am making progress. The backs of my legs are not my best asset :jaw: I'm gonna have to do hamstring exercises. Reckon I've said that before. This time I need to just do it. I'm waisting time

 

[jtbo]

55 minutes bicycling today, visited at grocery store and then took one lap around a pond. It seems I was 5 minutes faster around the pond than 2 days ago, this time snow was cleared so bike rolled lot easier, I kept heart rate same as before which should allow me to monitor any improvements over time.

Pond is actually not visible from the road/path, it is there according to map though.

It is around 5.5km lap, no big hills which is quite rare here, good for base building during winter, during summer it has quite big crushed stone so it is not so nice then, but lowering tire pressure helps.

 

[Winchester]

We managed to get the treadmill working again. It's breaking down often.

2.25 miles on the treadmill this morning.

3 very gusty miles walked during my lunch hour today.

 

[jtbo]

1 hour and 14 minutes of nordic walking, with few short runs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_walking

Temperature was -3 Celsius (26.6F) when I started and -11 Celsius (12.2F) when I got home and I thought that I'm slacking off walking and kept pushing harder to keep warm, good personal trainer that temperature drop

 

[catlover19]

I'm still trying to get over this cold so I haven't been exercising other than walking. We want to start taking nightly walks after dinner too which makes minimum 3 walks a day for me during the week. We walked Tuesday night but weren't able to last night because of the weather and it's windy and snowing today so probably won't go anywhere.

I've been walking 8-12,000 steps every day aside from one day last week.

 

[tammat]

Yesterday I did cardio with Karlee again. it was great. So hard. She made me use 5 kg Dumbbells for cardio and a 9 kg slam ball. That's just plain mean . I love it though. I love to get pushed. And here I am the next morning. Alive and well ready to exercise again

So let's get out there and exercise.

 

[jtbo]

1 hour and 25 minutes moving snow, burned 732 net calories.

This less hard and longer method seem to be working as heart rate is getting lower for same effort as before.

 

[catlover19]

Lots of walking this morning. Over 7800 steps before noon. We still have another walk to do in a bit.

 

[tammat]

Yesterday I did my HAMSTRINGS!!!! Woo! Rohan is still on holiday so I didn't have any guidance. I did my torture 4 mins warm up then I did TORQ hamstring curls. 30/ 20/ 15 reps. Today they are slightly sore but I think I need to go heavier next time. I also did my triceps and then I was supposed to do my abs but forgot until it was too late :doh3: I'll have a rest today and make abs up on Sunday.
I've also been getting a right side forearm workout each day brushing shedding cats. :lol3: I guess my babies have mature coats now? They are 3 and I've never had this much hair on the floors. Vacumming vigoursly must burn up a few calories right?

 

[jtbo]

Yesterday I did my HAMSTRINGS!!!! Woo! Rohan is still on holiday so I didn't have any guidance. I did my torture 4 mins warm up then I did TORQ hamstring curls. 30/ 20/ 15 reps. Today they are slightly sore but I think I need to go heavier next time. I also did my triceps and then I was supposed to do my abs but forgot until it was too late :doh3: I'll have a rest today and make abs up on Sunday.
I've also been getting a right side forearm workout each day brushing shedding cats. :lol3: I guess my babies have mature coats now? They are 3 and I've never had this much hair on the floors. Vacumming vigoursly must burn up a few calories right?

I get sweat when vacuuming, so it must count! Mine shed every spring, when weather starts to warm up, it is bit of ridiculous amounts that those long hair ones can shed, two of them makes a loads of fur.

Good job with hamstrings, it takes dedication to keep pushing

 

[Norachan]

Sophie is home!

She made her way down into the village, about 4 miles away, and found a nice lady who leaves food out for the feral cats. She's been living under the lady's porch for the past few weeks. Yesterday she let the lady get close enough to read my phone number on Sophie's collar.

She looks great, didn't even lose any weight this time.

I've been walking a lot this week, 3 to 4 hours a day, and spending a lot of time outdoors fixing the holes in the fence. One of my other cats has been missing since Tuesday, so I think I'll still be doing a lot of cat hunting for the next few days.

 

[tammat]

Yay for Sophie
I felt like she was coming back. She's a boomerang cat :lol3: I think JTbo is right. Sophie just wants you to keep fit walking around looking for her
I think this deserves a :grphug:

 

[Winchester]

OMG, Norachan. After all this time! What a stinker that girl is! I'm so glad she's back home again.

No treadmill again. We no sooner got it fixed than it died again. Rick is getting frustrated and I've no idea what to do to keep it running.

We're going to take The Beast out on the Trail this morning for a good walk; that will help all of us get some exercise in.