|
My motivation is that my Dad had a major heard attack at 47, and my brother a triple bypass at the same age. So I try to keep moving and look after myself.
So far it's working. I do a mixture of running (I typically run 5-6 miles, at a pace of around 8:30-9 mins/mile) and walking (usually 4-5 miles), plus some pilates and occasionally yoga. The one time I did a parkrun (5k) I did it in 25 mins and hit an age grade of 67%, which apparently isn't at all bad.
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bournemouth/results/athletehistory/?athleteNumber=3149645[^]
I also keep some weights and a yoga mat in the office just in case I get twitchy while I'm working. 
Anna ( @annajayne)
Tech Blog | Visual Lint
"Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
|
|
|
|
|
(TL;DR -> I'm HypoThyrodic, so I have no choice but to exercise... I generally do about 2.5 miles a morning on my bike, there's lots of hills where I live, so it's a great workout. Then I'll have a jog round to the shop to get the morning papers.)
My Motivation is my Health.
4 years ago I started to pass out on the way home from work. At first I thought it was just tired, I didn't actually realize I was passing out, it just felt like I was sleepy, and on a 50 min bus journey, it really wasn't a bad thing anyway, headphones in and have a bit kip.
The thing was, I actually started to realize this was a bit more than just being sleepy, because there was some times that I was thinking to myself, But I'm not tired, and I was still drifting off.
On one journey home, I was drifting off, and I had some mint sweets in my bag, so I ate two of them, and the result was almost instant. My drifting off stopped, within about 5 mins, and bam I was alert and wide awake again.
Anyway long story short, I hot one of the increasingly larger 0's birthday and a doctors letter landed through my door, basically saying, now your X years old, you need to come and get some stuff checked.
So I did.
I know at this point I was slightly overweight, nothing too worrying, but loosing a few kilos wouldn't have hurt, I do spend most of my day sat at a desk.
They drew blood, did some tests etc, and called me back for the results.
I'll never forget the comment the doc said as I walked in the room.
"Hello Mr Shaw, we have your tests and you have the least serious of the 4 most serious disease we test for"
Now at this point, I had no idea what the things where they tested for, but I now know that various cancers are at one end, Diabetes is in the middle and Thyroid issues are at the bottom.
For me this was Thyroid issues (I later found out where hereditary), in my case I'm HypoThyrodic, which means my thyroid doesn't work as well as it should do, or in my case not at all.
The thing with HypoThyroidism, is the clues are very subtle. My Mother has T2 Diabeties, and I thought that (Esp after the mints) that I might be too. It turns out however, that it's nothing like that, in my case it was because my body was literally running out of energy.
The best way to describe it is to imagine a marathon runner, when they "Hit The Wall", whats actually happening inside their body, is there switching from using the energy from food and nutrients they just digested, to energy stored in thier body fat, that small "wobbly phase" is beacuse they suddenly don't have any physical immediate energy to continue (Like a car very low on gas) , and it takes a small moment for the body to switch to the reserve tank.
In a HypoThyrodic person, this switch over doesn't happen, so if I burn more calories than I consume, it's a simple case of Lights out, and that's what was happening on my bus home.
With replacement hormones and a managed diet (Which is what I have to do every day now) it's not a problem however.
The flip side is, because this switch over doesn't happen, it's very, very, very difficult for me to burn off body fat. The Hormone Tablets help because they artificially stimulate body systems to burn some, but it's very slow. If I don't exercise, or maintain at least a reasonable amount of activity in a day, I'll just grow and grow, and I'll grow faster than I can get the weight back off.
So It's not so much motivation, it's more survival, I have no desire to end up being like Jabba The Hut
My morning routine, is usually something like:
10 Situps
10 Crunches
10 Squats
10 High Angle Pushups
2.5 Mile Bike Ride (Hilly terrain, On a road bike built for downhill and speed)
1 mile Jog
I work from home mostly, so I'm up about 7am, Grab a banana and a green tea, off out to do my routine, couple of slides of wholemeal toast when I get back, Generally at my desk for about 10am.
I have to admit, it has made me more energetic, and when Iv'e had a good session (Weather's starting to get cold now where heading into Autumn) during the warm weather, I get an amazing amount of productivity.
|
|
|
|
|
Good story.
It's good to see someone who identified the problem and chose to do something about it instead of just saying "well, I can't help it, I have a physical issue so that's why I'm fat".
Good for you.
|
|
|
|
|
With HypoThyroidism, it's not just the weight factor you have to get right, but you really have to be quite strict about your diet too.
It also heavily affects your metabolism, so can cause serious depression, and prompt a serious unwillingness to just do anything, even get out of bed.
The most dangerous part though is making sure you have your energy intake right, as Iv'e said, if you don't It's lights Out, and lets take the bike riding stuff.... It certainly wouldn't be good for my health if I passed out while riding on a main road.
What I tend to do, is everywhere I go, I carry a pack of Dextrose tablets with me, I usually get a minute or so warning (Light head etc), so I can pull over and grab one out my pocket.
When I first started though, there was a few instances where I pulled over on one of the country lanes to rest, and passed out while lying on the grass, only to wake and find someone there who'd called an ambulance, thinking I'd been involved in a hit and run.
|
|
|
|
|
I've got 6 mile round-trip bicycle ride commuting to work 5 days a week. Back in the late 90's that was a 20 mile round trip! Recently switched to to a single-speed racing bike which is a lot harder work than gears - worth it though. There's one particular hill that I've only managed to power to the top once and I felt like Rocky finally conquering the Art Museum steps.
I also do martial arts training a couple of time a week, so that's about 3 hours of punching and kicking people to let out any frustration
The missus and I also walk the dog for 45 minutes each night.
|
|
|
|
|
That Hill Conquering feeling is just the best ain't it
When I first started, I felt like I was the hero of the day. It's a 20 meter climb just up the road out of my housing estate. When I first got up that in my middle most gear, it felt awesome.
|
|
|
|
|
Oh yes! I was buzzing off it for hours. Not been able to do it since (it is really steep) and like yours is only a few meters. For 8 years I sailed up it on a geared bike barely even getting out of breath. Single-speeds are hard work. How these pro cyclists get them up a bloody mountain doing 20mph boggles the mind!!
|
|
|
|
|
My Current bike isn't a single speed (It's 7 on the block, 2 on the crank - so 14), but it's a stupidly high ratio, something daft like 18 to 1 or something like that.
Basically NONE of the cogs on the gears are anywhere near the size of the crank, so it's not impossible to ride, but it is hard. Hover going down hill, even on a small slope the damn thing is terrifying  , theres a small village called medomsley not far from where I live, and just on the outskirts of the village heading down towards a place called hamsterley mill there's a drop of about 100 meters (Maybe more) but it's a long 4 mile stretch at a constant 7 or 8 deg slope, and the road winds like a snake, so you simply cannot see around the bends. To make it more of a challenge it's also an A road here in the UK, with a national 60mph speed limit on it, and is thankfully quite wide.
Long story short, I found out just how terrifying this bike can be going down Medomsley Edge bank!!!!
I didn't come off or crash or anything, but I'm certainly NOT DOING it again 
|
|
|
|
|
Good stuff. I love it.
I do crossfit at least 5 days a week, and what you describe is one of the types of workouts you could potentially see while doing crossfit (which is a bit of everything including barbell movements).
I've been going for 9 months now and I have lost 38.5 lbs and am far stronger than I have ever been. I have people stopping me all the time asking what I've been doing because of how I've changed.
|
|
|
|
|
Both my Grandfathers died of heart attacks. My oldest brother died at 35 of a heart attack. Mom had strokes and bypass surgery, Dad died of a heart attack.
So yes I work out. Have since well forever. I am however overweight. But I can get up right now and hike 10 miles and it won't be a problem. Blood pressure is 115/70 usually or around there. LDL and HDL and all that blood stuff is fine. I go to the doctor 2x a year and play racquetball 3-4 times a week and try to get in strength training
Interesting side note. Doc says I am in no danger as long as I keep doing what I am doing, but every time I feel a twinge in my chest I get all nervous.
One last point. For those men who don't really think this is for them but are wanting to take a certain little blue pill. Working out with weights will do more wonders for you in that department than that little pill. Trust me and all the doctors who will tell you the same thing.
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
|
|
|
|
|
I'd like to live long enough to see my kids married and having their own kids.
I'd like to live long enough to visit every continent with my wife.
I'd like to live long enough to code & tinker until I hate it (doubtful).
|
|
|
|
|
My two cents on this is to try to eliminate the need for motivation by doing something I love doing which improves health and fitness as a side benefit. Mostly, I'm talking about cycling which I've enjoyed since my dad gave me my first "road bike" with 5 derailleur gears when I was eleven. I like to ride 3 times a week targeting about 200 km per week. It's most fun riding with a group from my club but I'm happy to ride alone as well. If I have to go more than 2 days without a ride I get unhappy!. In the winter I love cross-country skiing (although I'm not real fond of winter itself). If there's a gap between those two seasons then I ride my turbo trainer. That's where motivation is needed as I really don't like indoor exercise!
RB
|
|
|
|
|
I run to the fridge and back between commercials.
|
|
|
|
|
I am an amateur athlete. The original motivation was my back injury was so bad they were talking about disability so I just wanted to have a fight to get it out of my system before I couldn't use my body anymore.... which led to me getting in shape and not having to have surgery. Eventually I ended up also doing strength competitions.
3 - 5x a week I work out for an hour in the morning which consists of lifting to a daily max (squat, push press, bench, or dead lift) and then doing the exercise bike for the remaining time.
2x a week I go to a boxing gym to get formal coaching. This starts warmup at 5-5:30 and the class ends 7 - 7:30.
3x a week I run a "combat club" at my personal gym. We generally focus on kickboxing and grappling but we are starting to add in some strength based workouts as per request by the members.
Sundays we have a boxing coach come in and work focus mits with the group for an hour or two.
I try to run on the weekends but it doesn't always happen. I usually go 3 - 5 miles when I do.
Elephant elephant elephant, sunshine sunshine sunshine
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Carmichael wrote: What is your motivation and work out?
Keeping in shape for my gf.
She's been doing Resistance Stretching by Bob Cooley for almost a year now, very impressive, and I've started helping her with exercises that require a partner.
Mind you, it's not really my thing, I prefer walking or biking, something to keep my mind more occupied, but even a 15 - 30 minute workout has some impressive effects -- particularly I notice how it clears the mind of the day's cobwebs.
|
|
|
|
|
I've been exercising most of my life. Was a gymnast in high school and college. After college I got into running and then into bicycling (excessive amounts of bicycling). Lost about 30 lbs of upper body muscle due to all the bicycling so decided I better add some weight-training to my regime. Now (at almost 65) I weight-train every other day and do cardio on the days I don't weight train.
My motivation is that I really want to be able to 'do' things when I retire. Hiking, roller skating along the beach, skiing, etc.
|
|
|
|
|
[^]
Who else thinks this looks like a scoop of ice-cream?
I am not the one who knocks. I never knock.
In fact, I hate knocking.
|
|
|
|
|
That ice cream is a little too cold for my taste: and you should be aware that poaching somebodies thread is not considered polite: we already have a member who posts APOD most days, and you are treading on his toes a bit here.
Some don't mind, others get annoyed. I'd avoid doing it if I was you!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
Okay. I'll keep that in mind. I'm sorry @sahibgora.
I am not the one who knocks. I never knock.
In fact, I hate knocking.
|
|
|
|
|
That's perfectly ok - I only post images of deep space so planets are fine.
|
|
|
|
|
GKP1992 wrote: a scoop of ice-cream
A scoop of ice cream with some funky mold poured on top.
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
Even leaving the temperature aside, it doesn't look like anything I'd want to eat! 
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
|
|
|
|
|
Regularly parses text for advantage (5)
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
modified 5-Oct-17 6:34am.
|
|
|
|
|
I give up. (
I am not the one who knocks. I never knock.
In fact, I hate knocking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
