In Fitness and in Health
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@Seul I meant to reply a couple of days ago, so sorry for the delay.
Have you had an exercise bike before? I'm aware that a lot of them end up as being very expensive clothes racks, rather than being used for their intended purpose. My brother has one like that. I would suggest using a gym, especially if you can find one that doesn't tie you into a twelve-month contract and try the bikes then.
Beyond that, I think that the best fitness advice is to do what you enjoy and make small changes. Or big ones, like cutting out (most of) the beer.
And well done on the weight loss. I know that can be hard work.
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@Tmulltuous got it right - could not agree more.
Peleton hardware is suboptimal with poor QA - according to those colleagues whom I could not talk out of it.
Bike, wahoo kickr, zwift/groovy or youtube/movies, gives you great versatility. You can upgrade individual components, ride outside etc. Bike position is very important as you start out. May be get some expert advice.
Also agree with zone 2 training for the best way for beginners to start. Maffetone is also a decent beginners resource for nutritional aspects. https://philmaffetone.com/ Most of this stuff is pretty well validated by now.
Consistency is key, be patient.
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Have you had an exercise bike before? I'm aware that a lot of them end up as being very expensive clothes racks
Truth! But I've been using my brother's… Love it... I also have the space... I'll just have to download enough long war movies to watch whilst "cycling"... It's def a long term thing since I'll need a lot of time getting rid of the habit of drinking... It's just an addition to going on walks and living healthier...
Thanks for all the advice and happy new year, folk!
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Awesome.
Make sure you're keeping your heart rate at the right range for you.
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Strong work Seul!
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My advice is to buy a steel road bike and find a Group to ride with in the mornings. Much more fun and enjoyable than hitting the pain cave.
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Probably not always the case when you have to deal with weather in Belgium especially come winter
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I’ve been targeting 300 weekly intensity minutes since January to get ready for mountain biking, look better, and be around longer for my family. I am down 8.4lbs since February with another 5.5lbs to my target. I’m hoping to remove the beer gut and love handles entirely and add some lean mass.
The hardest part is not committing to working out—it’s not drinking, which adds calories directly, and indirectly inhibits my fitness routine (working out hung over sucks) and results in terrible dietary decisions (drunk munchies or a hangover making a burger sound that much better than a salad).
Also, I’ve had my Peloton for several years and recently discovered it’s been severely fucked up the whole time. The resistance topped out at 70 instead of 100 and the wattage readings were way off. Here I’ve been thinking I’m even more out of shape than I am. Luckily I’ve been doing almost exclusively power zone training so I’ve still been getting a good workout, but the narrow gradient of resistances did make things more difficult.
My FTP went up over 70 watts once I got it sorted and re tested and personal records are getting blown away by hundreds of kj. That’s good for my pride but fortunately the artificially depressed figures from before didn’t discourage me from working out.
I just wish I’d known sooner!
Think it, be it.
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Yeah I agree that of all the things that count toward overall health, diet is a lot more difficult than training. We have so many unhealthy temptations, we need to eat multiple times a day, and more training makes for more hunger. Add to that lightness makes you a lot faster running and cycling, so there's a weird threshold where losing ten pounds might do more for fitness than another few workouts per week. I feel like if I trained less and ate better I would be faster. But I really like food, and I like training, so the current method is good for all around joy.
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@mclaincausey As I’ve gotten older (52 now) I’ve started to focus my fitness on retaining muscle mass…so strength training multiple times a week. Pepper in yoga and some hiit stuff and that’s about it. And I walk the dog a couple miles daily. I’ve lost about 12 lbs since March and I think that the biggest reason was quitting drinking alcohol. Like you mentioned it has so many unintended negative consequences. I also still practice intermittent fasting though I’ve read some studies that put its efficacy into question. Now that warmer weather is here, however, I’ve been having a good beer now and then. One last thing is that for me, the number one benefit of consistent exercise has been the positive effect on my mental health. Everything is better. Full stop
