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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
I’ve been making good progress running with my dog and learning/teaching canicross. He ran for a full minute out front without stopping today (one minute is the length of our intervals right now). When my partner ran out front earlier in the week, Loki actually pulled which is the end goal!
I’ve also stuck to doing one Peloton Digital class (of any kind/duration) every day since I got my indoor bike. Some of the short yoga classes are really nice, and I dig the scenic rides before bed.
Last update on September 17th.
I hugely improved on the choctaws, I can reliably do good ones on my right foot and I'm starting to be able to do them off my left one too! Unfortunately I don't have a good video of it.
So instead, here's my progress on Twizzles! https://photos.app.goo.gl/mgSQhn6jjh4q5saU8 (For comparison, same exercise one month prior). And same thing, starting to be able to do them on the other foot as well.
My coach has uni now so I'm seeing her less often; I got a new coach in the mean time who has quite a bit more experience; 40 minutes with her and I already learned quite a bit about using my hips more. Good stuff. Can't wait to see her again Monday.
Weight-wise I'm still stuck at the same weight (around 80kg), but I'm okay with it; it's been a busy couple of weeks work-wise so just glad I'm not gaining back. I do want to start losing again though so next week, I'm all in. 75kg before the end of the year is still the goal.
I once worked with a Canadian who, during the winter, would literally go ice-skating during his 1 hour lunch break. It's such a gracefull sport, wish I'd taken him up on the offer a couple times to learn a little technique.
Has it been hard learning to do this advanced stuff? I've tried figuring out how skating where you put your feet in front of each other, also backwards skating, totally eluded me.
It's never too late. Go to your nearest rink and see what's what. :)
And if you get into it, I like the channel Ice Coach Online for ideas on what to learn. They have plenty of beginner videos.
Wow fast reply, I just got done editing the original to includea question.
But thanks yeah, when the outdoor rinks start opening up here I'll give it a shot.
Hah, yeah, I just saw.
So, it kinda depends. Learning the basics was a bit of a process for me; I am pretty overweight in the first place (even more so when I started), and I wasn't exactly stable on the ice. But when I brought a friend of mine who does tango dancing and yoga, she was up and about in no time and I was teaching her on one foot before the end of the session.
A huge part of what makes skating fun is feeling like you've learned and progressed every time you step off the ice; and that's a feeling that is still there months after you've started.
Admittedly it's now taking me a lot more time to learn new figures. Twizzles and Choctaws took me weeks to train to do even somewhat decently. I think having a coach who can help guide you and who knows exactly what's wrong / where your difficulties lie just by looking at you, that helps a lot.
Backwards skating is super fun to both learn and teach! You need to be stable on your two feet and know how to move forward, but you can learn very early. The way I learned it, and now teach it to beginners, was:
If you do it right, your feet will just start naturally gliding backwards, and you can bring them back together (at first by stepping, then as you learn to control them you'll be able to glide them back in position to keep going).
Skating backwards is so much fun; one of the great joys of my early time on the rink. Make sure to always look behind you if there's people around though :)
Ok I was sad I didn't have a Choctaws video update to post, so here they are as of this morning: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6Tc7atxQ3t36He2D6
I bought a rowing machine, I think I've had it for a week or so at this point. I remember in high school I used to enjoy going on the machines, whereas every other form of exercise I just think "god that will be awful", so I'm really glad I've found something that I don't immediately hate. Plus it's a great form of exercise, being full body, low impact, and high MET (at higher stroke rates). My plan is to row 5 days on 2 days off, and I'm trying to build up to 5km sessions. Today I did 1.5km so I have a while to go :P
Oh man that's awesome, we had a rower with a water drum growing up, the sound and the feeling of your whole body working, reall great.
This is why everyone need to move to where I live! (West Sweden, Gothenburg, chop-chop get moving)
I would LOVE to train-experiment with you. Trying to find variants that work and feels good, and get tips myself. Personally I need to find cheap loose weights, which is my go-to. I love the sensation of isolating one muscle group and working it until I can't move any more.
Which is something thats often not talked that much about - how different people respond to different forms of exercize. I have a hard time with running, my husband love it. When running I love steep but short hills in comparison with long but shallow hills - he is the opposite. So that makes me think that people have different sensations of different sorts of physical challenges.
Same with rowing machines which feels to me just painful and annoying, but you love it. Is it the way we see challenges?
Nah I am just a lazy bastard who hates exercise, I haven't found anything yet which I actually enjoy for itself or for the effects (why would I want to feel out of breath? :P ). For some reason, rowing just doesn't invoke that immediate 'disgust reaction' that I get if I think about running for example, but I don't know why. I decided instead of trying to figure it out to just embrace it and get on with rowing: I care about the long-term effects of regular exercise, so if for some unknown reason rowing is 'the exercise for me' then let's just go for it. :)
That seems pretty solid as an argument so go for it!
Just went for my first proper run since covid I'd been training for a marathon, but since lockdown andthe race getting cancelled all motivation evaporated.
So here it is: 5.1km in 34mins, feel like shit and can bearly breath, but at least I've started.