I have actually quite enjoyed getting into swimming (usually 3x/week) over the last couple of years, though on dark damp winter mornings I sometimes question my sanity. The coffee an croissant afterwards is nice!
I saw a blackscaup (a black diving duck) with 4 ducklings the size of fat sparrows the other day. They kept popping up and down in the water as they dived for food.
The Marama quite enjoys swimming, and finds it makes her less breathless than (say) vigorous walking. But sometimes, it has its drawbacks. Notably last week, after swimming 400m in a local pool, she slipped on the wet floor of the changing room , fell and broke her wrist. So she's out of action for the next few weeks. Even typing is hard, so you may not see her much on the top deck of the ship for a while.
Things were going a bit awry for me on Slimming World before All This Happened, in the form of a stressful final few weeks of work and Mr Nen's Big Birthday celebrations. Then All This Happened and I was comfort eating and drinking for a while...
My Slimming World group is now done over Zoom, and I'm weighing myself once a week at home, and determined not to lose all the progress I've made.
My preferred form of exercise is Zumba, and both teachers have taken their classes to Zoom as well. Unfortunately Zumba doesn't translate well to the living room, so I've been doing some YouTube workouts with Joe Wicks which are geared to being done in the house so a lot more successful for now.
I'm really missing the swimming; trying to go out each day, combining exercise with shopping where applicable and usually walking about two miles. Whichever way I go it's uphill coming home! Today it was a real struggle, don't know why, especially as I was doing a shorter walk than usual.
I am really missing my usual walking quantities, which is normally combined with walking to and from work, shopping etc. as much as possible, then longer walks at weekends. An hour a day for walking is somehow not quite enough. I had been averaging 9.5 miles worth of steps a day for this year until lockdown started. Now.. I'm happy if I get to 5 miles worth most days. My usual amounts have been working really well for me for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
I also have to come back up a hill to get home if I've been shopping - but for just a walk there is one flat route by the local reservoir I can use. Except for the fact all the new walkers, runners, cyclists have discovered it, though, so getting to do that and maintain social distancing is hard work!
I've almost run out of energetic household/garden tasks which had been kind of replacing it.
I did manage to do a mile's worth of walking around house and garden today but felt quite dizzy by the end!!
I actually used to walk a reasonable amount at work - walking from meeting to meeting, going for a wander around to clear my head and think through a problem etc. Now we're all working from home (and I'm shutting myself away from the kids in the hope of getting something done) my days are more or less stationary.
On the flip side, #1 child is working on the Hiking merit badge for scouts. This was to have been done on a couple of troop campouts, but those have obviously been cancelled, which means that I've been for a couple of 10 mile walks, and have a 15 and a 20 mile walk scheduled for the next two weekends.
(We're in lockdown, but aren't restricted to an hour outside, as long as we keep away from other people. There are enough trails in these parts that we can have Mrs. C drop us at some distant point, and walk home almost entirely on walking trails, with only the final couple of miles being suburban sidewalk.)
I really miss swimming - it is something that helps me manage sensory overload. Though I'm getting less sensory overload now anyway, now I don't take the bus or go to my noisy, fluorescent lit workplace. I am having hot baths and cold showers. I walk in the woods most mornings. It's about 7k steps, going all around all the different parts. I sometimes also go to Asda, which is another 4k steps, so on those days I walk 11k steps, but I don't go very often to Asda, whereas I used to go a lot. Before lockdown, I normally walked more of a variety of places, more times in a day, and more hills, and now it's affecting my stomach to be walking less. I am sometimes doing yoga stretches in the woods. At home I have kettle bells, so should start using those more, and I have a mini trampoline, so need to use that too. I still use my Walkr app, which motivates me to walk more steps, so I get energy points, to contribute in my teams, But mostly when I am at home, I sit on my armchair or on my bed or in my garden. I have nowhere very comfy to sit, as I got rid of my sofa earlier this year, as it had black mould inside it. I wish I had been more organised to get a new one right away.
I'm missing swimming too. My local pool closed due to structural problems in late November and I never got it together to go regularly to the next nearest, which of course is now closed too. Swimming is the exercise I find easiest but I'm enjoying lots of on line Pilates and cardio classes to try and keep my fitness up. I think I might actually be discovering some core strength.
I usually walk far more than I'm doing at the moment, but I am managing to get up to about 5 miles a day most days, even if I don't go out. I'm very lucky that I live in a part of London with a lot of big open spaces for when I do want to go out.
I am trying to recapture something of the fitness kick I went on in 2012, fortunately I’ve still got the gear (kettlebells etc). I’ve turned part of my spare room over to ‘gym’ - but motivation / fitness / technique remains an issue.
I’ve been looking for high quality instruction on technique via YouTube, because I do worry about injuring myself due to ineptitude and unfitness.
For body weight instruction I have found Calimove’s YouTube videos really, really clear. (I haven’t paid for any of programs just watched a selection of the videos they put out every two weeks.). Much of their stuff is far beyond my fitness and abilities, but their explanations of basic techniques are really good.
For kettlebell instruction I have found Wildeman Athletica videos quite clear, but the presentation style can annoying at times.
I have some gym rings and I found what appears to be the world’s happiest hippy giving advice for beginners. The first few exercises seem like something I might be able to do - by the time he’s got to hanging upside down 6ft above the ground, not so much. I find my brain wants to think the creaking of his yurt is the creaking of his joints ...
I am back riding my bike. With only shopping once a week I need it to carry groceries, but also cyclists are much more aware of distancing themselves than the runners who use the track by the river. I think I am the slowest thing on the roads hereabouts, but I am enjoying it.
Sounds great, Huia. I put air in my bicycle tires this morning. Can't really walk so cycling for transportation is out but thinking I may be able to try a little bit down at a park or something. Pop a wheelie for me if you can!
Having been told my cholesterol is too high yesterday, we went straight into 5:2 fasting mode today. I'm really looking forward to my spinach and chicken curry. We're going to be mostly following the Hairy Dieters on the other days. Mr D needs to shed kilos too, so it's a good thing. Done well, eating an egg, a piece of toast, an apple and a banana only today. So the Curry will be very welcome!!
I'm also trying to "walk" a mile a day, using the mile-in-15- minutes videos. It's basically marching type exercise to a fast beat. It's the fact that it's over in 15 minutes that appeals to me!!
I am putting weight on and losing condition, because I'm one of those wierdos who likes going to the gym. Who knows when that will be possible. With a bust achilles tendon, I can't run. I fee trapped in my increasing weight, since I don't have the money to buy an elliptical trainer for home use.
I have a bust Acl and no Mcl at all so I feel Thunderbunk's pain, just a little higher up. I thought a stationary bike might be a good thing for me, but I found it caused my knee to buckle inward even worse than walking.
I know, because I've done it a few times since I wrecked my leg, that I can lose weight without exercise, but something about the looming virus makes me want to comfort eat even more than usual.
Here's another mental problem I've had with dieting at this time, some prehistoric instinct makes me think that dieting would weaken me and make me less able to fight it off if it came my way. On the other hand, I know that obese people are at higher risk.
What do you all think? Is it too late to benefit from losing weight?
What do you all think? Is it too late to benefit from losing weight?
I have decided it's not to late for me. My body is reluctant though,🙄 I am continuing Nordic walking, as well as riding my bike much more than I did last year. If my knees can't stand the riding I am thinking of getting an ebike. Apparently people ride further on then so they still get a reasonable amount of exercise. There are also more cycle lanes here than there were.
@Doublethink - when I was trying to work out how to keep fit, I made the decision that taking up forms of exercise I found hard work and didn't enjoy, like jogging, wasn't going to happen, because I'd keep putting it off, that I needed to settle on things I'd do happily and keep doing for as long as I could move. My current exercise regime, that I've kept up in lock down, are some daily (mostly) yoga stretches that work on my flexibility and core strength and walking at least 10 000 steps a day. When I started trying to do this with my daughter a year or so ago, it was hard to do, and often over two short walks. Since lock down we had to take one walk only and could mostly manage a reasonable walk most days. As our strides have lengthened we have found that we cover more ground and faster, so 10 000 steps is now about 4.5 miles and takes about an hour and a half. I'd like to get to 20 minutes for a mile (rather than 22) across the fields (streets are quicker, smoother surfaces underfoot).
If we get the promised swimming pool next door, I'd aim to swim regularly, and I'd like to be cycling again.
Re. dieting at this time, I'm at a high weight for me right now and for the last few weeks my strategy has been to eat more food but more healthy food. So, if I want to have something crunchy, it's vegetables. Comfort food is now yogurt or berries. And meat is lean and in good quantity - so no fatty take out food that doesn't provide much protein overall. I'm not losing but I'm not gaining and I'm not resenting it. I'm extremely limited in mobility so while I am making efforts, I'm not looking at exercise to do much. I'd love to get back to less flabbiness. I notice people are walking in great numbers so must seem to be making the most of the good weather and the time to get out.
I'm not entirely sure how I'm doing it, but I feel as if I'm losing a little weight (and one or two people have told me they think I am too). I suppose the fact that I'm having an amble (albeit a very short one) most days, and I've been eating a shedload more veggies than I used to must be having a beneficial effect.
I'm never going to be a sylph-like piglet*, but I do feel a little less chunky ...
* and even if I were, I couldn't afford the concomitant wardrobe re-design.
I've managed to keep the weight off I lost last year during lockdown. I have been doing an on line cardio class most days followed by a Pilates class or similar, so also feel a bit more toned. As I'm lucky to live near three large and beautiful parks there have been lots of walks both in them and the local streets. I now have a better understanding of the topography of my town. I've also played frisbee a couple of times a week on our local playing field. Last time we went we varied it a bit by taking our badminton racquets and hitting a shuttlecock about. It was lovely to see families doing similar things.
I am always puzzled about how I put on or lose weight. Early on in lockdown I did a fair bit of baking and still lost a couple of pounds, which I put on when I stopped. Maybe I need to invent the cake diet.
Thanks Huia and Lily Pad. All of you are inspiring.
For years I loved to exercise. I jogged, did aerobic dance, and jumped rope for 20 minutes every morning. Then switched to the home walking videos like Dormouse does as I got older. After I broke my leg I really missed that daily hour of rhythmic activity. What I keep trying are the chair aerobics I find online, but somehow I find that getting the same conditioning through arm movements is grueling.
curiositykilled, I se from your post that 10,000 steps is about 4.5 miles for you. I've been trying to work out how far I walk on my 170-step x 20 to 24 laps up and down in the Close here. As it takes about 45 minutes, I think it must be about 1.25 miles. I do know that I find it a bit easier the more I do it - which I suppose is obvious - and, I hope, will make the heart and lungs continue working a bit longer than they otherwise might have done!
I think I'll get one of the taxi drivers later to see what tiny fraction of a mile is one lap! We are lucky to have had such continuous lovely weather.
@SusanDoris - if you have a smart phone, it is likely to have a motion sensor and you should be able find an app that counts your steps. Mine allows me to map my walks (which of course is giving precious data of my movements and locating me, but as I'm not a soldier on a top secret base, this is not particularly sensitive) and tells me how far I've travelled. I can set it to measure in miles or kilometres. It is reasonably accurate; I've double checked my walks on plot-a-route apps to confirm my mileage when the phone app map shows direct movement between points impossible to achieve on the ground.
@SusanDoris - if you have a smart phone, it is likely to have a motion sensor and you should be able find an app that counts your steps. Mine allows me to map my walks (which of course is giving precious data of my movements and locating me, but as I'm not a soldier on a top secret base, this is not particularly sensitive) and tells me how far I've travelled. I can set it to measure in miles or kilometres. It is reasonably accurate; I've double checked my walks on plot-a-route apps to confirm my mileage when the phone app map shows direct movement between points impossible to achieve on the ground.
No smart phone, I'm afraid! I must say though that this morning I was thinking how I wish I had something to record the 3 Song thrushes singing beautifully at three points very nearby.
[Tangent] I haven't worked out how to do links on this new-fangled vessel. However one can at least make shorter links by using Tinyurl. [Tangent ends]
I use Plot a Route (link), if I'm using footpaths it recognises, I can set it to "on foot" and click between quite distant points and it traces my journey, should I have followed the most direct route. It's not brilliant at knowing where I can cut through on foot in town: i.e. it doesn't recognise all the back alleys that lead onto the High Street, so will send me a long way round.
It looks as if it covers the world.
[tangent]I don't like clicking on links that don't tell me what they are, so I don't click on tiny url links - but I've started a thread on links - here[/tangent]
I think I'll get one of the taxi drivers later to see what tiny fraction of a mile is one lap! We are lucky to have had such continuous lovely weather.
I was going to suggest that I usually use google maps to measure distances I've travelled - right click on the map, select "measure distance" and you can map out a route with any number of straight line segments. I've used this to estimate the length of trails round forest preserves and the like often.
Then I remembered that using google maps like this might not work for you. But I offer it here as a suggestion for others anyway.
I rode my bike into town yesterday and my knees are OK this morning :yippee: . I am so happy because I fell onto my concrete driveway some years ago and haven't bee able to ride that far without pain. It's now at the bike shop being serviced and having a carrier attached. I hope the rain lets up because I haven't yet bought suitable clothing for riding in wet weather, (besides being a delicate wee flower).
The more I have been realising how definitely beneficial the 50-55 minut almost non-stop walking is, the more I have started to think about how I can find suitable clothing to be able possibly to carry on after lockdown ends even when it is raining. There is alength of safe pavement in the road round the cornerwith no roads to cross and not many pedestrians, so I'll see how it goes.
Until I broke my toe in January I was walking 4 miles a day; I had started doing so 2 years previously alongside a low carb diet and lost 20% of my body weight. The walking was key to improving my overall fitness.
Today I walked 2 1/2 miles, the longest since developing covid 11 weeks ago. I have a post viral postural tachycardia which is limiting how much exercise I can take and I have to be very careful managing it (overdoing it can mean fatigue for a couple of days) but I’m gradually increasing my exercise, though on some days I am just managing 1 mile. I’ve noticed walking on an incline improves my pulse rate so I think I need to strengthen my leg muscles to improve my venous return. I might start doing an short evening walk as the walking is obviously benefitting me.
My breathing appears to be improving too so that’s good.
Chiming in to say that having the right clothing makes a big difference. I have noticed that some people are rarely out when it is rainy or snowy. Those of us who take our dogs out in all weather look rather the same with our sturdy rain pants or snow pants, boots, etc. I call them my "barn clothes". It makes heading out much more reasonable as I can just pull them on and go and know that I will get a shower when I get home. I've been testing out my bike riding skills the last while but I'm not physically able to manage the quick stops as well as I should be able to so am nursing a badly cut up knee from a crash. Very thankful for cycling gloves or my hands would be a mess.
Today I picked my bike up after it had been serviced. It rides so much more smoothly. I also bought a new helmet (compulsory here) and lights. I was lucky that the rain finished in the morning, so I could ride home without getting wet. Now I need a decent pair of gloves, especially as winter is approaching. I also need a thin merino beanie to fit under my helmet, I have found them essential for winter.
Go @Huia! I love my bike too. The man in the local bike shop declares it runs on prayer alone as it is so rusty, but it goes like a bird and, as he also says - being a man with a ready turn of phrase - with it I have been to the moon and back! Certainly people tend to comment if they see me without it.
Hope you don't mind my bumping this thread as I was just wondering how everyone is managing their fitness in the continuing virus situation? I do my up-and-down the Close for about 50-55 minutes most days, though not when it is very windy as it is today, so I did physio exercises indoors instead.
On Thursday last week and this last Thursday, I have had a member of the Sensory Support Team to accompany me while I walk my two alternative routes into town. It was such a help and although I could have done it myself, having someone with me took away the stress I would have felt.
I don't suppose the gym or the swimming pool will be open for ages though, I'm afraid.
I've been doing fitness videos at home. My Pilates has much improved, and I can feel I have an approximation of ab muscles. I'm also managing a walk every day, mostly for about an hour, but a couple of days a week a longer one. I actually feel fitter than pre-lockdown.
I would like to get back to my zumba and konga classes and swimming though.
I've been doing fitness videos at home. My Pilates has much improved, and I can feel I have an approximation of ab muscles. I'm also managing a walk every day, mostly for about an hour, but a couple of days a week a longer one. I actually feel fitter than pre-lockdown.That
I would like to get back to my zumba and konga classes and swimming though.
That sounds really good! I too think I might in fact be fitter than I was before, as my breathing Is better and doing the physio exercises this morning, the leg ones were easier.
I've found some YouTube exercise things that I'm enjoying, although of late I've not been as disciplined as I would like - my aim is to do them four times a week. This week I've only managed once.
The food discipline hasn't been great either. Slimming World have a term "getting a new front number" which means your weight has dropped into the next "stones" bracket down. I'm pretty sure I have a new front number, but not in a good way. >rolleyes<
However, I'm not going to be in any rush to get back to real life Zumba classes. I'm not sure why - I think mainly because it feels such a very risky thing to do.
Hope you don't mind my bumping this thread as I was just wondering how everyone is managing their fitness in the continuing virus situation?
Badly.
It's now too hot here for me to walk any great distance outside. My new commute, from one room in my house to the adjacent room, means I have basically no parasitic activity. The kids are not dealing very well with their activities all being cancelled because of the virus, and managing them has eliminated the slot I had for the treadmill.
I'm trying to eat less, and I've stopped drinking altogether. So I'm not putting on weight, but it's not coming off either.
I’ve spent the last 3 months rehabilitating my body to exercise despite my post-viral (covid) postural tachycardia syndrome. I now am walking 2 miles every morning (except Monday mornings when I have a Zoom yoga class) and try to do more yoga during the week. I have to walk early in the morning on hot days as my syndrome includes heat intolerance. My pulse is now sometimes normal during walking and yoga, though it still can’t cope with anything that involves lifting; it thinks hanging the laundry out is an aerobic activity that needs a pulse of up to 130!
Comments
Things were going a bit awry for me on Slimming World before All This Happened, in the form of a stressful final few weeks of work and Mr Nen's Big Birthday celebrations. Then All This Happened and I was comfort eating and drinking for a while...
My Slimming World group is now done over Zoom, and I'm weighing myself once a week at home, and determined not to lose all the progress I've made.
My preferred form of exercise is Zumba, and both teachers have taken their classes to Zoom as well. Unfortunately Zumba doesn't translate well to the living room, so I've been doing some YouTube workouts with Joe Wicks which are geared to being done in the house so a lot more successful for now.
I also have to come back up a hill to get home if I've been shopping - but for just a walk there is one flat route by the local reservoir I can use. Except for the fact all the new walkers, runners, cyclists have discovered it, though, so getting to do that and maintain social distancing is hard work!
I've almost run out of energetic household/garden tasks which had been kind of replacing it.
I did manage to do a mile's worth of walking around house and garden today but felt quite dizzy by the end!!
On the flip side, #1 child is working on the Hiking merit badge for scouts. This was to have been done on a couple of troop campouts, but those have obviously been cancelled, which means that I've been for a couple of 10 mile walks, and have a 15 and a 20 mile walk scheduled for the next two weekends.
(We're in lockdown, but aren't restricted to an hour outside, as long as we keep away from other people. There are enough trails in these parts that we can have Mrs. C drop us at some distant point, and walk home almost entirely on walking trails, with only the final couple of miles being suburban sidewalk.)
I usually walk far more than I'm doing at the moment, but I am managing to get up to about 5 miles a day most days, even if I don't go out. I'm very lucky that I live in a part of London with a lot of big open spaces for when I do want to go out.
I’ve been looking for high quality instruction on technique via YouTube, because I do worry about injuring myself due to ineptitude and unfitness.
For body weight instruction I have found Calimove’s YouTube videos really, really clear. (I haven’t paid for any of programs just watched a selection of the videos they put out every two weeks.). Much of their stuff is far beyond my fitness and abilities, but their explanations of basic techniques are really good.
For kettlebell instruction I have found Wildeman Athletica videos quite clear, but the presentation style can annoying at times.
I have some gym rings and I found what appears to be the world’s happiest hippy giving advice for beginners. The first few exercises seem like something I might be able to do - by the time he’s got to hanging upside down 6ft above the ground, not so much. I find my brain wants to think the creaking of his yurt is the creaking of his joints ...
Can you ride a bike?
I know, because I've done it a few times since I wrecked my leg, that I can lose weight without exercise, but something about the looming virus makes me want to comfort eat even more than usual.
Here's another mental problem I've had with dieting at this time, some prehistoric instinct makes me think that dieting would weaken me and make me less able to fight it off if it came my way. On the other hand, I know that obese people are at higher risk.
What do you all think? Is it too late to benefit from losing weight?
Sort of. I'm not sure that the residents of the Fine City would welcome the sight though. Or whether they should.
I have decided it's not to late for me. My body is reluctant though,🙄 I am continuing Nordic walking, as well as riding my bike much more than I did last year. If my knees can't stand the riding I am thinking of getting an ebike. Apparently people ride further on then so they still get a reasonable amount of exercise. There are also more cycle lanes here than there were.
If we get the promised swimming pool next door, I'd aim to swim regularly, and I'd like to be cycling again.
I'm never going to be a sylph-like piglet*, but I do feel a little less chunky ...
* and even if I were, I couldn't afford the concomitant wardrobe re-design.
I am always puzzled about how I put on or lose weight. Early on in lockdown I did a fair bit of baking and still lost a couple of pounds, which I put on when I stopped. Maybe I need to invent the cake diet.
For years I loved to exercise. I jogged, did aerobic dance, and jumped rope for 20 minutes every morning. Then switched to the home walking videos like Dormouse does as I got older. After I broke my leg I really missed that daily hour of rhythmic activity. What I keep trying are the chair aerobics I find online, but somehow I find that getting the same conditioning through arm movements is grueling.
I think I'll get one of the taxi drivers later to see what tiny fraction of a mile is one lap!
Edited to fix coding - Piglet, AS host
https://www.maps.ie/map-my-route/
Piglet, AS host
It looks as if it covers the world.
[tangent]I don't like clicking on links that don't tell me what they are, so I don't click on tiny url links - but I've started a thread on links - here[/tangent]
I was going to suggest that I usually use google maps to measure distances I've travelled - right click on the map, select "measure distance" and you can map out a route with any number of straight line segments. I've used this to estimate the length of trails round forest preserves and the like often.
Then I remembered that using google maps like this might not work for you. But I offer it here as a suggestion for others anyway.
Today I walked 2 1/2 miles, the longest since developing covid 11 weeks ago. I have a post viral postural tachycardia which is limiting how much exercise I can take and I have to be very careful managing it (overdoing it can mean fatigue for a couple of days) but I’m gradually increasing my exercise, though on some days I am just managing 1 mile. I’ve noticed walking on an incline improves my pulse rate so I think I need to strengthen my leg muscles to improve my venous return. I might start doing an short evening walk as the walking is obviously benefitting me.
My breathing appears to be improving too so that’s good.
You're probably right about clothing: I think it was Billy Connolly who said, "there's no such thing as bad weather - just the wrong clothes".
Having said that, because I don't have the right clothes, I'm very much a fair-weather walker.
I ❤💜💛 my bike.
On Thursday last week and this last Thursday, I have had a member of the Sensory Support Team to accompany me while I walk my two alternative routes into town. It was such a help and although I could have done it myself, having someone with me took away the stress I would have felt.
I don't suppose the gym or the swimming pool will be open for ages though, I'm afraid.
I would like to get back to my zumba and konga classes and swimming though.
The food discipline hasn't been great either. Slimming World have a term "getting a new front number" which means your weight has dropped into the next "stones" bracket down. I'm pretty sure I have a new front number, but not in a good way. >rolleyes<
However, I'm not going to be in any rush to get back to real life Zumba classes. I'm not sure why - I think mainly because it feels such a very risky thing to do.
Badly.
It's now too hot here for me to walk any great distance outside. My new commute, from one room in my house to the adjacent room, means I have basically no parasitic activity. The kids are not dealing very well with their activities all being cancelled because of the virus, and managing them has eliminated the slot I had for the treadmill.
I'm trying to eat less, and I've stopped drinking altogether. So I'm not putting on weight, but it's not coming off either.