Health and Fitness Thread

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by CBus660R

Hey guys, been a while since my last update. 3 races have gone done since then. The first race of the 3 went OK, felt like I rode well, but it was a shorter race where it was about wicking it up and sprinting hard for 9 or 10 minutes, which is not my forte, and I wound up 3rd, just off the pace of the top 2. The 2nd race was more in line with what I like, longer and more technical. I was doing pretty well until the 5th test of 6 when a stupid little mistake caused me to shear my hydraulic clutch line. Anyone who's ridden a dirtbike off road knows that a non functioning clutch is a no go. I was able to limp it out of the woods and get back to my truck without needing assistance, but a DNF is certainly not what I wanted.

The 3rd race was my club's race that I work rather than participate. Since it was part of the National series this year, we had close to 500 entries and over 400 actually show up and race. It was a great success. All of the Pros were really happy with the course, many of them saying that it was the best race of the year so far and one of them even said that test 6 was his favorite test he's ever raced. I was really happy to hear that. A lot of sweat and time went into making the race go off, so when the riders are happy, I'm happy. BTW, the speed that the Pros go through the woods is unbelievable. In sections where I'm lucky to average 13 or 14 MPH, they're averaging 18 or 19 MPH. Our signature test (test 6) where we really make it technical is 11 miles long and my best time through there is 47 minutes. The winner did it in 32 minutes!

We have 2 races left in the series and I am solidly in 3rd in points with a chance at 2nd. First place is pretty much locked up by my buddy John, he'd have to miss the last 2 races for me to have a chance to catch him and I certainly don't want to win anything that way.

Here's a cool highlight video from my club's race, Grassman National Enduro Highlights Video — NEPG

Thanks for the video. Now I have a better understanding. I'll bet it takes some serious fitness to throw those bikes around for any length of time.

[CBus660R]

Originally Posted by snubbyfan

Thanks for the video. Now I have a better understanding. I'll bet it takes some serious fitness to throw those bikes around for any length of time.

Yes it does. But once you get the technique down, it's not as bad as when you first start trying and are fighting the bike all day. The first race I ever did kicked my butt worse than an entire week of 2-a-days for high school football.

[snubbyfan]

Another 3 hour hike today and another 1478 calories burned. It was beautiful and sunny and temps reached 93 degrees.
I'm sure that puts me in a caloric deficit again today.
Tomorrow it's off to the Y.

[susieqz]

what happened to the camping trip?

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by susieqz

what happened to the camping trip?

It went great. Daytime temps got up to 112 degrees in the sun.


I spent my time relaxing in the sun smoking a cigar.


'Bout the only problem was a slow leak in our air mattress. We started out sleeping on a firm mattress and by morning it was pretty darn squishy.

[susieqz]

you were sunbathing at 112 degrees?
112 means death!

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by susieqz

you were sunbathing at 112 degrees?
112 means death!

I also enjoy 180 degree plus sauna's.
Laying in the sun's just using nature's sauna.

[snubbyfan]

Today at the Y went better than expected. I was thinking that since we've been so active and I was in so much of a caloric deficit all week, it'd affect my workout.
However, spin class went well and I worked up a good sweat. After spin, in the workout room, I felt pretty strong, kinda surprised me.
My wife and I take turns at the various exercises. I'll do a set, she'll do a set and so on 'til we've done 4 sets each on each exercise and we watch each other to make sure we're using proper form.
I wear a tank top and my wife told me that I look like an anatomical chart, she said that I've lost so much fat that she can see my muscles moving under my skin and that makes it easier for her to see what muscles each exercise works.
Tomorrow's supposed to be rainy. I'm planning on a rest day. We have some stuff that needs attention around the house.
Sunday's supposed to be partly sunny and hot. I'm thinking a nice long hike in the mountains then firing up the grill and a Rocky Patel Decade Robusto cigar when we get home. We picked up some thick pork chops on the way home from the Y today.

[snubbyfan]

Today was another hot and sunny day. Great day for a nice hike. My wife and I ended up going nearly 7 miles in a bit less than 3 hours. Temps got up to a humid, sunny 96 degrees.
After we got home, I lit a Rocky Patel Decade Robusto cigar, our grill and opened a cold beer.
I grilled a coupla thick pork chops in hickory smoke and slathered them in my wife's barbecue sauce mix. They came out juicy and tender.
Tomorrow it's off to the Y.

[vonn]

Been getting my exercise cleaning up large tree branches that have fallen off my trees. Two large pecan limbs and one really big one from an ash tree. Must have been weakened by thunderstorms is all I can think of. The ash limb was larger than most trees and missed my truck by inches.

[snubbyfan]

Fun day at the Y today. We had a substitute teacher at spin class. Still had lotsa fun.
In the workout room I felt strong. I've been bumping up my carbs, proteins and overall calories a bit lately and it seems to be working. I felt stronger on every exercise.
I'm at 152 pounds and I did 11 1/2 pullups. I couldn't quite make the last one without kicking my feet so I just counted it as a half.
We went to a Chinese buffet that also has fresh sushi for supper. I know that Chinese food has lotsa sodium and I'll probably gain around 4 pounds in water weight. Just gotta drink lotsa water to flush out all that sodium.

[snubbyfan]

My wife and I went camping over the last coupla days. Tomorrow it's off to the Y.

[susieqz]

that cigar lighter looks to be a pretty good torch.
what kind is it?
the tea maker looks cool too.

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by susieqz

that cigar lighter looks to be a pretty good torch.
what kind is it?
the tea maker looks cool too.

It's a VECTOR Thundra Triple Torch Desktop Cigar Lighter. I use Xikar Purofine High Performance Butane.
The lighter holds loads of butane. I couldn't tell you how many cigars I've lit on a single fill.

The little whistling tea kettle and camp stove have gone many miles with me riding in a backpack.
I remember waking up in the mountains on a 30 degree below zero (that's as far down as my thermometer would go) morning. Reaching out of my sleeping bag, lighting the camp stove and putting the tea kettle on. I had filled it the day before and the water had frozen solid. I tucked my head back into my sleeping bag and before I warmed up again, the tea kettle was whistling.
I got the camp stove from REI and the little whistling tea kettle from Kohls.
Decades after I got them, I'm still using them. 'Cept, this time I'm sharing 'em with my wife and it's for summer truck camping.

[snubbyfan]

Today at the Y we had the same substitute spin teacher. He's more high tension, slower cadence than our regular instructor. I'm more medium tension fast spin.
Anyway, we still had lotsa fun.
In the workout room, I felt pretty darn good and I increased the weights on almost all my workouts. I'm still at 11 1/2 pullups but I did do a second set of 8.
My wife also increased a lot of her workout weights as well.
We've increased out protein and carbs and it seems to be helping. Just gotta make sure we add firm strong stuff and not squishy flabby stuff to our bodies.

Tomorrow, we're going to a comedy show that's to benefit a child advocacy center that helps children that have suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse. Before the show though, we're gonna stop by the Y, do some cardio, more ab work and spend some time on the warm pool and sauna.

[RudyN]

I am trying to recover from yesterday. We had beach training as I am going for my third degree black belt and today my body let me know that I am not as young as I used to be. As soon as I get done here I will be getting some ice packs for my legs-ouch!

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by RudyN

I am trying to recover from yesterday. We had beach training as I am going for my third degree black belt and today my body let me know that I am not as young as I used to be. As soon as I get done here I will be getting some ice packs for my legs-ouch!

You may not be as young as you used to be but you're still movin'.
I've used heat, like a jacuzzi or the warm pool at the Y right after a workout and I've found that helps.

[snubbyfan]

Yesterday, since it was nasty and rainy out, I did a half hour fast spin on our home spin bike. Worked up a good sweat. My wife used our home treadmill.
Today, we may have a rest day in preparation for a good hard workout tomorrow at the Y. Depends on how energetic we feel.

[snubbyfan]

Today at the Y, the spin instructor's back from vacation and we had a rather energetic class.
Last night for supper my wife and I had haddock and some homemade whole wheat bannock bread using a traditional recipe we found in Native magazine.
I blame the bannock for how great I felt during our workout. I'm calling it "super carbs." 'cause of the energy it gave me today. I was lifting heavy and feeling strong. I felt stronger than our last Y visit but my weight was still at 152 pounds.
I've been bumping up my protein, calories, carbs and fats a bit but not too much. I want to add a bit of muscle bulk without adding squishy jiggly stuff.

[vonn]

Went to the VA hospital here in Houston yesterday for eye exam. Huge place with so many in bad shape. Made me think I need to work harder to keep my health. I am in good condition now but an ounce of prevention.....

[snubbyfan]

Vonn, that's the thing. There's so many people in poor health. If they were more conscious of what they ate and exercised a bit many of their health problems could've been prevented.

[snubbyfan]

Lotsa fun at the Y today. It was "Freebird Friday" in spin class. That means a brutal, heavy fast spin. By the time class was over, I was dripping sweat and feeling great.
Now the curious part.
Lately I've been increasing my calories, carbs, protein and fats. Also, I've been lifting heavy with 6-8 reps for 4 sets to increase muscle mass and strength. Last workout, on Tuesday, I increased most of my workout weights. Today, I increased most of my workout weights again and felt pretty strong.
Thing is, I lost 3.5 pounds since Tuesday. From 152.5 to 149.0. I thought I'd be gaining weight. Could it just be water weight from sweating in spin class? Then again, I weighed myself at the same time both times. Maybe I need to increase my calories even more?

[susieqz]

the problem comes up when a person who always controls weight by walking n riding can no longer do those things.
diets don't work when you lie around all the time. all fun exercizes involve working legs.

[RudyN]

I have almost recovered, finally! My left quadricep is about 95% so tomorrow it will be more training, but on dry land and no sand to run in so I think I will survive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[snubbyfan]

The thing is, after I lost 80 pounds, I have some loose baggy skin. I figure that if I build some muscle, that'll help fill up the baggy skin. I don't want to make my waist bigger so I'm trying to increase my upper body muscles to try to pull some of that loose skin up a bit.
The problem I'm having is trying to increase my caloric and carbohydrate intake. After spending years keeping my calories and carbs down, I'm finding it difficult convincing myself to increase them. The body needs carbs, fats, protein and extra calories to recover and build muscle after a hard workout.

[susieqz]

the problem i see is that if you increase intake, sooner or later you will sprain an ankle or something, reducing exercise .
cutting calories when you are laid up is very hard/

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by susieqz

the problem i see is that if you increase intake, sooner or later you will sprain an ankle or something, reducing exercise .
cutting calories when you are laid up is very hard/

That's how I gained bunches of weight to begin with. When my motor nerve condition started and I was having troubles walking along with weakness in my hands, my activity level dropped to nearly zero. That along with going to different doctors, neurologists, neuromuscular specialists, MRI's, blood tests, etc., led to a lot of time on the road or in waiting rooms.
After a coupla years, they finally gave me a diagnosis and started treatments that didn't work and only made me worse. The problem was that they took so long getting the diagnosis that it was too late for the treatment to work and the damage was irreversible.
I could either sit my fat butt in an electric wheelchair or do something 'bout it.
I decided to do something 'bout it.
First, I restructured my diet, then I determined that I was going to relearn how to walk with the muscles that still work. Took me 'bout a year but I was finally back to hiking.
After a bit over 3 years, my weight was down about 80 pounds.
Over the years, I've been studying exercise, weight training and nutrition and trying different supplements and I think I may have figured out something that works for me.
Now that I'm at a lean 150 pounds, I've decided to add some muscle bulk.
I'm being extra careful not to injure or overtrain myself. My wife is also lifting with me. It's actually a lot of fun training together and she makes sure I don't overdo it and use the correct form on every exercise.
My new goal? I'd like to add a few pounds of lean muscle. The tough part's convincing myself to increase calories, carbs and fats along with keeping my protein up but only enough to obtain my goals and not get squishy and jiggly.

[snubbyfan]

Today on our way to the Cumberland Theatre, we stopped at the Y and worked out on the elliptical machines for a little while. According to the readout on the machines, we burned 'bout 400 calories each.

[snubbyfan]

Great day at the Y. Spin class was energetic and lotsa fun. In the workout room, I felt strong and I've increased my workout weights on several of the machines again.
So far, the heavy lifting, low rep workouts seem to be working. I just havta make sure to get my protein, fats and carbs.

[snubbyfan]

Turned out to be a beautiful warm sunny day today. Good day for a hike on our favorite mountain trail. My wife and I strapped on our boots and off we went. The trails weren't too bad considering how much rain we've been having. They were damp with some muddy places but it was pretty nice going.
Took 'bout 3 hours to go around 6 and a half miles. Apparently that means I burned between 1266 and 1500 calories.

[snubbyfan]

Great day at the Y. It was "Freebird Friday." That means the spin instructor plays Freebird and we all pedal our butts off. It's kinda brutal, first we increase tension then as the song picks up we reduce tension and increase cadance 'til it's an all out sprint for the last few minutes. I like it.
Afterwards, it was off to the workout room. All the extra carbs and proteins seem to be working. Felt strong and increased my weights on a coupla exercises, so did my wife. She surprised herself on the straight bar cable curls.
Tomorrow, we're planning on a nice bike ride. It hasn't rained for the last coupla days and hopefully, the trails have dried out a bit.

[snubbyfan]

Nice day for a bike ride on the C&O Canal Towpath. It was still a bit muddy in parts but not too bad. I had hoped that it'd be a bit dryer.
Our turn around point's at a campsite along the Towpath where we stop for lunch at a picnic table by the river. My wife made a coupla meaty roll ups and we packed those along with a can of diet cream soda in Frankenbikes insulated trunk.

However, when we got to the campsite, it was still wet and swampy. When I rode out to the picnic table it was still covered with river silt from the last flood. Then the mosquitoes starting swarming and we were out of there.
Frankenbike did a good job churning through the muck but I still couldn't help but miss my old knobbies. The new tires are great all around trail and street tires but they did spin in the mud a coupla times.

We rode toward home and stopped at another camp ground picnic table that was further from the river and on higher and dryer land. The mosquitoes started swarming again. I was in such a hurry to get away from them that I missed my clip in and smacked my shin with a pedal.
There was one last camp ground on the way back, actually it was a bit of a detour, that we wanted to try. It was pretty nice and we finally stopped for lunch.
After that we headed on home, hosed off the bikes and cleaned ourselves.
We ended up going 16.39 miles.

[CBus660R]

Howdy, howdy! I raced the National today. I did OK. The first couple sections I was slow, but got into my grove towards the end and started riding better. I finished 13th out of 19 in 40+A which was a bit off the pace compared to my goal (finished 9th the last time I did a National in '15). I finished with a total time of 150 minutes and 14 seconds. 8th was 145 minutes and 54 seconds. What's become obvious is my worn out bike is hurting me a bit. The trail was pretty rough and I was bouncing around quite a bit. With a dirtbike, you need to service the suspension with new seals and fresh oil every 60-80 hours. It's been 200 hours since I did mine and I blew the left fork seal and was leaking oil all over the front brake (it's mounted on the left fork leg). The good news is I started a new job Monday and I finally have a decent paycheck coming in and I have an appointment with my local suspension guy to give everything a re-fresh so I can ride hard and trust that the front tire will go where I want. I'll have it done before the last race of the year in November. That'll be interesting to see if it helps enough to find the 5 minutes I needed today lol

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by CBus660R

Howdy, howdy! I raced the National today. I did OK. The first couple sections I was slow, but got into my grove towards the end and started riding better. I finished 13th out of 19 in 40+A which was a bit off the pace compared to my goal (finished 9th the last time I did a National in '15). I finished with a total time of 150 minutes and 14 seconds. 8th was 145 minutes and 54 seconds. What's become obvious is my worn out bike is hurting me a bit. The trail was pretty rough and I was bouncing around quite a bit. With a dirtbike, you need to service the suspension with new seals and fresh oil every 60-80 hours. It's been 200 hours since I did mine and I blew the left fork seal and was leaking oil all over the front brake (it's mounted on the left fork leg). The good news is I started a new job Monday and I finally have a decent paycheck coming in and I have an appointment with my local suspension guy to give everything a re-fresh so I can ride hard and trust that the front tire will go where I want. I'll have it done efore the last race of the year in November. That'll be interesting to see if it helps enough to find the 5 minutes I needed today lol

My biking ain't nothing like your biking but I do know that a properly working suspension fork on Frankenbike makes all the difference back when I usta fall off the sides of mountains on my bicycle.

That and good brakes. I put a hydraulic front disc brake and hydraulic rear rim brake on Frankenbike.
Fighting a bike that's bouncing around in the woods is bound to screw up your time.

[ladder13]

Sometimes I have the gym to myself.

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by ladder13

Sometimes I have the gym to myself.

I kinda like those days. There's nobody slamming weights or sitting on the equipment staring at one of those (expletive deleted) cell phones.

[ladder13]

Originally Posted by snubbyfan

I kinda like those days. There's nobody slamming weights or sitting on the equipment staring at one of those (expletive deleted) cell phones.

Well, I got most of that right, lol.
I know almost everyone in my gym, so on busy days I tend to talk way too much with the usual crew.
After 12 noon it clears out until about 4pm. That pic was taken around 2 pm.

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by ladder13

Well, I got most of that right, lol.
I know almost everyone in my gym, so on busy days I tend to talk way too much with the usual crew.
After 12 noon it clears out until about 4pm. That pic was taken around 2 pm.

I've been thinking of getting a shirt like this to work out in.

[snubbyfan]

Anyway, good day at the Y. Spin class was a lot of fun again. My wife's been spinning faster and harder and the spin instructor noticed.
In the workout room, since I increased my, calories, carbs, proteins and fats, I've been increasing my workout weights and kinda lost track. Fortunately my wife's been keeping track. Today, more than once, I double checked 'cause it seemed like way too much weight for a gimpy Injun to be lifting. When she told me that my close grip straight bar curls were 100 pounds, I thought she was kidding but I did 10 reps in my first set.
On some of the other exercises, I think I may have plateaued or at least I'm gonna stay with the weights I've been lifting for a coupla weeks.
Maybe.....

[snubbyfan]

Lotsa fun at spin class today. Apparently, I held up class 'cause the spin instructor was holding the door open for me and telling me to hurry up. Yeah I was a coupla minutes late but I just gotta make an entrance.
She played a selection of music that included Aerosmith, Ozzy, Journey and others from the 80's and 90's. I worked up a good sweat.
In the workout room, both my wife and got really good workouts. We both felt strong today.

It's supposed to be sunny and warm for the next few days. We're planning on a nice bike ride on the Cumberland GAP Trail.

[snubbyfan]

Beautiful day today and my wife and I went for a nice bicycle ride on the Cumberland GAP trail. We went from the Cash Valley trail head to the Frostburg trail head. It's 11 miles one way and it's uphill all the way to Frostburg. That means it downhill all the way back. Took us 1 1/2 hours out and 'bout an hour back.
It was like a 1 1/2 hour uphill spin followed by a nice easy downhill spin.
Tomorrow it's off to the Y.

[snubbyfan]

Good day at the Y.
After our 22 mile bike ride with an 11 mile uphill yesterday, I kinda wondered how my wife and I would do in spin class today.
Much to my delight, we both did well. I felt great and so did she.
After spin we headed to the workout room and brutalized ourselves. I can always tell when I've had a good workout. I end up having difficulty lifting my water bottle by the time we're done.
Tomorrow's supposed to be a rainy, stormy day so it'll be home treadmill and spin bike and ab work on a slant board time. My wife'll do the treadmill 'cause her walking muscles work better than mine and I'll do a 30 to 40 minute non-stop fast spin on the spin bike.

[snubbyfan]

Well, I'm excited. I use clipless pedals on Frankenbike and my cleated bike shoes also work on spin bikes. However, I've been "popping" offa the spin bike pedals lately. Originally I thought it was the cheap pedals on the spin bikes but a coupla days ago, while on a bike ride with my wife, I "popped" offa Frankenbike's pedals a coupla times. Frankenbike does not have cheap pedals and they're properly maintained, adjusted and lubed. On the other hand, the cleats are a bit over two decades old and have been clipped in and out of pedals many thousands of times and they're looking kinda worn.
This morning, I found my extra, unused, in brand new condition cleats with my spare bike parts. Now I have nice shiny new cleats on my bike shoes. Hopefully, that'll hold me on those cheap spin bike pedals and I won't "pop" when I get into a fast spin. I intend to find out tomorrow morning.


Considering that we're going to spin class tomorrow, a three mile hike Thursday and back to the Y for spin class and another brutal workout on Friday, I decided to declare today as a rest day. Today's just gonna be resting, carbs and protein.

[snubbyfan]

The new cleats worked great. I didn't pop off the pedals no matter how frantically I pedaled.
The new cleats are just standard Shimano SPD cleats. The ones I had on my shoes were called "rotational" cleats. They allowed more flotation or foot movement before releasing. That was back in the day when my biking style was a bit more extreme. Now I generally just go on nice bike rides and spin classes. The new cleats are fine for that.

Tomorrow we're planning on a nice hike in the mountains then back home to fire up the grill and a cigar.

[snubbyfan]

Beautiful day for a hike. We ended up hiking our favorite mountain trails for 3 hours.
I had planned on firing up the grill, barbecueing some chicken, smoking a cigar and drinking beer but when we got home the sky looked like it was getting ready to storm on us. I've grilled meat in the rain before but it's no fun in a storm.
Anyway, instead I cooked the chicken on the stove top with my wife's home mixed barbecue sauce. It still came out tender and juicy.
Tomorrow, it's off to the Y,

[snubbyfan]

Pretty good day at the Y today. I didn't have a lot of energy, enough to have fun in spin class though, but I did feel strong in the workout room. I haven't increased the amount of weight lifted but I was able to do more reps.
They finally got a decent straight bar. It has spring collars instead of spin on collars so weight changes aren't as fast. My wife and I did some close grip straight bar curls for our bicep isolation move.
Tomorrow's supposed to be a nice, partly sunny warm day. We may go for another hike or maybe a bike ride.

[BigCityChief]

Hello, all:

Just finished my 8,200th mile since I started walking 2 years ago. Sorry I’ve been MIA - business is BOOMING and my son is visiting colleges all over the country, keeping me very busy!

Hope all is well with you guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[snubbyfan]

Originally Posted by BigCityChief

Hello, all:

Just finished my 8,200th mile since I started walking 2 years ago. Sorry I’ve been MIA - business is BOOMING and my son is visiting colleges all over the country, keeping me very busy!

Hope all is well with you guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's a lot of walking!
Thanks for stopping by with an update.

[snubbyfan]

Lotsa fun at spin class today. The instructor came up with a fun new routine. Lotsa sprint interspersed with climbs. By the time I was done, there was a puddle of sweat under my spin bike.
Afterwards, in the workout room, I felt pretty strong. I'm not lifting heavier. Just doing more reps and sets at the higher weights.

[snubbyfan]

At yesterday's visit to the Y, I actually felt kinda sluggish. So for dinner I had a big bowl of whole wheat spaghetti and turkey meatballs.
Lotsa protein and carbs.
Worked, felt great today.
As usual, spin class was lotsa fun but since I carb loaded last night, even funner.
Lifting today, I was suprised in a good way. Again, I'm not lifting any heavier but the weights I am lifting are getting a bit easier. May be time to increase some of the weights soon.
I did drop sets on a few of the different exercises just to work the muscles a bit more and get a good pump.
Next Y visit's on Monday.