General Health & Fitness - Stay/Get Back in Shape

I used to walk - a lot. I was averaging about 36,000 steps a day...walking 17 miles on my weight training days and 25 miles on my off days with a 4 day upper/lower split. And then I was run over by a motorcycle from behind. I have a partially torn patella tendon which is still healing. I've switched to swimming 3-4 hours a day. I'm currently doing a push/pull split because I can't do any lower body work other than PT. I love walking and I hate swimming, although admittedly I burn almost twice as many calories swimming and I definitely have those swimmer's shoulders going.

I am very strict with my meal plan (weigh/tracking/meal planning) for 6 days out of the week. I gorge on a cheat day.
 
Cardio sucks but you need something to offer a distraction. I listen to podcasts or music - but mostly podcasts these days while swimming and music while lifting.
 
I'm planning to add a full sprint day into my routine now that the weather is getting nice

Always enjoyed that type of work vs jogging. It's been years so will have to ease into it
 
I would stick with something you know you can do consistently and won't burn you out.
 
...and also incorporate a reward of some sort. I would never do this much cardio if my cheat day weren't near at hand.
 
p5mmr9 said:
I would stick with something you know you can do consistently and won't burn you out.
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That's where I've been at for quite a while, so trying to build on that

Sprinting has always seemed like a cheat code. Min for min I don't what else comes close

But yeah, the build up is key. I won't be trying anything close to a max for several weeks at least

p5mmr9 said:
...and also incorporate a reward of some sort. I would never do this much cardio if my cheat day weren't near at hand.
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I need to cheat less. Not super strict with it as is

Total calories isn't a problem but need to get cleaner/more protein
 
Heelsandeers said:
What are we doing to get/stay healthy?
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I lift twice a week. I rotate between push, pull, and legs. (I also get legs on pull when I do deadlifts.)

I run twice a week on the treadmill. Do five miles in 40 minutes each time. Add in another mile total in warmup and cooldown.

Seems to work for me but like heelsandeers I could eat less/better. I have always hidden poor dietary habits with exercise and at 53 that will catch up to you.
 
p5mmr9 said:
Cardio sucks but you need something to offer a distraction. I listen to podcasts or music - but mostly podcasts these days while swimming and music while lifting.
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Back 23 years ago I would run at about a 6.5 mile pace. I was going through a lot and found it relaxing and a good time to think through things.

After a couple of years doing that I started pushing myself a lot harder. Rather than being relaxing I was competing with myself.

I have this weird math thing I do while running. I compare everything with 6 mph because it is a nice round number where you get 1/10th of a mile every minute. Since I run 5 miles in 40 minutes, I need to gain 10 tenths over that stretch. At 9 mph I gain a tenth every 2 minutes. At 8 mph, every 3 minutes, 7.5 mph every four minutes, 7.2 every five minutes, 7.0 every six, and 6.5 every 12. So if you watch me on the treadmill I almost always run those speeds. Kind of weird and maybe slightly Autistic but it keeps me running harder than I would otherwise and somewhat keeps my mind busy although at this point it takes no thought.

As a side note, time is a weird thing. I know I went through a lot back then but my mind wishes I could go back.
 
p5mmr9 said:
I used to walk - a lot. I was averaging about 36,000 steps a day...walking 17 miles on my weight training days and 25 miles on my off days with a 4 day upper/lower split. And then I was run over by a motorcycle from behind. I have a partially torn patella tendon which is still healing. I've switched to swimming 3-4 hours a day. I'm currently doing a push/pull split because I can't do any lower body work other than PT. I love walking and I hate swimming, although admittedly I burn almost twice as many calories swimming and I definitely have those swimmer's shoulders going.

I am very strict with my meal plan (weigh/tracking/meal planning) for 6 days out of the week. I gorge on a cheat day.
Click to expand...
You walked 25 miles? In a day? Consistently? Wow.
 
I lift 5 days a week and usually run 4-5 times a week. I walk 7 days a week.

I do intermittent fasting and break fast with two hard boiled eggs at 12. I eat Greek yogurt with two scoops of naked whey grass-fed protein with peanut butter and dark chocolate. Eat a bowl of cheerios for snack with berries. Eat a normal dinner.

I have found that I have a tendency to get into my head and working out and being distracted minimizes that.
 
p5mmr9 said:
I used to walk - a lot. I was averaging about 36,000 steps a day...walking 17 miles on my weight training days and 25 miles on my off days with a 4 day upper/lower split. And then I was run over by a motorcycle from behind. I have a partially torn patella tendon which is still healing. I've switched to swimming 3-4 hours a day. I'm currently doing a push/pull split because I can't do any lower body work other than PT. I love walking and I hate swimming, although admittedly I burn almost twice as many calories swimming and I definitely have those swimmer's shoulders going.

I am very strict with my meal plan (weigh/tracking/meal planning) for 6 days out of the week. I gorge on a cheat day.
Click to expand...
You exercise 20-30 hrs/week?!
 
ChapelHillSooner said:
I lift twice a week. I rotate between push, pull, and legs. (I also get legs on pull when I do deadlifts.)

I run twice a week on the treadmill. Do five miles in 40 minutes each time. Add in another mile total in warmup and cooldown.

Seems to work for me but like heelsandeers I could eat less/better. I have always hidden poor dietary habits with exercise and at 53 that will catch up to you.
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Very good pace for 5 miles. Especially at 53

That’s more my pace for 2. I’d be pretty happy with 5 in 45:00 mins
 
p5mmr9 said:
Cardio sucks but you need something to offer a distraction. I listen to podcasts or music - but mostly podcasts these days while swimming and music while lifting.
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yeah, i listen to music and/or read. 45 minutes is gone in the blink of an eye.
 
p5mmr9 said:
I used to walk - a lot. I was averaging about 36,000 steps a day...walking 17 miles on my weight training days and 25 miles on my off days with a 4 day upper/lower split. And then I was run over by a motorcycle from behind. I have a partially torn patella tendon which is still healing. I've switched to swimming 3-4 hours a day. I'm currently doing a push/pull split because I can't do any lower body work other than PT. I love walking and I hate swimming, although admittedly I burn almost twice as many calories swimming and I definitely have those swimmer's shoulders going.

I am very strict with my meal plan (weigh/tracking/meal planning) for 6 days out of the week. I gorge on a cheat day.
Click to expand...
Damn, that was a lot of walking. Did you have a couple of routes?

Also, that's a lot of swimming.
 
CRHeel94 said:
Damn, that was a lot of walking. Did you have a couple of routes?

Also, that's a lot of swimming.
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I travel a lot - but I usually plan out routes. My preference is half up and half back - so if I'm walking 15 miles - I'll try to walk one way 7.5 miles and then turn around and come back. It's very hard to do that in a USA suburb. My favorite route is in Kuala Lumpur, but Bangkok isn't bad. Jakarta - Indonesia in general - they do not care for their sidewalks. I was run over by a motorcycle in Indonesia because the sidewalks were occupied by food carts and people love staring at their phone when they drive. But - yeah with a great route - walking is wonderful. The route I have in KL takes me through downtown and then into the "suburbs" and if I start off early enough I'll get sunrise right as I'm turning around to come back. It's great. Big cities are usually great for walking.

Swimming sucks. I do not enjoy it but it does burn a lot more calories than walking. I have a water proof head phone set that I use and I program out 3 hours of podcasts (usually 3 x 1 hour episodes of something). Pools are disgusting and some of them are cold and then you have to dodge kids. Sun exposure is an issue. I haven't experienced swimming in a gym yet because I started swimming overseas and most of the pools overseas are associated with hotels.
 
I (57) have been using a rower (water) for about 3 years with a recent 5-month break from July '24 - December '24. When I stopped in July, I had gotten up to 60+k meters/week (35-40 miles give or take). By December, I'd lost almost all of my endurance and was almost back to where I started 3 years prior with a bit more speed. I'm back up to 40-minute workouts broken up into 2 sets of 20 and about 9k/day 4-5x per week but as of last week I've begun having some left side rib pain with deep breaths after my workout is over. My google search says most likely an intercostal muscle strain, so I'm going to have to dial it back and rest a bit more than I had hoped.

My technique probably blows, but my gut unfortunately gets in the way on my recovery, so my knees splay out. Once you get the technique for a rowing stroke down it is much easier. The second challenge I found was to try to control my pace for some endurance instead of an all-out sprint all the time. I grew up as a swimmer and I remember how hungry it would make me. Rowing seems like a similar good all-around exercise, but I don't have the same type of hunger. I suspect swimming burns more calories, in large part from keeping your temperature up in cooling water.
 
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