TIME TO GET RRRIIIIIIIPPED!!!!! - the exercise thread

When I become a Real Adult with an income I want to get a membership to a gym with a pool ;w; my mom talked to her physical therapist about our joint condition and they advised that yoga would actually hurt- my problem is I'm too flexible. Low impact muscle building is the priority, so swimming would be the best thing for me, and I already like casual swimming, so this is exciting and I'm rly happy and excited to graduate and maybe get a real job so I can do the thing.

The only problem is I hate freestyle/front crawl, whatever you call it, and I don't have a good enough sense of direction to do backstroke in a straight line. Suggestions for other strokes for me to do in swimming? The thing I hate about front stroke, btw, is all the dunking your face in the water- It's really hard for me to see without goggles and i never figured out how to keep water out of my nose, so it's really disorienting and unpleasant and painful cause i get chlorine water all in my sinuses and can't see. so like. a way to swim with less of that, plz.
(when just like. playing with friends in the water I do side stroke automatically but idk... it seems like an undignified way of exercising -has a lot of anxiety about standing out in public ok- -that's why I can't jog. people will notice me. and judge me. and stare at my boobs.-)

 

Do freestyle/front crawl with your head out of the water BUT: get a water polo ball (similar sized beach ball or normal volleyball works but polo balls are heavier and grippy when wet) Push it in front of you on your wake and use your arm strokes to corral it.

If anyone wonders why your head is up, you're doing polo drills! And if they think it's weird you have a handy ball to doink off their dumb judgemental head.

If you really want to build muscle, find some way to learn "eggbeatering". It's the fancy way polo players tread water without using their hands and how they launch themselves up to block and throw. Your thighs will be beastly. /nostalgic sigh

Edit: Also, there is nothing wrong with using a nose clip to keep water out. There were a bunch of the superhumans at Rio using them!

 

There's breaststroke as well, which is easier to do with your head out of the water than front crawl. (I used to play waterpolo, this is how I know :P )

This is what I mean: (clip is in Dutch, but you get the idea)

 

Boyfriend signed up for a gym, and they're giving free memberships for a month to a guest with someone's new contract. So I decided to try it out! I've always been too socially anxious for a gym before, but I actually liked this one.

Today was upper body day! So I did chest flies, reverse flies (10 pounds only, but I'm working up!) and reps on the assisted dip/pull up machine they have. I love this thing. It counterbalances you so you're only pulling up however much you want as opposed to your full body weight. And the way the thing you kneel on to do it slides up and down is actually a perfect stimming thing. I could have stayed there all day. Actually, I ended up doing five more reps (at 25 pounds) of both exercises because it was just a lot of fun.

I also walked a mile on their indoor track - tbh I just wanted to hatch my Pokémon eggs where it was cool. But I did a half mile to warm up and a half mile to cool down.

 

Today I shall be EXTRA PRODUCTIVE!
I shall GO WALKIES
I shall go EXTRA FAR (to go buy more Bonine for dives)
While wearing WEIGHTS
AND bring my DIVEMASTER STUDY BOOK instead of a fun book.

because I was supposed to dive today but not enough people came

 

So in an effort to lose like 5-10 pounds over the next 2 months I've decided to start going on the treadmill again.

Day 1 I went on it for 20 minutes, and day 2 my thigh was still chafing after 24 hours. How do I prevent this? Day 3 I just walked briskly instead of running and that seemed to go just fine but that isn't going to be enough.

 

1) Buy cheapo white stick deodorant
2) Apply liberally to chafing areas before walking/running/etc
3) Do your thing as normal

Source1: The mother of the #2 High School Track Star in the US (her daughter ran against the chick who ran the 400m Hurdles for the US at Rio!)
Source2: Personal Experience

 

Now that I have a phone that can handle Pokemon go and a data plan so I can actually use it, I went on my first real pokeventure today. 9 km later (I only meant to go 7...), my feet are no longer speaking to me, but my fucked up leg isn't more than a little fussy. Both legs were pretty fantastically twingey when I got home but they're fine now. I'm hoping the bad one won't throw a fit after a night of sleep.

I'm so glad I got a cane last year. Without one this kind of walk would have me laid up in bed with a heating pad.

 

I ran the Annapolis 10 miler this morning. I'm actually hanging out at the finish line drinking water and eating a bagel. Well organized race, nicely spaced water stops, frozen fruit bars at the finish line, general good experience!

The course was extremely hilly and it was a hot morning. I finished in 1:46 and felt fairly good about it. I'm sticking around until my coworker crosses the finish line and then I'm going home for a shower and a nap.

Spoiler: I am a sweat golem

 

I did a very short workout this morning for the first time in what feels like forever. It felt like not enough, but I figure it's a start to getting back to regularly working out again. :)

 

Additional detail about the race: when the race course wound through neighborhoods with yards, the residents came out and set up their sprinklers or put their garden hoses on the finest mist setting and sprayed the runners. There was a 5 year old kid having the time of his life spraying 3500 people with the hose while they cheered and thanked him for it. It was great.

@Emma smart decision to start with short workouts!

General advice: the usual thing that happens is that people say I'M GONNA GET IN SHAPE and go really hard for a couple weeks until they get an injury or burn themselves out and quit. This is why I avoid the gym for the 3 weeks after New Year's. The half-life of Motivation is about two weeks and it's back to the normal gym crowds by the end of January. You'll get much better results if you start with a sustainable workout, something you can do even if you're tired or busy, and build up a habit. Motivation will eventually abandon you like the fickle bastard it is, but habits are reliable!

 

Yeah, that's what I thought too! So I had this app downloaded, and it gives me a new workout every day. For instance, they said today's workout was supposed to take 18 minutes, but it didn't take that long at all, and that's really nice :)

So today I have a two-day streak going, and that feels nice :D

 

what app is it?

 

It's called 'My Trainer Dasi' and it has various plans in it depending on what you want :)

 

I always forget about this thread for weeks at a time whoops.. thanks for suggestions! when I start looking into swimming more seriously I'll probably see if I can get a nose clip and nice goggles, that should make life much easier. The polo suggestion is also a good if I end up too awkward to wear a nose thing xD anxietybrain, why.

 

Longest long run was this morning - 22 miles. Not gonna lie, I'm hurting some right now, but I'm also feeling confident that I'll finish the marathon with no problems. I felt like I could have done another 4 miles today if I had to.

I have two weeks of nice easy tapering coming up, and the weather cooled off at just the right time. I'm sure now that shark week is not going to coincide with the race. I've worked out what I'm going to do for gels and hydration. Now I'm just looking forward to the day when all this preparation pays off.

(And to cutting back to a normal sane amount of running for a month or two after the race. That will also be nice.)

 

I AM MIGHTY

Nice race story: I was chatting before the race with a mom named Julia who was also running her first marathon. When it was time to line up, we said "good luck" and split up and I lost her in the crowd of 4000 runners. Just after the water stop at mile 23, I came around a corner and saw someone limping her way to a bench. I stopped to make sure she was okay and recognized Julia. She was having a hip issue and was trying to stretch it out. I asked if she wanted me to run back to the water stop and get a medic, but she said she thought she could finish. I was also struggling pretty hard at that point, so we set out together, slow and steady. We helped each other through the last 5k and crossed the finish line side by side. And we made plans to look for each other if we run the same race next year.

 

What's the best/fastest way to build muscle that doesn't require a gym membership? Also- are spite and jealousy good motivating factors to get in shape?

 

Hmm. More information about what you need muscles for would help, but I suggest searching "bodyweight exercises" to get some ideas.

I feel like I'm supposed to say no to the second question, but anecdotal evidence in my circle of acquaintances says yes. Spite can work to get you through the 1-2 months that it takes to form a solid exercise habit. In 2 months, though, you should probably reevaluate and ask yourself if you like what you're doing for its own sake.

 

I need muscles to be hot. And I need to lose my stomach fat for cosplay.

And, okay. Good to know it can get me started through the first month or so. Honestly I don't like myself enough to want to exercise for my own good, so I don't know what I'm gonna do after that.