What do you do to keep fit?

[Finius]

Since going to University, I won't lie, I got fat. And I mean fat with an F as opposed to "phat" (I am not endorsed by xibit).

 

I want to get in better shape, since next year I'll be skirmishing at least three times a month, marshalling at least once and photographing game days here and there as well. I also hope to join the UOTC and after Uni the TA, so I could do with getting a bit fitter/losing some weight.

 

I hate the gym. Like, really hate. I'd rather spoon my own eyes out with rusted cooking implements than spend ten minutes in a gym. That said, I'll happily work out in my own home, as well as outdoors - which is what I'm doing this summer (a variety of cycling, running, crunches, pressups etc and also occasional use of mum's Wii Fit when no-one's looking), but I was wondering, what do my fellow airsofters do to keep fit?

 

At the moment, more than my weight, it's my fitness. At Uni we're encouraged to eat crap and sit on our arses all day; and in many respects I've found that the greatest barrier to weight loss and fitness gain - is the fact that due to poor fitness, I get worn out quicker; I used to cycle 20 miles in about an hour, and I'd do it nightly, but now I struggle to do anywhere near that (this is in part due to the fact that I sold my racing cycle (could lift it up balanced on my little finger) for a thicker wheeled and generally heavier bike to have more of a chance against the glass-coated streets of Coventry, but fitness is still a huge factor, I would still expect to manage 15 miles on open road if my fitness were the same).

 

Any tips, techniques, approaches, publication suggestions etc welcome; otherwise, simply discuss

[craig]

put on a 50lb rucksack and a pair of boots then run a mile and a half in under 9 min for about 3 weeks

[M_P]

play airsoft.

I cycle everywhere too, but thats probably me trying to justify getting a new bike

[Deva]

Go running. I started recently due to the same reason of feeling like I didn't have much stamina. I've only been going about 2 weeks but I've knocked a fair amount off my time and feel a lot better for it. Just build it up slowly and don't be too sudden.

[Finius]

I might start doing morning runs; it's about a mile round my village and I'm home for about twelve weeks; plenty of time for improvement!

[Cyrax]

I would like to do more running, but there isnt any where nice where i live to got running. So i set up the beep test/ shuttle run in my garden (15 m track).

 

Its good, because you can measure your level of fitness, set your self targets so on.

 

As a guide, the Met police, is 5.6(?) i think, and the CNC (civil nuclear constabulary) is a 9.4 (?) i think.

 

I also play tennis and badminton every week. Play hard and the constant start stop, especially badders, will improve you cardio, stamina, hand eye co-ordination and leg muscles.

 

Next time i have a bit of money im going to my local surplus to get some jerry cans, to imitate the army ADSC test.

 

Aside from that i have some dumbbells and a "pull up" bar that you use inside a door way.

 

When i go riding, or on the odd run, i put the weights from the dumbbells into a back pack, just to make life harder.

[Airsofter123]

This is my experience from training to run a half-marathon. Basically it's just picked up from the internet, and the few good runners I know. As such, it's probably not 100% accurate, but it worked.

 

1) Stamina. For this you basically want to try and do a very long distance at a pretty slow pace. With running you ought to be aiming for about 12 k/m. The point isn't to do it quickly, just to go as far as possible, and to be sure to run the whole thing. A 1 mile circuit is pretty good for this. When I started I could only really manage 1 lap (2 km), but you find that you improve ridiculously quickly, and if you do this every day (at the start it's only about 10 minutes of running, so this is quite easy), you can add a lap each week no problem (actually this is probably an under-estimate, if you push hard you can add a lot more). There will also be a sudden jump in the distance you can run (for me it happened when I was running about 12km) - this is because you have a "natural speed" - the speed you will naturally run, and a "maintenance speed" - basically the speed where you're not building up lactic acid in running. As you train you raise the maintenance speed, once this equals your natural speed, the limiting factor becomes energy in your body. Burns one hell of a lot of fat - basically you can eat whatever the f you like and still lose weight, and massively reduces recovery times.

 

2) Speed / Cardio. Obviously, as you start being able to run further, the runs start taking a lot longer, and you really don't want to be doing them every day (if nothing else because you will kill your feet). Also, it might be nice to be able to sprint, which stamina training doesn't really help with. I'd recommend you start doing this once you can run about 3 or 4 miles normally, and only do it for one mile. Basically the idea is you sprint 100m as fast as you can, then stroll 100m, sprint 100, stroll 100m etc. Once you start to find this easier, reduce the distances you stroll. This training basically means you can run fast for longer. Also helps with the heart, which stamina doesn't really.

 

3) Strength - stamina exercises will burn muscle. A lot of muscle. So really you have to build it back. Push ups are good, as are crunches and russian twists. If you've got a dumbbell, hammer curls are good for biceps. Obviously you don't really need to worry about your legs. They're already being beasted

 

Quick note - I'm told the body adapts to specific exercises pretty quickly. This means that if you just train at running, you'll get bloody good at running, but no where near as good at cycling. So mixing it up is often a good idea (obv I was just training for a run, so I just ran )

[sarni307]

I play xbox and eat cheeseburgers

[MZKaleem]

I walk to and fro school mostly, although, im not fit! i mean i look it, but not physically fit

[Finius]

I'm liking the idea of daily running; one might jogging/running, then do some start/stop sprinting, using the bleep test every once in a while as a measure - I do *some* muscular workouts now and again, so I'll probably just step it up a bit.

 

Going to get up early tomorrow and see whether a run kills me or not (I'm predicting it will)

[MZKaleem]

then do some start/stop printing

 

I dont think your printer would like that!

[Finius]

Corrected, cheers for pointing that out

[shaneyplane]

I do Taekwondo and MMA, there great for fitness, fun and you learn self defence as well, and its not like going for a run and going on a treadmill, they keep your mind active as well so you dont feel like you have worked an hour but you have,

[SheriffHD]

BMX on dirt tracks. even the short tracks knacker you out.

also head up to milton keynes and snowboard.

also enjoy friday nights on the piss (drinking and dancing make a man very sweaty)

and random single night camping trips. pack a day sack and camp out for the night.

[Finius]

Been out today and got some proper-fitting running shoes

 

I might take up Taekwondo again in September - if Uni and running Airsoc don't take away from my time too much (If I join the UOTC then I definitely won't have time).

 

Quite liking the idea of going camping Though my style is to get my parents to dump me in the middle of derbyshire with a bike and come back for me when they thing I'll be on the verge of starvation xD

[Airsofter123]

Camping only works if you do a lot of walking, otherwise you might as well be sitting on COD . Basically any exercise where you cover a big distance is fitness training.

[Finius]

That'd cover me for camping; hiking is something I *love*

[Airsofter123]

Yeah hiking is good - apparently you burn the same amount of fat per mile, regardless of whether you walk or run, so if you have the time, hiking is pretty good.

[two_zero]

I used to run an hour or so in the swedish forests with maximum of one days gap in between. Reason for the gap rule is if you have as a rule to run every day, something comes up, you can't and you go like "I missed one day so I might aswell do two". Forest is good place to start aswell so you dont feel embaressed or hold it in when you have to stop and breath really deeply.

 

Then I moved to London, got a racing bike and cycled everyday, started to work as a bike courier for a while, got hit by a car, havnt been able to cycle since so now I sit in the sofa.

 

Looking into parkour as my brother does it, but I fear I'll get arrested or stabbed doing it around here, and I dont know anyone local to practice with.

 

Maybe when I get a work I can afford to airsoft regular enough to use that for workout?

 

 

...oh mauy thai is good aswell, hard workout for the whole body, but you will feel quite beat up (literarly) the day after

 

I play xbox and eat cheeseburgers

 

I hope it's not darts?

 

[Wølf]

Usually im out running most nights, distance varies depending on what kind of mood im in but its usually around the 4 mile mark.

I got a multigym in the shed and treadmill in here for when weather is really crap, also started going to a boxing club on wednesdays and i can honestly say ive never worked so hard in my life! definatley recommend it.

 

Trying for paras and have got my 1.5mile run time down to 8.20

[Ixil]

I do rowing and cycle everywhere. Dont really like doing my ergs in the Gym but hey its just 15-30m 2-3 times a week . The rest is outing on the water. Keeps me pretty fit, still I think I don't do enough as I don't keep any diet. Eat whatever I like and whenever I like.

I am no weaker than anyone in my crew but when you row or cycle or just sit down your tummy shows up.

 

I think its keeping fit its just doing what you like, you should make your own program and stick to it. For example I'd rather spend 3hours doing weights in a poorly air conditioned Gym rather than run 1 mile. I hate running.

[Southdown Airsoft]

Join a team of some sort,

 

Rugby is a brilliant workout and meeting people at the club maakes you feel you should turn up for the next one etc your using your whole body and its fun ... cant really say any more than that, speaking of which i've gotta enroll in a club haha

[Finius]

It's nice to see a whole bunch of ideas coming out of this thread; some of these ideas I can't try out till next year, but I should have enough inspiration to at least find something I can stick out and enjoy.

 

I used to play Rugby in my school's A-team till I lost interest.

 

Ixil; I get exactly what you mean, I need to find something I like, exercise is a million times harder if you don't like it; case in point, I work so hard when I'm airsofting and I do it all day, no complaints, it's not a workout at all, it's fun, something like going to the gym for even half an hour and I want to strangle myself with piano wire.

[Finius]

Just been out for my first proper run.

 

Nearly died (God am I unfit or what), and had to run a minte walk a minute after an initial third of a mile, but in my defense it's still muggy as anything out there, which I can't stand even when I'm in an ice cold bath pretending to be some sort of hippoman. It's a shame I couldn't run a bit more of the thing (about 1.3 miles) and I didn't time it, but it's a start

 

Any tips on warming up out there?

[Airsofter123]

Warming up is only really necessary for short sprints, where it's important to be able to give 100% from the word go. No one can really agree about whether stretching is any good, so it's really just a matter of personal taste - for example I only ever stretch my bad knee as otherwise it locks out and won't bend (got a football stud in it in year 6, but was wearing trackies and on painkillers so didn't notice till 30 mins later).

 

Running in this weather is bloody horrible, no question. Ideally try to go first thing in the morning or last thing at night, and depending on where you are try to run near water. For fitness it's probably better to try and jog the whole thing, no matter how slowly, than stop start, unless you're trying to specifically target your heart, in which case it should be more like 30 secs on 30 secs off.

 

Trust me, it gets a lot easier though . My first time I couldn't do 2 km, but up to 10 km within 5 weeks.