Just a reminder with regards to all this social media health stuff and the posting of fitness app data, too much comparing can become a buzz kill.

I've found myself scrolling YouTube and been served up loads of "How I benched 160kg at 68kg bodyweight" vids or "How I ran a 18min 5k with little training" type stuff and it can leave you disheartened with where you're at.

If you're going to compare, compare against your past self and the fact that you're trying is the win.

Sunday morning #runstr

Intention was to keep it aerobic and not let HR get too high but kicked it up a bit mile 9, might attempt another 5k pr soon.

#exercise #running

These brakes are a pain in the arse, early IS Mount (International Standard) calipers messing around with shim washers between the forks and calipers to centralise the pads/rotor, manual adjuster on the cylinder reservoir to allow for fluid expansion, the plunger inside has a habit of getting stuck on the adjuster threads so you turn the adjuster and nothing happens, had to ride back with the brakes binding once.

Old mountain bike with RockShox isn't really ideal for road miles.

When I was in secondary school my mate's dad died and he went ham with the inheritance, he had one of the first carbon fibre full suspension mountain bikes, a GT STS (Really exotic at the time) and also had a Hoffman Flatland BMX which was probably a bit of a tank compared to modern bikes. Skateboard & Bmx vhs videos were quite big back then and he'd probably watched that Mad Mat Hoffman tape where he rode one of his bikes off a cliff while wearing a parachute to test the strength.

#bikestr #bikestr

Heart rate figures and zones are individual specific and based on that person's max HR but I was quite happy with 123bpm average for 2hr47 mins of continuous cycling (minus traffic light stops) and just taking a bottle of water. It's only the inclines later in the ride where you start to feel the glycogen depletion in the thighs.

#exercise #health #cycling

It can be a bit frustrating trying to get your heart rate down when you first start running but you will see progress if you stick with it.

1-2 months ago, to keep my avg HR in a range of 130-145bpm for this 7 mile route - my average pace was around 11mins/mile, today it was 9.27.

#exercise #running #runstr

If you want to lose weight start moving or running, don't associate running with pavement pounding, bad knees, red faced, gasping, heart pounding, if that's all you do it just stacks fatigue, possibly does more harm than good, can keep cortisol/stress levels high if done frequently and risks injury.

Lower effort light runs, conversational pace, easy breathing, lower heart rate (not easy when you start, something I still struggle with) no need to be out for hours at a time, forget about speed and focus on effort, walk if you have to, this aerobic steady exercise helps with weight loss and relies more on fat for fuel.

It seems to be working for me, I've lost that much weight the skin is loose where my gut used to be, I thought I was around 165-170lb but I bought some scales yesterday and I'm down to 156lb, at 6ft I could actually do with putting some back on as long as it's muscle.

Consistency is probably key, for general health frequent shorter runs are better than one grueler a week.

#exercise #health #fitness #running

Good watch if you like old dirtbikes and seeing them brought back to life, this one turns into a bit of a saga though.

Haven't touched a barbell in years and my strength training needs some work tbh, I was going to put this old bench out for the scrap man because I wasn't using it and don't really have the room for it but had a go with it just to see where I was at.

Going off the last time I weighed myself I managed 3 reps with 83% of my body weight, I didn't have the collars on but that was all I felt safe trying with me being as rusty as the bench and felt I wouldn't be able to do my bodyweight.

Gonna keep the bench and try to do some exercises with it but using dumbells, safer and takes up less space. Saw a video on YouTube the other day of Khamzat using 50kg dumbells which is really impressive given his stature and weight class.

#exercise #fitness #bones #strength

You have to be careful buying stuff off Vinted because people will try and sell fakes or only show limited images on the listings where you can't see the sown in wash labels etc.

Some bargains to be had though on new unused items and there are actually some decent honest folk still out there.