Hi all,

With the wide bunch of people in the forum, I thought that I may get some valuable advice on ways to achieve great fitness.

I decided approximately a month ago to get off my arse and get back into fitness and got myself into a fairly grueling program (at my level) of either jogging approximately 5k or biking approximately 30k (on an old grandma bike with a basket up front) or kiting (minimum 2 hours).

I have been doing one of those activities religiously for over a month and I have lost a bit of weight (3kg) and definately built up a bit of muscle in my legs but I actually feel really tired?

I was expecting to feel better with time (less pain in the carves when I wake up) and the capacity to cover the above distances comfortably but the opposit seem to happen

Obviously doing it wrong as my leg are starting to feel real weak, I strugled on my last downwinder.

Anyone knows the kind of training rythm,distance,activities, program or other info that may point me in the right direction?

P.S:I will HTFU too so no need to tell me

Get to the doctors and get some bloods done and see if your iron levels are low or some other deficiency that may cause this lack of energy/strength and lethargy.

I cycle every day and it is the best workout for your legs and endurance. You should be finding strength you never thought possible (if you are pushing yourself). Cycling is awesome for the benefits and the low impact. Plus you can have an excuse to shave/wax your legs!!! (not that I do).

I agree with Sebol. Definitely keep up the fluids. Not a glass here and there, but maintain at least 2L a day spread out over the whole day, plus whatever you have lost during exercise.

Also, I find that if I don't ride 1 weekend, come Monday my legs feel 2x as efficient, so definitely rest those sore muscles when you can.

Try also squats, quad stregthening execises and lots of stretching.

Have you sorted out your diet? Not still chowing down a couple of Big Macs everyday are you?

Training doesn't make you fit. Rest makes you fit, training is just the trigger. If you train a lot without adequate rest then you will make yourself less fit and less well. Note how elite athletes always have viruses and infections.

You don't say how frequently you are training. If you are doing your run, bike or kite every day then you're probably overdoing it.

Go and see a doctor and have a full physical including blood tests. The blood tests and ECG are free under Medicare.

I would suggest drop your training down to an hour max ... so you can raise your kiting.

Thats cycling and running. Whops

It's mostly because of the season, during the spring we all feeling a bit tired and lazy and it's getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning.

Ask a doctor about it cause I know that muscle pain is because of lack of oxygen in your blood for your muscle sells.
If you have been exercising for a while your body should adjust it self, if not that means there might be something wrong, you might have thalassemia minor (I have it, its not a big deal) or even blood cancer.

All I know is visiting a GP is the easiest cheapest or most reliable advice you can get.

I think the problem may be that you dont have any streamers from the handle bars to match the basket,,,,,oh and spokie dokies

Agree with Gumby.

Dont overtrain. Make sure you give your muscles time to rebuild after exercising, especially with running (high impact) Make sure you dont run or cycle every day. Its a build up process that takes months to get to the fitness and muscle mass/strength to train regularly.

Unfortunately it is also really easy to lose your fitness (lazy holiday)

When I first read this I had a reply planned from the outset that I thought would be poo pooed. It is great to see that the HTFU mob have not canned any of the diet suggestions.

At the age of 44 I bought Sandra Cabot's Liver Cleansing Diet. I stuck to it pretty religiously which was not easy with a family of five who point blank refused support.

The result was absolutley astonishing. I did not need to lose weight at the time but had a pretty rugged life style and felt crap. My energy levels shot through the roof and I found myself looking forward to running and wish that I had known about it when I was playing serious rugby.

If you do it be prepared for rampant flatulence and twice daily monster bowel movements!

eat, root and play golf...

Hey sebol I go to the gym about 5 times a week so I know a bit about what you are going through. The biggest thing with it all is finding what works for you. I have tried heaps of protein shakes, pills etc. these all don't work if you don't have the correct diet and of course you need to be drinking lots of water through the day on your workout days not just while you are working out. I found the best thing for sore muscle is some type of creatine. I take Max's Cre8 Carnage for after a workout. I just put a small tea spoon in a poweraid drink, I find if I don't take it I wake up sore the next morning. You will find lots of athletes take some for of creatine it's not just for body builders. Go to your local fitness shop and have a talk to them. You may have to give a few different products ago to find the once that works for you.
Hope some of the advice helps.

Just stop drinking those large energy drink cans in your fridge...

Well, this is a pretty impressive response and there is a lot of interesting info in there.

Thanks all for taking the time to share what works for you.

Looks like I will definately have to do some adjustments and the first one will be to stop the every day routine and enjoy some rest.

Probably will need to monitor the water as well as I never check how much I drink but definately not 2 litres a day.

Might also splash out for a new pair of runners and possibly some magic powder

All round a lot of valid info to take on board and I am looking forward to spending my upcoming new found energy on the water.

PS:Elroy, my dealer for the free energy drinks has just vanished so I will cherish every last cans and don't even think about scoring one from me!

cwamit said...

eat, root and play golf...

If you want to get fat, follow this advice...golf...the world's biggest waste of time and space

sebol said...


Looks like I will definately have to do some adjustments and the first one will be to stop the every day routine and enjoy some rest.

That should sort out your problems quite effectively. Which one activity have you been doing religiously? If it's the cycling, and you're on a grandma bike, it could also be that the bike is not set up for efficient muscle use and that's contributing to your calves suffering.

If you really want to get fit, get yourself a heart rate monitor (heaps of good ones out there for less than $100), work out your training zones, target different zones on different days of the week, chart your times, heart rates, distances, start finding indicators in the charts that show you are getting fitter and use that as motivation to get even fitter. One good indicator is your resting heart rate, check it in the morning when you first wake up once a week or so and make a record, then you know if your training regime is working or not.

A training plan that helped get my RHR down to 45 was roughly:
Day 1 - ~1 hour at 60-70% max bpm
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 - Interval training - 10 cycles of 60-90% max bpm
Day 4 - rest
Day 5 - ~45 minutes at 70-80% max bpm
Day 6 - rest
Day 7 - rest

4 Days a week is plenty.

Do you get sore abs to sebol?