That’s insane speed! Great work.
I’m still at 7:30-8min/km (was 6m/km before kids, 6:30m/km between kids)
Weighed myself for the first time in a while and I knew I had become lazy and unfit I didn’t realize just how bad it was. BMI 29.6, borderline obese, (I know BMI is not the be all and end all).
I’ve tried to get fit and lose some weight before but struggle to stay motivated, anyone got any tips to help stay on track, the whole live longer and better thing is not enough 
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Find someone or something to keep you accountable.
And pick activities you actually enjoy also helps lol.
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Exercise - get involved with other like minded people.
whether it be team sports, running groups, cycling groups, even regularly playing golf with a buddy, obviously what interests you.
Diet I have no idea, Just eat healthy stuff and if its not healthy in moderation.
I actually don’t eat that badly, probably just a bit too much, it’s the whole moving thing that is the issue. I did the R4TK 15 km run a few years back and also did a mini triathlon so it’s not like I can’t do it. It’s all in the head with me I think.
I got a kickstart years ago by doing a trek in Nepal. I did two actually, both with Peregrine, but World Expeditions does similar things. You have to pick the right one. Mine were both about 3 weeks total, but when you take off the faffing around at the beginning and the end it’s about 14 or 15 days of actual walking. You walk about 6-7 hours a day and it’s all either uphill or downhill, often quite steep, so you’re getting plenty of exercise.
You have to be careful with what you eat. Most of the time you’ll be following the main tourist trekking trails, which are now thickly populated with cafes selling cheap junk food – cheese toasties, chips, burgers, etc. The beauty of going with an organisation like Peregrine is that they have their own cooks and you will get much healthier food, mostly vegetables and not much meat. (I’d go fully vegetarian; the meat on the trails is not great.)
It’s not a lot in itself, but it’s a start and it gets you into the habit of quite a lot of daily exercise. I took one of my sons with me each time. My elder son was a couch potato and, at the age of 18, was already developing a pot belly; the pot belly vanished in the first 10 days and he’s been a regular exerciser ever since.
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Apologies for the long story in advance.
I have had a similar experience to many I have seen above. I sort of had weight loss forced upon me. My wife died in 2014 leaving me responsible for two children (as if they didn’t have enough to worry about!). At the time I weighed 145kg. I’m 195cm tall so I was a large unit. This was due typically to a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet. My view was that I needed to reduce the risk of dropping dead from a heart attack or lifestyle related illness so my kids had at least one parent.
I am a big believer in baby steps. My first step was to start walking and to drop all snacks and fast food (as much as possible) from my diet. As others have mentioned, seeing results is the best encouragement. Not just the reduced numbers on the scale but when you have to buy new clothes, these are benchmark days!
I had a 6KM walking track and slowly over time I would include a jog in the walk. I would slowly increase the distance I jogged. I started in 500 meter increments!
I must admit my go to form of exercise has been cardio. I still don’t do much in terms of lifting weights or resistive exercises. In the last 12 months I have introduced body weight exercises, pushups, pullups, dips etc but for some reason I would rather run for 30 minutes than do any of those things. Exactly as per Shelton10’s experience I have problems with my Achilles. When it occurs I feel I am out of action for a month at a time. You have to be careful because if you push it too soon you just reinjur yourself and the down time is prolonged. I have introduced a stretching regime which I hope will reduce injury.
Currently I have a 5.5km track that I try to run at least twice a week. I do get to three times most weeks. Nothing spectacular. My current goal is to get my KM’s below 6 minutes. I walk every lunchtime at work for an hour regardless of what I am doing that evening.
I am a big believer in goals but they have to be sensible otherwise setting unattainable goals is disheartening.
I am currently 102kg’s with a BMI 0f 26.6. My goal is to be below 100kg’s by my 50th birthday (this December). I also have a goal to do a set of 12 dips and a set of 12 widegrip pullups (more long term). I would like to join a gym but my parenting duties restrict that. Next year perhaps. My youngest starts high school next year. I would love to find something where myself and my two kids could work out together (it disturbs me that my eldest (daughter) is very sedentary).
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I’ve been pretty happy with my running lately, as I’d struggled with some injuries this year (lower abdominal strain or hip flexor, not really sure) and then struggled to find a pair of running shoes that suited my feet (my new shoes were repeatedly causing calf strains).
Anyway I’d still been working out, I’d been lifting and getting on the bike as well as rowing. There’s a pretty good gym at work so I could do some goods circuits (e.g., row, sled, ball slams, battle ropes, farmers walks, pull ups, etc) to mix it up too.
Anyway I’ve found some good shoes and the last fortnight I’ve been able to run 5km without my calves over-tightening. I managed 26:50 on Friday followed by an additional km as a warm down, so I feel like “I’m back”. I’ve only ever been able to run 5km times under 25 mins when I’ve been running really consistently and been really lean, but I’m probably not too far off running sub 26 and then I guess another month or so and I could be sub 25 again.
One of my problems is that I like to race 5km each run, and I’m always trying to beat my previous time, but most training guides tell you not to do that, but rather increase your overall weekly mileage and do lots of longer, slow runs as well as hill sprints, etc, then obviously taper off before racing. Maybe I should start training smarter, lol.
It’s called a humble brag!
I’d be very happy with those times.
Yeah I’m pretty happy, i really can’t fathom how people can go under 19 mins like @Houli_Dooli though - that’s seriously admirable. The times I’ve gone sub 25 I feel pretty nauseous (lactic acid build up I guess) and just taking off 5 secs a km is damn near impossible let alone a full minute per km. I’m about to turn 41 so I’ll be happy to still be doing 5km runs when I’m 50.
Gotta admit though I’m not entirely focused on training, diet etc and those with good times generally put in a lot of work and discipline etc so my hat’s off to them.
Speaking of hard work and discipline, I work with a guy who won a silver medal in his age(veteran)/weight division at the last World Powerlifting Championship (?) held in Kiev.
He’s been competing for years and his 3 lift total is around 600kg (I think he is/was around 75kg.)
Sure, genetics plays a part, but there’s reasons my squat is around 115kg, mainly that I think about squatting for about 10 mins 2-3 times a week and only do around 50 reps (including warm-up sets) each week.
This would be fun to try. Running at world marathon pace on a large treadmill. Video doesn’t seem to give an indication of just how fast they have to go, clearly they’re working really hard.
I’m gonna go with around 21km/h…
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Any thoughts on how to lose weight round the guts and in doing so strengthen your core?? Oh and to lose some little man boobs…
I’m not masively overweight but just a bit loose in the mid section, and want to get stronger. Any thoughts welcome.
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Pb at parkrun 3 weeks ago
Last 3 weeks
18:16 20 second Pb.
18:51
19:12 yesterday was very windy and only had a couple hours sleep.
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I don’t think it would be fun at all. I reckon I’d keep up for about 10 seconds before being thrown off the machine.
Calculated I’d last (at best) about 600m (based off 21km/h being pretty much smack bang halfway between my known 400m and 800m times)
Pretty simple equation for fat loss: consume less energy than you expend
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Eat less
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