Anyone else doing Run Melbourne next month?
I have decided to go on a super health kick this year. Just got back on the 3rd from 2 week beach holiday did some surfing and walking but apart from that drank every day and ate like a king. Yesterday started with a 15 min 2.5 km run just to build up slowly and then a 3 min cold shower. Today tried out our new portable sauna which I got for my wife for Christmas 
haha.
20 mins in there and I was sweating like a gypsy with a mortgage followed by a 5 min cold shower. Going to keep this up as I have heard cold showers are really good for your health. I have a green smoothie everyday at work for my first break. The other thing I have been doing is intermittent fasting. I have done this on and off over the last few years but going to give it a better go. Last 5 day have done this for 16-18 hours. I really hope to keep all this up but the last 2 days I havenât felt this good for a while. I donât really need to lose too much weight but want to burn some belly fat because I love my beer on the weekends. Hope you are all doing well.
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I have had some chronic problems with my knee (infrapatellar bursitis, or clergymanâs knee, because it hurts when you kneel) and had to stop playing tennis in 2022. For the past 18 months I have taken up swimming. This week I did 4 X 1 km pool swims (20 X 50m laps, with 20 a second break every lap), which is a record for me.
I am not sure if my feat qualifies me for this thread - I feel a little like Homer Simpson when he loses a little weight and is really proud, but then Mr Burns scoffs about how fat he still is.
I hate swimming, but it has made such a big difference to my knee and my overall health that I thought I should share this.
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Any exercise or move to a healthier lifestyle definitely qualifies for this thread. Congratulations on finding a new exercise regime!
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I fully agree with @Heffsgirl. Definitely qualifies.
And as one who has been in similar situations in the past, I would say that if youâve done a week or two of those 1 km swims with breaks, you could do them with no breaks. Try doing 200 metre groups with 20-second breaks, and I bet you do the kilometre with no difficulty at all. Then try doing it with just one break after 500 metres. And if you can do 500 metres, you can do 1000.
Swimming is such a great exercise. The only thing it lacks is impact, which is good for the bones. But if you walk 5km (preferably more) on the non-swim days, youâll get the impact you need. Assuming you can walk without aggravating the bursitis.
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Thanks for the advice. I will give the longer swim a try, although I will have to look into how to modify the settings on my Garmin watch to measure the longer distances (measuring the lap times with the Garmin has been a major reason why I have maintained my motivation in the activity).
Walking has never been a problem for me and I try to do 10,000 steps a day. Now that the knee feels better, I am thinking about trying some higher impact activities like jogging.
I think my days of playing tennis with the wife are over, though. 
Have you thought about body weight exercises? I donât have access to a gym while on leave, so doing core, chin ups, various squats and lunges and stretching.
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Iâll make a slight amendment that walking probably doesnât quite have enough impact to make an appreciable improvement to bone density.
But of course itâs better than no loading/impact.
my biggest difficulty is remembering how many laps I have done when go over 200m, especially in 25m pools and mind wandering.
Using the garmin, definetly helps my motivation with swimming though.
Just knowing youâve done 1.5km or your first 100m was 1:35 pace
or average pace for whole swim was 1;50 pace etc.
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I used to regard each length as a fraction of the whole. So if I was swimming 1500 metres in a 25 metre pool, length 1 would be 1/60th, length 2 would be 1/30th, length 3 1/20th, and so on up to 59/60ths and finally 1.
It worked.
I use the swimcoach app to design swimming programs for myself, tailored to my specific goals. I would strongly recommend the app, as it adds variety and purpose to your swims. The best part is, the individual workouts can be synced to your garmin, to use as a tracker/coach while in the water.
Happy swims to you!
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Supplements Poll - which supplements have you purchased in the last 12 months? (tablet form)
- Vitamin B
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin K
- Magnesium
- Iron
- Zinc
- Co Enqyme Q 10
- Collagen
- Fish Oil or Krill Oil
- Omega 3
- Multivitamin
- Melatonin
- Probiotic
- Curcumin
- Glucosamine Chrondrotin
- Other
0
voters
Suvery says
Creatine & protein powder is all Iâve used for probably a decade now.
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Whereâs the âgood stuffâ?
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Protein powder for me too.
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Iâm a poor swimmer, and always struggled to swim more than 50 m without taking a break. Until I realised that you could slow down to whatever pace you can keep swimming at. One night I just kept going, did 500, and realised I actually didnât need a break - so did another 500! It was a revelation to realise you didnât need to stop every lap - I even started tumble turns - possibly the worst in history, but they kept me moving.
In the end I was doing 2km with no break, pretty slow (over a minute for 50), more like 70 secs.
My aerobic fitness would probably have improved more with some shorter/harder sets, but that would give my shoulders grief. I would start going a bit faster towards the end to make sure I got properly puffed. I used to be so regular with time (45-48 mins for 40x50 m laps - and I would know the difference), that I could just go by the clock.
I havenât swum for years - picking my daughter up from squad sessions is what got me there - but Iâm thinking of getting back to it. I surf fairly badly, and have a mate who burns me on the paddling - he swims twice a week all year!
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Is there a ânoneâ option? Now I feel like I should be getting on all the gear âŚ
protein, creatine, electrolytes
and trenning hard
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yeh should have added protein, Creatine etc.
my mate swears by the pillar performance triple magnesium (I havenât tried it).
And it seems pretty common for people to have magnesium, as it may help sleep as well as aid recovery for morning workouts within my circle.
I was surprised by the survey results for Vitamin D, and just in general seems like a high % of vitamins/supplements.
In the US, you can pay like $50 for a blood test and it screens what you areas you are low in. Can do it here too but like almost $300
If ordered by your doctor, can be free. But only often enough to pick up problems, not often enough to micro-manage and record your fluctuations.