[mhh]

I am 100 percent serious about this. Go out and run. Can only do 500 meters? Good enough. Just run.

No gym, no trainer necessary. Just listen to your body.

Start running one km for a while, then increase to three kms. Once you are running two to three times a week, you will be amazed how easy it is to run. Anyone who can run five kms, can run 10. Once you start feeling and looking better, you will become addicted.

I have always been pretty fit, jumping from AFL, to running, and back. But after a severe groin injury, I lost a shit tonne of fitness. I was still going to the gym, but was out of shape cardio wise, badly.

I started running again when I realised the pain was gone, and ran every day. I too train to stay lean. I train to run, I train to clear my head. Plus, it feels fucking awesome starting the day after smashing out a lazy 15kms.

Too cold? Man up. Too windy? Man up. Don't be a pussy, these things only suck for the first five minutes. After that, you are good to go. Apart from the good pain of course.

People say to me, it's easy for you because you run all the time. Well I started somewhere. Plus, people forget that my runs hurt as much as any beginner, I just go further/faster. We all feel it.

Good luck, whatever vice you choose.

Great post. 

[Ferrari Fissatore]

Great post. 

+1

Only i'd vary it up with cycling and swimming as running is high impact on knees, feet, legs, hips etc... Ok for a bit, but wears things out, especially if you're large or heavy....

[dodger]

+1

Only i'd vary it up with cycling and swimming as running is high impact on knees, feet, legs, hips etc... Ok for a bit, but wears things out, especially if you're large or heavy....

If you have the right shoes or run on the right surface you'd be OK.

[blackr35]

I am 100 percent serious about this. Go out and run. Can only do 500 meters? Good enough. Just run.

No gym, no trainer necessary. Just listen to your body.

Start running one km for a while, then increase to three kms. Once you are running two to three times a week, you will be amazed how easy it is to run. Anyone who can run five kms, can run 10. Once you start feeling and looking better, you will become addicted.

I have always been pretty fit, jumping from AFL, to running, and back. But after a severe groin injury, I lost a shit tonne of fitness. I was still going to the gym, but was out of shape cardio wise, badly.

I started running again when I realised the pain was gone, and ran every day. I too train to stay lean. I train to run, I train to clear my head. Plus, it feels fucking awesome starting the day after smashing out a lazy 15kms.

Too cold? Man up. Too windy? Man up. Don't be a pussy, these things only suck for the first five minutes. After that, you are good to go. Apart from the good pain of course.

People say to me, it's easy for you because you run all the time. Well I started somewhere. Plus, people forget that my runs hurt as much as any beginner, I just go further/faster. We all feel it.

Good luck, whatever vice you choose.

Agreed. I remember runs in sub zero temperatures (I wore gloves), runs in the rain (wore smock), runs in an old tshirt that chafed so badly I had blood running down my chest...just got to get out and do it!

[dodger]

Agreed. I remember runs in sub zero temperatures (I wore gloves), runs in the rain (wore smock), runs in an old tshirt that chafed so badly I had blood running down my chest...just got to get out and do it!

In many ways the hardest part of exercise is just starting, once you've started it's no problem.

Motivation is the key to almost everything.

[mtarone]

runs in an old tshirt that chafed so badly I had blood running down my chest...just got to get out and do it!

Reminds me of one of the Gold Coast marathons I did with a mate. This was just after the finish. He only made that mistake once. Answer = band-aid applied to nipples before a long run

[Ferrari Fissatore]

If you have the right shoes or run on the right surface you'd be OK.

No, you can just do it longer before the effects are shown.

[allanuber]

This always ends up being a holy argument on every forum that ever mentions exercise ... cardio guys vs weight guys vs functional/crossfit guys.     

[app]

I am 100 percent serious about this. Go out and run. Can only do 500 meters? Good enough. Just run.

No gym, no trainer necessary. Just listen to your body.

Start running one km for a while, then increase to three kms. Once you are running two to three times a week, you will be amazed how easy it is to run. Anyone who can run five kms, can run 10. Once you start feeling and looking better, you will become addicted.

I have always been pretty fit, jumping from AFL, to running, and back. But after a severe groin injury, I lost a shit tonne of fitness. I was still going to the gym, but was out of shape cardio wise, badly.

I started running again when I realised the pain was gone, and ran every day. I too train to stay lean. I train to run, I train to clear my head. Plus, it feels fucking awesome starting the day after smashing out a lazy 15kms.

Too cold? Man up. Too windy? Man up. Don't be a pussy, these things only suck for the first five minutes. After that, you are good to go. Apart from the good pain of course.

People say to me, it's easy for you because you run all the time. Well I started somewhere. Plus, people forget that my runs hurt as much as any beginner, I just go further/faster. We all feel it.

Good luck, whatever vice you choose.

Agree with the above, great post.

I have tried the running thing. Problem is I was getting sore feet, even when I did it more and more. Apparently to do with the shape of my feet. So I got better shoes with good cushioning, I can run further before they start to get sore. But at the point where they now get sore, I still need to run further to get any real fitness out of it.

This is not to say I'm giving up on it. But I am committed to the gym, I've made a promise to myself to stick to the gym. Hence my question about reps/sets/weights because I'm at the point where it's not challenging enough and want to increase the intensity of a cardio workout.

[AshSimmonds]

I'm not from the cardio or weights or gym or crossfit camp, I study biochemistry and science - mostly because I prefer to work out my brain before my body.

"Cardio" is a fallacy. Run if you enjoy running, don't think it'll improve anything but your ability to run, along with likely damaging stuff along the way.

Want to work your muscles properly? Remove momentum from the equation. Eg when you do bicep curls you're probably snatching the weight quickly up and down, this is just putting a huge load on the bottom of the exercise and relying on inertia to do most of the work to get it to the top, then gravity to drop it. Take 10-15 seconds to do a curl, you get force from the full range of motion, you'll only be able to do 3-5 reps, once unable to lift any further, keep "pushing" because you're only just recruiting the fast twitch fibres, you want to push/hold for another ten'ish seconds. That's about 90 seconds of working out your guns that's as effective - if not more - than gazillions of curls kissing the guns in the mirror. Then, don't do it again for another week or so, muscle grows only at rest.