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[Arx]

Have been terrible. Missed one day because I was legitimately concerned about heatstroke, and slipped from there. So tomorrow I'm going running again.

[Arx]

I didn't as it happened go running then, either, due to a number of odd circumstances. However, I did do a bunch of manual labour and swam a good distance, which is something. Today, I skipped fifty and will probably end up swimming as well.

Hopefully I'm feeling a little less demotivated to do anything once exams end.

[NRDL]

Instead, I skipped.

-snip-

It's not as good as running, but it's something.

I'd really beg to differ on this point, skipping rope is AMAZING for cardiovascular fitness.  I dare say it's even more fun, considering you can do it indoors while listening to music and shiz.  And it actually does burn more calories if you do it a decent intensity.

[Arx]

It's good, yes, but because it's muscularly more punishing than running I can't do it for as long. It's probably a bit worse than sprinting but better than 3/4 pace CV-wise, but I can only skip for about two minutes before my legs turn to rubber, which means I don't really stress my CV system that much. Contrast to running, where I have my heart and lungs going at various intensities for fifteen minutes instead...

[NRDL]

One exercise I can recommend as an internet busybody who incessantly gives out unsolicited advice is weighted walking.

Get any backpack, preferably with good support so it doesn't impinge on your shoulders and your legs/lower back takes most of the weight, and get a 20 lb/9 kg bag of rice. Stuff said bag of rice ( or any sort of weight in the 20 lb range, like books or even rocks ) in the backpack and just walk for an hour. Walking's such a good low intensity aerobic exercise, decently burns calories, the extra weight pretty much doubles the effect. Not much stress on the joints, your muscles don't get too sore cause it's not explosive or overly taxing, and honestly quite relaxing.

One can do this every day, before breakfast to kickstart your metabolism so your body burns more calories throughout the day, or very late at night just before you go to sleep so your body burns calories while sleeping.

[Arx]

I've been quiet, because last week and to a lesser extent the week before were a mad exam sprint. I spent nearly all my time studying, writing exams, or sleeping. I have a bunch of garden work to get done tomorrow, but I should be on track to go running om Tuesday.

[TheBiggerFish]

You are indeed going fast, heh?

[Arx]

I've been lazy of late. I did contrive to skip 70 steps the other day, though.

[Arx]

Back from a five? six? day holiday in a nature reserve. Ran a lot, hiked a lot, biked a lot. I don't have any kind of log, but I was super active.

[Arx]

2.85km this morning, running with my mother and sister who are drastically shorter than me, so not so fast. Also with dogs, which slows it down even more. All in all, 20 minutes, implying a fairly dismal pace of around 8 min/km, but we spent quite a while kerfuffling with the dogs at one end of the route, so maybe closer to six.

I'm hardly tired at all now, a few minutes after, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

[Arx]

Didn't run today, because I was felling trees this afternoon. It's difficult to say the number, because it may only have been one with a load of trunks shot up from roots, but I hacked through more than two feet of wood, I'd say, which is a pretty quality workout.

I'm planning on going for a run tomorrow, though. Might take a slow pace and see how far I can go rather than how fast, for a bit of a shakeup.

[Reelya]

Make sure to drink plenty of water if trying to get fit. People focus on getting enough protein, but muscles are mostly made of water. Being under-hydrated is not going to help build up strength.

[Arx]

I have been being truly terrible about this, mostly because it occurred to me a while back that I actually just don't really enjoy running for its own sake. Sure, it's impressive to say I can hold 15km/h or whatever over 10km, but that calls for me to spend almost an hour a day on running and running-related things, which I don't actually hugely enjoy in themselves.

I should, however, be skipping more. If anyone has any other suggestions for cardio-type exercises I can do without significant equipment that might feel less boring than running, please fire away. I'll probably pick up a martial art this year at university, which will be something.

[Reelya]

Basically anything that you can do while watching a video / TV is less boring. e.g. it's the main time I watch my anime shows.

Try circuit training while watching a vid. One thing I did for a while was

- 20 seconds of jumping jacks
- 20 seconds jogging on the spot
- 10 ab crunches (20 seconds)
- 20 seconds of jumping jacks
- 20 seconds jogging on the spot
- 10 push ups (20 seconds)

... for 20 minutes (so you get 100 crunches and 100 push ups in there), using the video's time for guidance. You could swap in any types of exercise you like. Rapid switching of the type of exercise increases overall intensity as well compared to steady-state training.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

I actually just don't really enjoy running for its own sake.

My friend. I feel that. So hard.

Here's my solution: team sports. Ah ah ah, but you say, "Oh but righteous and noble Scoopz! I absolutely detest people!" No problem my good man, for you see, many team sports have skills you must develop as an individual. Soccer is the way to go. Buy yourself a soccer ball, a pump, and (optionally) some cones, set up on field and do sprints with the soccer ball. It helps immensely, IMMENSELY to have the constant short-term objective of "GET TO THE BALL" in the back of your mind.

My "soccer" workouts generally look like this:

- warm up. Get warm, get loose, do some research on soccer warm ups.

- 2-5 field-length sprints--with the ball. (Still attempted to control the ball, but prioritizing speed of control.)

- 1-3 full-field dribbling, I.E. only go as fast as you can effectively control the ball. All the way around the outside of the field.

- ~30 mins of first touch practice. Flick the ball up, bounce it on the ground, or sombrero it over your head--then try to get it on the ground and under control as fast as possible.

When I have the time I usually make myself stay on the field for 1-2 hours. The above usually doesnt take that much time and you'll get tired, so when you start hitting the wall, I use the following to pad the workout:

- shooting practice. That's right, practice those free kicks, practice the in-step, try to put curve on the ball, try curving it with the outside of your foot, practice passing with your weak foot, etc.

- Infinite juggling. There's a lot of different ways to practice this--also juggling is hard--I suck at it, but the recommendation is either kick it up once and catch it, or they way I do it is kick it up once and let it bounce before attempting to kick it back up for yourself.

- Learn a new skill move. Spinning with the ball is an art form all it's own and takes a lot of control and practice. Practice body faking and step overs. My personal favorite, the heel-to-heel flick, which is relatively easy.

NOTE: This is not what a real soccer workout looks like, as the goal is to stay healthy rather than actually be good at soccer, you're not going to be getting all the fundamentals you need to be good at the game itself here. If you have a friend who will practice with you, practice passing the ball AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, stopping it. If you can get the ball under control with one touch every time and are moderately good at passing, you can play.

NOTE: Do some research on proper form first, ask some friends about it, if you have any savvy players. Please be extra careful practice sprinting--if you cut a lot, you're prone to roll an ankle. It fucking sucks, so try to avoid it.  On the flip side, know that its rapidly changing direction, and quickly accelerating in general that makes this such a good workout. That's what takes the most energy and is why sprinters are fucking jacked.

Good luck and godspeed!