Do you run for fitness? Share your experience and motivation

[moghul]

I know running is not a very Pakistani thing but after coming to USA, I picked up running for fitness from some buddies in residency and have never looked back. Have run many marathons including NYC and London Marathons.

I enjoy running, its a great exercise and tool to release stress.

Wondering how many PPers run for fitness and would like to share their experience .

 

[Giannis]

I used to run in school but it's something my roommate in college was also really into so would go runs but it's not my favorite form of cardio, I just use the tread mill or shoot some hoops before lifting

 

[sweep_shot]

I used to jog/walk almost daily. But, I haven't done it for about a month.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I know running is not a very Pakistani thing but after coming to USA, I picked up running for fitness from some buddies in residency and have never looked back. Have run many marathons including NYC and London Marathons.

I enjoy running, its a great exercise and tool to release stress.

Wondering how many PPers run for fitness and would like to share their experience .

Impressive if you ran the marathons, instead of the 5k or 10k runs most people do and call it running marathon.

I have only ran half marathon. don't think I can ever run a marathon.

 

[Madplayer]

I dont run these days due to intense cold in the mornings and the evenings.
These days my fitness regime is limited to skipping the rope. I do a set of 100 and then reduce it by 10 in each set. Like 100,90,80 and so on till i reach 10 in the end. Will join the gym again in March Insha'Allah.
I weigh 79kgs at the moment at 6ft. This year I'm going to get it down to around 70 (where i was in 2020) but packed with lean muscle Insha'Allah.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I weigh 79kgs at the moment at 6ft. This year I'm going to get it down to around 70 (where i was in 2020) but packed with lean muscle Insha'Allah.

Never give your correct stats, as one has to adjust it for internet inflation.

 

[Madplayer]

Never give your correct stats, as one has to adjust it for internet inflation.

I should have mentioned 6'5 and 90?

 

[moghul]

Impressive if you ran the marathons, instead of the 5k or 10k runs most people do and call it running marathon.

I have only ran half marathon. don't think I can ever run a marathon.

If you have run half marathon , there is no reason you cannot run a marathon, its just a mental thing. When I ran my first 1/2 marathon, I though that was my limit, but one of my professor, much older than me , who was running marathon that year, told me this mental thing and he was right.

Plan for Marathon , whenever they restart, and don't aim for any particular timing, just aim to finish it, even you have to walk part of it . And go for some big marathon, like NYC, Chicago or London, or where ever you could, crowd support keeps you going. My first one was NY city marathon and crowd was beyond imagination , they supported every runner so much.

Also subscribe a magazine "runners world" you will see so many tips, motivational stories and picture, running will feel like funs reading that.

And, good luck, happy running.

 

[moghul]

I dont run these days due to intense cold in the mornings and the evenings.
These days my fitness regime is limited to skipping the rope. I do a set of 100 and then reduce it by 10 in each set. Like 100,90,80 and so on till i reach 10 in the end. Will join the gym again in March Insha'Allah.
I weigh 79kgs at the moment at 6ft. This year I'm going to get it down to around 70 (where i was in 2020) but packed with lean muscle Insha'Allah.

That's quite a work out you do, its tough. Yes, running is tough in winter, but some enjoy it in every season , including winter, but days are too short in winter.

 

[Local.Dada]

Hate running. Love trekking.

 

[Zeshan547]

I know running is not a very Pakistani thing but after coming to USA, I picked up running for fitness from some buddies in residency and have never looked back. Have run many marathons including NYC and London Marathons.

I enjoy running, its a great exercise and tool to release stress.

Wondering how many PPers run for fitness and would like to share their experience .

I weigh 90 kg at 5 feet 9 inch, in other word on brink of obesity, and is running the best exercise for me, and what other exercise you would suggest for quick but durable fix, I am Teacher and don't have much physical work to do, but I am willing to change my whole life style if that's what required, by the way my age is 28. Any help is welcomed and thanks for creating this thread. And on diet side i am going to minimize sugar and oily things as much as possible.

 

[Madplayer]

That's quite a work out you do, its tough. Yes, running is tough in winter, but some enjoy it in every season , including winter, but days are too short in winter.

Yes. But here in Kashmir, the mornings and evenings in winter are usually lower than minus 5 degrees and roads are slippery because of ice and frosting. Not really ideal conditions. Gyming and indoor exercises are the most ideal for us.

 

[Madplayer]

I weigh 90 kg at 5 feet 9 inch, in other word on brink of obesity, and is running the best exercise for me, and what other exercise you would suggest for quick but durable fix, I am Teacher and don't have much physical work to do, but I am willing to change my whole life style if that's what required, by the way my age is 28. Any help is welcomed and thanks for creating this thread. And on diet side i am going to minimize sugar and oily things as much as possible.

You'll have to change your lifestyle. No other way to make a sustainable change which will last long.

Eat 3 meals a day but reduce the portions. You cannot sustain dieting anymore than this. Think long term. Avoid junk and oily stuff. Reduce sugar in chai, coffee. Dont eat sweets for a few months. After 4 months, you can start eating junk once or twice a month again.
Join a gym and lift weights. It is better than cardio and helps you burn fat all day. Target 5 days a week at the very least. Consistency is the key. Ideally, get a gym partner so that you motivate each other. If you go alone, you'll quit or be inconsistent. Be careful about the form while lifting, start with light weights. Wear a belt from day 1. Download pedometer on your phone. Target 10k steps a day apart from the gym workout.
Keep the mind occupied with other stuff always so that you dont give in to hunger or cravings. This is the MOST important part. your social media should have pages of fitness liked on it. The social media feeds on insta, fb, youtube etc should have pics and videos of workout on them.
Buy a ton of carrots and eat them when you feel hungry. They are a low calorie food, you can eat 5-6 in a day too when you feel like eating. Drink as much water as you can. If you feel hungry, drink water first.
Dont eat after 7:30 pm in the evening. If you feel hungry, drink water or eat a carrot or cucumber.
Dont give in to peer pressure at least till you gain some level of fitness. If friends offer unhealthy food, decline it. Learn to say no.
Dont look for shortcuts. They will fail you in the long run.
Dont expect overnight results. Give it a year. Otherwise next year you'd be cribbing why you didnt start last year.
Dont boast about your workouts to others. It's cringey.
Consistency is at the heart of it all. If you arent consistent, nothing will work.
Good Luck

 

[ElRaja]

lockdown hasnt been fun for me, at my heaviest was 106kg at 5'11 in 2016, got down to 80kg in 2018, then hit gym and bulked up a bit and was stable at around 84kg but since lockdown has been difficult to train and eat properly for loads of other reasons, am currently 94 kg, and have an exercise bike which i try to do 35 to 40 min on high resistance for 4 weeks, then less intensity for 1 or 2 weeks.

have been all over the place and mentally and physically cant wait for gyms to open. i aint never gonna be a power lifter, athlete or gymnast, but just the routine of going to the gym, and having no distractions for 2 or 3 hours a week helped a lot mentally.

 

[KingKhanWC]

10k a day on average before weights.

Running is the ultimate in cardio.

If you're fat, run at least an hour a day(walking in between is fine if you need to stop). Drinks as much water as possible & cut out carbs, eat fresh fruit and within 6-8 weeks you will lose a lot of weight. Dont fall for PT and other weight loss nonsense programmes, not needed.

 

[Saj]

I always played a lot of sport throughout my life - 11-a-side and 5-a-side football and cricket especially. But due to work and less time being available I've had to stop playing sports. I started running 6 to 7km three or four times a week a few years ago and the weight really came off.

I need to get back into it, but the only problem I find is that running on the roads/streets really affects my knees and ankles.

 

[IMMY69]

Piling on the weight since lockdown.
Gone from playing five aside three times a week to literally doing nothing.

Only thing saving me is walking my dog once a day.
But even these walls are getting shorter and shorter.

Really need this lockdown to end for power league to start again

 

[KingKhanWC]

I always played a lot of sport throughout my life - 11-a-side and 5-a-side football and cricket especially. But due to work and less time being available I've had to stop playing sports. I started running 6 to 7km three or four times a week a few years ago and the weight really came off.

I need to get back into it, but the only problem I find is that running on the roads/streets really affects my knees and ankles.

Buy a treadmill. Air runners are the best , expensive but you have plenty of money.

It also helps the whole family get into fitness, it does so much good not just for the body but for the mind.

Sometimes I run out of time! Put some airbuds on, some nice music, 7/8k will feel like a few mins.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Piling on the weight since lockdown.
Gone from playing five aside three times a week to literally doing nothing.

Only thing saving me is walking my dog once a day.
But even these walls are getting shorter and shorter.

Really need this lockdown to end for power league to start again

Buy a treadmill or Try skipping.

If not even walking up and down your stairs 10-15 times a day does a lot of good.

 

[IMMY69]

Buy a treadmill or Try skipping.

If not even walking up and down your stairs 10-15 times a day does a lot of good.

Thanks
I've downloaded the couch to 5k running app.
Just get around to starting it...

 

[Zeshan547]

You'll have to change your lifestyle. No other way to make a sustainable change which will last long.

Eat 3 meals a day but reduce the portions. You cannot sustain dieting anymore than this. Think long term. Avoid junk and oily stuff. Reduce sugar in chai, coffee. Dont eat sweets for a few months. After 4 months, you can start eating junk once or twice a month again.
Join a gym and lift weights. It is better than cardio and helps you burn fat all day. Target 5 days a week at the very least. Consistency is the key. Ideally, get a gym partner so that you motivate each other. If you go alone, you'll quit or be inconsistent. Be careful about the form while lifting, start with light weights. Wear a belt from day 1. Download pedometer on your phone. Target 10k steps a day apart from the gym workout.
Keep the mind occupied with other stuff always so that you dont give in to hunger or cravings. This is the MOST important part. your social media should have pages of fitness liked on it. The social media feeds on insta, fb, youtube etc should have pics and videos of workout on them.
Buy a ton of carrots and eat them when you feel hungry. They are a low calorie food, you can eat 5-6 in a day too when you feel like eating. Drink as much water as you can. If you feel hungry, drink water first.
Dont eat after 7:30 pm in the evening. If you feel hungry, drink water or eat a carrot or cucumber.
Dont give in to peer pressure at least till you gain some level of fitness. If friends offer unhealthy food, decline it. Learn to say no.
Dont look for shortcuts. They will fail you in the long run.
Dont expect overnight results. Give it a year. Otherwise next year you'd be cribbing why you didnt start last year.
Dont boast about your workouts to others. It's cringey.
Consistency is at the heart of it all. If you arent consistent, nothing will work.
Good Luck

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply bro, all great tips but would have to do it all without the gym part because no gym available in village so would have to be creative and work with household things, can't afford the expensive gym stuff for home either. But diet part i will give most attention, i can run 5 km and as a starting point with my weight isn't the worst thing I guess, will also play cricket in afternoons, and to go with some football on Sundays.

 

[Saj]

Buy a treadmill. Air runners are the best , expensive but you have plenty of money.

It also helps the whole family get into fitness, it does so much good not just for the body but for the mind.

Sometimes I run out of time! Put some airbuds on, some nice music, 7/8k will feel like a few mins.

I'd rather be out in the open air than on a treadmill in the garage or in the house.

Also treadmills aren't that great for the knees and ankles either.

 

[Greenstorm]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply bro, all great tips but would have to do it all without the gym part because no gym available in village so would have to be creative and work with household things, can't afford the expensive gym stuff for home either. But diet part i will give most attention, i can run 5 km and as a starting point with my weight isn't the worst thing I guess, will also play cricket in afternoons, and to go with some football on Sundays.

You can innovate if there is no gym. I used to lift construction blocks ( weigh around 15-20 kg each and you can keep adding them). You can also Install a pull up bar in your home (just need an iron rod and little cement).

 

[Bigboii]

You can innovate if there is no gym. I used to lift construction blocks ( weigh around 15-20 kg each and you can keep adding them). You can also Install a pull up bar in your home (just need an iron rod and little cement).

Pre fight Rocky balbuoa routine much?

 

[Madplayer]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply bro, all great tips but would have to do it all without the gym part because no gym available in village so would have to be creative and work with household things, can't afford the expensive gym stuff for home either. But diet part i will give most attention, i can run 5 km and as a starting point with my weight isn't the worst thing I guess, will also play cricket in afternoons, and to go with some football on Sundays.

Understood. Cardio alone is also a good option for losing fat. If you can get innovative about the weights, thats great. You can look at some body weight exercises too on youtube. Focus on the diet part more. Get a skipping rope too. Skipping the rope is better, weight falls on both feet, better for knees in the long run. If you run in the morning, you can skip rope in the evenings. Dont even have to go out of the house for it. The sports part is great too. Definitely get a workout/running partner. Helps with the mental aspect.

In one line, you need an active lifestyle with a sustainable low calorie diet which you can follow for next few years. I dont recommend fad diets which promise results in 2-3 months because you cant do them forever and you'll gain weight again after you stop the diet. It simply isnt sustainable. The mental part is the most important in it. You lose or win the battle mentally first and then physically. So take the advice i gave in the first post seriously. Its not just a hypothetical theory. I am saying all this after experiencing it myself.

 

[Greenstorm]

I dont run these days due to intense cold in the mornings and the evenings.
These days my fitness regime is limited to skipping the rope. I do a set of 100 and then reduce it by 10 in each set. Like 100,90,80 and so on till i reach 10 in the end. Will join the gym again in March Insha'Allah.
I weigh 79kgs at the moment at 6ft. This year I'm going to get it down to around 70 (where i was in 2020) but packed with lean muscle Insha'Allah.

We have similar weight and height.

Is it possible to have a lean muscular body (khabib like) while keeping desi diet (roti and salan, rice) ?

 

[Madplayer]

We have similar weight and height.

Is it possible to have a lean muscular body (khabib like) while keeping desi diet (roti and salan, rice) ?

Depends a lot on body type. I would like to categorize my body as mesomorphic. The answer to your question is, it is possible but improbable. Key is calorific deficit. Which means you cannot eat more than 1 roti a day to keep the carbs levels low. You get the idea. I am not even going into how good or bad it will be for your general health and energy levels. In short, speaking long term, it cannot be done.

In Kashmir, we eat rice 2 times every day with salan. I went to gym for 4 years (6 days a week on most weeks, no dedicated cardio exercises) from 2016 to 2019 (before Modi revoked article 370 and put us in a lockdown). During this period, i did not diet strictly at all. I just reduced portion sizes and junk intake. And by 2019, i had 2 pack abs (the top 2) and well defined biceps, shoulders, legs, chest and an acceptable jawline. The jawline was my biggest disappointment because i expected a sharper jawline after working so hard. I solely blame not taking the diet part seriously my strength, endurance and stamina had increased incredibly though and i can safely say that i was my health peak. Without a strict diet, this is as far as i could get in 4 years time. I strongly believe that with proper diet, i could have built 6 packs in a year.

 

[Zeshan547]

Understood. Cardio alone is also a good option for losing fat. If you can get innovative about the weights, thats great. You can look at some body weight exercises too on youtube. Focus on the diet part more. Get a skipping rope too. Skipping the rope is better, weight falls on both feet, better for knees in the long run. If you run in the morning, you can skip rope in the evenings. Dont even have to go out of the house for it. The sports part is great too. Definitely get a workout/running partner. Helps with the mental aspect.

In one line, you need an active lifestyle with a sustainable low calorie diet which you can follow for next few years. I dont recommend fad diets which promise results in 2-3 months because you cant do them forever and you'll gain weight again after you stop the diet. It simply isnt sustainable. The mental part is the most important in it. You lose or win the battle mentally first and then physically. So take the advice i gave in the first post seriously. Its not just a hypothetical theory. I am saying all this after experiencing it myself.

You are damn right bro it's 90% mental thing and you need to stay motivated, that's the hardest part. You can suggest some good English motivational music, most in general search or useless.

 

[moghul]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply bro, all great tips but would have to do it all without the gym part because no gym available in village so would have to be creative and work with household things, can't afford the expensive gym stuff for home either. But diet part i will give most attention, i can run 5 km and as a starting point with my weight isn't the worst thing I guess, will also play cricket in afternoons, and to go with some football on Sundays.

Cardio is a must for any exercise plan, ideally it should be both, cardio and weight lifting . Wight lifting, without cardio has some potential adverse effects of your health .

If you can run 5 K, thats great and if you can add to it weight lifting 2-3 times a week, that would be really great.

 

[moghul]

I'd rather be out in the open air than on a treadmill in the garage or in the house.

Also treadmills aren't that great for the knees and ankles either.

Yes, running in fresh air is far better than treadmill , but running on a road/street put more impact on your knees than running on treadmill which has some cushion .

When I don;t run outside, I run on treadmills but mostly use Elliptical with zero impact on joints.
Indoor workout is otherwise boring but I watch most of my netflix program while working out indoor.

 

[moghul]

We have similar weight and height.

Is it possible to have a lean muscular body (khabib like) while keeping desi diet (roti and salan, rice) ?

As long as you can burn those calories, you can eat desi food without any problem. I do the same . I frequently adjust my exercise time according to the kind of food I eat that day.

 

[Madplayer]

Del

 

[Madplayer]

Cardio is a must for any exercise plan, ideally it should be both, cardio and weight lifting . Wight lifting, without cardio has some potential adverse effects of your health .

If you can run 5 K, thats great and if you can add to it weight lifting 2-3 times a week, that would be really great.

Weight lifting in itself helps with the cardio as well especially if you take less time between sets. Its all about how you design your workout to keep the heartbeat up.

 

[Zeshan547]

Guys what about squats and planks are they any good and should i follow some play store app like 7 min workout app on as a guide for home workout without gym equipment or should I follow some YouTube workout channel also any help about some quality workout music will be very welcomed.