@Beaver Sara as I'm local to you I'm going to help you with your training........... I'm having a Chinese and loads of Stella tonight so you don't have too. I hope you appreciate it
The last thing I'd do in training for any form of obstacle course is go jogging! I'd look at the military type weight training excercise where you do circuit type training that strengthens your whole body. You can also start yoga type stretching that uses your own body weight to help avoid injuries. If you need to go running, I'd do interval training....3 mins on, 2 mins rest x 3 every other day moving to every day and increasing speed. Personally I find jogging bloody hard on your joints and unless you are well under your bmi, really not suited for most people. Interval training and whole body weights will give you the ability to climb over obstscles, jogging wont.
you'll be alright mate my mrs did tough mudder last year. I helped her out with ways to train properly at the gym. Here's my advice. 4 months is not a long time to get fit. But it depends what your version of fit is, but you will definitely be a lot fitter. You can still eat lots of food. Just eat better food, not as much, but often to keep your metabolic rate up to speed. 6-8 healthy portions of food with calculated snacks (like a handful of nuts or greek yoghurt) in between. If you get an app called My Fitness Pal for your phone, it is an easy way to calorie count. If you want to shed some weight in 4 months, just go into calorie deficit. Go online and work out your exact dietary requirements for your age and weight, height etc, and then you will be able to use the app much easier. http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm Calorie deficit/eating under your calorie requirement per day will shift your weight. Eat the fattiest foods in the AM and the least fattiest in the PM. But the fats have to be good - http://authoritynutrition.com/10-super-healthy-high-fat-foods/ Look here for good reading on the whole days eating - http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/anabolic_nutrition_diet_plan.htm Regular training at the gym will help develop your muscles. But don't weigh on the scales often. Do it once every 2 weeks to actually see progress. You will lose weight from diet, but gain weight from training at gym (if you do). I would start in the gym and diet properly for the first month, Legs and back on suday, chest and triceps tuesday, shoulders and biceps friday - read up on gome good ways to exersize each muscle group, go super light the very first time so you do not jeopardise your first week due to aches/pains, then slowly introduce the running part through month 2-4 and continue the diet and develop/increase the training at the gym. Do lots of reading on food types and get cooking etc. that can be the fun part, oh and looking and feeling so good. Good Luck.
I coach rugby, we find that players cover 8 or 9k in a match, some is jogging, walking, sprinting....players take a day or so to recover if they don't take a knock. If they do a 10k fun run it takes days and days to recover, always joint pain. If your diving down tunnels, climbing over walls etc, jogging won't prep you for that other than to make you a bit lighter I guess.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. It's very much appreciated. It's no secret that I'm a bit of a fatty and I'm really not a fan of running. I'll give a bit of background on where I'm starting from in terms of current activity levels and diet. I eat too much and not the right stuff. As for activity, I've been doing a gym class, combatfit, for about 14 months, 45mins of cardio with about 10 mins of weights, abbs type stuff at the end. Once a week. Then about 3 months ago we added a 45 min spin class in, also once a week. Since I added the spinning in I started to loose a little bit of weight, but then it was Christmas and I ate all the bad stuff again. I've stopped snacking on biscuits at work and try to make sure I have some fruit (apples/bananas) there instead. We do have a cooked lunch most days and usually a cooked evening meal too, I suspect that's adding too many calories. It's cold at work, and I like to have a hot meal there, but I think I should think better about what that is?
I never snack, just meals. I'm with you on hot food at lunchtime when it's cold though. It's ok to feel hungry. I lived with a snacking woman who got bigger and bigger and bigger until she was 2x her original weight. She couldn't accept that (it was because) she ate 2x as much as I do.
You must be reasonably fit to do the classes.. You will be fine on the challenge...will you be looking too/be able to keep up with your mates on the day..
Mountain biking.... but not just a trundle along a gravel path.. get out in the proper enviroment, find some hills and woodland with knarly climbs and technical decents etc get out in the mud and make the effort to improve your skills... Its a whole body workout, you dont spend much time in the saddle and your moving about the bike all the time working all your muscle groups .. Start off with short runs so you dont get disheartened from the very start make them manageable, dont go for big drop ins when you are not confident, get together with the bike feel your fitness growing and move on to the next challenge. Dont worry about crapping out half way down, getting over the edge is often the hardest and full decents will come as your confidence improves... Go out every other day and push yourself to do it, before you know it you cant wait to get out and have a thrash through the local wood. I always had a bike but hadnt been out for years and years... I was going to the dentist and found that the walk to the 5th floor was a killer ... I was breathing out of my ass by the time I reached the reception... So I decided the time was right to get fit I was 50, six foor six and 16 stone,, most of it in love handles around my waist.. 3 months later I was 15 stone, no excess fat, and actually starting to get quite toned, not what I was aiming for but a fortunate side effect .. trips to the dentist were easy and I did the stairs to the 5th floor 2 at a time and still managed to tell the receptionist who I was without the need to sit down first... Be prepared for some shin damage though.. I tore mine to shreds but it looks cool wet, muddy and blood stained.... actually felt like you were living rather than just existing... Some of the hill runs we done burned 2400 callories in 4 hours ... you dont need any special diets just eat normal stuff in normal amounts, If you use it youll loose it ... P.S watch the carbs ... cut down on bread, only do bannanas when your exercising, instead of a routine apple have some mixed nuts and a drink of water... or plain popcorn but dont eat the whole bag.... reduce the chocolate, and cut down the meal portions ( but eat the same stuff) Dont crash diet or take chemical supliments
If you can do that you'll be fine on a mini mudder, it's all stop start and nothing like running 5 miles straight.
Little changes like white bread to brown bread or tortilla bread helps a lot. With regards to eating properly especially at work, you have to be disciplined and prepare your lunch before you go in, I do mine the day before. If not then it's all too easy to order the bad stuff. Small changes like a pack of quavers instead of Mcoys crisps will save you half the calories, I believe 200 and something calories in Mcoys and about 90 in quavers or wotsits for example. Remember it's simple, you have to burn more calories than you intake to lose weight. Get the my fitness pal app, you can scan bar codes on it and it tells you what's what, it will also tell you how many calories to intake per day to reach your weight goal, it's a chore at first but amazing after a couple of weeks of inputting foods and figures. Read the labels on food, compare crisp brand and you will see the difference in calories.
A farmer friend of mine who is portly and had gout gave up bread, specifically toast. That's all he did and he was the incredible shrinking man. He reckoned if he couldn't have bread he also didn't eat all the stuff he used to heap on it.
I think this challenge will be good for you. It has made you look at yourself and how unfit you are. So the challenge has helped you already. If you felt ill after your initial exercise sessions, then you are overdoing it. My advice is to learn to eat better and do some exercise each day. I am not a gym person and I agree you don't want to go jogging on those hard pavements and wreck your knees and ankles. Walking and swimming are good. This is a challenge to change your life a bit and forget the other people doing it as they may well be fit as a fiddle and you are not competing against them, forget that idea. Even professional athletes talk about their personal best and that's all you can do, your best. The challenge is about you and improving your well being and having some fun. Years ago I got involved in fun runs and they were a wake up call as to my fitness. But I enjoyed them all.
Got off to a good start today and cycled to work, didn't take as long as I expected, just over 30 mins. Which is about 10 mins more than on my motorbike and about 10 mins less than driving a car Just had jacket spud with Thai curry for lunch. Shouldn't be over my calorie allowance today
