Fat wife

[MC Bodge]

Ari said:

...you don't deserve to breathe the same air as us finely tuned athletes!

I deliberately set low targets. The reaction shows how low the general standard of fitness in UK men is.

Most people don't know what they could be capable of.

[Ari]

Or don't care!

I'm not fat, I'm reasonably fit, I walk a couple of miles most days, can manage a steep hill at a brisk pace without puffing.

Can I carry a fireman 30 miles in three minutes or whatever? I couldn't give a fk frankly!

[MC Bodge]

Ari said:

Or don't care!

I'm not fat, I'm reasonably fit, I walk a couple of miles most days, can manage a steep hill at a brisk pace without puffing.

Can I carry a fireman 30 miles in three minutes or whatever? I couldn't give a fk frankly!

I know that you were taking the piss abd that's fine.

It was the other people's reactions I had in mind.

[Ari]

No, honestly, I really couldn't give a fk!

[Robertj21a]

MC Bodge said:

It was supposed to be a "weird mix". They were just some general low baselines that I thought of based on things I have read about and done.

25min 5k may well sound difficult to an inactive man, but the point is that it shouldn't be. (it is only 3.1 miles atunder 7.5mph. Walking quickly is 4mph)

If you are overweight then carrying an overweight man on your shoulders will be harder than if you are lean and carrying a lean man.

Proper, good form pressups require good core strength. -For a proper test, try flat on the floor and your hands raised between reps.

Proper pullups with palms facing away (and none of this swinging or Kipping nonsense) are probably beyond most mem, but shouldn't be. Again, easier if you are not overweight.

Monkey bars would be another test. How many would fail, even if their life depended on it?

If you are overweight you will find all of the above more difficult than if you are not.

"Be strong to be useful"

The main problem I have with all this is quite simply that it's coming from someone who seems fairly fanatical about it. Most people know what they need to do if they want to be fit, it's far more important for them to be better educated (than many seem to be) as to what they should, or shouldn't, be eating/drinking in the first place. Not much point in doing all the keep fit if you're putting rubbish down your throat.

[travel is dangerous]

Ari said:

Or don't care!

I'm not fat, I'm reasonably fit, I walk a couple of miles most days, can manage a steep hill at a brisk pace without puffing.

Can I carry a fireman 30 miles in three minutes or whatever? I couldn't give a fk frankly!

A fireman asked me to do this for him once but I just called 999 and they came and picked him up.

[Harry H]

And now we're back to the lifestyle problem.

Could I run 5k in 5mins, nope, but then when do I ever need to. If I need to travel 5K I've got a car.
Can I do 50 press ups, nope. Why do I need too
Could I do 50 yds on monkey bars even if my life depended on it, probably not but then I can't be arsed to train for something I'm highly unlikely to need

I very rarely train, do weights, I just don't see the point, I don't need too and it hurts, but I am active. I very rarely come across a situation that I can't complete because my fitness isn't there. That's the lifestyle I've got.

My wife's a gym bunny, likes pushing herself and feeling the pain. I hate pain and think what's the point.

To get fitter we need to change our lifestyles not go to the gym or train.

[hyphen]

Harry H said:

And now we're back to the lifestyle problem.

Could I run 5k in 5mins, nope, but then when do I ever need to. If I need to travel 5K I've got a car.
Can I do 50 press ups, nope. Why do I need too
Could I do 50 yds on monkey bars even if my life depended on it, probably not but then I can't be arsed to train for something I'm highly unlikely to need

I very rarely train, do weights, I just don't see the point, I don't need too and it hurts, but I am active. I very rarely come across a situation that I can't complete because my fitness isn't there. That's the lifestyle I've got.

My wife's a gym bunny, likes pushing herself and feeling the pain. I hate pain and think what's the point.

To get fitter we need to change our lifestyles not go to the gym or train.

As Ari said below, requirement to carry a fireman x miles type stuff is over the top. But things like pressups and pullups are good for general health, and more so as you get older - basic strength training is very good for you.

Modern humans don't use the human body as it was originally designed for, loads of muscles that barely get used unless you go out of your way to use them. Also the flexibility/balance of your average person who just walks or 'is active' is often not so good.

[MC Bodge]

There was no mention of carrying a fireman for miles...

Carrying somebody of your own weight across a football pitch in a fireman's lift was what I said. That is a fairly good, basic test of loaded strength.



How about Carrying two heavy (10kg +) shopping bags half a mile home instead?

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 27th April 15:11

[Vocal Minority]

hyphen said:

Harry H said:

And now we're back to the lifestyle problem.

Could I run 5k in 5mins, nope, but then when do I ever need to. If I need to travel 5K I've got a car.
Can I do 50 press ups, nope. Why do I need too
Could I do 50 yds on monkey bars even if my life depended on it, probably not but then I can't be arsed to train for something I'm highly unlikely to need

I very rarely train, do weights, I just don't see the point, I don't need too and it hurts, but I am active. I very rarely come across a situation that I can't complete because my fitness isn't there. That's the lifestyle I've got.

My wife's a gym bunny, likes pushing herself and feeling the pain. I hate pain and think what's the point.

To get fitter we need to change our lifestyles not go to the gym or train.

As Ari said below, requirement to carry a fireman x miles type stuff is over the top. But things like pressups and pullups are good for general health, and more so as you get older - basic strength training is very good for you.

Modern humans don't use the human body as it was originally designed for, loads of muscles that barely get used unless you go out of your way to use them. Also the flexibility/balance of your average person who just walks or 'is active' is often not so good.

But probably as good as it needs to be.

I think what gets up people's noses is that being fanatical about it (which is great if you love it) seems to be taken by some to be an insistence that there is a moral obligation on humanity to do things like a sub 25 minute 5 k.

There are plenty of people that can't do that sort of thing, that aren't some sort of horrific NHS burden.

I do some running - my best 5k is 28 minutes odd incidentally - and cycle a bit. Don't do weights - tried it, and body weight exercises etc and found that the repetition made me want to hurt myself and others - the idea that all I had to look forward to in the next 30 minutes was yet more of the bloody same.

Hated it.

I could make up my own list about what it takes that a man 'should do' - speak at least one other language, be familiar with George Orwell's political allegories, hold down a tune on at least one instrument.

But if i tried to foist that on people and judged them if they couldn't - they'd probably get annoyed with me. And quite rightly.

[WestyCarl]

hyphen said:

Modern humans don't use the human body as it was originally designed for, loads of muscles that barely get used unless you go out of your way to use them. Also the flexibility/balance of your average person who just walks or 'is active' is often not so good.

The human body evolved for hours of daily exercise on the plains of Africa with very small quantities of low calorific food. Our current lifestyle is going in the opposite direction so we are getting fatter.

[hyphen]

MC Bodge said:

How about Carrying two heavy (10kg +) shopping bags half a mile home instead?

Carry? Don't be daft, modern lazy lot don't carry.

When I grew up, those wheeled shopping bags were only used by old ladies. Now everyone seems to have them.

And I was stunned the first time I saw the shopping baskets with wheels and long handles, lazy feckers can't even carry a basket around a shop.

[TartanPaint]

WestyCarl said:

The human body evolved for hours of daily exercise on the plains of Africa with very small quantities of low calorific food. Our current lifestyle is going in the opposite direction so we are getting fatter.

Or possibly high calorific meat, but with longer periods of fasting in between kills. What we certainly didn't evolve to eat is 3 square meals comprising 70% simple carbohydrates. Bread. Pasta. Low-fat (added sugar) convenience foods.

Sugar makes you fat, not calories. You can consume a surplus of fats and protein and you'll remain thin in comparison to somebody who eats their BMR in calories made up entirely of Haribo.

[MC Bodge]

Vocal Minority said:

I think what gets up people's noses is that being fanatical about it (which is great if you love it)...

...I could make up my own list about what it takes that a man 'should do' - speak at least one other language, be familiar with George Orwell's political allegories, hold down a tune on at least one instrument.

But if i tried to foist that on people and judged them if they couldn't - they'd probably get annoyed with me. And quite rightly.

There's a difference between learned life/man skills and basic physical capability. I suspect that you could get down to a 25 minute 5k if you practiced form and pushed yourself hard for the whole distance.

I'm not fanatical, foisting anything on anybody, but it has prompted some debate.

The diet thing is linked with it. If you are concerned about your physical condition, you will be likely to be concerned about what you eat.

It's not about starving yourself, prohibition, living like a monk or constantly training.

[Vocal Minority]

My arguement is - why are your set of slightly arbitrary requirements 'basic physical capability'?

[Zoobeef]

Are people that think they are "reasonably fit" really this unfit?
Before I joined the military when I was 20 I wasn't a fitness person and never really ran (I don't play football). I had to be able to run 3 miles in 21 minutes as part of joining. So out I went and timed myself. Yup I could do It so I joined. No training required.
Your bodies can do it, people are just weak minded and that fails first.

I've not run for about a year but I could go out today and do 3 miles in under 22mins I guess. I'm 33 now.

[Robertj21a]

MC Bodge said:

Vocal Minority said:

I think what gets up people's noses is that being fanatical about it (which is great if you love it)...

...I could make up my own list about what it takes that a man 'should do' - speak at least one other language, be familiar with George Orwell's political allegories, hold down a tune on at least one instrument.

But if i tried to foist that on people and judged them if they couldn't - they'd probably get annoyed with me. And quite rightly.

There's a difference between learned life/man skills and basic physical capability. I suspect that you could get down to a 25 minute 5k if you practiced form and pushed yourself hard for the whole distance.

I'm not fanatical, foisting anything on anybody, but it has prompted some debate.

The diet thing is linked with it. If you are concerned about your physical condition, you will be likely to be concerned about what you eat.

It's not about starving yourself, prohibition, living like a monk or constantly training.

I would suggest that 'the diet thing' isn't just linked with it - it clearly needs to take priority over everything else.

[TameRacingDriver]

Vocal Minority said:

My arguement is - why are your set of slightly arbitrary requirements 'basic physical capability'?

The mistake most fitness fanatics make is thinking the vast majority of the population give a fk about what they do or how fit they are.

I'd suggest as long as someone can walk a few miles with ease, including a few hills, and lift and carry things, then that is 'basic physical capability'.

The vast majority don't need to be able to run 7 minute miles, or lift 40 stone off the ground.

[Ari]

Precisely that.

[TameRacingDriver]

TartanPaint said:

Sugar makes you fat, not calories. You can consume a surplus of fats and protein and you'll remain thin in comparison to somebody who eats their BMR in calories made up entirely of Haribo.

Completely disagree.

If you eat 5000 calories a day of meat, then you will still get fat.

If you eat 1000 calories of chocolate (or other rubbish), then you will be thin - in fact I know someone exactly like this.

Neither of those people would be healthy, but that's not what you're suggesting.