MoFo Health Thread

Great work Swan, sounds like you're working hard. I'm a big boxing fan and highly recommend it. Even just doing the training you will see the benefits in no time, by far and away the hardest training I've ever done.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Thanks. Yeah I'm mostly looking forward to the training. I'm excited to set up a punching bag and just go at it whenever I want. I heard it's good for conditioning and stress relief.

Anyway, this week was all over the place for me, lost some steam over the weekend but I'm picking myself back up. Weight is starting to get down into the 280's, which definitely makes me feel accomplished. Need to focus on bettering my nutrition, which might be better than it was but still needs improvement. Exercise has been upped this week though, including two walks today which I might make regular, instead of just one in the morning.

It truly gets easier to stick with it the more time you invest. For me it feels like my brain has almost been rewired.

I've made a lot of changes in this past year and it all boils down to effort. No matter how much I don't want to do something, I try to push through. It's worth it. The way physical work and nutrition enrich all the other aspects of my life gives me even more resolve to stay on the path.

Any of the people that do boxing training, how does it affect your joints? I lean towards low impact/ low intensity work, but I feel compelled to go get a heavy bag for some reason

I walk for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours daily no matter the weather. I love it physically & mentally. My internist says that I am so healthy primarily due to walking. And I am very slim too, which is due to several factors.

Do you like to swim? (I don’t.) It’s a terrific exercise since all 4 limbs are in constant motion.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Yeah, I love walking too now.

I do like to swim in the ocean. But I guess the bacteria levels are high right now, so I haven't been able to go.

But Swans swim in lakes!!! Know your place, bird!

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Very true. I go to the gym almost every day and I'm at the point were I get really agitated if I cant get going.


Regarding boxing training, I've never had any issues with my joints at all, although I've been doing regular physical exercise several times a week since I was a kid. As long as you warm up you should be fine and by all means, get a heavy bag, I use it at least once a week and love it. Even a simple few rounds of 30secs on and 10 sec rest really gets the heart going!
Just out of interest, why would you do low intensity?

I'm of the belief we have a finite amount of "wear and tear". I'm not trying to catch an injury from being healthy.

I do a push/pull/leg split followed by a mild half hour on the treadmill. I'm keen on the heavy bag, but I don't see how it doesn't ruin your shoulders and elbows.

Fair enough, I just think I would find that difficult to do.
Keep us posted how you get on with the bag anyhow.

I agree. At one time I was a compulsive exerciser & didn’t listen to what my body was telling me. Until the summer day I woke up with an inflamed tendon from knee to groin. So painful & I had to stay home for about 6 weeks to heal. The day I was finally able to walk to the end of my block was thrilling. Lesson learned. Never over-exercised again.

I've been super active last week, and I've noticed some light back pain. My initial reasoning is it's posture and weight. When I gained weight most of it went to my stomach, so I have a pretty massive gut. Thankfully, those are both improving, so I hope the back pain will improve with time.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions.

I'm thinking about taking up boxing with one of my friends. His idea, actually.

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I like the sound of that. I have started standing my bench up against the wall and "jabbing" it. It feels great, better than any other form of exercise I do. I enjoy it so much, I'm looking into figuring out what I need to hang a heavy bag. "The Shop" is where my weights and treadmill are and has exposed beams, but I don't know the math on hanging one.

My friend already scoped out an inexpensive gym that has a dark corner full of punching bags we can just go to town on.

Hope it's not too dark or y'all might end up hitting each other instead of the bags

We don't need extra darkness for that. He once asked me to slap him awake. I obliged GLEEFULLY.

I've been living a very sedentary life and noticed how my body works better when I go out and move around. Of course, I try to rationalize and think "Why didn't I do this when it was warmer" but that's the past, and so for about 4-5 days last week, I'd go for a walk. And on one occasion, when I was near my house, I thought I'd run, just to test myself. I ran out of breath, got inside, and noticed feeling really good, euphoric. I also realized that an hour later I still hadn't turned on the heat (I turn it off when I leave the house) -- and besides saving the money, it also makes me think it's the reason why my feet are always freezing and in pain. During the day, I have a space-heater on almost all day leaving the thermostat at 75 by default (I only turn it for a few hours the minute I wake up frozen).

Of course, not everyone can do this, and hopefully others can chime in and reply with alternative solutions. If you don't wanna leave your house and don't have much space, you could probably dance a bit, and try to exert yourself at the end, to the point of sweating or being exhausted - it feels good.

Believe it or not Xbox Kinect did this for me. Playing some dancing games gets you moving and you’re having fun.

I had the power turned off yesterday in the house for a bit, so I couldn't use the treadmill. Did I skip my 30 mins?



I ran around the property and it was probably the first time I've run like that since I was a kid. Everyone knows how much better "real" running is versus treadmilling. It was great, really sucked, a lot more work. No music either, so it really scrubbed my mind because the whole time I was thinking about the next step. While that was nice, outdoor running is for the birds.


If there was a beach handy, that's another story. Outside of that, I was constantly thinking about twisting an ankle or knee, going downhill (really bad kneews ) . I realize it is better, the fresh air is better, the sunlight is better...but not worth a meeting with an orthopedic surgeon.