Lemme go on record to say something I've found out the hard way: Concrete and Asphalt are like night and day! I've been running on mainly asphalt (w/ about 200 yards per 2k of dirt/grass) for years, w/ no problems. A little achy when I was doing 8k-10k but that's expected. I ran 3 times at the Imperial Palace this year due to my new schedule, which is all concrete, and started off w/ my normal jog (10k). Now I can't run more than 2k w/o my knee hurting. Feels like a strained ligament. So, I'm off jogging for a month. I will cycle in it's place I guess, or maybe swim an extra day a week and see what happens. Even the brace doesn't help for too long. Other option is to go treadmill, but I just can't do that... and it might not give me a proper rest anyway.
You should stick to swimming and brisk walking to give it chance to heal. It will probably take a few weeks to heal enough for decent runs.
That's the plan! I already swim twice a week though. So, makes sense to cycle twice a week in it's place. But, while swimming is low impact, my shit form means I twist it from time to time. Small chance my swim is what fucked it up but I doubt it. :cur_sonic:
I wouldn't mind biking more often myself. The seat is too small and creates a lot of pressure causing sore muscles for the next 3-5 days. On top of that I've grown considerably since I got the bike something like 10 years ago so the seat is up as high as it can go and I still can't completely stretch out my legs. As a bonus result I end up forcing weight forward onto my handlebars causing my wrists to get numb after 25-30 minutes of riding. On the plus side I've been able to hit speeds far higher than I know I've ever been able to maintain as long as I have before. Still getting passed by the local hardcore cyclists but they're wearing suits that look more like NASCAR than biking. Hehehe.
It's awesome that you're getting out there and hitting the streets bro. I've got a few tips for you that should help you improve your fitness game quickly. 1. Visit a dietician, sort out a strict diet based on your goal weight / body fat %. This is unquestionably the most important part of seeing results. You are what you eat. Even things which you may consider to be healthy eating may not be in your best interest to consume, depending on your fitness goals. 2. If you'd like to burn as much fat as possible, run first thing in the morning, before you intake any calories/carbs (before you eat basically). The reason this is preferable vs. running during the day, is that your body likely has enough stored energy in calories and carbs from your food to compensate for your body's energy requirement during your run. If you run before your intake any calories, and likely after the end of your last digestive cycle, your body will be forced to tap and burn your fat cells for the required energy. 3. Don't stop. Motivation will get you started, but habit will keep you going. Even go so far as to keep an accountability partner if necessary. That's all I'll say right now, if you ever have questions, or would like some advice, please PM me, I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my ability. Source: I used to model, lol.
LOL at this in Japan. Japanese doctors are clueless when it comes to healthy body size. One of my old bosses who's an ex-triathlete went in for insurance purposes. He wasn't running the triathlon but he regularly ran at the time. He was like 5'10", 160 lbs or something and they said he was overweight. The idea of healthy diet here is a joke as well.* *In general the food is quite healthy (way more than the US) but finding a diet to go beyond a normal one is difficult. Even in the gyms the high protein supplements are usually about half of what they are in the US. Really hard to bulk here. If I need high protein, I ship from the US.
So all the whey etc. protein stuff selling in the sports shop is weak stuff? But is says near 100% protein on it. My only complain is, that any supps here are expensive as hell, compared.
Interesting. But keep in mind that doctors are standard medical practitioners not specialists. They are not athletic specialists or sports nutritionalists just the same that dieticians or licensed nutritionalists are not doctors. That's not difficult to believe. It seems like we have a KentuckyFriedMcBurgerKing on every street corner. Then again, I live in a suburb right outside of the 2nd most overweight city in America..
Just rely on eggs and chicken for bulking. Whey shouldn't really be necessary, though when I return to the UK I will no doubt get back into weights. Just running and press ups here so far...
I'm on to 5km 3 times a week now but I can't jog the whole distance yet because i'm still a fat shit but I never stop. Jog, walk, jog, walk. My legs still feel the most pain but not as bad as originally thanks to the stretching. I always jog after dinner since that's the only time I have free. In the morning is a complete no go. I'm a night person, I can't stand mornings at all.
Yakumo, try to eat your dinner at very early time (I know this is almost impossible in Japan, but try it) and also not so much (especially for carbs), then go for the Jog at very late in the night.
I wish I coudl mate but you know Japan. Normally eat about 7 then jog from 9 to 10pm After coming home I only drink tea, no food so I'm hoping that's ok.
I'm talking about the amount (not percent) of protein you get per serving. There are any number of protein bars in the US that are generally 25-30g per bar. Those don't exist here (that I've seen, and I've looked). The shakes as well, are far lower. There's one drink they sell (Pro-X I think) which has 25g and is only about 220 calories which is good, but it's like drinking a bottle of sugar. Consider that a proper bulking routine suggests you get 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight a day. If I want to bulk with muscle, I should be eating like 240g of protein a day. That's a shitload. I had a shake once which was close but it tasted awful. The problem is there are a lot of quacks here, and in general, Japanese "norms" are based around the Japanese form. They basically looked at this guy's weight (only). Not his BMI, body fat percentage, or anything. I need to find some statistics, but the exercise culture here is really whack. For starters, gyms in Japan are ridiculously expensive. Private gyms with anytime memberships are generally 12,000 yen per month. You can get some time-limiting ones for cheaper: like 9AM to 5PM for 8,000 yen, etc. VERY few are 24 hours (only Gold's and 1 other AFAIK). There are cheaper alternatives, but not tons. I go to a public gym, which is owned by the state, but managed by Tipness, one of the larger gyms chains. It's 6,000 yen a month. The workout facility isn't great, but it has an Olympic-sized pool, which is the clencher for me. Indeed, but in the states, if you invest a little time, you can get just about anything. That is very difficult, if not impossible here. Little organic coops simply don't exist. There are over-priced shops which carry organic goods, but the data on the food is quite difficult to find, and there aren't that many of them. I gave up trying to have a strangle hold on my diet and just decided to eat "generally healthy stuff". As per before, it's easy, but if I decided I needed to know exactly how much of what I was getting (and it needed to be weird amounts) I'd be fucked. Jog before you eat, or WAY after. Like 4 hours. Your other option is to push dinner back to about 8. I usually eat dinner at 7 at the latest, but I get my workout in before that. Come summer time though, it gets pretty crazy. Jogging before 8PM can be brutal. Your other option: get your ass up early in the morning and do it then.
It's around the same price as London; and the exchange rate with the £ is really weak, so maybe London's a little dearer.... That's my plan. I used to do this in the UK when I wasn't weight training. I used to weight train at 6.30 am for 1 hour or so, and then have a very high protein breakfast (like 4 large eggs and some chicken/tuna). As I am not doing weights here, I'll just go for the jogging before work. I won't put on much fat, nor lose *too* much muscle over this year. If I stay here another year, I might join a gym.
Look for public ones. They don't require a membership so you can go whenever with no strings attached. You would be hard-pressed to find a gym open at 6AM in Tokyo. Golds is 24 hours, and a new chain (which has a whopping 2 spots) called Anytime Fitness. The latter is cheap (8500 yen/mo. I believe) but very small.
When I go alone, I use a puplic one for 300 yens (ikkaibarai), limited to 3 hours. And a private one at sunday, when we go there with the whole family. The private one is Central Sports, but which does not require a monthly paid membership, since the ensurance of my company is somewhere in there. So we usually pay 1430 yens per person (ikkaibarai) and can use the whole infrastructure for one day as long we like, including swiming pools, sauna and hot-tubes etc.
My weight fluctuates so fucking much. I got home and was 13st 5lbs I had a Jacket potato, pot noodle and some water and I weighed myself and I;m 13 11
