So lately I have been finding myself noticing how... llanky my arms are... and how weak I really am. I can do average excercise sure, like climbing over fences or through windows if I need to, or the usual P.E warmups... up to a certain point.


Running. My ability to run is.. what's the word...

ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC! I can hardly run 75% of the school track before I want to just collapse! Mind you, if I need to run, I will run as far as I can, but the longest I seem to be able to go before I reach that" Kill me now, I need oxygen" moment is fourty seconds at the most.

Whenever the class runs the track, I try to keep up with my friend (who always finishes first), but when we get done, I must spend about three minutes breathing heavy. And we only run half of the thing before we sstop to.

So I decide to try getting my legs to run faster by running around the track for the rest of the class while they play football, but alas, the problems stated above come into play. I get 75% through, sometimes 90% before I have to slow down to a walk for two to four minutes (in todays case, I had to sit down after the second lap. PATHETIC!)

So basically what im saying is, I don't go outside much but I want to be somewhat in shape at least. Be able to run for mahbe three minutes straight would be nice. What do you folks recommend?


And for discussion, what is the most painful thing both psychically and mentally that you have had to overcome?

Physically, I have arthritis throughout my whole body, so getting up in the mornings is horribly painful and I have to overcome that daily. Likewise, mentally, I have to try to overcome the sense of fright I feel when I look in the mirror, which is a daily thing, too...


:P

Run everyday. Problem solved.

Start working out your legs also. Do squats, etc.

Get a heart rate monitor if you can and then every 2nd day or so just run for half an hour to an hour while keeping your heart-rate at around 160 beats per minute. Give it a few weeks and you will notice a LARGE improvement in your stamina.
The heart rate monitor is important until you learn how to read your own body enough that you don't need it. Otherwise you will simply burn yourself out too fast by exerting too much, and that will just make you want to give up.

If you can't get a monitor then a good rule to follow is that you should be out of breath enough that talking a sentence to someone is slightly difficult. So you have to pause every 3 word or so to catch your breath.

At the start you may only be able to jog, it depends on your body.

Jogging/running in the park/track in daily basis just to build up ya endurance. Stretch ya body beforehand and have some water prepared. Don't start out running fast right away; start in a slower pace and build up as the day past by.

Also, read this: http://www.timeforfitness.com/running/keep_running.htm

Get bitten by a radioactive .

There is a 83% chance you will have a horrific death and a 14% chance you will live, but lose all appendages, but the remaining 3% goes to you getting superpowers.


Or, you know, just keep exercising by running and your endurance will build up slowly but surely.

take up swimming. while i hate running with a passion, when i swam it helped tremendously with "AIR! I NEED AIR!" feeling you get when you are running.

Set a distance that you absolutely want to finish. Run. If you fee like you are going to die go to the slow-hoopping-walk. This may not be as efficient as the heart rate monitor but another part of running is learning pacing and distances. So call it a mile (this will be more than 3 minutes). Do not stop. Never Walk.
It may take a week or two, but you can do that 4-5 days a week and I guarantee by the third week of consistent laps you will notice that running suddenly became more manageable. That is an important thing. Squats and lunges are good for building muscle.

Upper body?
Push-ups. 3 sets, numbered 10-20, or more of either. That is all.


Does your average exercise end in running from home owners or police by any chance?

I used to be quite asthmatic, then I ran in cross country and my horrid asthma went away. My suggestion, jog often and daily. And I really mean daily, none of that once a week or every other day stuff, jog every day and rest during the weekends. I'd suggest you jog for 45 to an hour long at least. Not run, jog. Also, jogging around on a track is INCREDIBLY boring, so find yourself an area where you can jog. Bike paths, beaches, and nature trails are the best places to run, imho. Also, having a MP3 is great to have, especially when it's metal playing.

Also, I highly recommend you get yourself some nice running shoes and ice your knees and legs after every run. If it's cold, use a treadmill of sorts and run for a half hour to an hour.

As for the most painful mental and physical block, doing the full sprint around the track (1/4 mile) and jogging the track repeatedly for 2 hours was the most difficult exorcises. For something that I had to overcome, it wasn't my lungs burning, but more of my legs wanting to give way. Mentally, boredom when running around the track.

But, if you ask me, I suggest you lift weights ever other day. 3 sets of 10 reps at a weight that'll fatigue you at the end, along with an hour run.

I would lay a bet that I'm the most unfit person on these forums. Medically, I'd probably be catergorised as dead.

I bet I could give you a [horrible pun] run for your money [/horrible pun.] Seriously though, I can maybe jog a few steps and I can barely breathe. I wish I was exaggerating. And, I'm not overweight. In fact I'm technically underweight.

OP- on top of the excercises recommended here, CHECK YOUR DIET! Diet is important. It's not just a batter of eating less fatty, sugary stuff but also managing the amounts of iron/calcium/fibre/protein you get. A proper diet is the key to good cell growth, muscle building etc. You're going to speed up your fitness if you maintain a balanced diet giving you all your dietary requirements on top of excercising well. To hell with supplements, as well. Do it all naturally.

I accept your challenge. I'm so unfit I'll probably have a heart attack before I can post this com...

Aw man, I guess that means you win :pinch:

On top of general unfitness, might I add, I have bad hips, bad knees, bad ankles, and at the moment a bad back, but it's getting better. So even when I try get fit, something usually conks out and I have to stop. It'd probably all sort itself out, but at the moment it's difficult as I can't do enough fitness to get fit. Sigh.

And, just so this is on topic, the most painful thing, mentally and physically, was dealing with my weight. I've never in my life been overweight, but I have for years struggled with weight issues. It was painful because to get to the weight I'm at now, which I'm happy with, involved working 10 hour days without eating. I didn't do this deliberately, I was just so busy at work that I couldn't. I dropped 16 kilos in about two months. And let me tell you, that was physically painful. As well as that dealing with the mental side of it, trying to accept both my "bigger" self, then trying to accept my "skinnier" self, while both "selfs" were insulted by friends and family as well as complete strangers, was extremely painful.
Also on the dealing-with-physical-pain, recovering from horse falls can be extremely painful. A month on and I'm still recovering from my latest one (muscle injury), it's almost put me off riding after 11 years of it

Like Person worm, I am underweight. I can't run 35% of a 400 m track while most people in my school can. I svck. I flipping short for my age, so I can't jump high when we do courses. I svck. I've been skinny all my life. It's all cos of my metabolisim (unsure of spelling). Yeah, I'm a walking fishbone, a baby could beat me in arm wrestling. I try to get fit, but it never helps.I prefer swimming to running. Swimming is the only sport I'm decent at, at least.

Really an unfit challenge you say?

I weigh 8 stone and abit and I'm just over 6ft. I have a bad back and unaligned jaw which the doctors say i'm imaging the pain (It got so bad I had a friend punch me in the jaw to sort it out).

I've been running and swimming endurance-lengths since I was 11. Both sports, and running especially, are at least fifty percent mental. When you start to hurt, keep running. When you get bored, keep running. If you need to slow down, bounce-jog, don't walk. My only caution on that front is if you really feel like you are struggling to breathe (not just panting or breathing heavily but having difficulty getting air in, or seeing spots, or feeling dizzy) you should put your well-being first. If this is a common problem for you, or if you have asthma, don't run alone until you know your limits really, really well.

Learn to pace yourself, too: you don't have to go all-out all the time. Start at a leisurely jog and pick it up as you go along. At first, set distance goals and go however slowly you have to go (without walking) to reach that distance goal. Over time, you'll get to know your body better and gain the ability to switch from "checking out the scenery" to "sprinting for your life" and everything in between at the drop of a hat. Then you can start to watch your times and try to make them faster.

You can always do a little more than you think you can. To this day, I finish my best workouts staring at the bathroom mirror trying to keep my stomach out of the sink. And man, it feels so good. In fact, I'm off to the gym now...

You're confusing strength, endurance and cardiovascular fitness.

A man could curl a 30 lb weight for 100 times and never get winded, but have him try to run a mile and he'll collapse.

Pushing your heart rate for sustained periods of time forces your LUNGS to work harder, and when you're not used to it, you don't efficiently do the O2/CO2 exchange so that you have a constant flow of energy without feeling winded. Yeah, you can run to the point where your legs give out because they aren't in shape, but if you cardiovascular health is up there, it will be muscle failure, not because you're winded. Getting winded will make your legs give out because they aren't getting enough oxygen and lactic acid isn't being carried away, but you won't get winded because of muscle failure.

Run, go outside and run until you can't run, then run some more. Maybe this isn't the best approach, but it's how I got better at running in the Army. I ran until I pushed myself, was always told "If ya don't throw up you didn't run hard enough".

This isn't the only thing. We do something called 30/60s or 60/120. Run as fast as possible for 60 seconds, walk the next 120, then sprint again 60 seconds, and then walk 120. Doing these helped me on my distance and breathing. If you're running and you feel like you're out of breath hang your arms to your side, deep breathe in and deep breathe out and continue to run. If you're REALLY having breathing problems stop don't put yourself at risk. When you finish running put your arms up and clasp hands around the back of your head.

You can also do "Mountain climbers" as well. Don't really know how to describe it.

Get good running shoes and Stretch extremely well before running.

What exactly are you training for?

I have the opposite problem, I can run for too long. Oh wait - that's not a problem. :teehee:

You could check out some of http://www.youtube.com/user/DavidsFitness videos.

This.

That's just how I get into the house and get to the mailbox, since I lsot my keys a few months ago.

And im not really sure.. I just feel like I need to get into some decent shape.

Sign up at a local gym?

jog or run everyday, and do a little more every 2 days or so, which will guarantee progression.