If you ever need a running buddy, give me a shout!!!!

I need a running buddy! But I need one as slow and unfit as me, who is happy to go for runs when I have free time, which might well be at 11pm!!

I used to be the fittest, fastest runner in school, and was at county level for about a year at 100m, 200m and, oddly, triple jump. But then I discovered cars, motorbikes, cigarettes and pubs. It was all downhill since then (though I remain fitter than most people my age. Somehow).

I want my 6 pack back again. I want to be able to cycle 40 miles in two hours and barely break into a sweat. I want to do a weekend of racing and not notice it physically.

Kids, some advice. Don't smoke. Don't idle your time away on a computer. Get sit and stay fit and eat healthily. It might seem fun now (being unhealthy), but you'll regret it in 10 years time

I am not fast, by any means, 5km in 27mins, and I can pump out an 8 min mile, and do 10k in just under an hour!!!

So approximately 8 times faster than me at the moment

Smoking makes you less healthy yes, but you can still keep fit. Once fit though you have to stay exercising because your fitness level will drop within a few months. I have experienced it myself and I can tell that my fitness level has dropped and some on my strength has also gone. I dont train for motorsports as I dont do them but it wouldn't be much different to training for fighting sports would it. I cant wait to go back to martial arts in new year, never realised how much I enjoyed it until I had to stop, I think fighting sports is a good way to become fit and strong though as you have to train all of your body in martial arts.

Maybe go down to a martial arts school and see if they do fitness classes, the place I attend has a fitness class, so maybe one near you also has one.

Quote from Nobo :

For push ups you might find this handy.

I also keep my arms right beside my body when doing press ups (push ups). The further you have your hands are away from your shoulders (when not directly under your shoulders) the harder it gets though. I used to be able to do just over 50 but after I stopped training in martial arts and had to recover I now struggle to do 20.

Quote from sam93 :

Smoking makes you less healthy yes, but you can still keep fit.

What? Smoking will make it 5 times harder to keep fit. The "But you can still keep fit." will be made so much much harder if you smoke... I'd steer away asap if i were you.

AANNNDDD.. if you doing a national championship ideally you need to be out every week practising which will naturally improve your fitness. No matter what you do in a gym, or on the road nothing can completely prepare for the Gs and the physical damands of a kart.

Thanks for all the comments , i will read through everything a bit later , im off work tomorrow so im gunna dew a few things here and there , im also playing golf so walking for 6 km well 12 if im zig zagging across the course , ill see how dead i am tomorrow ,if im not its a good sighn.

as for keep practicing , i have a 6 hour endurance race on the 23rd , that will keep me up on the practice side .

Quote from pb32000 :

Echo the comments from Psychoman on the sit ups.

Not only will doing 200+ not be great for you, if you really want to build abs you need to be doing squats etc.

Wrong, you need to allow your muscles to recover, so do 100 or so a day and leave it off for a day to recover, boxers lie in a Ice Cold bath for about 10 minutes which speeds up muscle recovery, circuit training is very good, basically workout 3 times a week for about 30 mins, eat the right food, but it's mainly if your trying to tone up or build up, also ignore all the crap energy drinks, redbull is not good for you at all, if you want some sort of drink you can have, (if you have a blender) bannana, milk, egg, sugar in the blender it tastes nice and it's cheap but you can buy proper protein drinks from holland and barrets which last quite a while. don't know what else to say, sorry for my typing it's late and i'm rushing it, no doubt someone will try point errors out in my post.

Quote from AMB :

Wrong, you need to allow your muscles to recover, so do 100 or so a day and leave it off for a day to recover, boxers lie in a Ice Cold bath for about 10 minutes which speeds up muscle recovery, circuit training is very good, basically workout 3 times a week for about 30 mins, eat the right food, but it's mainly if your trying to tone up or build up, also ignore all the crap energy drinks, redbull is not good for you at all, if you want some sort of drink you can have, (if you have a blender) bannana, milk, egg, sugar in the blender it tastes nice and it's cheap but you can buy proper protein drinks from holland and barrets which last quite a while. don't know what else to say, sorry for my typing it's late and i'm rushing it, no doubt someone will try point errors out in my post.

How am I wrong? I never said train every day, I know exactly what muscle recovery is. Do 100 what anyway? 100 situps? Good luck getting fit on that.

I know how to train thank you. Pretty much disregarded your post after you used the phrase 'tone up'. Oh and H&B shakes? Get the diet right first, then if needed add in a quality shake from myprotein.co.uk or similar.

You don't need ANY shakes or anything like that.

However, Glucosamine and omega 3 oil is pretty important to keep your joints healthy, especailly as you are (I think) quite young Jack.

That's true Dan, and I wouldn't encourage anyone who's starting to look into shakes, my perspective was more from a weights training one.

If you're needing 1.5g protein per lb bodyweight, some people will find it hard to get that much from solids alone, not to mention it can be expensive.

Anyway that's not really relevant here, so yer, no shakes.

Quote from danowat :

You don't need ANY shakes or anything like that.

However, Glucosamine and omega 3 oil is pretty important to keep your joints healthy, especailly as you are (I think) quite young Jack.

ye 17 in 17 days .

And make sure you do not accidently take any banned substances as well. Check this >>

Sounds simple, but flu remedies etc... can contain these substances. So make sure you check the labels and everything.

Quote from pb32000 :

How am I wrong? I never said train every day, I know exactly what muscle recovery is. Do 100 what anyway? 100 situps? Good luck getting fit on that.

I know how to train thank you. Pretty much disregarded your post after you used the phrase 'tone up'. Oh and H&B shakes? Get the diet right first, then if needed add in a quality shake from myprotein.co.uk or similar.

I do 100 yes.. i'm not saying do a 100 and think your fit, I don't just do sit ups and I do side crunches etc, I have protein shakes, I try to eat reasonably healthy, salads fish etc, i'm just saying what I do, not so much build muscle but tone up, I know this is not what he wants, but most of what I said can help him.

and if he wants help all he needs to do is go to a local gym and ask for a diet plan or routine, JJB down here has it's own gym, when you sign up you can ask for diet plans and routines, it's not hard to ask but it's better to ask a professional than people on a forum. ( not saying none of you guys know what your talking about, but at a gym it's easier to explain what you want rather than typing it )

Quote from Nobo :

For push ups you might find this handy.

I have started this today. Did the initial test on friday and managed to do 16. Today i have started the program...

Task was to do five sets. 10, 12, 7, 7, max. 9. Between each set a rest of 60 seconds.

I have managed to do set one and two without any problems, then barely got through set three, and failed at set four after 4 pushups.
I won't give up tho!

PS: I don't do any sports at all (beside some occasional snowboarding). And i'm a smoker... will be interesting to see how this goes. Hehe!