I think that running as an exercise itself is excellent in many ways, and far less damaging than the kind of running required on a football pitch due to not having to plant / twist / accelerate / decelerate / take contact, but if you have knee issues it's probably better to go to the gym and lift than pound pavement. Cycling and swimming (and a variety of cardio machines) are much easier on the joints.
I love running for both its physical and mental benefits, but it isn't without its downsides. I know you don't need me to tell you that though.
Had my 6 month Sarcoidosis meeting at the hospital with the lung consultant. Bit of a wobbly moment when he cordially asked 'so how are you?'
Suffice to say I remain in remission with no apparent recurral of symptoms or steroid side effects. He's signed me back over to my doctor.
The knack (for me anyway) is getting a decent sweat on and making it competitive. I don't get that from lifting although I don't doubt the health benefits, I should do more and swimming is obviously great for you, no impact, blah blah blah but its dull as shit. Cycling in particular but also indoor rowing, there's various apps, log books, communities etc that keep the interest up and give you some rainbows to chase. Worth looking into.
Then you're doing it wrong. Lifting, like most other individual sports, is about competing against yourself and your previous performance. If you're not getting a sweat on and getting competitive about it, you're not working hard enough at it.
I do some low weight, high reps, exercise for muscle tone. Unfortunately due to a long term wrist issue (I broke it, it never got better), if I tried to lift heavy weights, i'd drop them. Which is not a good operating mode.
For sure it is, endurance events are more mental than lifting and in that sense much more fulfilling. Lifting is just a battle for constant physical improvement, but like endurance sports the real satisfaction comes from the constant progress. Races themselves are great, but the primary joy I get from them is knowing that the months of consistent work prior all counted and made it possible to achieve whatever time or distance it was I set out to achieve.
Join a club? I cycle around 200 miles per week (in the summer, I’m not insane) and can’t remember the last time I rode on my own other than to and from a meeting point.
Best thing I did after jacking in football, in fact I wish I’d started much earlier.
I tried being a MAMIL, did some fairly serious rides including a 500K / 3 day supported ride from London to Paris. Gave it up because it takes many hours of cycling to burn as much energy as you can in much less time running, flying downhills is terrifying, and I don't trust drivers over here not to kill me.
I've got an off road bike with disk brakes. It has a 'clicked on' setting on the levers, presumably to assist with controlled descents. I was a bit quicker when I realised and rode with that setting off.
Not fast enough to ride with real cyclists though.
Golf isn't a real sport. It's basically hanging out with other blokes (generally) and betting on who has the luckiest swing and having a few bevvies afterwards. It is also incredibly tedious to watch. Kind of boring to play after a while unless you have a pretty interesting discussion on life in general...
By the way, everything that Russ was saying earlier in this thread about, weights and running and so forth is essentially what I have been banging about on here for at least 15 years. (I suspect much longer) I wish you fuckers would just take it in and stop having to ask every five seconds on what does what. You bunch of ADD mongs.
Anyway I am too busy at work to help solve all your problems for you so you are on your own. And based on the lack of attention paid on here, that is pretty much a given.
yes that’s great if running is an option, for many of us its not, as our knees/ankles are fucked, as someone who the Dr told me 2 years ago, its arthritis nothing you can do, so just accept it, even though I couldn’t walk 200 yards without being in agony.. you either get fat or you embrace the MAMIL lifestyle, your only jealous as we all look better in Lycra than you… I’m now far healthier than I have been in the past 15 years and since my “diagnosis’ 2 years ago I’ve dropped 2 stone, still larger than I’d like but heading in the right direction.
I also beg to disagree flying downhill is fun, even more so if its a really twisty mountainside that your heading down. I’m very fortunate that in most of the areas I ride there is very little traffic, based on my past experiences in the uk I would share your concern about other drivers.
As Jim mentioned it’s very easy to find a club, just look on Facebook or use Strava, I often ride on my own, partly because of work but more and more I ride with others. Just don’t expect Shady to ever to give you kudos for a ride.
