If you can believe this, many Geeks are in bad shape. Many of you geeks might have this little voice in the backs of your heads saying you should be working out, but it is promptly silenced by the din of a good game of Half-Life or your blasting MP3's. However, should you decide to listen to that voice, as I did, here's a listing of the things I have found to be most important to my ongoing endeavor. I've been working out consistently now for over 6 months, so something's going right.

  1. Find someone to work out with.
    I can't stress this enough. Well, maybe I can make it bold. Find someone to work out with! The point of this is to have somebody who you feel bad about letting down when you miss your workout, thereby causing you to miss fewer workouts. The ideal person is someone who has worked out in the past as much as you have. I now work out with my girlfriend, who doesn't have much exercise experience, and it's sometimes difficult to reconcile our different fitness goals. I'm going for strength while she's going for weight loss and tone, so we try to do a combination cardio/strength workout. I don't think this is really an ideal situation, and we should probably separate the two aspects as much as possible. However, I hate cardio, and she hates both. Hmm.

  2. Make it a scheduled thing.
    Consistency also helps you to stick to your workouts. If you set aside a couple hours every other day, you're a lot more likely to keep it up than if you just say "I'll work out a few times this week." This somewhat complicates the "finding a partner" guideline.

  3. Do something fun and strenuous before you lift weights.
    I play racquetball. Some people may not have the facilities for this, but I figure if you're a geek you're generally in college or making lots of money, so either way you should have access to some kind of athletics facility. If you like to run, run. Tennis is fun, too. Do something that you and your partner can start off on equal levels at, and get better together. Not only does this make you look forward to your workout, but it also loosens up your muscles before you lift. Strength training is a very good way to get in shape fast and to increase energy, as well as burn fat. However, if you lift (or stretch) too much when your muscles are cold, you run a much higher risk of injury.

  4. When running or jogging, go all out.
    If you prefer jogging, you have to push yourself all the time. It's difficult, but you should try to run at a consistant, moderate pace for at least 45 minutes. Anything less and you won't be burning much fat, which is mostly what jogging is good for. I personally hate jogging, so I usually spend a good hour playing racquetball as a substitute. It's not near as strenuous, but it gets close once you get skilled at it. The same goes for tennis and other such activites.

  5. Stay hydrated. All day.
    "They" say you should drink about a gallon of water a day. Damn, that's a lot of water, and it's also a lot of trips to the bathroom. Check out Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day for discussion on this topic. I don't know anybody who drinks this much water; everybody at the office is more inclined to drink coffee. But, if you can keep a sports bottle full of ice water at your desk (or wherever your work) during the day, and drink from it every time the thought hits you, you can finish off a suprising amount in 8 hours. If you don't want to do this, just drink a big glass of water before you work out, and make sure to drink during your workout, too.

  6. Don't work out too often.
    Most specialists recommend that you work out, at most, every other day. This gives your muscles time to rest and rebuild. If you work out more often, you run the risk of causing muscular damage. Some people just go crazy when they start working out, going for hours every day. Then they hurt themselves and never go back.

  7. Look in to dietary supplements.
    If you've got the money, supplements can be a big help. You can get a nice $15 discount at vitamins.com for your first purchase. I take creatine, which is a chemical used by your muscles whenever they do work. It has recently been proven to build lean muscle mass in healthy young adults. You can get it in pill or powder form. I personally take the powder, which you add to any cold liquid. It has no taste whatsoever, and it brings about a noticable difference in the quality of your workout. There are lots of other supplements out there, and it pays to do the research needed to find the one that's right for you. By the way... don't do steroids. They'll mess you a up a lot more than they'll help you.

  8. Go for the good hurting
    If your muscles get sore, that's a good hurt. Okay, maybe it's a little masochistic, but that achy soreness means that your muscles are rebuilding themselves to be stronger for the next time you put them through that punishment. About a week and a half after you first start working out, they won't be sore anymore after your session. That's when you start increasing your reps or the weight on the machines or free-weights.

  9. Select the weight that's right for your goals.
    There are basically two different goals you can shoot for. If you want to build strength, do so much weight that you can only do about 8-10 reps at a time. The rule of thumb that I use is if I can do 15-20 reps on the weight I've chosen, it's time to move up. Generally, it's good to move up in 10-15lb increments. Most Nautalus machines won't give you much choice.
    If you want to tone your muscles, i.e. remove the fat from within and around the muscle tissue, set the weight so you can do 30-40 reps. Remember, you should be really stuggling around #40. Once you can do 50, it's time to move up.

  10. My Favorite Situp.
    If you're like me, you're impatient with how long it takes to work out your stomach muscles. Those little crunches you did in grade school for the Presidential Fitness Award (which I could never get) take forever, like 60 or 70 reps, to tire me out. If you want to get your belly really moving, try this: Start out lying flat on your back with your legs out straight and heels together. Pick your heels and your shoulder blades a few inches off the ground. Now bring your knees up towards your chin and push with your hands out around the outside of your legs, as if you were trying to do a toe-touch. Whether or not you touch your toes is unimportant. I don't. Now go back to the heels-and-shoulders off the ground position and repeat the process. 50 of these still exhausts me.

I'll continue to add more stuff to this writeup as I think of things. I welcome any additions/changes/comments so feel free to msg me or add your own material.

Have a good workout!


Update: 5/20/2002
I wrote this node while in college, and now that I've been out and working as a software developer for a year, I feel I should point out that there's no way I'm going to find time to do weight training AND at least 45 minutes of cardio. I don't have convenient access to raquetball anymore, so I'm pretty much stuck to jogging for cardio, and there's no WAY I'm going to jog for 45 minutes. Even if I was physically capable, it still boring as hell.

So: I feel obliged to point out that you can still get great results without a giant time investment in the cardio part of your workout. I saw a study recently at www.fitnessonline.com where women did just 2 minutes of warmup and 8 minutes of cardio (at 70% or better of their target heart rate) along with a light weight training routine for three days a week. On average, they lost 3 pounds of fat, and gained two pounds of muscle in just 2 months. Mind you, that's not just 3 pounds, but 3 pounds of fat. They noticed a definite decrease in their cellulite, as well. Not that I have much cellulite; I'm just saying. It doesn't take much to make a big difference.


gkAndy: Regarding your request for a weight control/excersize program designed for coders, try the "Hacker's Diet" which can be found at http://www.fourmilab.to/hackdiet/www/hackdietf.html. It's got a simple, no-nonsense approach to dieting, a detailed excersize plan that only demands 15 minutes a day and is designed to start you off slowly with simple excersizes and increases in difficulty as your abilities increase. Also, it details a formula for how to monitor your progress on Excel.
Make sure to read the helpful corrections to my somewhat uninformed ramblings above as posted by fnordian!
Saige advises geeks who want to get in shape should look into Dance Dance Revolution, which forces you to jump around a lot. I personally think that going to the arcade for your daily workout is a bit expensive, not to mention yucky. People don't come to the arcade so they can be around people who smell like they've been working out, even though that's what tends to happen anyway. However, I think a few free DDR machines in workout facilities (instead of treadmills, which are probably just as expensive) would be awesome!. In fact, if they could make all fitness equipment into video game machines, you'd probably see a sharp decline in teenage obesity. I'll make millions!

Wow.

I just started working out about a month ago, to remove the slovenly fat that has accumulated around my lazy ass coder body, and I have a feeling that these instuctions will aid me greatly in my cause.

I must stress that so far I have found working out to have given me a lot of extra energy, and have made me feel slightly good about myself for once.

I have also taken to drinking a lot of water a day, and it has replaced my caffeine input entirely. It makes me pee more, but I feel that it too has added to my general energy level.

Is there any chance someone in the know could add a writeup detailing the best way to go about starting a weight loss excercise program for a lethargic disgusting fat body software engineer like myself?
I think the first goal of any geek trying to lose weight or improve muscle tone should be to stop guzzling Coca Cola and Pringles all day long.

Let me qualify that. I work in an evironment that requires people to work in shifts. In other words, I am surrounded by individuals who for some reason (probably financial) like to sit up all night and monitor computers.

The diet of a number of these people consists of pizza, McDonald's, soft drinks and cigarettes. Before you go all out and start pumping iron, you need to be aware that what you fuel your body with will have an impact on your energy levels.

Feel like a lethargic blob all the time? Try eating fruit instead of Big Macs, drink water instead of Coke. Cutting fat from your diet is not enough, you need to be wary of your sugar intake.

I've lost around 10 kilograms in the last two months or so without even trying simply by making this simple change in my diet. I only slightly altered my exercise program of martial arts and running.

As a collegiate athlete and cs/math double major, I am frequently appalled at the level of slovenliness and torpor that many of my fellow students allow themselves to sink to. I suspect that if they knew the physical pleasure of having a fit, balanced body and lifestyle, they would change their habits.

Bad Geek Habit #1
Erratic Sleep Schedule

How many time have you seen someone walk into class after a big programming assignment comes due, with a jumbo coffee and a dippy grin on their face, proud that they've "pulled an all-nighter." Usually this is because of some delusion that they've "conquered the night," or done something similarly heroic, instead of just catching up after weeks of laziness, harming their health, andn usually doing sub-standard work.

Procrastination is like masturbation; it's a lot of fun, until you realize you're fucking yourself.

Solution: make a point to work out every morning, before classes or work. Don't skip; if you skip more than three or four sessions per year (aside from your scheduled day off per week), you are kidding yourself about your level of commitment.

Commitment to an athletic schedule clears up this particular immaturity. When you have to be up and sweating at 5:45 a.m., the books close no later than midnight, and you make time for a nap midday. You separate the chaff out of your day, getting enough sleep becomes a habit, and your scholastic/career work doesn't seem so all-consuming.

Bad Geek Habit #2
Poor Diet

Pizza, burritos, fast-food and treats from the vending machine. Typical geek fare, yet people wonder why they are getting sick all the time, when they go days without coming face to face with a fruit or a vegetable.

Solution: do aerobic exersise five or more times per week, and keep track of your performance. You will notice a difference in your capabilities between a pizza-and-beer diet and one composed of lean meats, loads of good carbs, dark salads, and fruits (five a day).

After a few weeks of aerobic work (like 60-100 minute sessions on a bike, running, rowing on the ergometer, jumping rope, or whatnot), most people crave bananas and bagels instead of Mars bars and Jolt; your body is telling you what it needs.

Bad Geek Habit #3
Poor Self-Image

This comes in a few flavors. Many geeks don't feel comfortable around or attractive to the opposite sex. A lot have a negative body image.

Physical achievement can do a lot for geeks and their confidence. Many of us grew up as "98 pound weaklings", or on the other end of the spectrum, were overweight. And later in life, as a reaction, we create and adhere to a culture that is indifferent to physical exertion at best, and downright hostile to it at worst.

Solution: set some goals, and achieve them.

"I'm not intimidated by this person/project/paper/speech; I know I can achieve what I need to. I can run a 38 minute 10k; I'm a tough cookie, I don't buckle."



Tips for Aerobic Training
  • Choose something you like, and stick to it. Occasional cross-training is great, but about two-thirds of your workouts should be the same activity, to keep you focused and goal-oriented.
  • Hydrate adequately. Very few people drink as much as they ought to, and unfortunately, thirst is not a great gauge for fluid intake. (By the time you are noticeably thirsty, it is too late, you are already dehydrated.) Most coaches recommend taking a half liter of water prior to working out (17 ounces), and another half liter during the first 30 minutes of exercise as you begin to sweat. After the first 30 minutes, a few mouthfuls every 15-20 minutes is advisable.
  • Challenge yourself. Make goals, like running a half marathon, a six minute mile, or running all the stadium steps in under 30 minutes. The Spandex and tanktop crowd of Stairstep enthusiasts aren't as likely to look forward to their workout as a woman on a mission.
  • Work out for at minimum 45 minutes continuously. Cessations of one or two minutes to retie shoes or take a swig of water aren't anything to worry about, but you should aim to keep your heartrate elevated for close to an hour in order to train your heart and lungs effectively. With a good Walkman and tape, and after a few weeks of working out every day, an hour seems like a breeze.
  • Be consistent. Set a schedule (say 6 days on, 1 day off) and stick to it.



Tips for Weightlifting
  • Don't neglect you legs. Squat, leg press, leg extension, and the like are far from glamour lifts; they might not do much for the goal of looking good on the beach and "scoring" with the "honeys." Strong legs, however, will give you the supporting musculature to avoid injury while running, playing tennis or squash, or doing just about any sport. Leg lifting isn't just for muscleheads and football players. You can use lower-body resistance-training effectively for any sport.
  • Get the appropriate amount of rest between sets. In order to build strength, you need to lift close to the ultimate capacity of your muscle. In order to life close to capacity, you need a lot of phosphates in the muscle. After a tough 8-12 rep lift, you are going to be depleted of adenosine triphosphate. After a minute of rest, you have replenished less than half of what you've used. After 2 minutes, about two-thirds. After 2.5 minutes, you are up to about 90% and are ready to lift again. For large muscle groups (latissimus, gluteals, quads, leg biceps) 3 minutes between sets is a good rule of thumb.
  • Get adequate protein to support your workout. Recommended intake is between .5 and .9 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight. (If you have 15% bodyfat, take 85% of your total weight, and this is your "lean" body weight.) A three ounce serving of chicken breast is 25 grams of protein, 120-130 calories, with almost no fat.
  • Get enough rest. Don't stress the same muscle groups more than twice a week. In fact, once a week can be more than adequate to build size and strength.

I would have /msged ApoxyButt, but I found that there were too many things I felt should be corrected about hir writeup that I should just write it up myself. Sorry if this is a "reply".

Point one: Actually, one should not do a cardiovascular workout before doing weight training. If you got at all a good workout, you will be far too exhausted to use proper form (and we all know you need to worship at the alter of the goddess of form!). It isn't a good idea to start out with cold muscles, but a 5 minute warmup of walking/jogging/running/cycling/using a cardio machine at the gym should be plenty to take care of this. Most WT experts I've spoken to recommend doing weight training on different days than you do your aerobic workout, if possible. If not, it's probably better to do weights first.

Point two: There is no set amount of time you need to run/do other cardio activity before you're "really" burning fat. A lot of beginners are not in good enough shape to run for 45 minutes and they should not start there. One should start by doing as much as is comfortable and work up to a workout that is satisfying in length and intensity. If someone is training to be a sprinter (yes, I know, sprinting is not aerobic,) they don't need to run for 45 minutes to train to be getting a useful workout! Your workout is an individual thing and you have to figure out what works for you.

Point three: ApoxyButt is right when he says don't work out more than every other day, but this only applies to weight training, not to cardiovascular exercise. You can go running every day if you want to (though many people recommend no more than 6 days out of the week to give your body a rest that way, this depends greatly on the intensity of your workouts. If you do an hour of walking everyday I don't think you'd need a day off - again, figure out what works for you.)

Point four (and the most important point): You should not do higher reps with lower weights to "tone" your muslces. If you ask any weight training expert (go on over to misc.fitness.weights and give it a try), they will let you know that low weight, high reps does nothing but waste your time and that anyone who uses the word "tone" doesn't know what they're talking about. ApoxyButt defines it as removing the fat from around and within the muscle. This is totally wrong. SPOT REDUCTION IS A MYTH. You can't remove fat from any particular area by lifting with it, you can only remove it through a caloric deficit (either via diet or cardiovascular exercise). And fat from within the muscle? Um, no. People wanting to "tone" are usually women who fear getting bulky from lifting weights, but don't worry, only very few individuals (and very few of them are women) can get truly bulky, and you will not get bulky by accident.


References are difficult, but really good further reading would be misc.fitness.weights' FAQ, which can be found at http://www.trygve.com/mfw_faq.html. The newsgroup itself is filled with extremely knowledgable people (many of whom are professionals and scientists) and is a great source of accurate, scientifically-backed info.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths.html also covers the same issues in a quick rundown with some info I haven't covered here as well (thanks to MrFurious for this URL).


Odon Lowe Jr. 2 speaks the truth; if one does weight training and then aerobics, the cardio performance will suffer.. this is why I suggest doing weight training and aerobic activities on separate days, one or the other is bound to suffer. But I think if one is determined to do both on the same day, it's best to do WT first because one is far more likely to injure oneself, especially seriously, by weight training under poor conditions than by doing aerobics with tired muscles, especially low-impact exercises such as swimming. However, if one is interested in improving/perfecting one's technique at an aerobic exercise, doing it after weight training would probably be frustrating at best. In summary, do them on different days for most benefits.
Firstly, I must disagree partially to fnordian about strength training (weightlifting) in relation to cardiovascular workouts. One may have better form in the weight lifting if you do the cardio workout after the lifting. However, if one performs the weight lifting first and does something, such as swimming, one will find themselves unable to move very well! In the case of swimming, this can be extremely detrimental to such things as stroke (or form, in the case of swimming) and confidence in oneself. I myself would suggest a quarter to half cardio before the lifting part of the workout, and than finishing up with that.

Secondly, I have heard many arguments about dehydration in relation to swimming. Neophyte swimmers often feel that since their workout is in water they will not dehydrate. But, they often forget about the substance that turns hair green, or chlorine, along with whatever other substances may be present in the water. These substances will leech the swimmer of liquids and will cause the body to close pores to incoming substances, while still allowing sweat to pump out. This will lead the swimmer to dehydration. This is something to be watched out for by coaches especially, making sure that if one of the swimmers does have an intake of fluid during the workout, moderatly as not to cause cramps.

Introduction

The following is designed to get one in to excellent physical shape while not turning it in to a second job. It is especially useful for people who want to feel connected to their bodies as well as look good naked.

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: Make sure your body can actually handle any exercise before you start this. Check with your doctor before you begin if getting dressed is the most exercise you've ever done and/or your diet consists of items primarily from the top of the food pyramid.

OPTIONAL DISCLAIMER: Use your head. Pay attention. This is a guide. Mix and match the following concepts to your own schedule and pace. Make sure you have fun.

Overview

The three aspects to develop are strength, endurance and flexibility. Each are valuable and necessary. Each has a little carry-over effect with the other.

Strength training primarily develops your muscles and connecting tissue. This provides a way to do useful things well in to old age such as lifting lawn mowers in and out of cars and carrying a SO over the threshhold on your 37th wedding anniversary.

Endurance training builds the heart, lungs and oxygen-supply systems so that you can enjoy doing the things you love longer and more often.

Flexibility training ensures that the strength and endurance systems being stressed and improved also remain supple and injury free. You can keep doing what you're doing 'cuz your doing it.

Together they form a pulsing braid of physical capability. Just imagine how wonderful it will feel to deadlift 200 pounds 20 times, run effortlessly for five miles and still place your palms flat on the floor next to your feet (with your legs straight, of course).

Ready? Let's begin.

Strength Training

These are the suggested exercises:

That's it. Perform only one set of each exercise. Each set will consist of 15-20 reps for the squat and deadlift and 6-10 reps for everything else. Do situps until no more can be completed.

The key here is intensity. You must work hard enough so that you fail at close to the desired rep. In this context, failure is good. It shows you the next barrier you must break. It may take a few sessions once you start to find that resistance. Once you find it, work against it until the movement reverses itself.

To illustrate, here's what one set to failure looks like doing the standing overhead press:

Bend over, grab the bar and clean it to shoulder level. Using perfect form and controlled movement, press the bar overhead and lower. Reps 1-4 are no problem. Five and six are tougher. At seven the heart is pounding and the arms are shaking. Eight slowly, barely makes it up, but the rep remains in control. Nine is the impossible rep. It moves perhaps an inch from the shoulders but no more. Push, push, push as long as possible until the weight comes back to the shoulders. Carefully place the bar back on the floor. Feel the blood roar in to your shoulders and arms. Feel your lungs reach for air. Feel like the Incredible Hulk because last time you could only do seven.

Now nine is what you must make next time. When the desired reps can be performed in control with perfect form, add more weight - 5 to 10 pounds for the squat and deadlift, 2.5 to 5 pounds for everything else. Continue in this pattern for a few years and amaze yourself with how strong you've become.

Endurance Training

Much simpler from an execution standpoint. Just get out and shake yer bones a few times a week for at least a half-hour. The longer the better. Pick something you like to do. Run. Ride a bike. Swim in the ocean. Pop in a Grateful Dead tape and dance for the entire second set. As long as you are moving and breathing hard, you're doing OK. If at the start all you can do is a brisk walk for that half-hour, that's fine. Just keep going, and try tossing a jog in there every so often.

After you're comfortable with the 30-minute minimum, try going either further or faster. The issue is one of time. If there is time during the day, set aside an entire morning or afternoon for your chosen activity. Some extremely interesting insights/ visions/ sensations may occur when the 4-,5-,6-hour range is reached. Otherwise, if your schedule or inclination will only allow that half-hour, simply do what you do harder and faster. Long sprints, hill climbs and racing motorboats and cars are all viable options.

Flexibility Training

Of all the different theories on attaining flexibility, the only one that will be briefly discussed here is ashtanga yoga. However, to call this vigorous form of yoga mere exercise ignores it's astounding benefits. yogabum has a more thorough description of the practice. Suffice it to say that consistently performing ashtanga yoga will benefit you physically, emotionally, intellectually and, if you allow it, spiritually. Beryl Binder Birch's book Power Yoga is a good start. If the previous topics are of no interest, at least do this.

How often to do these? As often as you want. The human body was made to be used vigorously. The following is the bare minimum schedule (which seems to work well for extremely busy people):

  • Day 1: strength (lift weights)
  • Day 2: endurance (run, swim, dance, etc...)
  • Day 3: flexibility (ashtanga yoga or your choice of flavors)
  • Repeat ad infinitum.

A Few Words On Diet

Just a few. Promise.

Take off all your clothes and look in the mirror. Be honest. You know if you need to lose some weight or gain some weight or if you just need to redistribute the weight you have.

Now examine what you eat every day. Is breakfast just a faint intention sometimes satisfied by a vending-machine cinammon bun and a Mountain Dew? Do you substitute Cheetos for salad? Does dinner consist of mass-produced boxed or bagged items that you eat in your car or in front of the TV? If so, you know you need to eat better, fresher, more wholesome foods. You know this. You're not an idiot. There's plenty of information available on creating a good diet. Read it.

Also, what color is your pee? If it is not clear several times a day, you need to drink more water because essentially your body is pumping sludge.

Summing Up

The above activities as well as a proper diet will promote a positive change in your body. As you begin, try not to have a fixed idea of what you want your body to become. Let it evolve through your effort. Do this as a lifelong journey, an adventure in which your body becomes a vehicle for exploration both physical and spiritual. But most of all, have a good time.

As described in incarnadine’s write-up, if you are either that 98lb weakling, or that overweight slob, you obviously have different goals before doing any sort of workout.

If you are going to the gym to simply increase your muscle mass, and become the next Schwarzenegger, you will want to be eating a fair quantity of protein rich food before your workout, and the duration of the day, which will significantly help you build muscle. It would be wise to invest in some form of protein shake; it is a hell of a lot easier then having to cook-up a steak, or having ingest large quantities of cheese before going to the gym.

Of course, if you are on the other side of the weight spectrum, you should be doing your workouts on an empty stomach. Research has shown if you do a workout on an empty stomach you are more likely to be burning off your fat reserves, then the energy you’ve just consumed. Optimally if weight-loss is your goal, the best time to workout is right when you wake up. Lets say you are not a morning person, then just don’t eat three hours prior to your workout. Doing more cardiovascular work is a more efficient method to losing weigh then just doing weight training. Remember to keep well hydrated at all times; as metioned in previous write-ups, your body often confuses hunger with thirst. Be smart, do not starve yourself from the nutrients your body need to function during the day. Following your work-out you should have a shower (people disobeying this rule has become a popular trend lately, so I thought I’d include it), and have a well rounded breakfast after your workout to keep you from passing-out three hours into work, but do not stuff yourself full, or you’ll just end up falling back to sleep.

Most of my education on fitness has come from years of experience as a competitive swimmer, and reading Body for Life, by Bill Phillip. I really suggest reading it if you plan on making a significant change in your fitness level.

My Suggestions to this crowed node


  • Work out with people - If you don't have work makes who want to play - go down the gym and sign up for something - you'll meet new mates, and get excercise done - everyone's happy

  • Don't scedule too much - If you feel constained by your need to work out, you may put less effort into it and that doesn't help you out

  • Keep a log of achivement. Even if its a mental one, keep knowing your getting better

  • Missing working out for a week or two because you have too much on your plate is acceptable - as long as you get back to work afterwards

  • Do a variety of things - I dislike doing weights in the gym. I much prefer doing circuits with my friends for an hour, and then playing a bit of badminton, indoor football (soccer), or even extreme frisbee.

  • You don't need a fully fitted gym. Weights can help body sculpting, but you can excercise your muscles by using your body, and perhaps one or two simple pieces of equipment - a mat and a chin-up bar

  • Get a dog. A gun dog is best. These beasts require several walks a day, and are happy to run instead of walking. Run until the dog is tired. This works very well

  • Stretch

  • And finally, for those like me, in the Army. Remember that all Physical Training Instructors, might be a mate down the pub, but complete bastards on the training fields

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