My daughter has now started her own blog, detailing her own fitness path.
http://emilycookathlete.blogspot.co.uk/
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Friday, 28 September 2012
My Fitness Life
My fitness life.
I am a 41 year old married man, trying to keep as physically fit as I possibly can. When I was a teenager, I was pretty fit. I was 6'4" by the time i was 14, but only weighed about 10 stone. Those were the days when your PE teachers could call you all "poofs and cretins" and no one would take any offence. My PE teacher used to warn me about walking sideways over drains whilst walking to the local playing fields, just in case I fell down one.
I was picked for the school athletics team, and used to compete in high jump (1.50m), 100m (13.1s) relay and occasional long jump and any other events they were short of athletes. I also used to play basketball, and had a go at any sports going really. My mom had been a member of the Solihull Wheelers cycle touring club, and taught me and my brother to ride on the road from about aged 7 or 8. I knew the Highway Code from aged 8. I bought myself a touring bike, when I stopped growing, and I went everywhere on it.
Then at 15 I went on an Outward Bound weekend to North Wales with my school, and so started a love affair with the outdoors that still lasts to this day. From the age of 15 to 21'ish I spent my weekends either in North Wales, The Lake District or Scotland, mountaineering, rock climbing, camping and drinking lots and lots of beer. In 1989 I managed a month’s trip to British Columbia staying with family just outside Vancouver, and managed to fit in a few mountains, a 110 raft down the Fraser River, and a few other adventures. That year I spent 45 weekends away from home.
The following year my cousin and his (then) wife came to the UK, and he started playing basketball for The Birmingham Bullets. I used to train with him, but I was way out of my league, so I played one season in the West Midlands League Division 2 for the Gatorade Lasers. One season was all I managed, before I started having problems with my knees, so I packed it in, as I had to choose between continuing to play basketball, and being able to walk without the need for surgery. No brainer.
I then met my future wife, and so began my responsible life of saving for a house, getting a better job, starting a family and keeping my head down to do my best to provide for my family, whilst my waistline continued to expand and the fitness training and any form of exercise went out of the window. By now I was 16 and a half stone with a 40 inch waist, but in my head I was still a fit 19 year old.
All went well until 1998, and I had to install a new fence in my garden, and I carried a dozen 9 foot slotted concrete posts on my shoulder, down the length of my garden. One ruptured disc later gave me the reality check that I was no longer 19 and indestructible. I then had the good fortune to be treated by a chiropractor, who not only fixed me up as best he could, but he sat me down and seriously pointed out a few things I needed to change, otherwise I would be in shit state for the rest of my life. Whole lifestyle changes, not a diet.
It took a year for me to get my back anywhere near usable, and then I also had the good fortune to have my company paid for parking space taken from me due to cost savings. So I bought myself a bike and vowed to cycle to work every day, and in my own way “stick it to the man”. And so started my cycle commuting life, which was to last for the next 10 years.
I lost 3 stone in 3 months, and lost 6 inches from my waist. I actually lost weight so quickly; people who I had known for years stopped talking to me in the corridors at work. It wasn’t until one of my colleagues spoke to me, that I was told people thought I had a serious illness, or even cancer. I pissed myself laughing at this, as it couldn’t have been further from the truth. It was the best I had felt for many, many years.
I took part in a few sponsored cycle rides, and now my children were old enough to ride themselves, so I taught them both how to ride bikes, and also taught them how to ride on the roads, just like my mother did for me. And yes, they both have copies of the Highway Code.
After I was made redundant, I got myself another job working 12 miles away instead of the 8 I had been cycle commuting for the previous 5 years. So I upped my mileage to 24 miles a day round trip, which works out to be 4500 miles a year. I managed this for another 5 years, but the winter commuting was taking its toll. I had a few falls each winter, and I damaged rib joints in both my shoulders. My previous chiropractor had moved on to treat pro golfers in Oxford, but his replacement was equally as competent in her ability to treat my injuries, and also telling me like it was. “You’re 40 now, and loosing core strength, work on that and rest up on the cycling”.
So I did. I retired from cycle commuting, and kitted out my garden shed as a gym. I then started weight training, core strength training, and shoulder rehabilitation exercises, and after 18 months, I had restored a reasonable amount of muscle and core stability back to my torso.
But I dearly missed cycling.
So, I bought a turbo trainer (Cyclops Magneto), and started following a Time Trial DVD.
And we are now up to date.
I’m fit, healthy, and need a goal in life to aim for and shape my training schedule.
Duathlon?
Triathlon?
Sportif?
I am a 41 year old married man, trying to keep as physically fit as I possibly can. When I was a teenager, I was pretty fit. I was 6'4" by the time i was 14, but only weighed about 10 stone. Those were the days when your PE teachers could call you all "poofs and cretins" and no one would take any offence. My PE teacher used to warn me about walking sideways over drains whilst walking to the local playing fields, just in case I fell down one.
I was picked for the school athletics team, and used to compete in high jump (1.50m), 100m (13.1s) relay and occasional long jump and any other events they were short of athletes. I also used to play basketball, and had a go at any sports going really. My mom had been a member of the Solihull Wheelers cycle touring club, and taught me and my brother to ride on the road from about aged 7 or 8. I knew the Highway Code from aged 8. I bought myself a touring bike, when I stopped growing, and I went everywhere on it.
Then at 15 I went on an Outward Bound weekend to North Wales with my school, and so started a love affair with the outdoors that still lasts to this day. From the age of 15 to 21'ish I spent my weekends either in North Wales, The Lake District or Scotland, mountaineering, rock climbing, camping and drinking lots and lots of beer. In 1989 I managed a month’s trip to British Columbia staying with family just outside Vancouver, and managed to fit in a few mountains, a 110 raft down the Fraser River, and a few other adventures. That year I spent 45 weekends away from home.
The following year my cousin and his (then) wife came to the UK, and he started playing basketball for The Birmingham Bullets. I used to train with him, but I was way out of my league, so I played one season in the West Midlands League Division 2 for the Gatorade Lasers. One season was all I managed, before I started having problems with my knees, so I packed it in, as I had to choose between continuing to play basketball, and being able to walk without the need for surgery. No brainer.
I then met my future wife, and so began my responsible life of saving for a house, getting a better job, starting a family and keeping my head down to do my best to provide for my family, whilst my waistline continued to expand and the fitness training and any form of exercise went out of the window. By now I was 16 and a half stone with a 40 inch waist, but in my head I was still a fit 19 year old.
All went well until 1998, and I had to install a new fence in my garden, and I carried a dozen 9 foot slotted concrete posts on my shoulder, down the length of my garden. One ruptured disc later gave me the reality check that I was no longer 19 and indestructible. I then had the good fortune to be treated by a chiropractor, who not only fixed me up as best he could, but he sat me down and seriously pointed out a few things I needed to change, otherwise I would be in shit state for the rest of my life. Whole lifestyle changes, not a diet.
It took a year for me to get my back anywhere near usable, and then I also had the good fortune to have my company paid for parking space taken from me due to cost savings. So I bought myself a bike and vowed to cycle to work every day, and in my own way “stick it to the man”. And so started my cycle commuting life, which was to last for the next 10 years.
I lost 3 stone in 3 months, and lost 6 inches from my waist. I actually lost weight so quickly; people who I had known for years stopped talking to me in the corridors at work. It wasn’t until one of my colleagues spoke to me, that I was told people thought I had a serious illness, or even cancer. I pissed myself laughing at this, as it couldn’t have been further from the truth. It was the best I had felt for many, many years.
I took part in a few sponsored cycle rides, and now my children were old enough to ride themselves, so I taught them both how to ride bikes, and also taught them how to ride on the roads, just like my mother did for me. And yes, they both have copies of the Highway Code.
After I was made redundant, I got myself another job working 12 miles away instead of the 8 I had been cycle commuting for the previous 5 years. So I upped my mileage to 24 miles a day round trip, which works out to be 4500 miles a year. I managed this for another 5 years, but the winter commuting was taking its toll. I had a few falls each winter, and I damaged rib joints in both my shoulders. My previous chiropractor had moved on to treat pro golfers in Oxford, but his replacement was equally as competent in her ability to treat my injuries, and also telling me like it was. “You’re 40 now, and loosing core strength, work on that and rest up on the cycling”.
So I did. I retired from cycle commuting, and kitted out my garden shed as a gym. I then started weight training, core strength training, and shoulder rehabilitation exercises, and after 18 months, I had restored a reasonable amount of muscle and core stability back to my torso.
But I dearly missed cycling.
So, I bought a turbo trainer (Cyclops Magneto), and started following a Time Trial DVD.
And we are now up to date.
I’m fit, healthy, and need a goal in life to aim for and shape my training schedule.
Duathlon?
Triathlon?
Sportif?
Return of The Cookster
After a period of several years of not having a blog, I have decided to create a new one. I used to have a blog named bigfootcookie.blogspot.com, but I gave up updating it as it became a chore, and Facebook started to take over. Now however, I have decided that a new blog is required, so that I can keep a daily diary of my efforts. I could write a paper one, but as I am an IT proessional (ahem!), I like the enviromemental friendly version of the blogsphere, and also I can type a dam sight tidier that I can write. Since I left my old blog orphaned and drifting in virtual space, it looks as though the blog tools now available have been changed and upgraded, so it may take me a while to figure it all out. So there we are, my first new blog posting. I intend to make my next post about my fitness and life training history, and why I have come to need a life goal of completing a Triathlon.
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