Anybody do workout while brewing?

[BikerMatt]

There's no getting around it, I'm getting fat. Sitting in the truck all day doesn't really help it either, add love for beer and bam, forget a sixpack I got the whole barrel

I don't have much free time nowadays and when I'm brewing there's two hours to kill without much to do (gas burner inside the garage, I won't leave it off my sight) so figured out if I'd start exercising while mashing and boiling. Nothing major just a pair of dumbbells to do biceps, a brromstick to ooen up those shoulders, some situps against the motorbike lifter etc. The problem is I don't know the first thing about weightlifting and don't want to hurt myself so I guess the first question would be what kind of weights to start with? I suppose 5kg would be enough for now? Not looking to get ripped really but I must confess I would like to have enough "guns" that people would notice. And also i want to get rid of this hemisferic orb where my abs should be. Already cutting ot junkfood and candy but I suppose it won't be enough if I don't burn the flabby stuff off.

Also will be starting to MTB again as soon as the trails behind our house thaw out.

Thoughts and tips welcome.

 

[Rockn_M]

I have a pair of the Bowflex adjustable dumbbell and really like them. They go from a few pounds up to 55 lbs.

 

[thunderwagn]

These days I work mostly on cardio, fat burning, etc. I do things to really get my heart rate up and down. I've got a "spin" type bike that I can (and have) ride easily while brewing. If properly done, you can get a full cardio/aerobic workout in about 20 minutes. Also have a treadmill that works about the same for a cardio/aerobic workout. I've got some iron dumb bells for curls and whatnot. I also use them when going up and down our basement stairs.
Workouts need not be elaborate or expensive. Key is to get moving imo.

 

[max384]

I've always been into fitness, and have a full gym in my basement, so this does give me an unfair advantage in this situation. However, the general premise is the same.

Usually I don't work out during brewing, but I have a few times when I know I'll be pinched for time later to do it. I'll only do it during the mash, since that's just down time anyhow. I'll mash in, go down and hit the weights, stop back up to stir once or twice, and finish up around 45 minutes later. This gives me enough time to get the sparge water heated up. I won't leave a burner unattended for long, so the mash is my only time.

If you've got weights in your garage, though, you could do it any time!

 

[Soulshine2]

There's no getting around it, I'm getting fat. Sitting in the truck all day doesn't really help it either, add love for beer and bam, forget a sixpack I got the whole barrel

I don't have much free time nowadays and when I'm brewing there's two hours to kill without much to do (gas burner inside the garage, I won't leave it off my sight) so figured out if I'd start exercising while mashing and boiling. Nothing major just a pair of dumbbells to do biceps, a brromstick to ooen up those shoulders, some situps against the motorbike lifter etc. The problem is I don't know the first thing about weightlifting and don't want to hurt myself so I guess the first question would be what kind of weights to start with? I suppose 5kg would be enough for now? Not looking to get ripped really but I must confess I would like to have enough "guns" that people would notice. And also i want to get rid of this hemisferic orb where my abs should be. Already cutting ot junkfood and candy but I suppose it won't be enough if I don't burn the flabby stuff off.

Also will be starting to MTB again as soon as the trails behind our house thaw out.

Thoughts and tips welcome.

If you want to cut your gut you already have all the weights you need, your own body.
Planks- do them . do them as long as possible for as many times as possible. front conventional planks (rigid push-up position on your elbows, just hold it ), side planks , back planks. one armed, one legged. Planks build your core, everything else will follow.
DO NOT do sit-ups . I am great friends with my chiropractor ,he hunts, rides an Indian Motorcycle, practices organic health, and he lifts. Been going to him since I was in my 20's . One thing he has told me is never do a sit-up. In fact he says never do a stomach exercise that requires you to hook your feet. Puts too much pressure on the tail bone , stresses a muscle group on the front side of your spine that will eventually cause back trouble. Additionally , once you get past a certain position (shoulders more than 3 inches off the floor) it doesn't even work stomach muscle anymore, it works leg muscle and theres better exercises for that.

 

[Randar]

Eat healthier, eat less, exercise... Make exercise part of your daily routine. Yep, I said it. Daily. Habits are harder to break, so make exercise a habit. Most people need a schedule and something to keep them accountable.

And honestly, if you don't know what you're doing, really in terms of weights or lifting, get yourself a gym membership and work with a trainer. If that's not feasible, get the p90x/p90x2/p90x3 videos and schedule and get to work. They show you everything you need to know and some of the programs like p90x3 are more compact and use less equipment.

 

[passedpawn]

I used to run during the mash. Running will definitely keep you thin if you do it every day. I was a running addict for many years until I hurt my back. I bike now, but it's not the same. Waah.

 

[Pyg]

Eat healthier, eat less, exercise... Make exercise part of your daily routine. Yep, I said it. Daily. Habits are harder to break, so make exercise a habit. Most people need a schedule and something to keep them accountable.

And honestly, if you don't know what you're doing, really in terms of weights or lifting, get yourself a gym membership and work with a trainer. If that's not feasible, get the p90x/p90x2/p90x3 videos and schedule and get to work. They show you everything you need to know and some of the programs like p90x3 are more compact and use less equipment.

As someone whose beer ball is quickly becoming a keg, I have tried to formulate good habits.
It is really tough to admit that life, work etc gets in the way of any habits.
So to combat this I have done the following
60 sec Plank before shower
8# weight in front of dresser (I pick them up for some light curls & weighted punches)
I keep 2 25# dumb bells in front of the washing machine, pick up every time I do laundry (every other day).
I also try to take the stairs at work, of course this only applies when my gamey knee will cooperate.
walk all the time, always moving.

I don't know that any of this make me look better, but it makes me feel better than I look.
Best of luck!

 

[V-Fib]

If you want to max you fat burn, strengthening and time it might be worth it to youtube some kettlebell workout videos. There are loads of exercises that work out multiple muscle groups at one time and you can get cardio to depending on how you do it.

 

[Kharnynb]

I have similar problems, and the fact that finnish food is rather starchy doesn't help at all, now does it matt?

I do cycle to work every day and the dog helps with walking .

 

[jddevinn]

If I am brewing on a morning or immediately after work (times I normally work out) I will work out during mash/sparge normally I'm out working on kegging or other things during the boil portion.

 

[BikerMatt]

Bought a broomstick today to spin them shoulders around, my wife has 2kg weights though I doubt they do much. Have birthday coming at the end of the month, probly gonna wish for a dumbbell set if asked. Or just go buy one.

Sound advice everyone, really appreciate it!

Can't really run, busted knees, gotta be careful with my wrists, RSI damage on both from doing removals younger. Makes excercising somewhat challenging. Oh and I have this nasty sickness too called sloth.

 

[TopherM]

I do several extended sets of 12oz curls.

 

[thunderwagn]

Busted up knees suck! Indoor bike has been great for me. Doesn't put much on the knees and really keeps me going.

 

[Homercidal]

Oh, man, sucks to be you!

I started exercising a lot more due to the doctor showing me some cholesterol numbers and once again threatening to put me on meds for it. I decided to get off the diet I was on (Pretty much eat whatever I wanted) and start on something like the Mediterranean diet with less fat, low sugar and carbs, and more veggies and fruit. (except I don't really like fruit.)

I added walking every day (Thanks, Pokemon go!), and then riding my exercise bike and joining the local gym for some weight machine time and jogging/walking (I hate jogging).

In 6 months I lost about 15 lbs. and dropped 30 points off my total cholesterol. And this wasn't "hardcore" workout either, just a 30-45 minute bike ride and 10-15 minutes pushing some weights for shoulder/arm strength, plus walking about a mile at lunch every day.

I really think the key was eating LESS, and eating less calories. I cut red meat pretty much out of my diet and went with chicken, usually with vegetables, I started using olive oil instead as much butter (But let's face it, you gotta have a little butter now and then.), and burning calories. I wasn't that heavy to begin with. 5' 10" and about 185 lbs. to start. But I could tell I was not as fit. After a couple of weeks of going to the gym I can say I'm a lot closer to where I used to be as far as what I can do before feeling tired and out of breath.

I can't say I've stuck with the program this past week. I probably won't get a workout in today because I have to go right after work to pick up some KBS and then I have a homebrew club meeting later. But I will make up for it tomorrow with about 1.5 hours of workout time. As long as I go every couple of days the benefits are still pretty good.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Can't really run, busted knees, gotta be careful with my wrists, RSI damage on both from doing removals younger. Makes excercising somewhat challenging. Oh and I have this nasty sickness too called sloth.

Yeah, running is hard on the body. I try to avoid it not because of bad knees, but because I'm 250# (at 6'5") and that's just a lot of weight to put on knees which would probably destroy them pretty quickly.

But I agree with others that you need *some* level of cardio/fat-burning, not just muscle exercise.

The key is to find things that avoid high impact. Stairmaster, elliptical, or stationary bike. Granted, it'll cost some money to have one of those in your garage, but it might be more than worth it.

I think the stairmaster is probably the best for getting a lot of workout in a short time period. I hike and there are a lot of hill climbs, so I've been doing the stairmaster at the gym to help build those muscles while improving my cardio. I find you can get the heart pumping on the stairmaster MUCH more quickly than on the elliptical or bike.

 

[BikerMatt]

I live in a town that sits on a narrow strip of land between to big lakes, that is quite literally split in two by a narrow ridge longitudinally. When you look out from our back door you can see the ground rise up damn near vertically about 100m from our house with a jogging trail going at the bottom of the hill. Once the snow melts I will be continuing to mountain bike. From our house it's more or less downhill to the town center, then to the waterfront, a narrow trail along the side of the canal to the other lake, through the beach to the other end where the first rise awaits. A hill so steep I can just barely pedal up it, then a long rising part onto the top of the ridge, down the other side with high speed, off the tarmac onto a trail again, there is a hill I've yet to conquer. Not because I'm out of strength but simply because it is so steep I ALWAYS either lose traction or wheelie over, onto the top of the ridge again, stunning views onto two lakes in the evening sun I gotta dig up some pics for you, then another high speed descent along the jogging trail, the soft sawdust totally kills my legs there, last squeeze along the trail and bam I'm right back into our bagk yard. Best I've managed it is 48mins with an average of around 55. When I get back I'm panting as hard as I physically can and usually just lay on the grass until I can see again. About a month of winter left before I start. Speaking of, going to have to swap over the handlebar before that as it is too straight for my wrists.

 

[BikerMatt]

Toyed around with the broomstick yesterday, found muscle groups I didn't even know of let alone that they were stiff as rebar. Surprisingly a lot of them on the chest side, but my whole neck is so sore right now it's getting hard to just be. Really gotta get a pump on and stretch out today with vigor. My father in law will borrow me an adjustable dumbbell set so I don't have to buy one, at least for now.

Probly a good idea to lay off beer this weekend and concentrate on getting this sack of meat of mine into some sort of order.

 

[Homercidal]

I found that riding a bike is different from walking as far as muscles used. With biking it's mostly the front of my legs that gets the workout. With walking, it's the backs. The gym I go to also has a nice rowing machine. I mix and match to avoid getting burned out on one thing. The bike is nice for watching stuff on my phone while working out.

I'm due for a full workout tonight. Blah. I'm thinking a bit of shoulder/arm strength, and then row for 100-200 calories, and then a nice bike ride for another couple hundred. With the rowing machine it claims about 100 calories for about 10 minutes. I don't recall what the bike does; I usually got for 30-45 minutes on that.

 

[thunderwagn]

I found that riding a bike is different from walking as far as muscles used. With biking it's mostly the front of my legs that gets the workout. With walking, it's the backs. The gym I go to also has a nice rowing machine. I mix and match to avoid getting burned out on one thing. The bike is nice for watching stuff on my phone while working out.

I'm due for a full workout tonight. Blah. I'm thinking a bit of shoulder/arm strength, and then row for 100-200 calories, and then a nice bike ride for another couple hundred. With the rowing machine it claims about 100 calories for about 10 minutes. I don't recall what the bike does; I usually got for 30-45 minutes on that.

Just curious if you wear a heart rate monitor? I've found it a great, helpful tool.

 

[Homercidal]

Just curious if you wear a heart rate monitor? I've found it a great, helpful tool.

The machines at the gym have monitors. I do sometimes during the ride/walk but my bike at home has a broken monitor. At the gym I sometimes ride with my arms up to stretch or whatever, so I don't watch it constantly, but if I feel I'm slowing down I do try to get the rate back up there. I try to get it up above 125 and hopefully about 140-150.

Exercise sucks though. I don't ever go "Oh, MAN, I need to make myself hurt and sweat!" But once I get there and get started it's fine.

I never go without a little snack. Nothing worse than sitting for 45 minutes dreaming about dinner and having little energy.