Keeping fit on a narrowboat

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 minute ago, doratheexplorer said:

The standard answer of going boating doesn't really cut it.  If it did, then so many boaters wouldn't be so fat.  It's better exercise than sitting on your arse, but unless you're going to single hand 30 locks every day, then it doesn't really stack up. 

Canal side pubs can be blamed for a lot of that!

[doratheexplorer]

1 minute ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Canal side pubs can be blamed for a lot of that!

As I already mentioned.

[system 4-50]

There is about 3 tons of ballast in the bottom of my boat.  Any time I feel the need for a bit of exercise, I move half a ton from one end of the boat to the other, using mostly the 56lb weights of which I have about 20.  However, this hasn't happened yet.  I will just have to remember to move the same half-ton back again on the next instance or the boat will feel odd. 

[Mike Hurley]

9 hours ago, Mad Harold said:

 

Hope I am not being too cheeky,but I'm sure you know the only other excercise a gentleman should take.?

 

5 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

 since the gentle rocking movement of the boat means that you have to compensate to balance and that works your core better.

 

A joke about single handers is in there somewhere....................

[Alan de Enfield]

21 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

 

A joke about single handers is in there somewhere....................

 

But you should change hands at 99 !

[Mike Hurley]

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

But you should change hands at 99 !

Tried that, the flake went on the floor and got ice cream everywhere.

[NB Esk]

I have a folding treadmill on board, use it once or twice daily.  I don’t jog on it, just walk briskly with the aim of raising the heartbeat.  I also use a WII game and do maybe half a dozen of those excercises every morning.  The excercise I’d most like to do, I can’t.  I live in Wakefield and she lives in Doncaster.

 

 

[doratheexplorer]

2 hours ago, NB Esk said:

I have a folding treadmill on board, use it once or twice daily.  I don’t jog on it, just walk briskly with the aim of raising the heartbeat.  I also use a WII game and do maybe half a dozen of those excercises every morning.  The excercise I’d most like to do, I can’t.  I live in Wakefield and she lives in Doncaster.

 

 

Genuine question:  why not just go for a walk? the views are better.

11 hours ago, Mike Hurley said:

 

A joke about single handers is in there somewhere....................

If the boat's a'rockin'....

 

...come in and join the yoga session?

[blackrose]

On 26/01/2021 at 13:28, Simon Todd said:

I fully appreciate the locks are a form of keeping fit but on those non cruising days I’ll need to work out. Running as you’ve all acknowledged is easy but room for weight training, yoga, stretching or calisthenics is certainly tricky. 

 

That depends on your boat. I have a folding workout bench and weights, a folding situp & back extension bench and this maxiclimber. It wouldn't work for tall people. It's quite good aerobic exercise. I do 25 mins while watching TV.

 

 

[blackrose]

On 26/01/2021 at 17:16, doratheexplorer said:

The standard answer of going boating doesn't really cut it.  If it did, then so many boaters wouldn't be so fat.  It's better exercise than sitting on your arse, but unless you're going to single hand 30 locks every day, then it doesn't really stack up. 

 

You're quite right. There's no real exercise in boating unless you're doing a lot of locks by yourself. Likewise carrying the odd bag of coal or gas bottle every few months is going to do nothing for your cardio or strength training. Load a tonne of coal from a pallet onto your roof in one go like I did last autumn, that's a different story.

[roland elsdon]

Join a gym next door to work. Worked for us back in the 2000s when we were living on 1  boat full time. Before then we had turbo trainers set up under the cloths of the motor, and lived on the butty.  Unfortunately in those days they were not capable of charging batteries.

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Before then we had turbo trainers set up under the cloths of the motor, and lived on the butty.  Unfortunately in those days they were not capable of charging batteries

 

 

 

I think they were, you just didn't want to use one !

 

[blackrose]

9 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

Join a gym next door to work. Worked for us back in the 2000s when we were living on 1  boat full time. Before then we had turbo trainers set up under the cloths of the motor, and lived on the butty.  Unfortunately in those days they were not capable of charging batteries.

 

In those days gyms were open.