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How many calories burnt working a lock


Big John

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OK, I guess I'm not the only one who will be starting on a diet tomorrow. My question is, how many calories can I expect to lose working a lock on average?

 

Assume I arrive at the lock on foot and work the boat through, getting aboard again after the lock, while the better half stays on the boat.

 

Suggestions will be humorously received.

 

 

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Difficult one, John, because we don't know how you "work the boat through". I regularly go through your local locks, between Cropredy and Banbury, and, whereas some chaps will step over the gap between the closed bottom gate and the open one, I don't risk that and I walk round via the top gate. I suspect that in so doing I use more calories than a man who stepped over from one gate to another. Do you lift the paddles gently or whirl your windlass at full speed? Do you sit or stand while waiting for the lock to fill or empty? All these choices will, I am sure affect the number of calories that you use.

 

The most accurate guess is, "enough calories to necessitate replacement by beer".

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I don't know, but each lock at (say) Long Buckby, must surely be at least double for what it is for (say) Hillmorton.

 

Exceedingly variable, I would say!

 

The only locks I regularly do that I would say give a major workout are those on the Birmingham main line of the GU, where the 20 plus turns needed to raise each of the Ham Baker style paddles can leave me distinctly breathless these days! I always know when I've done Hatton!

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4 locks = one pint of beercheers.gif

That makes Hatton or Atherstone worth looking forward to (I know, and Farmers Bridge and all the others).

Actually, this narrowboating lark is quite healthy - Fresh air, burning off calories, inhaling Stoveglow ..................

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When, in a fit of enthusiasm, I started going to a gym, I was very disappointed to find that 20 minutes of hard exercise was equivalent to smelling a bar of chocolate across the room. I then worked out that one less roast potato was more beneficial than all that workout.

 

More seriously, If you are about 15 stone, then a vigorous walk is worth about 120 - 150 calories per mile.

 

Whilst vigorous exercise has a number of benefits, especially for the heart for example, there is no substitute to reducing calorie intake when it comes to weight control.

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limit your complex starchy carbohydrates later on in the day, coupled with lock operation as a form of exercise & bingo!

 

Too many people eat too much later on in the day / before sleeping if your a shift worker.

 

In a previous life I was a successful Personal Trainer but am now a complete hippocrite as I now drink & smoke. Having said this the mechanics & basic physical funtionality of the human body remain. Do not eat stodge before going to bed!

 

Happy New Year & may it be a vintage one

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The annoying issue is that the exercise calorie is only 1/1000th of the value of the nutritionists calorie.

 

The former is the energy required to raise one gram of water by 1 celsius whereas the latter is 1kg. Exercise does not really have a significant effect in burning up calories eaten - although exercise has other health benefits.

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The annoying issue is that the exercise calorie is only 1/1000th of the value of the nutritionists calorie.

 

The former is the energy required to raise one gram of water by 1 celsius whereas the latter is 1kg. Exercise does not really have a significant effect in burning up calories eaten - although exercise has other health benefits.

Whilst your definition is the proper one for the calorie, the more correctly called kilocalorie (i.e. 1000c) is also the one generally used when referring to calories burnt up by exercise. At one time they were differentiated by using 'C' to denote nutritional/exercise calories and 'c' to denote "proper" calories but now they are bothe known by the generic 'calorie'.

 

 

 

So Athy, not as bad as you feared.

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And, the amount of calories you may lose operating a lock, will also depend on the size of the pork pie you're eating whilst performing the task !

 

 

 

Will you be changing your CWDF name when you've lost the calories ? smile.png

Edited by phil5
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If you're working through Audlem for example and you just stroll about and take things leisurely then not much more than steering! If you're fast with the paddles and the gates and more importantly you run ahead to set the next lock then run back and so on then chances are you'll have earned that beer and Indian takeaway in Nantwich!

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