Hello everyone and here I am again, after one heck of a week !
If work-outs are the thing we should be doing, well, since last Wednesday, I have done a lot; most of it, not even remotely connected with running, walking, cycling or anything else!
Furniture moving , (heavy oak furniture), lifting, loading, bending , stretching holding and fixing! Exercise in your daily activities? My post from way back took on a while new meaning!
But what I hear you say, has this got to do with exercising? Everything.
Because, when finally everything was in place, I started to think.
Throughout all of the activities , that I have been involved in over the last week, one of the things that was of paramount importance to us...was... food! Nutrition , hydration... fuel. Keeping ourselves going!
I am,, as some of you know, still building back to full strength and one aspect of that, is trying to increase my weight and the improvement of muscle tone. It is essential for me, that I am mindful of what I put into my body to help with this. So...this led me to think about my chosen exercise and that of other friends here. The importance of what we fuel our body with, when we are putting the wonderful machine that is our body, through the rigours of exercise.
This led to a few questions, which, certainly on running forums, we get all the time...
What to eat... and the big one...Should we exercise before or after a meal?
Think, can of worms... ! I started researching this and my goodness.... what an enormous amount of information is out there!
The next question that followed those first two? Does the timing, of what we eat and drink, affect our health?
Okay, why do we think that this is important... well, for many folk, it seems, it may not just be about performance, but more to do with the burning of fat and weight loss!
The whole thing is very scientific and fairly complicated and complicated more, by the fact that we are all so very, very different.
One thing that became evident. is that when we eat or do not eat, is about a whole lot more than losing weight .
Rather than go through all the facts that I found, I am going to pop a link here to the excellent video link, and transcript, put out by the ZOE foundation, which many, many of you are aware of, from the Pandemic years and beyond. I and many friends on these forums, began recording with them during the pandemic and still do... but the amount of information which they continue to share, about so many other things is incredibly interesting and useful.
zoe.com/learn/podcast-food-...
Please, if you can find the time, do take a look or have a listen.
Moving on now to you... and me!
What about us?
I have my routines and my own rules before exercise, and before my running.
For my normal runs, or home exercise routines, which I nearly always do before 8.a.m. My morning cuppa and two digestive biscuits... is what I have about an hour before... laving the house with just a sip of water . Breakfast, waits until I return...
Running from home, up to an hour or so, I would never change that. If I was running later, or in a race, I would have something more appropriate, as long as it was two hours before. T'ai Chi day, is always a big bowl of cereal with added flax seed and fruit, about an hour and a half before the class begins.
My after exercise breakfasts, are varied, anything from smashed avocado on toast, oatcakes and cheese, to any egg type breakfast, a real treat is smoked salmon and scrambled egg and on my long Sunday run day, home made pancakes with honey and bananas!
But that is me and my routines. What is right for me, may not be for you.
Our amazing MissUnderstanding was going to put a post on C25K about breakfast, before or after runs, .. the London Marathon post, ( go take a look at that), took precedence on that post ; so I am adding this in here which goes on step further maybe:?
zoe.com/learn/eating-after-...
Interesting reading!
I did get a lovely mantra from one site I visited, in line with my three As... these ones are relating to the fuel we put in, in order to get the performance out...because our wonderful unique machine of a body really does need the correct fuel !
Here are the Three Rs:
Refuel, rehydrate, and repair..... 
So, your turn now.. what are your thoughts; and what do you do before or after exercise.
We would love to hear your thoughts and get an insight whether you are a before-er or after-er!
Looking forward to see who drops in !
Oldfloss x
Plankety Plankathon- do it here, do it there, do it everywhere...tips from Juju
A couple of strength workouts to do at home with minimal equipment 😊