I've not been keeping fit over the last decade, and my fitness is worse now than it's ever been. I used to be a bit of a sport billy up until I reached my 20's, and loved boxing and hiking especially. Then I discovered beer and cigarettes, and this became my new hobby. I used to do manual labour and that helped keep me fit. That was until I became a desk jockey, so my fitness regime was going upstairs to bed and getting a cuppa for a good few years.

 

Last year I decided to try and become more active, so the space-hopper gut wouldn't become uncontrollable. I decided to start hiking again, as it's a gentler way to work myself back into activity. The trouble is though, that I'm very competitive, and am always setting myself targets. So the hiking soon turned into a personal challenge for me. I ended up organising a 20 mile hike, in aid of charity. I only had a couple of months to dust off the cobwebs, and try and get active again. 20 miles may not sound a lot, but when you're knackered after walking to town and back from your house (about 15 minutes each way), 20 miles seems like to infinity and beyond!

 

I done the walk OK in the end, apart from some bad blisters due to crap walking boots, which I had to deal with for 6 miles. I ached for a day or two after but it was all good really. Now though, I've decided to up the ante and go for a bigger challenge, and I'm bricking it just thinking about it to be honest! I'm going to be walking 75-100 miles, over 4-5 days, with a daily distance of around 18 miles to cover. I'll be camping out en route, so I'll be carrying a fair weight. Again the walk is for charity, so it's worth it for me, and the training I'll have to put in will help me get a bit fitter too.

 

As with the first walk I done last year, I'm going to have to graft to get to the level of fitness required, and I feel I may have been too ambitious, but I love a good challenge! I've also made a few New Year's resolutions to help, one is to stop smoking, and the other is to try and dodge the curry nights with my mukkas, as that's another thing that's helping the old space-hopper too.

I did a 25 mile walk to raise money for our end of year show while at Uni. My legs sezied up afterwards and went all hard and crampy. Not nice!

 

I'm very unfit at the moment. I don't carry a lot of weight on my body but not much muscle either. I don't think I want to do loads of running etc as I'd end up all gangley and stick thin. Think I definitely need some weight training too. Done a fair bit before but was difficult to keep on top of.

 

Good luck with your walk! Sounds pretty tough tbh.

I'm thinking of quitting the ciggies too. I've lost about 3 stone this year, I started a martial art, so I'm down from fatty fatty boom boom to fatty boom. Good luck with your walking efforts!

I did a 25 mile walk to raise money for our end of year show while at Uni. My legs sezied up afterwards and went all hard and crampy. Not nice!

 

I'm very unfit at the moment. I don't carry a lot of weight on my body but not much muscle either. I don't think I want to do loads of running etc as I'd end up all gangley and stick thin. Think I definitely need some weight training too. Done a fair bit before but was difficult to keep on top of.

 

Good luck with your walk! Sounds pretty tough tbh.

 

Thanks, I reckon it's going to be a job and a half, but that's half the fun (so they say anyways). I can sympathise with you on the after effects of long distance walking. My legs were definitely bandy after my first one! I even managed to get a big blister on my back from the day sack I was carrying, and it had rubbed me sore. I'm going much better prepared this time round though.

 

I'm thinking of quitting the ciggies too. I've lost about 3 stone this year, I started a martial art, so I'm down from fatty fatty boom boom to fatty boom. Good luck with your walking efforts!

 

Thanks, and good luck if you do decide to stop smoking. Nice one on the weight loss, 3st is a decent amount to shed, I'd be happy with that myself.

Sounds great man. I'm one of those people that needs to do epic things in order to enjoy exercise. A simple run in the morning or a trip to the gym would bore me rigid and i'd end up more un-healthy than when i started.

 

I'm planning a 300 mile cycle in Spring with a few mates across the highlands (where i live) so i better start getting in to some sort of training for that! Chances are i wont though and i'll have a few 5 mile cycles the week before hahaha

I know what you mean. I don't enjoy keeping fit, unless there's some sort of challenge to it. I'm not an adrenaline junkie, but I think if you're going to do something physical, then you should try and push your own limits. Otherwise, it just becomes a chore. This walk I'm doing is the first in a series of walks I'm going to be planning over the next few years. I'm going to do the coast to coast (Southport to Hornsea @ 215 miles) walk in 2013, and for 2014 I'm going to have to come up with something more challenging (maybe doing the 6 peaks challenge or similar). In 4-5 years I'm looking at completing a John O' Groats - Land's End walk. I really need to massively improve my endurance and fitness for that one though. I reckon it'll be hard to stay motivated for the long term plans, but if I don't do it now, I'll probably never do it.

 

Good luck with the cycle ride, it's sounds cool! What sort of distance would you expect to be covering in a day?

 

 

 

...and for 2014 I'm going to have to come up with something more challenging (maybe doing the 6 peaks challenge or similar).

 

One of my mates just done this and he said it was awesome (apart from pulling a ligament in his ankle and being unable to complete Ben Nevis.

 

In 4-5 years I'm looking at completing a John O' Groats - Land's End walk. I really need to massively improve my endurance and fitness for that one though.

 

Another one i'd like to do. Being able to watch as the landscape changes day by day would be awesome.

 

Good luck with the cycle ride, it's sounds cool! What sort of distance would you expect to be covering in a day?

 

Haven't got a clue yet. Just got a bike, a tent and an open ended schedule.