Danswercise E3 Challenge! - Get Fit / Healthy / Slim

Danswers Episode 6: http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/danswers-06-fitness-with-danielle/1600-1178/
Chains Group #1: https://chains.cc/groups/ks62lW5mTSzJUVL
Chains Group #2: https://chains.cc/groups/QbrdOOQN2dv82Eh

Hey sexy video game players,

If you listened to this week's episode of Danswers, you'll know that we rather randomly began the Danswercise E3 Challenge. A group effort for gamers around the world to exercise every day before E3 2015. So what is it?

E3 begins on June 16th this year, a good 70 or so days away. So we're challenging ourselves and the Giant Bomb community to exercise every day between then and now. A run, a cycle, a swim, a box, maybe just a walk. If you need rest days for your training - they count, that's cool too. Can't exercise one day because of life commitments? Just make it up the next day.

This is for everyone who wants an excuse to get fit or lose weight before the summer. So join forces with your fellow duders, post about your experiences, send them to askdanswers@gmail.com and join our chains.cc group to keep your chain going all the way to the Electronic Triple.

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HOW DOES CHAINS.CC WORK?
- Register on the site: chains.cc
- Create a chain (call it whatever you like)
- Tick the first day (I think this is the only way you can add to a group)
- Join the group here: : https://chains.cc/groups/QbrdOOQN2dv82Eh (group 2)
- Add your chain.
- You don’t need the app - you can do it all on the site!

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Then get running, cycling, boxing, swimming or whatevering your way to fitness the rest of us.

Good luck, stay healthy & two months from now you'll feel like a better version of your awesome self.

I'VE DANSWERED YOUR CALL.

my goal is to shave off 15 lbs. of extra weight, and then add a bit of lean mass.

as long as no one makes any fleetwood mac references, THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN FAIL.

Man I so wish I could hit the ground running with this right now, but unfortunately I'm still at the recovery stage of a medical issue I've had for the last few days. Hopefully by next week I will be fresh and ready to go. Good luck to all you duders participating in this!

I walk 5 miles a day just to get to and from work so I'm covered.

@mellotronrules said:

Good luck mate, that's a great goal. Think I might go for the same thing!

What the Hell. I'm already trying to lose weight anyway. Maybe being accountable to this too will help on those days its hard to get the will.

@dannyodwyer said:

I applaud your commitment. Effort equals results, and thunder only happens when it's raining.

GAH! I QUIT. BESIDES, EVERYONE KNOWS THE IRISH VERSION WAS SUPERIOR.

edit: to get back on-topic- does anyone use myfitnesspal or fitocracy? i've always wanted to use some of the social features of those apps but never had the chance.

If you're looking for something to do at home, Youtube has an incredible amount of exercise stuff. Lately, I've been doing a Polish lady's stuff (Ewa Chodakowska) for cardio and you probably can get by not understanding what she's talking about. Fitness Blender has hundreds of exercises, various times and intensities so you can fit it in. Or hell, just get into DDP Yoga because it's a nice, easy way to get into the habit of working out regularly.

You don't need to go to the gym to be healthy and fit!

day 1 in the bag!

The fact that Dan seemed healthier than me despite also apparently eating terribly and drinking a hell of a lot more motivated me to start working out again in February, and I've already lost 25lbs, so I'm looking forward to being even more consistent and following along with this podcast. For reference, I'm 6'1", started 2015 at 260 or so, and I'm down around 235 right now. Fortunately, I'm a pretty broad dude, so it was never super obvious to people around me that I was really out of shape (although this also helped me put health on the backburner until Dan's lifestyle and a break-up spurred me on).

One thing I've found very helpful was joining a 24/7 gym ($15/month here), so that I can work out at night and quickly cycle through weights without having to wait. Realistically though, eating less is pretty key. I love to cook, but even if you're eating a ton of homecooked stuff it's easy to just pack it in when living alone. I eventually found packs of small tupperware containers ($2-4 for a pack of 8 or so), and make a large meal every Sunday. Bean-heavy chilis or Indian /Japanese curries are my go to since you can pack them with veggies and supplement rice if you want as well. I'll pack that away for 4-5 days of lunch and dinner for the week (Japanese curry example). You can also get frozen precooked chicken chunks and just toss them into any of these. For breakfast I'll eat a banana or maybe some yogurt with some espresso. I also drink 4-6 cups of tea a day (mostly variations on green tea), and I'll throw some chia seeds into a few of those as well. I realize some people might not be able to handle eating the same thing 8-10 meals in a row, but I find that it's not hard to make something tasty enough to enjoy for a few days. If there's interest I can type up some actual recipes.

Super long post aside, I think this is a great idea, and it got my ass in the gym tonight.

Also, If anyone lives in Eastern Tennessee, hit me up. I hike every Sunday (normally in the Smokies, and ~10-15 miles), and have somehow developed a habit of bringing random internet people along with me.

Much like Homer and the Stonecutters, where if he broke the sacred oath they'd force feed him and remove all his hair, I think Danielle should have to take a different oath. She's already got a chain that has been unbroken since 1997! That's just not fair. I was like 7 years old!

edit: Also, I did my first exercise today running around Manhattan for work while listening to Danswers. I had a heavy backpack. I think that counts.

Fuck it! I'm in!

Woooo!

I really need to figure out why my toes are bleeding.

Wait.

This chains website seems to be about exercising and not masturbating.

Are we allowed to masturbate before E3?

Sure what the hell. Cranked out a 50 minute run yesterday and feeling sore as hell, but hearing that Danielle exercised through fucking norovirus makes me feel like a wimp.

I've been doing crossfit for about 3 years now, so I'm fully expecting to basically look like Seth Rollins pretty soon. Just need to gain 40lbs more muscle mass.

Anyway, good luck all. Just know that once you start seeing improvements, it becomes addicting in the best way possible.

A couple of years ago I did a 30 Dance Central challenge(30 mins a day for 30 days. I added 10 minutes every week and did 70 on the last 2 days) and had a blast doing that. So I'm going to give it another go, with a 60 minute setlist a day. Now to get a replacement battery for my scale!

I never had a problem working out. Its my diet that's horrendous/awesome. But sure, I will join. I will give it my all workout wise and with my eating habits until E3 and hopefully beyond.

@mellotronrules: Hit me up on Fitocracy, username is saige. Let me know you're from GB so I don't just ignore you like all the other random adds :P

I've been maintaining a hour of exercise each day for a while now so I'll have no issues with this challenge. Exercising each day really gives you plenty of benefits if you just keep at it. Lets keep this chain going all the way to E3!

It seems the Danswercise chains.cc group is already more than 2x the size of the next largest group.

Ok i want to join up but got a question. I tore a tissue in my knee a year back while playing squash. My doctor had me stop all exercise. He's okayed me to exercise but no stressful ones. So no squash, no running on a treadmill etc. Does anyone have any recommendations? Swimming was recommended but the times don't match up with work at my local community center.

@mtfikhan: Ha, I was gonna go straight to swimming, as it was recommended for me after I completely blew out my knee around 6-7 years ago, had microfracture surgery (among other things), and couldn't run without pain for years. Stationary bike is probably the other major low-impact cardio available to you (and maybe elliptical, but I don't know exactly where it falls in terms of knee impact as I've never been a fan). Yoga is the other thing that immediately comes to mind. As long as you start small and stick with it, it should strengthen everything else and have you feeling better about your knee situation over time. Resistance training with bands could also help you strengthen your legs. One major thing to watch out for is pushing anything too hard and over-relying on the healthy knee. I was a dumb college kid at the time, and tried to come back to sports too quickly. I ended up hurting my non-injured knee in the process.

I guess it depends on your age and if you had surgery, but I'm kind of surprised you were just handed a directive to stop all exercise with knee impacts. Even with surgeries and knowing it would take me years to truly get "back", the doctor made it clear I could/might regain a lot of functionality.

Of course, I'm not a doctor, all my personal opinions/anecdotes, etc.

@cwal37: I'm 25. Yeah I want to go back playing squash because it was just the most fun i had excercising. The entire problem is that its minor, so they aren't recommending surgery.

@cwal37: Also i should point out. I'm not a great swimmer. Definitely need the board while swimming to even do a length.

@saige_@mellotronrules: I'm on both myfitnesspal and fitocracy, my username is Krevee on both, same as here. I haven't used fitocracy for a while, but I could get back into it.

Man, I'll probably have to join in. I'm getting back into running this year and this would probably help me stay on course.

One thing mentioned in the podcast was exercising while playing games, which sounds like a great idea. I've got downstairs neighbors at my apartment though and I don't want to be a bother to them.

I was thinking about maybe looking into one of those little stair stepper things. Has anyone used one before or does anyone have any recommendations?

I'm 225 right now, by summer I plan on being 210, I've started cutting within the last week, planning on losing 1.5 to 2 pounds a week.

Worst thing about dieting other than losing out on some tasty ass food is losing power in the gym, it really sucks.

Stupid question but how do I actually join a chain?

Edit: Nevermind. I figured it out.

Need something like this to inspire me to start working out. My goal is to wake up a hour or so earlier than normal and work out/go for a walk before work. Trying to kill the "I need to exercise more" goal and the "change my sleep cycle to something other than go to bed a 2am and wake up at 10am because holy crap" goal in one go.

This is great, I have had a busy and sometimes stressful winter cut into my exercise time a lot over the last 3 months. Now that things are lining up again and life is quieting down a little; now with spring on the way time to get back outside and exercise. I mostly run, O.K. jogging maybe a more fair description along the river it's nice to be outside and it's free. Does anyone use Runkeeper? Anyways need to get home download the episode and join this chain thing.

http://runkeeper.com/user/tomkseongnam/profile

I've lost a lot of my conditioning since getting my full-time job and have gotten kinda lazy.. I'm making excuses on my days off as well.. No video games until I get my exercise for the day out of the way.

Already purchased new running and basketball shoes today! Let's do this duders!

My goal is to exercise every day. I gotta start committing.

Ok. I'll give this a shot. I've been half assed sick for the past weeks so I'm dying to get some exercise and some energy again.

Let's do this.

strange, they don't have an android app...well, i guess i'll just do it with my mind.

Well, day 2 out of the way (day one as a short walk as I was nursing a sore muscle in my back)...and holy cow I'm in worst shape than I thought. Did an hour long Richard Simmons routine (don't judge me :p) and I swear it was a lot easier when I last did it...uh...like a year ago.

I've been running about a week - after months of not running at all - and my legs have started to wake up again. Long distances without stopping are getting much easier. The one thing I need to get better at is eating properly in the hours before I run as I keep losing energy half way around. It's funny how your forget these things.

@dannyodwyer: I've always had problems with this. If I don't eat before running I get tired fast, but if I do eat before I'm guaranteed to get stomach cramps. How long do you normally wait after eating before running? Any foods you would recommend?

@mtfikhan: Ah, yeah. Sometimes it can be really weird to be stuck in-between. Sports were a major part of my life, and I was on my parents' health insurance at the time, so I just told them to put me out and do everything they could. I guess if you have no long-term recovery hope it's kind of do nothing the rest of your life, or do stuff, hurt it, and need surgery? That's a really crappy situation to be in. I'm only a year older than you btw, I was guessing you were much older haha. One thing to consider is that if you want to run around and play some sports, now's probably the time in your life to do it.

As for swimming, I was on swim team as a kid, so I'm fortunate enough to not have had an ability issue, although it did cause me to hate swimming a bit. I will say that if you can get yourself in the pool consistently you'll improve faster than you expect. Can't guarantee you'll enjoy it in the beginning though. Also, swimming is a tremendous workout for all over your body. It's not just cardio.

All right, I guess I'm on board. I really love it when the community comes together like this for something positive, so good luck everyone!

Yeah, same thing is happening for me. Last year I was running ~24-25 minute 5Ks and would basically finish my runs without being sore in any way. When I started outdoor running again a couple weeks back my legs were starting to give up a couple kilometers in and if I was able to finish 5Ks they would be in the 32-35 minute range. Yesterday was the first time my legs didn't hurt for the entire run.

On the barefoot shoes thing Danielle talked about on the podcast, I also highly recommend them. Unlike her, I do most of my runs in barefoot shoes as my legs seem to handle them better. But she is right, they do make you change how you run, and it is for the better. I switched back to using them (I had blamed them for an injury when I blew out my leg a few months back. It turns out that it wasn't caused by the shoes but me overdoing running before I was conditioned for it. It turns out if your body hurts while running you probably shouldn't ignore it. Also, going from barely running to doing 20K in 2 days is a bad idea) after listening to the podcast and my legs have felt so much better. Before that I had been using regular running shoes and was starting to do heel-toe again and was getting pain in my knees and hips. Now that I've done a couple runs in those shoes my technique is back to how it should be.

However, be prepared to get blisters if you start using barefoot shoes. Lots of blisters. There's no getting around it. You land on different parts of your feet and it often takes a bit to get used to it. I've used them for 2 years and I still got a whole bunch of blisters when I did my first run of the year in them. After a couple runs you should be fine but the first couple runs in them can be painful in that regard.

I'm glad my legs are doing better now. I was getting worried. I'm doing a half marathon at the end of May and I was barely able to run 3Ks for a couple months after I blew my leg out. Now it seems like I should be fine.

In regards to above - I can attest to the whole blisters thing but in my own experience it was very temporary.

I'm hoping to start this next week, I messed my hand/wrist up pretty good in January so I'm hoping to get the all clear from my physio on Tuesday so I can get back to the gym. I have tried running the past few weeks but I'm not a big cardio fan and unfortunately since injuring myself my diet has gone to hell, I'm going to miss eating all those sweets.

I will reach my true potential. Let the Danswercise begin.

Danswercise meetup possibly in the future? Led by none other than dan himself?

I'd be tempted to get on this, since I'm starting to diet & lose weight. Most of my current goals are diet-related though, and exercise is something I plan to gradually introduce and isn't something I'm planning on doing every day. Not for a while yet, anyway.

Yeah, usually just the first couple runs of the year. Once your feet are used to them again, you don't get any. I was more commenting about starting using barefoot shoes.

I did my first spring run nice to get outside I ran 6km along the river still 30sec slower than pace last summer. Anyways hope everyone else is doing well in their plans so far.