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Eat to exercise or exercise to eat: which describes you?
Replies
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I love swimming, running, cycling, SUPing, rollerblading, hiking, and many other activities. Some of those need to be intentionally fueled (eat to exercise). For example, I can't go on a 2 hour bike ride on an empty stomach!
I also definitely appreciate the extra calories from exercise, particularly to allow for at least a little beer. (exercise to drink
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The hard part is when you have to miss workouts for one reason or another. Ugh! When I complain to my wife that something she wants to do is going to interfere with my workout schedule, she thinks I'm a nut! She also doesn't like that I always want to go farther and/or faster than her, limiting our ability to exercise together. I guess everything has costs and benefits.1 -
Both, I love eating but I also need a minimum of 3200 calories to maintain my bodyweight. A combination of physical job + 5 days a week of weight training.2
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I enjoy weight training and trying to see just how far i can push my genetic limit.
unfortunately that currently means i'm on a basic see food diet, its fun for a short time
but constantly cramming down a minimum 5-6k calories every day becomes very tedious.
i much prefer fat loss phases as it forces me to become more creative in the kitchen.
I guess to answer the question i eat solely to reach exercise goals2 -
My boss loves to show me this video. We don't watch the whole thing because, you know, work but just the thought....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjneYS3LTfE 0 -
That's a tough question and think I'm both. I'm unable to lose/maintain my weight merely on diet alone, I'm quite active and do some sort of exercise everyday and it's the combination of both which helps me manage my weight.
I'm a trail runner and also do rebounding and strength and conditioning workouts on my 'non-run' days. I eat to fuel my body to help me recover from my exercise routine and to reduce the risk of injuries, but I also don't eliminate any food groups, so it's never the case that if I run a half marathon I've earned myself some treats.
In terms of food, I eat what I like in moderation from all foods groups and in terms of exercise, it really helps to keep me mentally healthy and it's good headspace for me.
So in a sense I 'eat to exercise' in that I try to get as much goodness out of the foods I eat so that I have the energy I need to continue to workout and I also 'exercise to eat' in that it gives me a clearer head and I make better food choices when I'm not stressed.2 -
I love exercise and I love eating plenty of good food so it's a virtuous circle.
Primarily I exercise because I enjoy my exercise and simply enjoy feeling fit and strong as a result of my exercise routine. It's a huge bonus that it makes my food allowance much bigger and means my needs match my wants so weight maintenance long term is pretty easy. Most of my adult life my wants exceeded my needs so I had to restrict myself to avoid weight gain.
In general I don't regard food just as fuel, it's very enjoyable and a social focus too. But on days like today (3hr+ brisk ride) some of my food and drink intake is definitely just fuel, I will eat and drink for sports performance and not pleasure before/during/after a long ride.
To answer the headline question, both I guess.
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I have such a love/hate relationship with exercise. I like it because of the extra calories (duh) and, because it's primarily walking, gets me out of my apartment. I hate it because it I have NEVER gotten injured so much since starting to exercise! Even in my own apartment. I also do a walking dvd and I had a case of water sitting on the floor and every time I passed it I was like, "I should move this" but I never did and ended up tripping and having to go to the emergency room with a broken finger...
And I now have a RBF and death glare because of drivers who don't care about pedestrians, or how I have to run into the street to get away from the dogs (that's mostly on me, tho, I'm not an animal person and I don't trust most dog walkers to keep them away from me).
But, hey....cookies! 2 -
I have such a love/hate relationship with exercise. I like it because of the extra calories (duh) and, because it's primarily walking, gets me out of my apartment. I hate it because it I have NEVER gotten injured so much since starting to exercise! Even in my own apartment. I also do a walking dvd and I had a case of water sitting on the floor and every time I passed it I was like, "I should move this" but I never did and ended up tripping and having to go to the emergency room with a broken finger... And I now have a RBF and death glare because of drivers who don't care about pedestrians, or how I have to run into the street to get away from the dogs (that's mostly on me, tho, I'm not an animal person and I don't trust most dog walkers to keep them away from me).
But, hey....cookies!
Oh god, this is fair. I've only had one 'serious' injury - sprained ankle - and even that wasn't exercise related, I just tripped over a root.
But I have more cuts, scrapes, scratches and bruises than I have had since I was about 12 years old and trying to learn to rollerskate.
I love my activity level and it is all just pain for me but holy crap maybe I was only being active with dogs because, clearly, if it's not a dog sport I'm going to fall down, fall over, or run into absolutely anything in my path.3 -
I exercise to eat, 100%. I've come to realize that in order to eat how I want to (or keep up with the 6'-tall man I married, food-wise, as a 5'3" woman and foodie), I need to move a lot more. If I want my CI to be X and my weight to be Y, my CO cannot be 0, the math simply doesn't work like that.
The fact that I've found exercise I enjoy doing is really just icing on the cake - that sure makes it easier to get my *kitten* out of bed at 6 AM every morning to work out. (Mmm, cake.)1 -
wunderkindking wrote: »I have such a love/hate relationship with exercise. I like it because of the extra calories (duh) and, because it's primarily walking, gets me out of my apartment. I hate it because it I have NEVER gotten injured so much since starting to exercise! Even in my own apartment. I also do a walking dvd and I had a case of water sitting on the floor and every time I passed it I was like, "I should move this" but I never did and ended up tripping and having to go to the emergency room with a broken finger... And I now have a RBF and death glare because of drivers who don't care about pedestrians, or how I have to run into the street to get away from the dogs (that's mostly on me, tho, I'm not an animal person and I don't trust most dog walkers to keep them away from me).
But, hey....cookies!
Oh god, this is fair. I've only had one 'serious' injury - sprained ankle - and even that wasn't exercise related, I just tripped over a root.
But I have more cuts, scrapes, scratches and bruises than I have had since I was about 12 years old and trying to learn to rollerskate.
I love my activity level and it is all just pain for me but holy crap maybe I was only being active with dogs because, clearly, if it's not a dog sport I'm going to fall down, fall over, or run into absolutely anything in my path.
LOL yup! I've taken so many headers while out walking. Some more bloody than others. And, oh god, there was a lot of blood a few of those times too.
Broke a couple fingers there too. The one is still wonky.
I'm actually REALLY shocked I haven't busted a kneecap or anything during one of my falls. I go down hard.
What was so weird, tho, was that time a car ran over my foot, I was fine. I limped the rest of the way home (yeahhhhhh, maybe I do have a problem with exercise) but was ok the next day. 3 -
An active lifestyle involves overcoming various injuries, aches, and pains. Jogging particularly seems to identify any problem practically anywhere in your body. But I've had back, neck, and hand problems with cycling and shoulder problems with swimming. With time and care, I've so far overcome all problems and been able to keep exercising.
My only solace is that my less active contemporaries have similar problems. Some problems actually get worse with inactivity, notably lower back issues. Also, some are overweight, making it harder on lower extremities, etc.
My point is that being active can help you to avoid injuries in many cases. Many parts of your body will get stronger with use, including tendons, ligaments, and bones. However, it takes much longer for hard tissues to respond than muscle, so you need to work up slowly (over months).3 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »An active lifestyle involves overcoming various injuries, aches, and pains. Jogging particularly seems to identify any problem practically anywhere in your body. But I've had back, neck, and hand problems with cycling and shoulder problems with swimming. With time and care, I've so far overcome all problems and been able to keep exercising.
My only solace is that my less active contemporaries have similar problems. Some problems actually get worse with inactivity, notably lower back issues. Also, some are overweight, making it harder on lower extremities, etc.
My point is that being active can help you to avoid injuries in many cases. Many parts of your body will get stronger with use, including tendons, ligaments, and bones. However, it takes much longer for hard tissues to respond than muscle, so you need to work up slowly (over months).
Exactly.
When I consider who among my age-mates is sidelined most often or longest because of pains and injuries, it's the inactive/overweight folks, not the healthy-weight (or close)/active ones. (I'm talking about people around +/- ten years of me, at age 65.)
As merely one example, both a rowing buddy (active/healthy weight) and a artist buddy (who is inactive/overweight) needed hip replacements. The rower was back rowing exactly 30 days to the day after surgery (and rowing is a leg sport). The artist was at an inpatient rehab nearly that long (2+ weeks) unable even to get along at home, then struggled with mobility for months. (The rower's around 10 years older, besides . . . 70-something at the time.) There are a lot of reasons why they had such different paths, but most of them come down to weight and activity history.3 -
I’d like to say ‘eat to exercise’
But I think I’m a little of both.
Lol0 -
To me they are not mutually exclusive. I'm a chef, so I love to eat and cook and I also workout for my physical maintenance.0
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »An active lifestyle involves overcoming various injuries, aches, and pains. Jogging particularly seems to identify any problem practically anywhere in your body. But I've had back, neck, and hand problems with cycling and shoulder problems with swimming. With time and care, I've so far overcome all problems and been able to keep exercising.
My only solace is that my less active contemporaries have similar problems. Some problems actually get worse with inactivity, notably lower back issues. Also, some are overweight, making it harder on lower extremities, etc.
My point is that being active can help you to avoid injuries in many cases. Many parts of your body will get stronger with use, including tendons, ligaments, and bones. However, it takes much longer for hard tissues to respond than muscle, so you need to work up slowly (over months).
Exactly.
When I consider who among my age-mates is sidelined most often or longest because of pains and injuries, it's the inactive/overweight folks, not the healthy-weight (or close)/active ones. (I'm talking about people around +/- ten years of me, at age 65.)
As merely one example, both a rowing buddy (active/healthy weight) and a artist buddy (who is inactive/overweight) needed hip replacements. The rower was back rowing exactly 30 days to the day after surgery (and rowing is a leg sport). The artist was at an inpatient rehab nearly that long (2+ weeks) unable even to get along at home, then struggled with mobility for months. (The rower's around 10 years older, besides . . . 70-something at the time.) There are a lot of reasons why they had such different paths, but most of them come down to weight and activity history.
Sorry for the off topic question but, do you think this is the same movement pattern as your rowing activity? In other words, if someone is good at cable rows does it translate well to rowing in general?
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I'm not the person you asked, but cable rows are strength exercises, and rowing is cardio. Being able to pull heavy weights for perhaps 10 or 15 reps is very different to rowing (less strength, more endurance).
As for the movement itself, sure, similar arm movement, but rowing also has leg involvement, not just upper body. Correct technique is more complicated than cable rows.
Not really comparable IMHO 🙂2 -
(snip for reply length)
Sorry for the off topic question but, do you think this is the same movement pattern as your rowing activity? In other words, if someone is good at cable rows does it translate well to rowing in general?
No.
Details of the answer differ for machine rowing vs. on-water rowing shells, but still "no", either way.
There are of course various types of cable rows, which hit somewhat different muscles, but most of those muscles are of secondary importance to rowing machines/boats. Leg/back strength is much more central to effective rowing, and that's only the strength side of it. I'm not a strength training expert, not even strength-conditioning for rowing expert, but things like squats and deads are more material than cable/weight rows, when it comes to rowing power.
Then, as @lietchi said, cardiovascular capability is central to rowing fast over any meaningful distance. Strength athletes can perform very well over short rowing machine distances (like 500m), but without CV conditioning, not as well at what rowers consider real race distances (2k is the main sprint race distance). Strong cyclists often come up to speed relatively fast as rowers, because they have strong legs and CV systems. Elite rowers have high VO2max, big/muscular hearts, etc.
Rowing is also a technique sport, more than many people appreciate. Most people you see machine rowing at gyms (including trainers) have sub-par technique: They could hit a faster pace at the same general physical-exertion cost if their technique were better . . . often a much faster pace.
When it comes to technique, even strong machine rowers are not necessarily the fastest on water. (There's a rower saying about this: "Ergs don't float.") There are things that don't hurt machine rowing performance, and even a small number that might improve machine rowing performance, that will slow down a boat, or even quickly turn the rowing into swimming. (A racing single is about 12 inches wide at the water line, around 26 feet long: It's easy to swim. Another rower saying: "It's not 'if you swim' in a racing single, it's 'when you swim'".) That's without even getting into the extra layer of technique that applies on water, doesn't exist on the machine, like bladework.
If you're a weight lifter/strength trainer, and you want to row boats or machines, don't skip leg day. 😉
As you say, this is off topic on this thread. If you want to discuss it further, start another thread over in Exercise, tag me.1 -
Hmmm - ergs don't float. Nice.
Watts don't go uphill - can't decide if that translates well or not.1 -
I neither erg nor watt and when I first started walking, I walked to eat.
Things definitely morphed over time and I now definitely mostly want to move for different reasons.
Given that I seldom exceed what I perceive to be relatively moderate exercise I don't know that I officially *exercise*; I just enjoy spending time *moving*, even if my Fitbit often gets confused and calls my "moving" "exercise"!
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Well kinda depends on the intensity of the rowing and hand/elbow position. If you're talking competitive rowing....................hell no. Even rowing on a cardio machine doesn't simulate it just like running on a treadmill doesn't simulate actual running on a road or hard surface. If you're talking about a leisure row in a row boat, the muscles used are also used in cable rowing. However in free rowing, elbows tend to move around more, whereas with cable rowing, most people just keep them close to the body on a narrow grip like the one above.I'm not the person you asked, but cable rows are strength exercises, and rowing is cardio. Being able to pull heavy weights for perhaps 10 or 15 reps is very different to rowing (less strength, more endurance).
As for the movement itself, sure, similar arm movement, but rowing also has leg involvement, not just upper body. Correct technique is more complicated than cable rows.
Not really comparable IMHO 🙂
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Well kinda depends on the intensity of the rowing and hand/elbow position. If you're talking competitive rowing....................hell no. Even rowing on a cardio machine doesn't simulate it just like running on a treadmill doesn't simulate actual running on a road or hard surface. If you're talking about a leisure row in a row boat, the muscles used are also used in cable rowing. However in free rowing, elbows tend to move around more, whereas with cable rowing, most people just keep them close to the body on a narrow grip like the one above.I'm not the person you asked, but cable rows are strength exercises, and rowing is cardio. Being able to pull heavy weights for perhaps 10 or 15 reps is very different to rowing (less strength, more endurance).
As for the movement itself, sure, similar arm movement, but rowing also has leg involvement, not just upper body. Correct technique is more complicated than cable rows.
Not really comparable IMHO 🙂
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
There's quite a lot of similarity between rowing on a machine (of the Concept 2 style) and rowing a standard rowing shell (the kind with a sliding seat), especially when sculling (two oars per person). There's more similarity (machine to shell) in the legs/back part of the stroke, somewhat less in the arms part, and the back/arms phase of the drive is quite different between sweep (one oar per person) and sculling because of the rotational component in sweep that's absent from sculling.
I don't have an informed opinion about whether the difference between treadmill & outdoor running is a bigger difference than that between machine rowing and sliding-seat shell rowing. My ignorant impression is that outdoor-competing runners (collegiate and elite) largely train on indoor tracks rather than treadmills, if not training outdoors. Rowers at the higher levels, though, routinely train on C2 rowing machines (sometimes as a component of training even in on-water season), though there are other types of simulations available (like rowing tanks). However, there's nothing I'm aware of for rowing training that's as close to the real thing as indoor track running would be to outdoor track running.
Yes, cable rows use basically the same muscles as the least important part (to power/pace) of the rowing stroke, on either that type of machine, or in that type of rowing shell. That generality is less true for sweep, too. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about all types of cable or freeweight rows, but I'm not aware of any that would simulate the arm motion in sweep very well.
Rowing a fixed seat rowboat is a whole different deal, and not something I have expertise in.
Still off topic, though.
Do I need to get a signature block with my rowing vita/certs in it? Nah, I don't think so. 😆1 -
I exercise because I enjoy it. It is also a necessity for my mental health as I get really depressed when I don't exercise. It is a bonus that it allows me to eat whatever I want, most of the time. I exercise more than I need to because I hope to get stronger, faster, and more fit, but I think I am also driven by the desire to not gain back the weight I lost several years ago. I have a nice balance now where I work hard for an hour a day and eat without having to worry too much about the calories.4
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Neither. I eat for weight loss, and exercise for fitness.
Exercise burns so little calories that I don't even think of them, I don't track calories burned. I workout 5 days a week, but it is solely to build aerobic endurance, and to build muscle, for overall better fitness and health.
Technically I do make sure to get enough protein because I am weightlifting, so in that way some of what I eat is for exercise I guess, but I see it more as eating properly for my needs, it is the only food that I eat with exercise in mind.1
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