Man v Fat Football - Bristol League starting in May.

[Steve Watts]

Like many others I'm sure, I've.....bulked up....a little over the last year.  My health is shite, I've got suspected angina, high blood pressure etc and my fitness is generally piss poor.  Losing weight will help with all of that.

I've just signed up to the Bristol League for Man v Fat Football.  All info is on there, but I had a chat with the organisers and decided it was for me.  Sounds a really good way of shedding the extra timber and getting some football in while you're at it.  It's £25 a month, which isn't too bad at just over a fiver a match, which most 3g pitch hires are anyway, and a £9.99 sign on fee.

Using my code of WATTS1736 will get you a fiver off the registration.  Full disclosure, this also gets me £5 for each sign up, but really it would be good to up the City fan count on there and if that's fellow OTIBers then all the better.  Be nice to put some faces to names.  A few Gas in there sadly!

Have a look and make your own minds up, but I'm certainly looking forward to getting back out on the pitch at long last!

[RedNachos]

12 hours ago, Steve Watts said:

Like many others I'm sure, I've.....bulked up....a little over the last year.  My health is shite, I've got suspected angina, high blood pressure etc and my fitness is generally piss poor.  Losing weight will help with all of that.

I've just signed up to the Bristol League for Man v Fat Football.  All info is on there, but I had a chat with the organisers and decided it was for me.  Sounds a really good way of shedding the extra timber and getting some football in while you're at it.  It's £25 a month, which isn't too bad at just over a fiver a match, which most 3g pitch hires are anyway, and a £9.99 sign on fee.

Using my code of WATTS1736 will get you a fiver off the registration.  Full disclosure, this also gets me £5 for each sign up, but really it would be good to up the City fan count on there and if that's fellow OTIBers then all the better.  Be nice to put some faces to names.  A few Gas in there sadly!

Have a look and make your own minds up, but I'm certainly looking forward to getting back out on the pitch at long last!

Good on you mate, we've all missed playing the beautiful game, I'm not in the Bristol area but just had my first session for the Sunday league side today, my fitness is also shocking, after good times on five ks first lockdown I'm struggling to get up the stairs now! Great for the kids getting time of the Xbox and all that as well, really important step in getting out of this lockdown. UTC

[LondonBristolian]

I'm not Bristol based unfortunately but good luck! 

I've managed to exercise consistently though lockdown but I've been overweight since a teenager and never managed to shake that off. What I would say is don't obsess about whether the weight comes off or not. Hopefully it will you really feel the difference in energy and fitness when you're exercising regularly, even when the scales themselves don't shift much...

[Old Rascal]

Good luck. Took part a few years ago, there were a couple of others on here who joined as well. Really good system for losing weight and building up fitness. You don’t want to let your team down! Most of us lost 10% plus of our body weight over the 12 weeks.

Geoff Stevens, who was part of the academy ran it, he got us all tickets to a city match at the end and were on the pitch at half time for our presentation. 

There was also the chance to play a mini tournament at St George’s Park up in Staffs.

If you want anymore info of how it all runs let me know.

[Steve Watts]

10 hours ago, Old Rascal said:

Good luck. Took part a few years ago, there were a couple of others on here who joined as well. Really good system for losing weight and building up fitness. You don’t want to let your team down! Most of us lost 10% plus of our body weight over the 12 weeks.

Geoff Stevens, who was part of the academy ran it, he got us all tickets to a city match at the end and were on the pitch at half time for our presentation. 

There was also the chance to play a mini tournament at St George’s Park up in Staffs.

If you want anymore info of how it all runs let me know.

Thanks mate.  I may well pick your brains at some point because I don't really know what to expect.  Seems like a good fit for me, so fingers crossed.  The Whatsapp group looks like it'll be quite supportive and I've been impressed with what I've seen so far.  That's why I thought I'd pop it in here in case anyone else thought they might benefit from it.

Thanks @LondonBristolian and @RedNachos for your words of support too.  

[Silvio Dante]

@Steve Watts you should have said, I’d have let you join in bleep tests to prep

[Steve Watts]

 

Just now, Silvio Dante said:

@Steve Watts you should have said, I’d have let you join in bleep tests to prep

I'd have dropped before the first beep!!!

[Old Rascal]

4 hours ago, Steve Watts said:

Thanks mate.  I may well pick your brains at some point because I don't really know what to expect.  Seems like a good fit for me, so fingers crossed.  The Whatsapp group looks like it'll be quite supportive and I've been impressed with what I've seen so far.  That's why I thought I'd pop it in here in case anyone else thought they might benefit from it.

Thanks @LondonBristolian and @RedNachos for your words of support too.  

First tip, make sure you have your pockets full of loose change for the initial weigh in! You will have a weight loss on the second week then!

[Steve Watts]

2 minutes ago, Old Rascal said:

First tip, make sure you have your pockets full of loose change for the initial weigh in! You will have a weight loss on the second week then!

I'll have to bear that in mind! 

[beaverface]

City used to be part of Man vs Fat, but they split off and run their own version called slim2win at Bristol South/Imperial sports.

There's loads of City fans taking part, and it's cheaper than Man vs Fat, and there potentially may still be a few spots open right now as it's the beginning of a new season.

I currently do it, and it's well worth it.

Details are here: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/robins-foundation/projects/slim2win/

[Steve Watts]

20 hours ago, beaverface said:

City used to be part of Man vs Fat, but they split off and run their own version called slim2win at Bristol South/Imperial sports.

There's loads of City fans taking part, and it's cheaper than Man vs Fat, and there potentially may still be a few spots open right now as it's the beginning of a new season.

I currently do it, and it's well worth it.

Details are here: https://www.bcfc.co.uk/robins-foundation/projects/slim2win/

Thanks Beaver.  Sadly my lad has football training on Monday nights so I couldn't do Slim2win.  Shame as the chance to play on the pitch would've been lovely!  @Silvio Dante Fancy switching the boys training to another night......?!?

[Port Said Red]

May I ask if either of the options mentioned here have age groups? I am keen to do something in addition to getting back in the pool, but as I am approaching 60 as well as carrying far too much weight, it needs to be fairly sedate.  

[Silvio Dante]

15 minutes ago, Steve Watts said:

Thanks Beaver.  Sadly my lad has football training on Monday nights so I couldn't do Slim2win.  Shame as the chance to play on the pitch would've been lovely!  @Silvio Dante Fancy switching the boys training to another night......?!?

No chance, it’s enough stress organising the schedule as it is

[Steve Watts]

3 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

May I ask if either of the options mentioned here have age groups? I am keen to do something in addition to getting back in the pool, but as I am approaching 60 as well as carrying far too much weight, it needs to be fairly sedate.  

Nope, no age groups.  To be honest, looking at the MvF Whatsapp group profile pics, there's a mixture of younger, older and middle aged.  Weight and fitness is the leveller as opposed to age. I don't think it will start out as too active!

Just now, Silvio Dante said:

No chance, it’s enough stress organising the schedule as it is

Goddammit!  Lee's carrying a bit of timber though, so maybe he'd like to do it too!  

[Old Rascal]

2 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

May I ask if either of the options mentioned here have age groups? I am keen to do something in addition to getting back in the pool, but as I am approaching 60 as well as carrying far too much weight, it needs to be fairly sedate.  

ManVFat doesn't have any age groups, I think last time they created the teams to include all ages, so there were a couple of youngsters through to some old boys like me. The actual football is 5 a side from teams of 7, with rolling subs. As soon as you are blowing out your arse, go off and someone will take your place.

[richwwtk]

I did Man v Fat in Weston for two seasons and lost 3.5 stone, trouble is I stopped and have put over half of that back on since.

I did join Slim To Win as well intending to get back on it, but broke my ankle in an unrelated incident two games in so it didn't last long.

I found Man v Fat to be VERY competitive as the points scoring is based on match results and weight loss combined, and some of the teams took it incredibly seriously, to the extent that the team that won the first season I played went out and got shirts with their own badge with a star above it to signify their league win! It also meant that, whilst there was a wide range of weights, ages and abilities people tended to get injured as well, our team had a broken arm and and a damaged ankle that meant me had to stop playing for 3 months.

Slim To Win I found the scoring was weighted more towards weight loss than what happened on the pitch, and as a result the football itself was a lot friendlier. though I wasn't there for long, when I start again I think it will be Slim To Win that I would choose.

[Old Rascal]

57 minutes ago, richwwtk said:

I did Man v Fat in Weston for two seasons and lost 3.5 stone, trouble is I stopped and have put over half of that back on since.

I did join Slim To Win as well intending to get back on it, but broke my ankle in an unrelated incident two games in so it didn't last long.

I found Man v Fat to be VERY competitive as the points scoring is based on match results and weight loss combined, and some of the teams took it incredibly seriously, to the extent that the team that won the first season I played went out and got shirts with their own badge with a star above it to signify their league win! It also meant that, whilst there was a wide range of weights, ages and abilities people tended to get injured as well, our team had a broken arm and and a damaged ankle that meant me had to stop playing for 3 months.

Slim To Win I found the scoring was weighted more towards weight loss than what happened on the pitch, and as a result the football itself was a lot friendlier. though I wasn't there for long, when I start again I think it will be Slim To Win that I would choose.

That's a good point - the competitive edge.

The first ManVFat, was really friendly and everyone pulled together. A really good bunch of blokes, about 65 or 70 of us in total and everyone helped and encouraged everyone else. If anyone was exercising on their own, someone would always come and join them, to give support.

I agree the football was the priority. One of the teams (played in white) walked the league, winning most games by 3 or 4 goals until the final day. Their opponents planned it perfectly and all their team lost weight for 3 weeks on the bounce, so all scored hattricks before the final game. So although the whites won on the pitch, their opponents had the best part of a 21 goal lead and took the title.

The second season, was quite different there was a new team that took it very seriously and there were quite a lot of warnings and fines handed out. A few from season 1 pulled out as the weight loss almost became secondary to the football. I think this is where they bought in a minimum BMI to join? As some of this new team would have struggled to have got wet in a shower.

 I did a follow up programme Slim2win? at West Town Lane with City, which was more based around weight loss. A good hour discussing the reasons behind why men put on weight (drink for me), then 30 minutes as if you were on the training ground and a 30 minute match. There was only about 12 - 15 on that and it stayed very friendly and supportive.