[CQ-Contest] Physical conditioning and contesting

[Luc, PY8AZT]

Hi Dave et al,

First, congrats about take care about your health. Over weight is the most
cause of death in world. I did this same way early 2003. Now, I eliminated
23kg (~50 pounds), just by changing my lifestyle, eating and working out
about 4 hours/week. 

Before, be awake was my strongest obstacle during contest. On the 2003 CQWW
CW, it was first time I ran full 48hs, ending up over 2k5 QSOs SOAB LP (I
have modest station: 3 elements triband, wires for low bands and 100W Rig).
After contest, I keep excited and cannot sleep. So, I went to computer to
write up an article about CQWW. I moved to the bad after 65 hours since
friday morning.

The benefits of weight loss are beyond health and for sure give advantages on
48h contests, like CQWW. So, some body could sugest split fat and slim Op's
category...hi hi hi

Finals, who want be competitive needs to invest in whatever (i.e. antennas,
radios, skills, SO2R, even health - respecting ALL and SAME rules) to take
advantages over crowd - not asking for new category or changing rules. In
MHO, sound ridiculous change rules to benefit who didn't move on toward to be
competitive. Who want win needs to outstand the crowd by working hard to
master code, know HF propagation, handle pileup, be awake, antennas, SO2R,
and strategy!

By the way, thanks for all QSOs on the CQWW CW. I was ZZ8Z (SOSB20m LP),
ended up with 1400 Qs, 117 Cty, 35 Zn and 650k pts after 35h operating time.

Best 73,

Luc, PY8AZT


>Beginning this past July, I made lifestyle changes in the way I
>ate and exercized.  I never considered myself obese, since I always
>made the Coast
>Guard's weight requirements, but I was carrying quite a few extra pounds. 
>I 
>often had knee, ankle, and lower back problems, the latter causing 
>difficulties during contests after being seated for long stretches.
>     Since then, I've taken bicycling back up, and so far have lost more
>than 
>40 pounds.  When I'm not at sea, I've been averaging between 130 and 150 
>miles a week on the bike.  I've noticed a massive improvement in the way I 
>feel.  During this past weekend's CQWW CW contest, I felt absolutely no 
>discomfort after relatively long operating stretches.  This suprised me, 
>considering I was using a 5 gallon pail as a chair!  In addition, I felt
>much 
>less fatigue at the end of the weekend, even though I'd slept only 3 hours 
>since Friday AM.  
>     This was the first contest I've participated in since I began
>exercising.  
>Some may say contesting is not a physically demanding sport, but I beg to 
>differ.  I felt dramatically better this time around, and it's great to
>see 
>yet another benefit of my increased activity level.  This is certainly 
>another advantage I can utilize during competition.
>     While we're looking for any advantage to improve our score - new
>antennas, 
>SO2R, ETC -  most people seem to ignore the most important thing, the 
>operator.  When you look around at the next club meeting, you can tell 
>there's lots of impovement possible when it comes to physical conditioning.
>     My decision to make these changes was inspired in part by Bill, W4AN.
> 
>Bill was an avid cyclist and someone I looked up to as a contester.  It 
>really sucks not being able to share my story with him, nor ever have the 
>opportunity to ride with him.
>
>73, Dave N2NL/MM
>Main Propulsion Chief, USCGC Thetis
>Currently deployed at sea
>_______________________________________________
>CQ-Contest mailing list
>CQ-Contest at contesting.com
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest


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