Posts by jdw3018

I definitely second the vote for using your orthotics - or at least some other very good orthotic like "Superfeet."  I have flat feet (can't see a hint of arch on my left!) and Superfeet inserts cured my shin pain immediately when I got back on the workout wagon.

As for swollen feet - to some extent it's just the way it is with a high-impact sport like running.  If it causes you a problem, elevate, and if it's still a problem add ice.  If it's major swelling and/or causing you real pain it's probably worth mentioning to your doctor.

Running is often times a sport people jump right into, but it's high-impact and very difficult to do properly.  Take your time, slowly (no more than 10%/week) add mileage, and you'll get where you're going!

Original Post by youhearttme:

the other thing is...everyone tells me the EXACT same things to give me a BIGGER butt -- lunges, squats, deadlifts. so, to everyone who responded to the original poster, who's lying to who? am i wasting my time trying for a nicer rear, or is she not going to get a smaller butt doing these things?

babydudes -- the only way you can quickly and effectively burn fat is by doing significant amounts of cardio. 20-45 minutes a day. all these butt exercises are awesome, trust me. but what they are going to do is build and firm your glutes(muscles under your butt cheeks). if you have excess fat storage in that area, which it sounds like you are a "pear" shape, meaqning that is where your body stores it, you can build and firm all you want, but if you dont burn fat it won't look smaller at all.

everyone telling you to do all those exercises is like telling someone who asks "how do i get rid of my gut?" to do crunches. if you dont burn the fat, nothing with look flatter, smaller, more defined, or tighter.

Two things, youheartme:

First, people telling you to do squats, lunges, deadlifts etc are right on if you want to build some muscle on your ass.  Eddie's recommendation of sprinting workouts will also do you a lot of good.  So, people aren't lying to you.

They also aren't lying to the OP, and this is where your point about cardio is off the mark.  Let me say that I believe there's a place for cardio in every workout, and for many there's a place for steady-state cardio.  To achieve the average person's fitness goals of simply doing everyday stuff easier and looking healthier and staying fit, steady-state cardio can really help.  But it's not the only way to quickly and effectively burn fat.  In fact, squats, deadlifts, lunges, pullups, dips, cleans, and presses are the most effective ways to burn fat.

So, a person with a big flabby backside can most effectively get a smaller, perkier (as a man I hate that term) butt by both burning fat and - if they're new to lifting - building muscle even in a calorie deficit.  The "smaller" part normally means less fat, while the "perkier" part takes muscle.

There is no single exercise better for total body stress and recovery than the squat, followed closely by the deadlift.  They key is, you need to move real weight when you do these.  Lots of body weight squats are awesome for endurance and are a high metabolic cost to your body, which is good.  But you also need to be doing squats with enough weight that when you finish 8-12 reps you feel like you're totally spent.  Like you may not be able to walk (not because of injury, but because of fatigue).  Then you need to wait 30-60 seconds and do them again.  And this time you'll really be fatigued and feel like you can't stand up.  Then after 30-60 seconds do it again.  After this set, you can be done.

These are the kinds of things that will burn fat. 

Cardio is GREAT.  We all need to be doing it.  But it's not great at burning fat.  It's great at burning calories.  And if you need a lot of cardio to create the deficit you need to lose weight, fantastic.  But if you're close to your ideal weight, and what you really want to change is your body composition - ie, less fat and more muscle - then cut back the cardio, eat at maintenance, and move some freaking heavy stuff!  

Original Post by amkenpo:

Good luck and be careful not to run too far too soon. I ended up with a shin splint because I pushed myself too hard before I was ready.

 

Shin splints are a pain, but most people new to running - even with appropriate shoes - will have some level of joint/leg pain, many will get at least mild shin splints.  It's just a fact of life that running is high-impact and demanding and your body has to get used to it.

I only say this to point out that many people will be challenged by running, and most will have some pain along the way, but as long as you take care of yourself you'll get through it and enjoy being able to do it!

Your response just screams for the type of weight lifting we're talking about - lunges, squats, deadlifts, and other big muscle, compound lifts will help you retain muscle and trim fat.  If you lift hard and heavy, you wont' look like a stick.  You will build some muscle.  You will "firm up" for lack of a better (and scientifically accurate) term.

Oblique exercises will do very little for the problems you've cited.

I'll give the obligatory response:  squats, deadlifts, and lunges.  And move as much weight when doing them as you can.

It's kinda cliche around here, but truthfully, nothing will help you more for what you're looking for than those exercises.  You're at a healthy weight, but maybe not an ideal body composition - heavy resistance training will do more to help you look firmer in your legs, glutes, abs, and back than anything else you can do.

A wind makes a significant difference when biking.

A 20 mph wind makes a HUGE difference.

When pedaling, your leg should extend almost all the way.  You don't want it to actually lock out, but it should definitely be extended - you shouldn't be able to sit on your seat and touch the ground.  

There is excellent advice in this website.  Jeff Galloway is a very highly though-of trainer of all levels, but especially valuable are his training plans for first-time marathoners who just want to finish and finish strong.

Good luck, and I would add that finding a half-marathon to race in when your training is getting to that 13 mile long-run point would be a great way to experience a race as part of your training.

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/marathon .html

Actually, richard, I think we agree - I re-read your post and you were saying how hard it is to work those muscles in the "love handle" area.  When I read it the first time, I was thinking you were recommending those.

We agree that squats, lunges, etc are definitely the way to go!

I'm going to check out the crossfit website.   Looks interesting.  My biggest challenge right now, though, is that it seems I'm working toward several different goals depending on the day or mood and they aren't all in congruence with each other in terms of training regimen, so adding more information may not be the best answer!

Original Post by shaunamarie1222:

Is distance better than time or vice versa, or neither??

My advice is not to worry about distance, but rather set times for yourself.  Run for 15 minutes, breaking it up with 1-2 minutes of walking at 5 and 10 minutes.  Then next week run for 20 minutes with 1-2 minute of walking at 7 and 15, or 2-3 minutes of walking at 10.  That kind of progression.

The most important thing when starting a running program is to gradually build your endurance.  Once you can run/walk for 30 minutes, then you can work on cutting down your walking times until you can run the entire 30 minutes.

Only then would I start to worry about distance, and that's only if you want to know.  An even better way to measure it would be heart rate - work on making sure you exert yourself every time out for a certain amount of time.  As you get more fit, you'll have to run faster to keep your heart rate up.

Finally, once you have the endurance to run/walk that 30 minutes, you should also start incorporating some interval training to really rev your metabolism and increase your speed.

Good luck!  And those new shoes will help a ton...

While there's nothing wrong with exercising hungry (as long as you have enough energy to complete your workout with good intensity), the idea that your body is using fat rather than food for energy is simply not true.

First of all, if you eat 30 minutes to an hour before your workout, the food won't have been digested to be able to be converted to energy.  Secondly, for most purposes calories are calories and whether you burn them from "new" calories or "stored" calories, it won't matter.

There are different philosophies as to what is better (empty stomach vs. eating), but the net results for the vast majority of the population simply aren't different enough for it to matter beyond personal preference.  I like to have a little something in my stomach, but I'd rather be toward empty than full, for sure!

I agree with amethyst to an extend on splitting - it depends on how much time you have on a given day and how many times you can get to the gym.  However, any heavy weight workout longer than 45 minutes will have significant diminishing returns unless you're training very specifically for some type of competition.

Also, these big compound exercises where you move a lot of weight (squats and deadlifts especially) take a while to recover from, and I would recommend at least 2 days in between them.  I have a very simple 3-day/week routine that seems to be working very well that is split between lower body and upper body.  I simply alternate, and workout MWF each week.  So, in week 1, I do lower body Monday, upper Wednesday, lower Friday.  Then, in week 2, I do upper Monday, lower Wednesday, upper Friday.

This gives time for recovery, allows me some flexibility (this week I had to move my normal Monday to Tuesday, but still will be able to come back with the same exercises Friday), I'm able to go very intense for these workouts, and because I'm only doing 4 or 5 exercises, my actual time lifting is generally under 30 minutes.  Quick, simple, but definitely not easy!

The difference I've seen in the last 6 weeks is phenomenal.  

I'd recommend two things when this happens:  First, know that it's okay to have a bad run every now and then.  There are days you just won't find your rhythm.  It's okay, and it happens to everyone.

Second, keep going.  Push through it.  Look at it as a mental training day.  So what if you're used to running 3 miles in 25 minutes and today you had to stop twice to walk and your pace was slow when you were running and it took you 32 minutes.  Big deal.  The main thing is you finish it.

You still get a lot of benefit from the exercise, even if it wasn't the intensity you normally like.  And the emotional benefit to finishing rather than quitting is big, IMO.

PS  If you're training for a race, then you definitely need to finish days like this - you want to be mentally prepared for anything on race day, and finishing even though it's not going your way is important.

A mile a day is certainly not too much (based on your fitness level).  As long as you aren't in pain - and just sore doesn't count - you can run a mile a day for a long time.

I run or bike 5-7 days a week in addition to my strength training, and when I run do anything from 2-4 miles.  As long as you aren't pushing yourself too hard in that one mile, you should be fine running it several days in a row.

All that said, mixing it up a little bit and doing some interval work helps build up your cardio health and will help you improve the speed at which you can do one mile.  If your goals involve doing some extended running, then you want to slowly add to the distance you run at one time, even if you need to add some walking in.

I run with my dog and absolutely love it (most days), but he's a big lab/greyhound mix so he loves to run and 3 miles is nothing for him...

Many will recommend that if you are weight training regularly with heavy weights, that a week off every 8-16 weeks is very important.

So, if you took a week off after 4 months, you were at the high end of that range.  I try to take a week off around 12 weeks (give or take a week if it works into my schedule better).

Oh, and good job on understanding that the scale is secondary to the size!