How much exercise is "enough"?

So, I was very very inactive growing up - total book nerd, had allergies and didn't really play outdoors that much, last person to finish the annual track run/walk in PE.

Over the last couple years, I bought a gym membership and have been going to yoga once a week for the last 1.5 years, for a 90 minute class.  In the last month, I've added a weight-lifting class to my routine.

If I get to the point where I'm doing this twice a week - 60 mins weightlifting/90 mins yoga back to back, is that enough exercise for a 30 year old? Should I try to add cardio?

I got a DDR pad for my bday last year, and I should break it out again sometime.  I have a desk job, and well.. I play a lot of world of warcraft.  I really do enjoy the weight lifting class, and I do WANT to get in better shape.

5'7", 152 lbs.

Thanks for any suggestions : )

Enough for what?

To lose weight? more than enough

To make the olympics? not even close.

Exercising for optimum health is a three legged stool, you should include strength/resistance training, flexibility/balance training, and heart and circulatory system training.  You currently have two of the three.

Original Post by trhawley:

Exercising for optimum health is a three legged stool, you should include strength/resistance training, flexibility/balance training, and heart and circulatory system training.  You currently have two of the three.

 Which one is she missing? Weight lifting alone is strength, cardiovascular, and flexibility training.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by trhawley:

Exercising for optimum health is a three legged stool, you should include strength/resistance training, flexibility/balance training, and heart and circulatory system training.  You currently have two of the three.

 Which one is she missing? Weight lifting alone is strength, cardiovascular, and flexibility training.

 She's missing cardio.  She should break out the DDR or start going for walks, etc.

thanks for all the quick responses!

I started out wanting to lose weight, but I'd be happy just toning up.  If I ever get down to 145, I'll be thrilled, I think.  I don't want huge muscles, I just want to be fit.  Definity no olyipics for me! hah : )

When it gets warmer I'll walk again.  I'll see what I can do about the cardio - maybe there's a cardio class I can take that won't set off my asthma.  I tried Turbo Kick for a while, but I usually had to leave halfway through because I couldn't get enough air.  DDR, I can at least sit down every 2-3 songs and not inconvience anyone...

Original Post by trhawley:

 She's missing cardio.  She should break out the DDR or start going for walks, etc.

Weight lifting is cardio. 

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by trhawley:

 She's missing cardio.  She should break out the DDR or start going for walks, etc.

Weight lifting is cardio. 

 And running is strength training.

I agree with trhawley - add some cardio to your routine.  It doesn't have to be a lot to begin with but I would definitely shoot for at least 20 minutes 2 or 3 times a week - it can be as simple as going for a walk and building up from there.  Maybe you bit off more than you could chew by starting with Turbo Kick - that sounds tough!  Good luck!

Original Post by trhawley:

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by trhawley:

 She's missing cardio.  She should break out the DDR or start going for walks, etc.

Weight lifting is cardio. 

 And running is strength training.

Yup, it's just not very effective strength training. 

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by trhawley:

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by trhawley:

 She's missing cardio.  She should break out the DDR or start going for walks, etc.

Weight lifting is cardio. 

 And running is strength training.

Yup, it's just not very effective strength training. 

Just as weight lifting is not effective cardio.

Original Post by thermal:

Just as weight lifting is not effective cardio.

 Wear a heart rate monitor to the weight room sometime, you'd be surprised (assuming you had a decent routine).

 Depends on the lifting - if you're using maximal strength parameters like a powerlifter with 1-5 reps and 5 minutes of rest between sets, it's not.

 If you're using the CrossFit circuit training paradigm with 8-15 reps and 30 seconds of rest between sets it's plenty interval-training-style cardio.

 However, circuit training is not very effective maximal strength training and since you need to reduce the load to a minimum to be able to complete the circuits it's not very effective for building muscle either. Great for aerobic and anaerobic conditioning that MMA fighters, police and firemen need, but not highly useful for anyone else.

 Supersets and giant sets are more useful for muscle growth, but sacrifices a bit of the cardio component.

 Straight up Olympic lifting beats the heck out of standard strength training or bodybuilder-style training for both power and cardio components, and the CrossFit imitation isn't very effective either.

 If you're after general conditioning circuit training works, if you have sports-specific goals it's not very helpful for any sport that isn't a martial art.

 It works better to separate the cardio and strength component if you're doing sports-specific training and aren't Eddie Potter ;)

trhawley gets two thumbs up

The rule of thumb is that you should get 60 minutes of cardio/aerobic exercise a week.  20 minutes of light jogging X 3 times a week will do wonders for your overall health.

Okay, I'll shoot for the walk/jog thing then.. it doesn't take any extra effort to put on my tennis shoes after work and go around the block once or twice.

The weight class is thus:

60 minutes long, ecouraged to show up 5 minutes early and get all weights in order.  5 minutes of warm up - light weights on a bar, deadlifts/squats - 10 minutes of squats with heaviest amount of weight for class (15 lbs plus bar for me), 10 minutes of clean and press/deadlift/???, 10 minutes of biceps, 10 minutes of triceps/lunges and 5 minutes of cool down, all rough estimates, since I still haven't gotten the rythm of the class yet, and those may be out of order. 

The idea seems to be start out with a mangable weight, and by the end of each time period I'm ready for my respective limb to fall off, then switch to new muscle group. and I'm good and sore all over the next day.

I love it.. I hope I'm doing it right.  time to go to class :)

Is there a reason that you are only considering "classes" when adding new exercises?  Cardio isn't that hard to do (skill-wise), and as  an asthmatic myself I take a puff of albuterol before the gym and get on the elliptical where you can do a lot of refined adjustment to your pace and find something that you're comfortable and not dieing with.

 Well, if you've never lifted before those classes are a good place to learn the proper form of lifting, how to set up and the proper bar path.

 They're high rep/low weight though, and results will quickly grind to a halt and devolve to the results space of a standard calisthenics or aerobics class instead of the results space of proper strength training of some kind.

 That kind of lifting is mostly cardio with the form but not the substance of resistance training and you don't need to add even more cardio to it.

 However, those classes can be good places to start to learn proper form for barbell work, just don't get stuck there. You'll see almost all the results you'll ever get in the first 6-8 weeks, and after that you can move on to do your own thing with any strength training program using the fomr they taught you in class.

I have asthma too, so I feel your pain on breaking into cardio. The key is to start slow, and gradually work your way towards more intense cardio, without setting off the asthma attack. Try doing a low resistance machine (elliptical/stationary bike) at a moderate speed for 20-30 minutes, slowing down if you feel your chest tightening up. Gradually, you can work up the resistance/time/intensity. I've found that my asthma is much more likely to be triggered when my heart rate gets above 164 (doesn't stop me, but I do take note)- so wear a heart rate monitor, and when you get to that point, slow it down a bit, and get yourself back into your fat burning zone. Good luck!

If you want a structured plan for running, try the couch to 5k plan.  Its availible all over the internet, and it rocks!  My preferred website is www.coolrunning.com.  Good luck! 

Not sure about your asthma, but if it is only exercise indcued, I suggest getting an inhaler and taking it 5 minutes before exercise.