| Forum | Topic | Date | Replies |
| Fitness | Is 30 minutes of exercise enough? | Nov 21 2012 08:22 (UTC) |
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If the intensity is high enough, you can get a fantastic workout in only 20-30 minutes. People think that you need to workout for hours and hours every week. While exercise is important, the real success in changing your body all comes down to the amount of calories you take in and the quality of food and drinks you consume. |
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| Fitness | Absence of Gym, Sit-Ups as Substitute? | Nov 13 2012 09:00 (UTC) |
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1) You can't spot reduce. Doing any ab centric exercise simply works the abdominal muscles but won't help you drop abdominal fat. 2) If you want to drop body fat, it all comes down to calorie intake and the types of foods/drinks you consume.You need to create a small calorie deficit. 3) You don't need a gym or weights to do exercises that use your own body weight. Push-ups on an incline using stairs, body weight squats and lunges, inverted rows using chairs, etc.. You can watch YouTube videos on how to do all of these properly. Also, these all work the entire core as well so it will be killing two birds with one stone. You can even set these up in a circuit style doing them back to back with little to no rest alternating between upper and lower body. 4) There are some great articles on running sprints to strengthen your abdominal muscles as well. You should check them out. Running sprints a few times a week will also help you develop your lower body, your heart, and your lungs as well. Not something you can jump right into but if you start doing body weight circuits, you can add sprinting in 1-2x a week after improving your conditioning. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 23 2012 22:28 (UTC) |
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Hip flexor and IT band on left side were super tight after deadlifting Saturday. During body weight squats felt a bit of a catch in upper left quad. So decided to do The Prowler instead. One round is 40 yards down and immediately back. Did 7 rounds in 30 minutes with 245lbs total (180 lbs on the sled plus 65 lbs for the weight of the sled). Brutal workout. |
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| Fitness | Is 40 mins of cardio a day and some weights enough ? | Oct 23 2012 02:39 (UTC) |
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Look at it this way. Proper eating and calorie count is going to make you drop the weight. The type of exercise you do is going to determine how your body looks when the weight comes off. If you want to have a defined look (i refuse to use the word toned) then you want to do strength training. As solid pointed out, Starting Strength is a great template. You also have to remember that you do get cardio from full body exercises like squats and deadlifts when lifting. On days you aren't lifting, you could throw in some cardio as well for extra activity. But once again, calorie count and eating habits matter most. |
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| Fitness | Calling All Women: How Did You Burn Your Abdominal Fat? | Oct 21 2012 01:45 (UTC) |
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You can't spot reduce. Doing crunches and other abdominal work will not melt fat in your abdominal section. You can't pick and choose the order in which you lose fat either. Usually you will lose fat around your face first, then various parts of your body, with your abdominal area being last. 1) Keep a 500 calorie deficit per day under what it takes to maintain your weight. If you are working out regularly 3-5x a week, as a woman it takes probably 2200 or so to maintain your weight. So getting around 1700 per day of the right foods is a good way to go. 2) Do full body strength training. Doing various exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges, presses, pulls, etc work the most muscle groups and offer the most metabolic benefit. So you body will burn more calories in the long run. Also, heavy strength training is the best thing for re-shaping your whole body. Finally, compound exercises work your entire core. So as you lose fat over your whole body, you are developing your mid section without abdominal work. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 21 2012 01:35 (UTC) |
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The pool I use is probably a little less than 3/4 the size of a lap pool. So what I do is take a deep breath, swim the lap freestyle holding my breath until I reach the wall, then take a few breaths at the wall, take a deep breath, swim back, etc.. I usually can get through 4-5 laps this way, and then I rest 60 seconds and repeat. I can usually get through 50 laps in 30 minutes. Swimming this way is A LOT more taxing on the lungs and I have been noticing a good carry over into my weight training workouts. Plus, it forces to me to swim faster during the laps to get to the wall quicker so I can breathe. So while it isn't quite as intense as high intensity conditioning, it is definitely a vigorous cardio workout on my heart and lungs. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 21 2012 00:49 (UTC) |
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Killed it today which shocked me. This is my second week on a six day a week workout schedule with three full body strength and three free style swimming workouts which is way more than I am used to. I am also cutting calories too. So I have been feeling sluggish to say the least. ** Had three whole eggs, steamed spinach, tomato sauce, and garlic all mixed together with two pieces of whole wheat toast. 500 cals all together and it made me feel energized. Deadlifts 5 sets of 3 w/ 445 - This felt great. The last set was a bit challenging, but the weight felt lighter than I was expecting. Weighted Dips - BW of 250lbs plus 70lbs added for 3 sets of 6. Weighted Pull-Ups - BW of 250lbs plus 25lbs added for 3 sets of 3 Felt great afterward and was barely winded. The swimming is helping my work capacity. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 19 2012 02:57 (UTC) |
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Well from your photo you are looking hot, so it is obviously working for you and your work ethic is awesome. But with 2-3 strength days in addition to 2-3 metabolic workouts and crossfit, you are definitely doing a ton of high intensity work. I had a feeling you hadn't taken any time off in awhile, so hopefully you get to start taking 1-2 days off a week and then a week off every three months. Keep kicking butt though.. |
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| Fitness | Insanity Workout | Oct 18 2012 21:53 (UTC) |
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Just to give you an idea. 1200 calories a day is the bare minimum for a woman that does not work out at all. You are working out regularly and are even starting to do really high intensity exercise. You should be taking in at least 1700-1800 calories a day and that is including a calorie deficit. My advice would be to stop focusing on your weight. Focus on your body composition. Get your body fat% taken professionally via a DEXA scan or hydrostatic weighing. Do this a few times a year. Also take measurements and see how your clothes are fitting. Whenever you try to lose weight on the scale, you always end up under-eating and over-training. If you want to set a weight loss goal for yourself, shoot to lose a pound a week and that's it weighing yourself once a week on Sundays first thing in the morning. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 18 2012 18:52 (UTC) |
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metabolicmom - It may be time for you to take a week off. Lack of motivation/energy, and it taking longer to recover are all signs of overtraining. Since you do a lot of high intensity work, this is definitely what came to mind when reading your post. How many high intensity workouts per week are you doing, how many days per week are you working out overall, and when is the last time you took a recovery week off? It is recommended that you take a week off after every 2-3 months of training and something tells me it has been awhile since you took any real time off from working out. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 17 2012 21:36 (UTC) |
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For the last few years I was only working out 3-4 days a week max. Mostly full body lifting, high intensity conditioning, etc.. However, for the last month I have been on a six day a week schedule. It was an adjustment at first. But now I am actually starting to like it. The first thing I did was cut back my full body workouts to 2x a week, On those days, I just lift and that's it. One day a week I do a high intensity workout of some type. Prowler sled, stair sprints, burpee/mountain climber intervals, etc.. However, no lifting on this day. The other three days I am swimming free style laps. I must admit, I do feel better since I started adding aerobic work and cutting back on my high intensity work. I don't feel nearly as drained. |
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| Fitness | Too much cardio? | Oct 17 2012 21:24 (UTC) |
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I wouldn't say I look great. I look alright. I just carry might weight well..LOL |
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| Fitness | Too much cardio? | Oct 17 2012 17:35 (UTC) |
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6ft 250 lbs It's funny though. No one ever thinks I weigh 250. They always think I am in the 205-220 range.
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| Fitness | Too much cardio? | Oct 17 2012 09:00 (UTC) |
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You just need to make sure you consume enough calories to match your level of activity. If you are eating enough, making sure to get your strength training in, and eating enough protein, there is no danger of muscle loss. Now some people have different definitions of what cardio is. Now while I swim free style laps 3x a week and do a stair workout once a week, I still count the two full body lifing only days as cardio. I don't care what anyone says. Starting a workout out with five sets of heavy deep squats or deadlifts gets your HR through the roof, and then following up with two more compound lifts that involve pushing and pulling keep your HR elevated. After a good lifting session, I am always winded, sweating, and beat. So I am doing "cardio" six days a week. No negative effects. But with that said, I consume 3500 plus cals a day. |
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| Fitness | Do you exercise every day? | Oct 16 2012 23:08 (UTC) |
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I think it depends on the workout. There have been times where I got up in the morning and was not hungry right away. So I jumped in the pool and swam laps for 30 minutes before breakfast. Having an empty stomach did not effect my energy during. But if I am doing a more intense workout like heavy full body strength training with squats/deadlifts or any type of high intensity anaerobic conditioning, there is no way in hell I can do it in a fasted state. |
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| Fitness | Do you exercise every day? | Oct 14 2012 21:18 (UTC) |
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I give myself at least one day off a week. Sunday is always a day where I don't do anything except nap, watch TV, and eat. Favorite day of the week.. :) However, depending on how I am feeling and the type of workouts I am doing, I may even take 2-3 days off per week. Two things have made me feel a lot better : 1) Cutting way back on high intensity training. I used to do sprints, Prowler sled training, burpees, etc after my lifting 2-3 days a week. However, it always left me feeling drained. Now on the two days I lift, I just lift and that's it. Now if I do a high intensity day, I keep it separate to one day a week in between lifting workouts. For example - Tues lift, Thurs high intensity, Sat lift. 2) Adding swimming into my exercise program 2-4 days a week. I have found this to not only be an extremely challenging form of cardiovascular training. But it is very low impact and it always leaves me feeling refreshed and energized afterwards. I have also noticed a positive carry-over into my weight training. Not only does it help with recovery in between workouts, but my work capacity is better. I am barely winded now when I do squats and deadlifts. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 14 2012 20:04 (UTC) |
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Thank you. Yeah 5 sets of 3 reps with that weight. Felt relatively easy too. Right now I am probably @ 475 for a single. However, my goal is to get back to 495 for 3 reps where I was a year ago. So 60 more pounds to go. |
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| Fitness | October Fitness Group -- All Are Welcome!! | Oct 13 2012 23:28 (UTC) |
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Good workout today. Deadlifts 5 sets of 3 w/ 435. Felt relatively easy. One of my first deadlifting workouts in over a year Standing Press 5 sets of 5 w/ 185 Barbel Rows 5 sets of 5 w/ 225 ** Downed a quart of chocolate milk post lift (840 cals). ** I have actually felt better since I dropped high intensity work. Now Tuesday/Saturday I just lift and nothing else. Wednesday-Friday I swim for 30 minutes. Swimming is brutal cardio, but is low impact on the joints and uses the whole body. I like that it doesn't trash my legs and I always feel refreshed after. |
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| Fitness | Trying to reduce exercise, how to do it without gaining weight? | Oct 13 2012 20:55 (UTC) |
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I have started feeling better since I started working out less. Two days a week I do heavy full body lifting. Takes 45 minutes. I am always winded, drenched, and spent overall. One day a week I run stair sprints, Takes 20 minutes total. Two days a week I swim for 30 minutes. So overall I am still working out five days a week, but my total workout time is about three hours or a bit less. I also still get two complete days off a week. The real trick is just tightening up on what you are eating. Monitoring calories and eating the right foods.
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| Fitness | best excersise? | Oct 13 2012 08:16 (UTC) |
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Fat loss primarily has to do with proper eating and calorie intake. Go here - http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ . Enter in your information and then click on the Harris Benedict link. There it will tell you what your activity multiplier is. Take that multiplier times the number you originally got. This will tell you how many calories it takes to maintain your weight. Then take in 500 less than that per day to lose fat. In terms of exercises : Full body strength training. If you have never done strength training before, I would start out with your own body weight. Squats, lunges, push-ups, inverted rows, etc.. Then once you improve, you can move into actual weight training with free weights. Squats, deadlifts, lunges, various pressing exercises, and pulling exercises. A full body workout 2-3x per week is best. I will say though that doing a mixture of high intensity anaerobic cardio and low intensity aerobic cardio will help improve your genera fitness and make your heart/lungs stronger. The better conditioned you are, the better your strength training workouts will go.
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