Nuttybunny, you went to the trouble of putting “go back and read” in your quote box, yet you did NOT go back and read.
“Work,” as I am ranting about re: idiot treadmillers, isn’t relative to “what you can do.”
“Work” is determined by impact and speed. If you’re walking as hard as you can FOR YOU, and still not striking with any force, you’re still doing low-impact work. It makes no difference where your heart rate is.
Did you see that part of the post? Obviously not. Or you didn’t understand it. Go back and read it, because you’re doing a poor job of refutation if you’re arguing out of scope.
Elysian, should my child be fat, I’m willing to bet that it will be because of genetics or a disease/condition, not because of gluttony. And if that’s treatable, certainly I’ll get him the treatment he needs. If there’s nothing to be done and he’s as healthy as can be at a high weight, then so be it.
But just as I am willing to give you benefit of the doubt and assume that you, Elysian, are not taking the position, “If your child is overweight you should just love him instead of taking him to one of those self-esteem-destroying doctors,” I’m asking that you give me the benefit of the doubt by not assuming that my position is, “A fat kid must be engineered to my specifications.”
Sweet God. I don’t even have any kids.
I dislocated my knee a couple of years ago so running is a little rough, so I hop on the treadmill and walk briskly at a steep incline. We have no track at my gym so it is what it is.
One thing I hate is the folks that go past there alotted time on a machine. You can sign up for no more than 2 consecutive 15 minute on some mahcines and 2 20 minute sessions on others. If you signed up at 4:30 on a 20 minute machine and I am signed up for 5 o’clock, then you need to get off the machine at 5 you shitstick. There is a huge sign stating such rules above the machines. I will fart in the general direction of the next person who gets pissy when I remind them that their turn on the machine is up.
Wow, seems the Offenderati is working overtime these last few days.
Ya’ll need to back up off of HSHP, since I think you misunderstand his objections. I think he’s referring to a certain class of people which none of you fits.
For example, there’s this guy in at my gym. He shows up right after work, gets on a treadmill in a suit. Yes, a suit. Shirt, tie, pants, shoes, jacket, the whole thing. Then he puts on his little hands-free device for his cell phone, and yaks the whole time while walking 1 MPH at 0% incline.
I think it does matter what your heart rate is. Someone who is overweight and just getting started on a fitness program, a fit person who has been laid up with an injury and just getting back into exercising will be at a different fitness level than you and walking for them might mean working at their target heart rate just as you might be at your target heart rate while running.
So, what exactly is your problem? That someone dares to do low-impact cardio while you’re waiting to train for the Ironman competition?
Maybe I didn’t understand it, but my question still stands: How do you know by looking at someone whether or not they have an injury that forces them to walk instead of run? Treadmills are better on the joints, so someone who is overweight and has joint problems or a fit person with an injury are going to benefit from a treadmill, rather than a track.
Stop avoiding this question. Otto asked it a while back and I’ve asked it twice now.
I wasn’t really even talking to you. It was kind of a public service announcement.
My sister is still way overweight from what my mother put her through. She was chubby, sure, but she could swim a 500 in competition, which I never could do. But mom didn’t love her for that, oh no, sis also had to be a skinny little toothpick. There was nothing wrong with the girl – my mom was foisting her own issues on her.
But how do you know by looking at him that he doesn’t have an injury or some other reason to work at such a slow pace.
Some people have to start slowly if they’ve been sick for an extended period of time or had an injury. If that’s the case, at least he’s doing something. But since you don’t know, don’t judge.
The American College of Sports Medicine has a simple formula for determining your exercise heart rate: 222 - your age = theoretical maximum heart rate (HR).
HR*.6= lower limit
HR8.9= higher limit
Mid-point between these is your target heart rate.
Work out on the equipment so that you reach and maintain your target heart rate for 20-30 minutes 3x a week. Workout at whatever level of exertion is required to reach that heart rate (as you get more fit, the level of exertion should increase).
Pay attention to what you’re doing and work toward your goal. Doesn’t matter if you reach that level of exertion by walking at 2 mph on 0% incline, or 5 mph on 10% incline - do your own thing and tell everyone else to mind their own fucking business.
I don’t care how fit you are or whether you walk or run on the treadmill–you’re in my way. That’s right, toots, move it or lose it. Get off that machine, I want to use it. Shoo, off that bench, I’ll let you know when I’m done! That’s right, I’m getting all Verruca Salt on your ass, so get the hell outta my way.
I mean, that’s the gist of this thread, right?
Criminy, people. Go to the damn gym and work on your own goals and don’t speculate on why some folks are slower than others.
I think it’s easy to get irritated at the gym because you’re focused on your own workout and want to get your routine accomplished. Then all these other people get in your way! I think we can find specific reasons to be irritated with them, but the real irritant is that they’re preventing us from doing what we want when we want.
Anyway, my biggest gym irritant is people who inflict their horrible music on you. We have one guy who will come in, take off what’s playing and put on a Christian Rock CD. Eep. I am generally too polite/reserved to ask someone to change music if it’s on when I arrive, much less just barge in a change it.
Of course, this sort of politeness can result in dire consequences. One day I was in the weight room with two other people. One was a guy and the other was a woman in her thirties. Celine Dion is blaring out of the stereo. Naturally I assume that this abomination is the musical choice of our female companion. Being politenessman, I suffer in silence, internalizing all my groans and grumbles. This goes on for at least 30 minutes. Finally, the lady says, “This is awful. Would anybody mind if I changed the music?”
You don’t know that. If he knows he can only do so much at this point, even if he doesn’t break a sweat, at least he’s exercising his muscles a bit. If you have an injury, you don’t want to do a lot until you’re stronger. If that means walking slowly and not sweating, so be it. It’s still none of anyone’s business.
I would probably judge the guy on his workout fashion sense, since it’s silly to wear a suit to the gym, but I wouldn’t judge him on his fitness because I don’t know his situation.
Cite? Cite, and cite?
I’m not avoiding your question. I’m saying that the “I need a treadmill to do my no-impact work” excuse is fallacious, and that courtesy and convenience would be served if you did your no-impact work on the track and freed up the treadmill for someone who would get a real benefit from it. I’m saying that you can hit and maintain your target HR without a machine, and that the people who need the machine in order to work at high speeds (while avoiding the risk of impact, jarring and directional-change-related injuries that come with avoididng the slow) ought to be taken into consideration when you’re deciding where to do your no-impact work.
Yes, I actually do. I used to sell memberships at the very gym which I now patronize, and was actually the one who did paperwork with this guy. I know him on a first name basis and actually talk with him once and a while. He has no injuries, he’s one of those guys who falls under #4 of HSHP’s OP.
Here you are talking out of your ass, making all kinds of assumptions. Maybe he’s sick, maybe he’s rehabilitating an injury, maybe he’s got knees made out of Jello brand gelatin and they can’t take the impact.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, he really is wasting his (and everyone else’s) time by walking on the treadmill in a suit burning barely 150 calories in 30 minutes? Some people are just assholes, and this guy is one of them.
I submit that anyone taking their workout seriously would never work out in a suit. If you are on a suit on the treadmill, you are wasting your time. Period.
Gah! So what? If I want to pay my gym fees, bring my Game Boy with me, and sit on the treadmill playing Super Mario Brothers for my allotted 20 minutes, why do you care?
Keep your nose out of other people’s business, ferchrissakes.
Another data point: I walk on the treadmill at an 11% incline because running, the other way to get my heart rate up to 175-180 (my usual target) with just my legs, causes me to be unable to breathe due to my exercise-induced asthma.
Yes, lots of people, for lots of different reasons, are benefited by walking on the treadmill. And heck - some people just like to get some exercise that way, even if they don’t need to. Who (sane) cares?
The next time you want to use a piece of equipment that’s being used, go up and politely ask, “Excuse me, I noticed that you were using this piece of equipment, but I’d like to use it as well. Do you mind if I use this and you can use the track?”
The person on the equipment can give the question whatever consideration they deem appropriate. “Sure, I’ll move over,” or “Fuck you, I’m paying my dues just like anyone else and I got here first.”
That’s pretty much the long and short of it, isn’t it?
I was a trainer at my gym and felt like a baby sitter quite a few times. A little common sense and a little common courtesy sure go a long way, but you could never tell it by some people.
Fine, you know his situation. You can judge that ONE individual. Does that mean that HSHP knows everyone’s situation?
No, I’m not making assumptions. People who don’t know what someone’s condition is are making an assumptions about their level of fitness, not me.
You know, I would be a little perplexed as to why this guy was using up a treadmill, but it’s still none of my business since he paid his dues. It’s not my job or responsibility or business or right to ask him to get off the machine so I can walk 4 miles per hour rather than his 2 miles per hour. Just like you can’t ask me to get off so you can do 8 miles per hour.
