Can you help me with a good exercise regimen?

In My Humble Opinion
61

BTW Stranger, I was able to browse a bit through that linked book, “Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning - 3rd Edition”, and you may want to check out their chapter on endurance training, see for example pages 128 and 129. They take a view that is consistent with the traditional one: endurance training will allow for certain sorts of muscular adaptations that serve endurance activity well - no increase in strength, increased capillary and mitochondrial density and increased connective tissue strength. Selective hypertrophy of Type 1 fibers. Less body fat and no change in fat free mass. Maximal cardiac output increases with greater stroke volume. Now not all of the book is available on preview, but if there is a section that states that “LSD-type exercise is of minimal benefit over just normal daily activity, and real gains in endurance are made by stressing activities, in particular those that develop strength …” as you say it does, I would appreciate the direct quote. What is available on preview is quite not that.

I can find less skimming “Fit” on preview except that the bit under endurance emphaisizes, appropriately, variation, including LSD. See page 16 for a discussion about how a beginner should progress from low intensity then add volume and not add much interval taining until at least at the intermediate level then in order “to assist in driving and maximizing the aerobic adaptations made possible by longer duration and continuous activities …” Again, if this book states that there is minimal benefit of LSD elsewhere please provide the quote.

Also again, the question is NOT whether or not HIIT is great (presuming it is someone’s cup of tea), whether or not it cannot also lead to adaptations that serve endurance activity, or whether or not using some interval taining and even HIIT is useful as part of the mix even when someone is training for an endurance event. It is great and it can and it is. The issue is is your claim that LSD is practically worthless (“of minimal benefit”) and your claim that these textbooks state that (which would place them at odds with the medical bodies, something I doubt is the case).

62

My local paper just publishedthis - the 7 minute workout. Doesn’t need any equipment aside from a chair and a wall. According to the article you can safely do it 3 times a day so that, with appropriate breaks, makes your 30 minute requirement.

63

Anaamika, sorry if this seems harsh as that is not my intention but I’m just gonna call a spade a spade here. You’re making excuses for yourself and forcing yourself to go down the wrong road for the destination you seek. Ignoring obvious advice in this thread (i.e. the solution is in the kitchen, not the gym) in favor of your own pre-decisions about what you think you should do to reach your goal. If you want to be ‘thin-skinned’ when faced with reality that’s your choice of course, but at least be honest and not waste people’s time asking for exercise advice when that isn’t what you need.

Then your body is not in a calorie deficit. Two ways to get it there as I’m sure you know, by dietary change or by physical exertion. Quite possible to do it by exercise alone, but that is a long and tedious route. It’s also a path where repetitive stress injuries can present themselves, and possibly stick around for life.

You mean you don’t want to hear that you’re eating wrong.
That’s fine, nobody does.

So you eat the same meals every day. So what. If it’s the wrong nutrient balance it’s not going to help.
You come in under calorie intake? Did you mean to say you come in under required calories?
Did your PT calculate your energy needs? Also be aware that calories are not all equal. The way a medium-chain fatty acid molecule is handled by the body is rather different to how a sugar molecule is handled (one is preferentially burned/used, one more likely to be stored).
If you’re eating a lot of fruit that could be your problem right there. I’d suggest posting a sample of a day’s dietary intake. Don’t start that ‘thin-skinned’ shit, I’m sure I’ve seen some posts from you that suggested a rather leathery outer :wink:

Did you just say it’s hard to lose weight once you’re fat? This is a rationalizing excuse… don’t do this.

I thought balance involved ears and fluids and shit but maybe not. Can you define muscle tone and how it relates to balance?

Keep switching it up in order to… not give any technique or program enough time to work effectively?
Making things complicated isn’t required to slim down. A handful of exercise performed correctly can do the job.

Sorry An, this thread cannot make your exercises more intense, that is entirely up to you. It sounds like you already have more than enough knowledge on moves to do, it is now a matter of putting it into practice.

Fwiw I think Stranger on a Train’s advice is solid.

Anaamika, again please don’t feel offended. People here want to help you succeed, including me. Think about your diet carefully - is it really perfect?

64

Naw, while I’m not offended, I don’t think I’ll be posting anymore. I don’t like the way weight loss threads go around here at all. I got what I wanted out of this thread, more exercises and more variety. Beyond that the only thing I will say is the balance/muscle tone is what my personal trainer said, you know, the guy I paid to help me out.

I also think Stranger On A Train’s posts are great and helpful.

Outta here homies.

65

There is also the 20 second workout which consists of only (3) 20 second bursts, three times a day. I first seen this on PBS, and thought it had a lot of interesting information in it.

This particular group in Britain can predict by just a few certain genes whether or not it’s going to be beneficial to you even before you get started. 15% are going to be super achievers, and 20% will not get any aerobatic benefit despite doing the same exercises.

66

I posted a question in the weight loss thread but this thread seems to get more traffic so I’ll insert a minor highjack here:

Does anyone have any ideas/opinions on the intermittent fasting idea? It sounds gimmicky at best, and possibly unhealthy at worst but I can’t put my finger on it. I’m subscribing to it though - or at least to the general concept. I’m eating all my meals in a 4-6 hr window, leaving 18-20 hrs of “fasting” in between eating.

This link was particularly persuasive:

67

I don’t know if your intention was to be a jerk, but that is exactly the way this blow-by-blow criticism of eveyrthing the o.p. wrote comes off, and without providing any new content or factual information beyond what has already been provided by other posters. Anaaamika specifically stated that she was looking for advice and recommendations on exercise and not a discussion on diet specifically because of the devisiveness of opinoins and diversion from the core topic. Given what I’ve seen on nearly every thread about diet and nutrition on this board, which range from “Go Paleo or DIE!” to “If you aren’t strict vegan you are going to get cancer,” often without any faint whiff of actual knowledge or factual information, I am entirely sympathetic to that position. She clearly indicated in her o.p. that she understood the value of nutrition and the need to maintain a healthy diet as part of getting into better shape.

Well, no, this is exaxtly true. The body builds up fat reserves in order to provide energy for future extended efforts for exertion and resists breaking it down as long as sufficient glycogen stores remain in the body. Trying to just “diet” this away by running a caloric deficit will also result in the loss of lean muscle mass and reduction of the basal metabloic rate, which is completely counterproductive. The o.p.'s recognition of the need for greater intensity of exercise is entirely in line with the requirements to burn off subcutaneous fats. It is indeed “hard to lose weight” and keep it off, because achieving and maintaining the adequate level of fitness requires a lot of work. Some of that work is at the table, in making the appropriate selections in ones diet, but some of that is also finding an activity or exercise routine which one can perform on a regular basis and increase in intensity as one gains in fitness and activity-specific skill.

Stranger

68

I not only believe that this can work but living proof that it does work. I’ve been maintaining this way of eating for 10-15 years. It took a little time to adjust but not as long as you’d think. The weight loss was dramatic, quick and lasting. There were difficult days and days where my energy levels were tapped. But I pushed through them and am none the worse for wear. In fact much better. And I have energy to work out two hours a day and I don’t feel the need to catch up the loss of calories.

I drink a cup of sweet coffee with half/half in the morning to kick start my day. I might have another during the day. You’ll never see me eat breakfast or lunch. I pick dinner as my only meal because that’s always been the meal I’ve enjoyed the most. I make it balanced and healthy and allow myself any luxury I want including butter and bacon and all the “bad” food that other diets don’t often permit. I don’t binge and I physically cannot eat more than a plate full of food that is bigger than my face. It just doesn’t fit in my stomach. So what I do eat, has to be healthy and balanced. If I feel like it, I treat myself to a dessert. No guilt. No regrets. And always a nice reward at the end of a long day.

Let the pile on begin. :stuck_out_tongue:

69

There is some evidence that fasting can improve fat burning and metabolic balance. Of course, there is also some evidence that aliens visited Earth and caused ancient people to build megalithic monuments to honor them, which seems totally unlikely to me. So…I think the only definitive thing we can say about that is plenty of people are able to achieve and maintain fitness without starving themselves or doing any kind of elaborate fasting, just by maintaining a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

Stranger

70

That’s what got Kevin Trudea in trouble with the justice department, is because he said in his weight loss plan was “easy.”

71

As noted there are some studies that show intermitent fasting can give good results … and some that show great resuts from “grazing” … you mileage will vary. Seriously, it likely depends a lot on the individual and more so what you eat when you eat and how much of it and how the eating pattern impacts your activity level.

72

Don’t leave yet!

May I suggest two body weight programs?

First, there is simplefit.org. They have a three day program that consists of push-ups, squats, and pull-ups. If you can’t do pull-ups, you can substitute with rows.

Second, there is Convict Conditioning. Ignore the gimmicky tittle. The book has a really good body weight program.

The basic idea is that you do four different exercises - squats, push-ups, leg raises, and pull-ups. Each exercise has 10 different variations that get progressively more difficult. You start at step one for each exercise and work your way up to step ten. Here is a chart that shows the variations. Once you reach step six on all four exercises, you can add two more - bridges and handstand push-ups.

It’s not as good as strength training with free weights, but if you don’t want to build muscle, and just want to lose weight and stay healthy, they might be the right way to go. You can do both programs at home if you get a pull-up bar. Or if you decide to do rows instead of pull-ups then you don’t need exercise equipment.

73

Actually, you can gain phenomenal strength from pure bodyweight exercises; just check any gynmanst. (I defy a weight lifter to do a full planche or iron cross.) However, it takes more skill, and the progressions are slower because it requries learning and becoming accustomed to new positions or complex variations of other positions and recruiting and training a lot of other muscle groups which aren’t used in the same fashion in weight training. This isn’t to bash weight training, which can be a great way to build up lean muscle relatively quickly, but you don’t need a lift cage, olympic bar, and a large set of plates to get a good strength training routine, especially if your goal is general fitness and not rapid accumulation of muscle.

Stranger

74

I may have already suggested it, but there is a free online program, used to be bodyrock.tv and now it’s daily hiit.

You can pretty much everything body weight, and don’t beef to buy their equipment (although you can). One more thing, make sure you are eating enough. Sounds weird, but your body still needs enough of the right foods to build muscle.

75

Honesty isn’t the sole criteria for good advice. You don’t know anything about Anaamika’s diet and lifestyle except for the fact that she’s not losing weight. From this you conclude that she’s stubborn, delusional, and too stupid to figure when she’s eating too much.

Read this thread I posted some time ago about statistics regarding how many people successfully lose weight. According to the studies available one year ago, 95% of all participants failed to lose more than 25lbs for a period of more than five years.

Anaamika is not rationalizing. It is extremely difficult to lose weight if you are already overweight.

You want to help, but you’re not really helping. Anaamika is thinking about her diet carefully. She posted that she was. You have no reason to think she isn’t.

Your entire post boils down to the insight of “not losing weight: rethink your diet.” Which really is offensive because it implies that this person is of such deficient intelligence that she could not come up with this simple concept on her own.

Increasing your caloric deficit is not always the most practical solution to weight loss. If that’s your only advice then you’re offering an overly simplistic solution to a complicated problem.

76

Sounds good to me. For me, the essence to getting myself to exercise was to understand that however I FEEL about exercising is going to determine whether or not I do it, and/or look forward to more of it, etc.,

So, I focused on finding ways to make me FEEL GOOD whenever I thought about it. Then, I easily fit exercising into my routine.

77

Anaamika,

To me, changing/improving your diet is very helpful and, of course, exercise is a great part of it. But my study and experience say there is ONE OTHER ingredient, that if you don’t incorporate it, you will eventually fail with all your efforts. What is it?

You’ve GOT to get to where you know what you FEEL like, should you get to where you’re in great shape and great health.

If you can get into wonderful FEELINGS about yourself as super fit and healthy, and imagine yourself like this repeatedly (at LEAST once a day) those feelings will literally push you in the direction of that end – you as a very fit, happy, healthy, attractive, intelligence and even alluring person.

78

Hi Anaamika,

From this post of yours I get a better picture of what you’re doing and why it’s not working. Moving about (biking, walking, swim, etc.) is basically good for your body, but from what I’ve studied, the way to lose fat and get truly fit is with HIIT.

HIIT High Intensity Interval Training

There is a whole science behind why it works. You can Google it, or go to drmercolacom and search about it. He explains why it works to reduce fat and make you even super fit, like a trained athlete.

And, a good HIIT workout will take you no more than 30 minutes (w/ 5 mins to warm up and warm down,… only 20 mins of HIIT).

There are some vids on youtube demonstrating it.

It’s sort of like Basic Training in the military, or ‘Hell Week’ for athletes, slotted into a 20 minute workout. It virtually FORCES your body to burn its fat and turn much of that fat into part of a lean, attractive body profile (aka the Hollywood Body).

79

Anaamika: A couple questions.

Do you practice regularly FEELING VERY GOOD about yourself?
Do you know about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)?

If you’ve studied the connection between how we FEEL and what we experience, you will understand that you MUST get to where you routinely FEEL really good about yourself, even BEFORE you see any physical reason to.

This is not some baseless ‘touchy-feely’ thing. It’s science based. We FEEL what we BELIEVE, and it’s often unconscious, underlying beliefs (feelings) that direct the course of our lives AND that are SHAPING our bodies.

This is why pro athletes are routinely made to ‘psych’ theirselves up. They have to BELIEVE (FEEL) they can win or succed, in order to do so.

And so do YOU.

It takes practice,… and repetition. You need to repeatedly tell yourself self-approving, self-appreciating things. You need to pump yourself (your self image) up. so that you really BELIEVE you are worth and can HANDLE every good thing (including a great body).

“I find that when we really love and accept and APPROVE OF OURSELVES EXACTLY AS WE ARE, then everything in life works. It’s as if little miracles are everywhere. Our health improves, we attract more money, our relationships become much more fulfilling, and we begin to express ourselves in creatively fulfilling ways. All this seems to happen without our even trying.” from You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay

“Whatever you think and FEEL yourself to be, the Creative Spirit of Life is bound to faithfully reproduce in a corresponding reaction. This is the great reason for picturing yourself and your affairs as you wish them to be as existing facts (though invisible to the physical eye), and live in your picture.” Genevieve Behrend 1921, in ‘Your Invisible Power’

80

Well, feeling good about myself is not my problem, thankfully. I mostly feel very good about myself - I don’t suffer from depression and have a great, upbeat personality. I’m very happy I got the right chemical mix for that and if the choices are be fat and happy or skinny and depressed (i.e, different chemical makeup, no judgement here) I’d rather be happy.

When I go to the doctor and they weigh me, I know they think “she needs to lose weight”. But then when they check my BP and my cholesterol and all of my other health, I see that they are relieved.

I am healthy, and have a good diet, I swear! I admit I am not willing to cut everything out of my diet, but I eat regimented meals for breakfast and lunch, try to limit my snacks to fruit, and try to stick to low-fat things. Last time I posted about food someone said I should cut out the one glass of 2% milk I have every day. See, here’s what I don’t get. Eating and living should not be suffering. I love my one glass of milk every day, and it’s good for me too.

Even then I don’t ever eat:

potato chips
soda
most salty snacks

My downfall is my sweet tooth. I’m actually lucky in that I don’t really like potato chips that much, and I gave up soda years ago. I also made a very simple resolution: I will not eat anything at work that I haven’t brought in. So no extra snacks from my coworkers.

In the last two weeks, I’ve been getting up early to do some of these exercises and it does make me feel better.

There is NO DOUBT that I need to get more active. I just needed more ideas.

The reason I find these threads a bit sensitive is exactly Nippleless’ commentary. While I am not offended - he’s right, I have a thicker skin than I used to - it’s not a one-size fits all thing. When you post weight loss/exercise thread, the answer is always EAT LESS AND EXERCISE. But that’s not some kind of magic rubric that you can just apply. We all live real lives. As I mentioned early in the thread, I am going back to school, working full-time, and have a nice social life, too. I need to fit exercise into all of this. I have changed my diet so drastically in the last five years it’s kind of amusing.

Anyway, thank you all so much for your help. I just need to change my habits for exercise like I did for food.