Whoa, suddenly you are grasping the concept fairly well! Good job!
Tone down the snark, Ambivalid.
4-6 days per week, depending how I’m feeling. Running, strength-training 2x a week, workout videos that include aerobics & calisthenics…and lately I’ve been getting into yoga. I try to do either the running or the aerobics 3x a week. Usually more aerobics, because I hear running a lot gives many people knee problems and my knees suck already. I’m usually exercising several hours per week.
And I think rhubarbarin raises a valid point. For example, my younger brother is an elite athlete. He has a resting bpm of, like, 40. “Vigorous” is subjective and relative, regardless of how a chart classifies the exercises. My bro’s idea of vigorous exercise would make me vomit and/or pass out. Theoretically, we could be exercising and feeling like we were exerting ourselves the same amount, for the same amount of time, and he would still be much more physically fit than I am by any objective measurement. Some people probably have heart rates appropriate for “vigorous” exercise while climbing stairs, and IMHO heart rate zones are more appropriate for measuring “vigor” than what type of activity is being done.
As a smoker, I avoid exercise as much as possible. However, I do like to exsanguinate the poultry a few times a week, as well as play “Let’s find the Cacciatore!”
The difference between personal fitness levels is part of the reason why they leave “vigorous” as a vague descriptor. If you consistently exercise “vigorously” a few times a week, it probably won’t be long before you do have a lower resting heart rate and a higher level of fitness.
The points are: 1) that you are exercising; 2) you’re improving, since vigorous is a constantly moving target; 3) you’re not “exercising.”
I’ve seen scores of people hamstering away on treadmills and elliptical machines for 45 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half, at a pace that my (dead) grandmother could match. In a year or two, I could probably come back to the same gym and find them in roughly the same shape they were when I left. Despite the effort they’ve spent in coming to the gym, they wasted their time on ineffective and unambitious activity instead of more efficient forms of exercise.
I have done workouts that deliberately dare you to push to the edge of puking and/or passing out. I’m sometimes finished in less time than it takes me to warm up. My reward is a resting heart rate in the high 40s, about 10 bpm better than when I was a competitive swimmer. I have about 15 lbs. more muscle than I did as a high school athlete, sprint times that are several seconds faster, and I’ve probably never been stronger than I am now. (I had more flexibility and strength-to-weight as a gymnast, but I had to stop doing it well before I got my full growth.)
So yeah, vigorous. It’s vague. For someone who’s 300 lbs., miming walking up stairs will probably have them pouring sweat like crazy. For a triathlete, vigorous would have them doing a shitload more work at a higher pace. Both people are probably putting forth a suitable effort for making improvements to their performance.
It’s why the talk test is a functional measure (and correlates pretty well with target heart rate measures, as do the simple scales of perceived exertion.)
What it takes to get you to those points will vary depending on your fitness level, but the point that equals moderate or vigorous does not. It may be common sense but they have specific definitions.
Interesting. My walking/light jogging pretty much never gets to level 15 or above on the Borg scale. My resting heart rate is in the 70-80-ish range; female in my mid 50s. I quit smoking in April (finally, yay) and while I do frequently break into a jog while walking, I’m ashamed to say it’s fairly desultory and I slow back down to a walk as soon as I start getting out of breath.
Would increasing exertion to level 15 and above a few times a week improve heart strength in a person who is relatively active already, as many here are?
What’s to be ashamed of? You’re getting off the couch and getting outside regularly - you’re doing better than, at an estimate, 50% of the population. Besides, this is debatable, of course, but walking is known by some as the best exercise for humans. 
Well I would like to brag that I have ridden my bike every day this year. 
Oh, I know walking is great exercise, I was just wondering if it would be better to push myself a bit more cardiac-health wise. I don’t think a resting heart rate of 70-80 is that good and I know that my 37-year smoking habit :eek: (which ended in April) has surely done lasting damage.
In high school (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) I was a good athlete and competitive cross-country runner. I used to love running and did it for fun. I think it would be nice to feel some of that again!
Aaand…since it doesn’t appear that it’s going to stop snowing any time soon, I guess I should get dressed and take the dogs for a [del]walk[/del] run.
Congratulations on quitting smoking!
Thanks!
Took the biggest dog about four miles.
Prompted by a thread in MPSIMS, I remembered starting but never finishing) the coolrunning C25K program. Which basically starts out alternating walking and jogging a few times a week for about 20 minutes. So that’s what I did except I ran more than walked, for more than 20 minutes. My chest hurts now.
I just went running. Haven’t done that in months. Feels great.
I just went running Friday for the first time in a while (about 3 miles). I definitely felt like I could have run longer or faster than I did, but I knew I’d be hurting later if I did. I didn’t feel sore at all Friday or yesterday, but today my calves hurt. Glad I didn’t go harder. Ease into running, guys! If you haven’t done it in a while, stop well before you feel like you need to, because you might not be able to tell until a couple days later if you’ve overdone it. At least that’s how it is for me; YMMV, literally…
I managed to exercise 7 days straight - 1 weights session, 4 days of running, 2 days of lift skiing, 1 day on the bike (double session one day). A good week.
I have exercised every day but 3 in the last 4 years. The time has gradually crept up with changes in fitness and circumstances and I am now deliberately moving about 2 hours a day. I alternate weight training with indoor cardio days (mini tramp/stationary bike/aerobic step) and then add a walk/jog/ride outside pretty much daily. The outside stuff is the hard bit due to health issues but health issues are why I keep pushing it, I also function better with a bit of sunlight.
I used to be really fat and pretty disabled with it, I started out doing 20 minutes a day on the Wii Fit, it is true, video games just lead to madness. Despite living with serious lung disease and problems with the usual medications I have never felt stronger or fitter and I love pushing it and seeing what the old beaten up body can do. It is surprisingly muscular if you can get past all the flappy saggy stuff in the meat suit.
But 2 hours is just silly, I need to find another hobby.
Biking for an hour+about 3+ times a week.
Did 2400 miles last year, want to do 3000 this year.
30 minutes on a recumbent exercise bike, usually averaging about 10 miles. Then 150 crunches, followed by some weight lifting. It’s about an hour total, and I do it six days a week.
Since I fulfilled my PE requirement last year, not much. I ought to start working out at a gym or someplace.