I exercise 4-5 days a week usually, for variable amounts of time.
Usually I try to get in a bare minimum of 30 minutes either resistance training or cardio (divided primarily between an elliptical and a stationary bike, with occasional treadmill thrown in for funsies), though most times I go it’s more like 45 minutes-1 hour.
On weight training days, I do all upper-body exercises (since the running/biking takes care of the lower body) including chest, back (upper and lower), bis/tris, and shoulders. I don’t even bother with my abs. Running in proper form is probably gonna do more for those than crunches will, and I’m not the build that will ever have a visible six pack anyways, so why bother?
While I’m doing cardio, I usually either read (pharmacy board study guide these days) or play my PSP (hacked so I can play my PS1 games) and listen to my ipod.
My biggest regret is I don’t have more time/stamina to devote to exercise. I’d love to be able to run/bike for 2 hour stretches, but after about 45 minutes I hit my second wall.
To lose weight and get in shape. One of the body scans I had recently was a heart test, called a Muga scan, to see if my heart was strong enough to tolerate chemo.
It came back at 68%. Anything above 50% is good. I have no idea what the percentage refers to, but the doctor says I have the heart of a racehorse.
30 minutes jogging or cross-trainer, plus 15 minutes of weights (twice a week)
1 hour pump class (low-weight, high-repetition weights working legs, chest, back and arms)
1 hour step or yoga class depending on my friend’s schedule (this semester it’s been step, but I prefer yoga)
1 hour attack class (sounds like a wannabe martial arts class but it’s not. It’s basically an hour of high intensity cardio)
I go with a friend which makes it a lot more fun. We don’t really get to socialise during the workouts but we chat on the 20 minute walk back to my place. I listen to music during my own workout but at the classes there’s already music and I just follow the instructor. I work out because I love my body when I’m fit and I want to get into good exercise habits for when I’m older.
Right now, nothing but 20 minutes of walking almost every day. Soon I’ll be exercising up a storm though through working on my house, paint scraping and angle grinding. I also plan on starting up my shovelglove routine again, along with maybe some swimming or jogging.
I do shotokan karate also so if I can find a good dojo in Orlando maybe I’ll start that up again too. Theses are all nice plans I have
I do about 30-45 minutes of kickboxing, 1000 inverted crunches (I usually break these up during the day, about 250 at a time), and weight training for toning (light weight, lots of reps).
I swim laps every other day (in addition to above) for about 30 minutes. I’ll probably stop doing that soon because I’m going teach a few water aerobics classes instead.
Luckily I work from home and have a very flexible schedule so I can fit workouts in when it’s convenient.
I want to stay in good shape as long as I can and feel good. Plus, being fit helps me feel better about myself.
I put on ~25 lbs over the course of a year due to my rotations (or rather, being exhausted from them and working on top of them) and eating out way too much/often. I’m working out to get that weight off (to get back to my last year weight of 155 or at least replace the fat with equivalent weight in muscle). Also, males in my family are prone to heart attacks, so that’s why I’m doing as much moderate-intensity cardio as my legs can take.
[hijack]quote: “It came back at 68%. Anything above 50% is good. I have no idea what the percentage refers to, but the doctor says I have the heart of a racehorse.”
He was talking about the Ejection fraction, which is the percent of blood volume being pumped out of the left ventricle with each ventricular contraction. Volumes below ~40% are indicative of congestive heart failure. In the case of chemo, certain drugs are cardiotoxic and may precipitate a drug-induced form of heart failure (the risk is essentially dose dependent), which is why they want a baseline level of your heart function before starting you on chemotherapy.
Exercise every day. Generally run 2-3 times during the work week (about 3.5 miles) and one longer run (half-marathon or longer on a trail, I’m up to 22 miles) on the weekend, generally Sunday. Saturday ride my bike around town for “a while” which can be anywhere from an hour to several hours. When I’ve got a long Sunday run I cut the Saturday bike ride down.
On the non-running days during the week I go for a brisk walk during lunch (again, about 3.5 miles). I’ve also got about a 10 min walk each way to/from my house morning and evening.
Work out at home every other night - pushups, crunches, squats, dumbbell workout, pull ups, etc. while zoning out in front of the TV. I go at a leisurely pace so I might spend 2 hours doing this stuff.
Just started Gracie JJ again so I do that three times per week now and I try to bike to/from class (it’s about a 5 mile round trip and basically flat). Class is a bit over an hour with some pretty rigorous grappling work.
I’m 38 - there’s one other beginner in the class older than me, everyone else is considerably younger. I’m pleased that although their skill is better than mine (hey, I’m a beginner) a number of the other students and instructors have commented that my strength and endurance are quite good. Muscles may get sore but I’m not “tired”.
I do have a tendency to strain things now and then which often leads to a layoff of some activity for weeks to let it heal - hurt my leg so I’m not doing long runs right now, but long bike rides are no problem.
Anyhow I just try and do something physically active every day. Even if it’s only 20% of what I’d like to be doing ideally, that’s better than sitting about.
Am I the only one here that rides a horse regularly for exercise? I ride about three mornings a week, roughly two hours per ride. After two hours both horse and rider have really worked up a sweat this time of year.
The mornings I don’t ride a horse I ride a bike three miles. Not your grandma’s three miles, though! Dirt road miles, soft & sandy when dry and muddy when wet, up some really steep hills on a Schwinn single-speed. It’s all I can do to finish.
I stay pretty active working here on this farm, so all-in-all, I’m usually tired by dinner time!
Three to four, sometimes five times a week. A mile on the elliptical (sometimes two) and two on the treadmill (but walking/running). Damn, and I thought I was getting compulsive…perhaps not.
Lately I’ve been going to the Concordia gym three times a week, and going on semi-long (last Thursday I rode 37 km from Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue home) bicycle rides. This autumn I’d like to cycle to Quebec City (about 260 km), and in the future I’d like to do something truly long, like to the Gaspé, or the Santiago pilgrimage.
I go through phases. Before I went to grad school I was always doing something - dance classes, yoga, whatever. The year before I went to the gym religiously - 2-3 times a week, with a personal trainer. I started grad school in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life. During grad school I did some belly dancing. Now I usually do some yoga at home, but sporadically. I have a pretty active life in general, though, so I’ve maintained my weight, if not my physical fitness. Although when I go back to Korea I’m probably going to feel like a blob.
I’m 42, male, and trying to lose weight. Well, I have lost weight (20kg, to 94kg in 2008), I just want to lose more. And get my blood pressure down. My aim is a 10km run in an hour by the end of the year in addition to the weight loss.
So I work out 4-5 times a week (all weight exercises are machine based) and each workout takes about an hour.
Mon/Thu (about 700 Calories according to the tracking system)
10 min Stationary Hand handbike - this I hate
2000m in 8:30 rowing machine, max resistance
15 min Crosstrainer
Vertical Traction, Chest Press, Shoulder Press
Tue/Fri (about 600 Calories)
15 min Treadmill average speed 9 km/h, average gradient 5%
10 min Stationary bike, 2 min intervals
Leg Press, Leg Curls, Leg Extensions, Back Extensions, Crunch machine
In addition, I warm up/down by running to/from the gym (1/2 mile or so each day). This week I went for a run on my midweek rest day (wed) for the first time ever and did 3.5miles in about 40min - I’ll probably go run on a treadmill on Sunday so I can monitor speed and distance.
I feel good - I have had some very slight niggles but no real injuries (or even sore muscles). And I look a lot better, too (so says my wife, anyhow).
Right now, it’s 6-7 days a week. I’m a 30-year-old female, trying to lose weight. I’ve lost close to 15 pounds since February and hope to take off another 10. Once I reach my goal weight I’ll probably cut down to 4-5 days a week for maintenance.
I do weight training three days a week (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday), plus half an hour on the elliptical those days. Two days a week (Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday; I usually take one of those off) I do 45 minutes on the elliptical. On Saturdays I like to do a long cardio day, starting out with 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by 45-60 minutes walking on the treadmill. Sometimes I get a bike ride in on top of it all.
I listen to my iPod while working out. I don’t know what I’d do without it.
As to why I do it … I’ve already said that I’m trying to lose weight but there’s more to it than being thin. I want to be healthy and in good shape. I want my body to look good. I want to reduce my chances of getting osteoporosis (runs in the family). And, at this point, I do it because I like it.
When I’m running, generally I’ll chat with my dad, who usually runs with me. If I’m working out alone inside, I’ll usually put on some properly motivational music. Other than that, not much. It usually requires all of my attention.
Hard to pin down. Partly, it’s pure habit. Running is big in my family; my dad used to run marathons and still competes in shorter races, my cousin is an ultramarathoner and ultratriathelete, and I’ve been running since around ten. Partly it’s because I enjoy both the exercise and the the benefits. I love the lung busting dry heaves of a really good workout, I love how much better it makes me look and feel, I love having my blood pressure nice and low, and I love being good enough at something I enjoy to teach others. It’s also partly out of necessity, at least right now. I’m not fighting right now, but I’m helping train our fight team, which is difficult to do if you can’t hang with them in the ring (or as the saying goes, sweat more in training, bleed less in fighting). I’m also going back to Cali for a training camp at the end of the month, and if I’m now in very good shape I’m going to be very, very sorry.
Because I love being active. It makes me feel good mentally and physically (before, during and after - as Pravnik said it’s sometimes the “good pain” that goes with a strenuous workout). It’s just part of my life now, if I don’t do it I feel like I forgot to take a shower or brush my teeth. Because I dropped 40 lbs and am in better shape than ever in my life. My cholesterol levels (high in my family) went from “You ought to keep an eye on those numbers” to “Normal - great job!” (that from my doctor) and I’m looking forward to living longer. I want to be a cranky 100-year old telling those whippersnappers to get out of my way. Because I look better and now have to buy “athletic fit” clothes to get a shirt that fits right. Because my friends say that I’m setting an example and they’re all getting back into shape as well, and a cancer survivor at my WW meeting called me her inspiration. Because I can do things that I never could before and it feels easy.
I bring my mp3 player along when I run and sing along (quietly, it just helps me keep my breathing at the right rate).
While I pay attention to what I’m doing and where I’m going I can do some daydreaming (while running, biking, walking, lifting) - the exertion is soothing in a way, so part of my brain is keeping me focused on staying safe so I don’t ride into somebody or run in front of a car and my “higher brain functions” are given a chance to rest, almost like dreaming. Sometimes, if I’m at a tough spot like a run up a steep hill that is just killing me I pretend I’m running with someone and we’re cheering each other on.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve kept it at one hour on the eliptical machine 6 days a week.
I’m trying something different starting tomorrow. I’m upping it to 90 minutes 3 times per week, but dropping down a level. I’m adding back in the weight training that I dropped in May to focus on cardio.
I listen to my ipod most of the time. I usually listen to lectures from the Teaching Company or podcasts. I work out in the apartment complex gym so there is only one tv. If I’m in there alone on the weekend, I might put a sporting event on or a news show.
I do it because I want to look and feel good. I’m closer to 40 than to 20. I can’t live on beer and Taco Bell and stay skinny like I did when I was younger.
I walk a lot around campus, but 3 times a week I do:
20-25 minutes high intensity on the elliptical machine
20 minutes of weight lifting focusing on arms and legs
a series of ab exercises
10 minute cooldown walk on the treadmill at around 4mph
1 more set of weights
collapse in the middle of the gym.
