Exercise and Fitness - Pursuit of Excellence (or improvement, for start)

[Quorra]

Hi everyone!

I'm kinda new to this whole exercise thing (relatively). Honestly, I'm super unhealthy. Poor diet, little exercise. I have about a hundred pounds to lose (long-term).

Any advice for a nervous beginner?

Since you're new to it, I would just recommend first trying to figure out what you like to do.

The best exercise is the one that you do. Would you prefer doing things alone or interacting with people? Are you competitive or more like a "let's all have fun" type of person?

One easy thing is to just move for maybe 30-45 minutes, non-stop, every day. Put on a TV show you like, or a movie, stand in your living room or where-ever, and march in place. Do some jumps here and there if you want, move your arms in controlled motions around you while marching in place. If you get tired, just bend and lower your knees or just take small side-to-side steps but don't stop. By the end you should be sweaty and breathing hard. If not, next time move a little faster, make your steps bigger.

[Inigima]

Do you have a good handle on what makes a good diet? How about a good exercise regimen?

[Stan Man]

Do you have a good handle on what makes a good diet? How about a good exercise regimen?

Kind of. I'm going to be looking for healthy/cheap recipes (I'm a college student with a few dollars to my name). This summer, I have an internship halfway across the country, and for the first time in my life I'll be shopping for myself. I figured that would be a good way to create a solid meal plan (incorporate healthier proteins like fish, more vegetables, etc).

I don't do much exercise besides walking and jogging (mostly walking lately, unfortunately). Do you have any recommendations for a weekly plan? Walking every day? Every other day?

[Eponine]

I don't do much exercise besides walking and jogging (mostly walking lately, unfortunately). Do you have any recommendations for a weekly plan? Walking every day? Every other day?

If you enjoy walking and jogging, consider doing couch to 5K (you can google it). You work your way from walking to running/jogging the entire distance. If you fall off the wagon, it's no big deal, you can always repeat a week. You can supplement it with strides (100 m run - not sprint if you're not in shape to sprint) and body weight exercises - pushups, pullups (get a band), air squats, etc. Once you've worked your way up to that, it's a good starting place to decide what you enjoy doing.

[Stan Man]

If you enjoy walking and jogging, consider doing couch to 5K (you can google it). You work your way from walking to running/jogging the entire distance. If you fall off the wagon, it's no big deal, you can always repeat a week. You can supplement it with strides (100 m run - not sprint if you're not in shape to sprint) and body weight exercises - pushups, pullups (get a band), air squats, etc. Once you've worked your way up to that, it's a good starting place to decide what you enjoy doing.

I love Couch-to-5k! I'm not into the whole zombie fandom, but there is a great storyline app that involves zombies and really gets you running! There's a slight problem there - a year ago my toenail ripped off, got infected, and is currently growing in the wrong way. I got it operated on, the doctors I'm okay to walk about and stuff, but it really is painful. I'm hoping it heals soon because I'd rather face the Mountain in single combat than deal with this for another eight months.

[Inigima]

Couch to 5K is lovely but I don't know that I'd recommend running for weight loss, especially without a heartrate monitor. That said, anything that gets you exercising is good, and I find exercising drives my other healthy habits, like eating right.

Do you have access to a gym or other sources of fitness equipment, like weights?

[Stan Man]

Couch to 5K is lovely but I don't know that I'd recommend running for weight loss, especially without a heartrate monitor. That said, anything that gets you exercising is good, and I find exercising drives my other healthy habits, like eating right.

Do you have access to a gym or other sources of fitness equipment, like weights?

At the moment, no - but I hear the place I'm staying over the summer has a fitness center!

[OnionAhaiReborn]

Kind of. I'm going to be looking for healthy/cheap recipes (I'm a college student with a few dollars to my name). This summer, I have an internship halfway across the country, and for the first time in my life I'll be shopping for myself. I figured that would be a good way to create a solid meal plan (incorporate healthier proteins like fish, more vegetables, etc).

I don't know exactly what your diet is like now, but for weight loss it's going to be far more important to cut calorie dense junk foods out than it will be to incorporate healthy foods.

[ithanos]

My eye surgery seems to have gone rather well, based on the checkups that followed.

I am currenty on day 3 of 30 days of no demanding physical activity.

That sucks to have to sit out that long - but here's to coming back fitter, faster, stronger Baxus!

This working out thing is apparently working....out.

Just had a hydrostatic body fat test done - down to 16% & up to 208lbs.

Then did Murph...1 mile, 100 pull ups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats, 1 mile. Finished in 49:39.

Awesome. You do these sequentially or were you allowed to break down the pull ups/push ups/air squats to something like 5 rounds of 20/40/60?

[baxus]

5km of rowing in 24:30, despite some distraction from the Blackhawk's game messing with my rhythm in the fourth kilometer. I stayed around 32spm for most of the first 4.7km and then increased to 40+spm for an intense finish. I definitely feel like I could row for longer distances now, but it would take too long.

I am still impressed by how you manage to maintain such high strokerate for such a long distance.

Sure, your average pace is not really that fast (about 2:24/500m with the data you provided) but maintaining 32 strokes per minute for that long is still too much for me.

Hi everyone!

I'm kinda new to this whole exercise thing (relatively). Honestly, I'm super unhealthy. Poor diet, little exercise. I have about a hundred pounds to lose (long-term).

Any advice for a nervous beginner?

Just find out what feels good to you.

It might be running, it might be swimming or cycling or rowing or weigths or crossfit or whatever...

Figure out what it is and do it regularly.

It might be different for you but based on my experience, working out four times a week gives the best results achieved over time spent ratio.

I don't do much exercise besides walking and jogging (mostly walking lately, unfortunately). Do you have any recommendations for a weekly plan? Walking every day? Every other day?

If walking is your thing, then try to walk as much as you can.

You can hardly walk too much, really.

If you would take the bus for a couple of stops, walk instead.

Of course, it would take longer but take that into account when planning your day.

R.e. dieting

I've never tried to diet, because I love food more than I'm motivated to not eat it. However, my parents both count calories and they absolutely swear by it. Next week I'm starting this as part of my fitness drive for an event later this summer.

Otherwise, cut out fizzy drinks and junk food, as others have said.

I also prefer the "I work out as much as I do so I don't have to count calories" approach.

EDIT:

That sucks to have to sit out that long - but here's to coming back fitter, faster, stronger Baxus!

"Citius, altius, fortius" all the way! ;)

[Iskaral Pust]

I am still impressed by how you manage to maintain such high strokerate for such a long distance.

Sure, your average pace is not really that fast (about 2:24/500m with the data you provided) but maintaining 32 strokes per minute for that long is still too much for me.

I don't use anything close to max force on the pull, not until the last 300m. This is my warm up and cardio so I use mostly legs with only a moderate pull from the back and arms. I'm definitely breaking a sweat after 3km but my heart is not really racing until I do the high intensity finish. As I continue rowing I'll try to enter the high intensity phase earlier. I think for that the force in the pull matters more than the spm.

[HairBearHero]

32-40spm for 25 minutes is nuts/impressive, even if you're not putting much effort into each pull.

We got to play with a Speed Coach in this morning's training session - it's basically a little GPS/accelerometer gadget that tells you how fast you're going and at what stroke rate. Very useful, especially if you combine it with heart rate data, as you can figure out what's the most efficient way to do long distances.

For instance, at 21/22spm we were doing ~3.5m/s and my heart rate was at about 140 (my max is somewhere in the 190s, so this is sustainable for a long time), whereas at 25/26spm we only increased the pace to 3.7m/s and my heart rate shot up to 160ish. As such, we're going to go with a slower stroke rate for the first 75% of our races, then blow out in the final quarter.

Managed to hit 4.65m/s on a power 10 (100% effort for 10 strokes, then resume rowing normally), which is pretty damn fast for a coastal rowing boat. Unfortunately, we can only maintain that speed for about a minute!

[Iskaral Pust]

Interesting to have the stats to compare, thanks. My speed just doesn't feel all that onerous to me. Especially not compared to my treadmill run, which is 2 miles in 15-16 minutes, including a finish of 12mph for anywhere from 300m-800m. I would say that my heart rate is near max (also 190s for me) after the intense finish to rowing, but it is far below max prior to the intense finish.

I use the level 10 (max) resistance on the rowing machine. I maintain a pretty constant pace at ~32spm until the intense finish. I use the technique from the youtube video posted here a few months ago: don't bend legs through more than 90 degrees, minor range of movement for lower back as I bend and pull, rely on power from legs and back moreso than arms, posture, etc (there are mirrors to the front and side to help with form)

I wasn't able to do 5km from the start. I started with 2x1km, then 2km, 3km, 4km and now 5km. I maintain an overall speed of just under 2:30 per 500m, which is the pace metric on my rowing machine, and then increase to something like 1:50 per 500m when I switch to the high intensity heavier pull, which I can only maintain for about a minute so far, especially as it's at the end of 5km. But I plan to lengthen the intense period.

Running and swimming are both more demanding cardio. For swimming I basically treat each 25m length like a sprint, pause to catch breath for 1-2 minutes and repeat for 20-30 lengths.

No workout last night. I was stiff and sore from squats and leg weights (what a workout!) - which is a good sign that I need a rest day. I have to be up at 3:30am tomorrow to catch an early flight but I might still try to squeeze in a quick workout tonight, probably just weights so that I don't have to wait as long after dinner. I can only do cardio on an empty stomach.

[Starkess]

Starting to feel a bit nervous about my race this weekend. Maybe nervous isn't the right word--annoyed at myself? I've been training for this for basically 6 months, and of course now at the very end I feel like I'm running out of steam. And I haven't been counting calories for the last month so that I could focus on just running and now I feel huuuuuge and like I'm just going to slow myself down by being a big ol whale on the course. Oh well. Going to crack down like a mofo next week!

[HairBearHero]

I use the level 10 (max) resistance on the rowing machine. I maintain a pretty constant pace at ~32spm until the intense finish. I use the technique from the youtube video posted here a few months ago: don't bend legs through more than 90 degrees, minor range of movement for lower back as I bend and pull, rely on power from legs and back moreso than arms, posture, etc (there are mirrors to the front and side to help with form)

I wasn't able to do 5km from the start. I started with 2x1km, then 2km, 3km, 4km and now 5km. I maintain an overall speed of just under 2:30 per 500m, which is the pace metric on my rowing machine, and then increase to something like 1:50 per 500m when I switch to the high intensity heavier pull, which I can only maintain for about a minute so far, especially as it's at the end of 5km. But I plan to lengthen the intense period.

At the rowing club we generally hover around setting 5-7 (presuming you're using a Concept2?), as that's roughly the equivalent of being in the water depending on your weight.

As a contrast, I'll row 5km in around 19 minutes (1:53/500m ish) at about 23-24 strokes per minute.

It may just be a difference in attitude - everything I do on a rowing machine is focused on efficiency (i.e. minimum effort for maximum speed), whereas you're mainly interested in maximising your effort for your cardio workout and efficiency is somewhat irrelevant. Does that make sense? It's something I've struggled with when trying to teach friends (who aren't necessarily interested in rowing as a sport but just want to do some cardio) how to row.

[baxus]

I use the level 10 (max) resistance on the rowing machine. I maintain a pretty constant pace at ~32spm until the intense finish. I use the technique from the youtube video posted here a few months ago: don't bend legs through more than 90 degrees, minor range of movement for lower back as I bend and pull, rely on power from legs and back moreso than arms, posture, etc (there are mirrors to the front and side to help with form)

Running and swimming are both more demanding cardio. For swimming I basically treat each 25m length like a sprint, pause to catch breath for 1-2 minutes and repeat for 20-30 lengths.

Rowing with the machine set to max resistance is a definite no-no for warmup.

Rowing with that setting is meant to increase strength, which is done for intervals much shorter than 25 minutes AND when you are sufficiently warmed up.

I would recommend looking through the menu on the machine and find "Display Drag Factor" option (should be under "More Options" tab) and set the drag factor based on your weight.

For example, I weighed 79-80kg for most of our winter erging sessions and the drag factor I used was 123-125.

As a contrast, I'll row 5km in around 19 minutes (1:53/500m ish) at about 23-24 strokes per minute.

I did a 5k test around New Year's and it took me 20:05 or so.

Have no idea how long it would take me now.

[Isis]

So I seemingly gave myself a sports injury from too much Bikram yoga. I got as far as doing 17 days of my 30 day challenge and had to stop. I was getting sharp pain when doing acute forward bends, i.e. postures in the class or movements outside the class which involve bending yourself in half, e.g. putting on socks. I went for a therapeutic massage at the yoga studio and the therapist said 'maybe it hurts when you bend forwards because you've been bending backwards too much'. And lo, I went and did one more class, avoiding the acute front bends, which made me realise that the majority of Bikram postures are actually back bends and my spine is evidentially not happy about me pushing it so hard so soon.

That was a week ago. No more yoga for me until my back stops twinging. I think it's nearly there. But I plan on getting back to HIIT before gently reintroducing yoga.

[ElizabethB.]

So I seemingly gave myself a sports injury from too much Bikram yoga. I got as far as doing 17 days of my 30 day challenge and had to stop. I was getting sharp pain when doing acute forward bends, i.e. postures in the class or movements outside the class which involve bending yourself in half, e.g. putting on socks. I went for a therapeutic massage at the yoga studio and the therapist said 'maybe it hurts when you bend forwards because you've been bending backwards too much'. And lo, I went and did one more class, avoiding the acute front bends, which made me realise that the majority of Bikram postures are actually back bends and my spine is evidentially not happy about me pushing it so hard so soon.

That was a week ago. No more yoga for me until my back stops twinging. I think it's nearly there. But I plan on getting back to HIIT before gently reintroducing yoga.

Did it hurt when you were resting?

[Iskaral Pust]

Thanks for tips Baxus and HBH.

I like the amount of cardio effort required so I don't want to reduce resistance. There's definitely a difference between training for a race vs getting a good workout.

Weights only at the gym last night went well but waking at 3:30 this morning was absolute murder. Hopefully some sleep on this flight.