What do you do for exercise? I aim to keep a balanced, rigorous, but not overly time-consuming routine. I do at least two hours of cardio and two hours of strength training per week. The cardio, on good weather days, are jogs of 8 miles. On bad weather days, they are some routine or another from the Insanity workout. The strength training is entirely bodyweight exercises- including time dedicated to my pull-up bar- and resistance bands. Overall, I like exercises in which I can really see and feel my body moving. Those are the ones that are the most satisfying to me and. For that reason, I prefer jogging over workout videos and bodyweight exercises (especially pullups!) over band or freeweight training. That, and I tend to walk a lot. I mean a lot. At least 10, but usually around 20 miles per week. It reduces stress, burns calories and saves me $ on transportation. My life has turned an entire 180 since I began exercising and eating healthfully. That's why I wanted to make this thread, so we can share our stories and encourage one another. This site is about education, however an educated mind is highly limited if the physical brain is trapped inside an unsound body.
Gym 4-days a week for the last 9.5 years. I do about an hour of weights and/or machines and 20 minutes of high intensity cardio (intervals). Monday & Thursday I do chest, back, legs, abs and cardio. Tuesday and Friday is biceps, triceps, shoulders, abs and cardio. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday are days off. Two different exercises for each muscle, 6 sets each. Lately I've been doing more intense sets. The funny thing is that when I *first* started working out, 6 months after hitting the gym we took some workout pictures & I had absolutely no fat on my body. My diet consisted of Fatburger 10-15 times per week (Double King chili cheese burgers and two orders of skinny chili cheese fries) with pizza and McDonalds thrown in for good measure. Back then, in my early 20s, I guess my metabolism was super fast and I could pull it off. Then in 2005 I quit smoking 30 cigarettes a day & these love handles started to creep in. I blamed it on quitting smoking and said it was the worst mistake I'd ever made. For the past 5 years, I have tried absolutely everything to lose weight through exercise alone. Nothing worked & the belly fat kept creeping on. A little over a month ago I decided to do the one thing I was dreading the most: dieting. I started eating just really boring food like brown rice & fat free yogurt, salads with little dressing & chicken breast, egg white omlettes with spinach and mushroom, oatmeal and yogurt in the morning. Basically 4-6 small meals a day and never more than 20 grams of fat in each meal (around 400-600 calories each, depending on the amount I eat that day). Long story short, I've lost 18 pounds since I started the diet and am very close to being back to where I was 9 years ago. Only I've been building muscle under the collecting belly fat during that time so it's looking even better. Moral: Diet is clearly the most important aspect. Some people say 80% but I would bring it closer to 90%. With a fast metabolism you can swing a lot of junk food, but once you approach (and pass) 30, the game's up. I've accepted the fact that humans only have taste buds to test whether or not food items are poisonous, spoiled, edible, etc. It's a shame to spend so much time in the gym and waste it just to satisfy taste buds.
I've been a runner for the last 22 years. Looking back over the last six months, in a typical week, I get six days of cardio with most of that running distances in the 3.5 - 5 mile range. 2-3 days per week, I wander into the gym after my run to row or bike for 30 minutes. I also have a circuit class that I get to 1-2 days per week. I do a lot of push-ups and kettlebells, medicine balls and I have become firm, fast friends.
My routine varies, but usually includes weights 2 to 5 times per week (currently 5x at about 15-20 minutes each workout) plus walking, usually with a pack. I walk my dog 2 miles every weekday morning with me wearing a 15 pound pack and Saturday morning we walk 4-9 miles (high end in winter, low end in the hot summer) with me wearing a 35 pound pack. Sundays we often go to a park and walk. I enjoy walking so it's hard to call it a workout. Regarding the diet part of it all mentioned earlier. I got serious about losing weight in 2008 and dropped 45 pounds. I've kept it off. I'm not skinny but I am well within the "normal, healthy" range. Seldom does a day go by when I don't know how many calories I have consumed. Counting calories is what works for me so that's what I do. I count calories consumed and I count calories burned. There is a little more to it, but that's the key.
Well, I could make excuses all day long about my eating and excersise habits, but I won't.I have, however, begun to start walking within the last month or two. I started small just two miles with my dog Annie. She's a Lab/Sheppard mix and has a lot of energy. After we started walking pretty regularly everytime I would get up she would bound up to and run to the front door. I was not really fond of the dog to begin with but her enthusiasm for walking sparked mine. I am now up to 3-4 walks of 2 miles each per day. I do not see much weigth loss (I still eat like a garbage can) but I do feel better about moving my body.My biggest problem is eating. I eat when I am bored, depressed, happy, etc. I love to read and have snacks so I am also eating something since I read quite a bit. I keep having people tell me that losing weigth is 80% diet and 20% excersise. I'm not sure how to fix the eating stuff. I do read a lot but nothing propels me to action.I figure just getting up and walking will benefit me and am trying to tackle to food problem too, but that seems to be my main sticking point.
I run. I would like to bike and swim to make triathlon training, but I just do not have the time. I have been running for 31 years. I run 42-45 miles per week at a 7:30 per mile pace. Usually 7 miles per day.
One of my favorite things to do I learned in H.S. track. I'll jog over to the track and do a drill where you sprint the straights and jog the curves. It'll get you breathing hard in a real hurry. You can do it lots of different ways . . . how many miles, pace the sprints, faster sprints but walk the curves, etc. The biggest problem comes when you realize that you're dead tired and you still need to jog home. Solution? Dairy Queen!
For the last nine months, Shaolin Kempo Karate: 3 one hour long group classes and 1 half an hour private lesson per week. Yay burpees!
That's cool Steve! Keep it up. I met GM Ralph Castro once, really nice guy and a great MA. Abner :smile:
In other words, you must have abs of STEEL (Reserve) http://www.anti-jemima.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Steel_reserve.jpg
Good for you! I have been following a regimen similar to yours for many many years. Never smoked, may have an occasional glass of wine, and try to watch what I eat. I occasionally get off track but make sure to get back on asap. I have a national membership to a major gym that I use whenever I can. I have a small home gym for those days that I can't. For me maintaining good health is second in importance only to my family. "Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship"-Buddha
Moral: Diet is clearly the most important aspect. Some people say 80% but I would bring it closer to 90%. With a fast metabolism you can swing a lot of junk food, but once you approach (and pass) 30, the game's up. I've accepted the fact that humans only have taste buds to test whether or not food items are poisonous, spoiled, edible, etc. It's a shame to spend so much time in the gym and waste it just to satisfy taste buds.[/QUOTE] Totally agree with this. For exercise I like to do pushups and pullups, not too much weight lifting. I also enjoy doing cartwheels, front handsprings, and walking on my hands. Not bad for a 40+ year old.
