A Few "Getting in Shape" Questions

[apostle83]

1. Is cardio a stupid way to lose weight? I mean, you don't see fat runners typically. I really enjoy the elliptical and the way its nice and easy on my joints. I typically go 60 minutes at about 7.2 miles an hour. IS this dumb?

2. Should I do cardio six days a week?

3. Will Cardio stunt weight lifting? I don't care about bulking up, but I know the weight loss that can come long term from lifting.

I'm pretty frustrated - I had lost over 50 pounds the fall of 2008. I've put some of it back on, but I want to make a permanent change this time.

 

[RoJoHen]

1) Cardio is absolutely NOT a stupid way to lose weight (it's the BEST way to lose weight), but you should keep an eye on your heart rate while you're doing it. There is an optimum heart rate for burning fat, between 65-85% of your maximum heart rate. That said, 60 minutes might be a little long, especially if you're also weight training. An ideal cardio workout is about 30-45 minutes. Longer than that and you might start to see some diminishing returns.

2) 6 days a week? Sure, why not? Eventually, though, as your body adapts, you will probably need to train with more intensity (more resistance on the elliptical, longer duration, etc). Just make sure to take days off if you feel like you need them.

3) A lot of cardio will prevent you from building muscle mass, simply because you're burning calories that would otherwise be used to build muscle. Most big bodybuilders limit their cardio they're bulking up for this very reason. I'm not really sure what you mean by "stunt weight lifting," though. Are you weight training along with your cardio workouts, or do you do them separately? Plus, muscle is heavier than fat, so even if you lose fat, you might actually end up weighing more because of the muscle you have added.


If I were you, I would probably do something like this: Cardio for 10 minutes to warm up. Lift weights. Cardio for another 20 minutes. But that's just because I hate cardio with a firey passion and after about 20 minutes I go insane with boredom.

 

[apostle83]

I used to be the exact way with Cardio - I hated it. Now, it is a time where I plug in my headset and watch lost, 24, or the news, and feel like I'm away from it all.

Thanks for the advice!

The crazy thing is, if I go two days without running at least half an hour, I feel like my energy level falls off the face of the earth. It's really dramatic. An hour is better... to a point.

 

[RAMA]

I used to be the exact way with Cardio - I hated it. Now, it is a time where I plug in my headset and watch lost, 24, or the news, and feel like I'm away from it all.

Thanks for the advice!

The crazy thing is, if I go two days without running at least half an hour, I feel like my energy level falls off the face of the earth. It's really dramatic. An hour is better... to a point.

Interval training for cardio..it preserves muscle while burning fat. It alternates short regular periods of intense heart rate with lower heart rate. Most equipment has a setting for it these days.

 

[RoJoHen]

Good point, RAMA. That's how I usually do cardio (when I do it at all). Keeps me from getting too bored.

 

[apostle83]

I used to be the exact way with Cardio - I hated it. Now, it is a time where I plug in my headset and watch lost, 24, or the news, and feel like I'm away from it all.

Thanks for the advice!

The crazy thing is, if I go two days without running at least half an hour, I feel like my energy level falls off the face of the earth. It's really dramatic. An hour is better... to a point.

Interval training for cardio..it preserves muscle while burning fat. It alternates short regular periods of intense heart rate with lower heart rate. Most equipment has a setting for it these days.

I'm not sure if the gym has it (it opened in 2006? Still has the equipment from then, which is in good shape).

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm sure they do. Even if they don't have a button for it, you can do it yourself by adjusting the speed and resistance.

Sprint for a minute (high intensity). Walk for few minutes (low intensity). Sprint for a minute. Walk for a few minutes. Or whatever the elliptical equivalent of that is.

 

[apostle83]

Glide! Glide faster! Glide slower!

 

[RoJoHen]

That works! Just make sure to alternate between fast and slow.

 

[hamudm]

My schedule typically goes something like this:

Sunday: Yoga (1hr)
Monday: Weight Training (1hr)
Tuesday: Cardio (30 mins -- typically running)
Wednesday: Yoga (1.5hrs)
Thursday: Weight Training (1hr)
Friday: Ice Hockey (2hrs)

This schedule I've found works for me and emphasizes all around fitness and flexibility. Keep in mind that your diet will be absolutely key if you're trying to lose weight. You're probably best off having a larger proportion of lean proteins while you "burn fat" and you can increase your carb intake somewhat as you gain more muscle and lose the fat.

 

[Tomato]

If you do get bored. Go for one of those body fit classes, and check out the scenery.

 

[apostle83]

Howdy guys. Thanks for all the input.

I started this back in early January, and I've lost 20+ pounds. Also, I've started eating grass fed beef and bison for my protein.

I've been sick for three days now, but I will hit it hard as soon as I am well (hopefully in the morning).

 

[apostle83]

Holy cow, elbow pain. Baaaad.

 

[publiusr]

What we are doing is fighting evolution. We have not come far from the trees. We were shaped to run for a bit after prey items, rest, run a bit more from predators, etc. We were not "made" to sit and do as we are doing now--looking at screens, etc.
So what physical activity does is to simulate the conditions we faced while humans were in a primodial state. People too often say we need to get back in touch with nature. I actually beg to differ--it is our inner bodies that need to catch up. If you are stranded in a cold situation--your body doesn't know that you need to keep extremities warm so as to use buttons on sat-phones to call for rescue, to run away to a motor conveyance, etc. Your body doesn't know there is a store just down the road, so it puts on fat.

frankly, we treat symptoms, so this new fight against obesity misses the point. We find it in bad form to question sexual lifestyles. Now then, we want to find cures for STDs HIV etc so that people don't have to wear condoms except for birth control. Condoms are thus like the filters in cigarrettes. I feel the same way regarding physical activity. I want to evolve past a need for it--to be like Cavil, so I can sense more than my body can now--to be like Data one day.

Our hospitals are filled with sick due to flaws in natural evolution--so I thus advocate "intelligent design" in gene therapy. We all know of an "Aunt Ethel" a person with great genes who smokes and never gets cancer--eats whatever she wants and doesn't get sick--drinks like a fish, and so on. Current health care amounts to lousy preventave methods, the equivalent to telling your doctor "it hurts when I move my arm this way" and he responds "then don't move it that way." It is like telling a lawman that if he doesn't want to be treated for gunshots--then don't be a cop--don't want heart disease--then don't eat favorite foods.

This strikes me as a cop-out. With future Gene Thereapy we can enjoy whatever lifestyles we choose and not get sick. Suppose someone wants to program computers all day and live sedentary life style? That should be his choice and the doctor should help him do than--and not try to change who that person eats. That's about as likely as changing ones sxual orientation--and wrong for the same reason.

I am a fan of books like METAMAN and SEIZING THE FUTURE. Hospitals should only be places where you go for broken arms. Existing healthcare debates are moot. In a nation of 300 million living in a service economy, all health care plans (public or private) will swell in costs. What we are doing is wrong. We underspend or research for magic bullets and even put that concept down.

It is as if someone said "Why spend money on this new vaccine to eradicate polio--best we just spend money on more sickbeds and bedpans."

We still insist on living slaves to our physicality--when we need to cahnge the flaws we have from nature to direct our own evolution. So help me, its bad enough one side of the spectrum wants us to be slaves to one part of leviticus--when the Back to Earth Back to Nature NASA hating luddites want us to be forced to be slaves to every other proscription in that book. Some folks work 16 hr double shifts, two jobs and don't have acess to personal trainers rich folks and doctors have. Now its the rich who stay thin, and the poor commuters who swell up from eating on the run

It is if we are being dragged back to Olduvai Gorge, and being asked to wear sackcloth and ashes.

Misc Links:
http://boi.startrekfrontiers.com/index.php/Federation_Starship_Designs
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a228/The_Original_Sabre/screenshot_2010-02-24-01-37-45.jpg

http://boards.theforce.net/games_videogames/b10005/20578724/p4

http://stexpanded.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Specter_of_the_Past

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=87944&page=7
http://trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=3949619&postcount=69
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=116329&page=7
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=115638&page=3
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?75583-USS-Retroprise/page5
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=117181
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=115599&page=12
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=117147

 

[Yoda]

^Sir, I am disappointed that not one of your links is to a newsletter of yours that I might subscribe to. Please remedy this in your posting henceforth.

 

[Amaris]

Interesting read, publiusr!

 

[publiusr]

I just got irked at seeing Ryan Seacrest being such a busybody. I liked Penn & Teller's program (BS) on the subject better. When I wrote the article, I was going to remove some of the links I kept on other subjects (I was about to run out of time here at the library) and correct the spelling---but I can't edit this far after the fact.

 

[apostle83]

Well, I've lost 70 lbs so far this year! Yikes!