Do you Work Out?

[Cozy Monica]

I joined a gym in January because I desperately needed to add a lot more exercise to my life. Since starting at the gym, I've also taken up yoga, started to go swimming once per week, and I just went snowboarding for the first time last week and will be going again on Friday.

Does anyone else here work out?

I guess what I'm finding frustrating right now is I have seen absolutely no change in my weight. However, what is really nice are the changes I do see in the shape of my body. My leg muscles are showing shape from the hard work on cardio.

I just wish I could change the shape of my waist... but I'm sure that will come with time too.

[odysseus]

Monica, I've lost about 30 lbs in the past 4-6 months (not watching too closely), and I've been motivated to return to school for fitness and nutrition. Not intending to leave the adult web biz, but I figured I could learn to be a personal trainer instead of hiring one. So, yeah, I've been working out, and learning about different exercise modalities so to speak.

If you are gaining muscle mass, and losing fat, you may not see a difference in the scale. Screw the scale! If you are gaining muscle and definition, and losing fat, then you are doing great! Just make sure that you do cardio AND some resistance exercise. Also, you need to work your aerobic (cardio) AND anaerobic energy systems for a balanced routine.

For this balance, I like to run and do cardio kickboxing for the cardio. Do bodyweight exercises for the resistance (I hate gyms), and do tabata intervals about 2 times a week for a real efficient puker workout!

Good on ya for seeing results! Keep up the good work!

[sunfunbill]

I'm so busy doing my sites I don't do as much as I should. But I do go out and jog. I have that old cowboy bod now, long and lanky, overall skinny but with a damn belly that just does not go away!

You have to cut out the junk food AND workout, not just one. But it gets damn hard working on the computer all day and not having a pile of finger food by your side.

[odysseus]

Bill's right. It's diet AND exercise that will work on how your waist looks. You need to work at a HEALTHY caloric deficit, while working out, UNTIL you achieve your goals that will reduce your overall fat level. Unfortunately, belly fat is the last little bit that your body sheds while losing fat.

As for finger food. Today I crave steak, so I'm eating a lot of it, but usually a bag of carrots does well. You can eat about as much of them as you want guilt free. Chips will kill you. (even though they're yummy)

[artwilliams]

I've been on a diet since after Christmas and I've lost almost 16 pounds. I just got on my home treadmill today to speed up the remaining 10. I don't really like it but with heart disease on my Dad's side I really don't have any choice.

I would recommend a balanced, low fat, low salt diet with portion control. I've lost almost 4 inches on my waist following that regime.

Originally posted by Cozy Monica
I joined a gym in January because I desperately needed to add a lot more exercise to my life. Since starting at the gym, I've also taken up yoga, started to go swimming once per week, and I just went snowboarding for the first time last week and will be going again on Friday.

Does anyone else here work out?

I guess what I'm finding frustrating right now is I have seen absolutely no change in my weight. However, what is really nice are the changes I do see in the shape of my body. My leg muscles are showing shape from the hard work on cardio.

I just wish I could change the shape of my waist... but I'm sure that will come with time too.

[Ledrak]

I love to work out. I typically follow a hardcore training regimen. However, I haven't been able to train for months now cause I've just been too busy. I desperately need to get myself back in the gym, and plan to do so within the next few weeks. Just stocked up on some protein powder today, so I'm well on my way!

[Cozy Monica]

Woohoo, we have our very own Cozy trainer here! Odysseus, what exactly is anaerobic exercise. I'm very familiar with aerobic

I'm doing about forty minutes of cardio three times per week, plus lifting weights twice per week (one day upper body, one day lower body).

I also do an hour of yoga each week, and one hour of swimming.

I'm pretty sure the main reason I hadn't seen a difference in my weight is because I hadn't changed my eating habits yet, but I have started that this week. I'm trying very hard to cut out the bad stuff (eating out, fried foods, chocolate)

I also think it could indeed be the muscle, because I tend to build muscle very quickly in the beginning. My legs have already changed shape.

[Ledrak]

Weight training would be classified as anaerobic exercise.

[Cozy Monica]

Ooooh ok, I get it.

Well I am definitely doing both. I realized you need muscle to burn calories, so the more muscle you have the better.

And I'd like to shape my body, not just lose the fat.

What I've noticed is that if I were to tone my abs, my stomach would look noticeably smaller as it would hold the belly in closer to the body.

[Ledrak]

I like to shape my body too. Only for me it's 10 times harder than it is for most.

[odysseus]

Ledrak is right. Weight lifting could be considered anaerobic exercise. Basically, anaerobic exercise is your body creating energy without oxygen. This is typically short intervals of intense exercise that require you to use energy faster than your body can make it by using oxygen to burn fat. Instead, your body uses glycogen that is typically stored in the muscles as the power source. Your body needs to develop both energy sources.

Anaerobic exercise is usually performed in duration of 30 seconds to 2 minutes of work, with a period of rest between work sets. Aerobic exercise should ideally be performed for at least 45 minutes at an intensity of between 60 and 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. This may be different if an individual has specific health concerns. Also, different sources of info will have slightly different numbers or ways of calculating your max heart rate.

I'm not certified yet, so don't take any of this as professional information, just the ramblings of someone who's read too much of this kind of stuff lately.

For what it's worth, your routine seems very balanced to me. Keep it up, and good luck changing the diet. I am still fighting that one myself.

[Cozy Monica]

My problem is that I really need to work on my cardio as my heart rate still skyrockets when I attempt to do any amount of cardio, even with very little resistance.

I've noticed that as I keep at it, my heart rate stays a little lower, so hopefully I will get to a point where I can actually stay in a targetted range (for fat burning as opposed to burning sugar).

[nolimits4]

2 x a week

i am build 230 all muscle

[mynameisjim]

Odysseus makes some good points, especially about the belly fat for us older folks, it's the last to go and the most stubborn. In fact, you sometimes get an in between stage that looks worse even though you are losing weight. but it passes if you stick with it.

I work out 5-6 days a week with weights and in the summer I race bikes so I train about 2-4 hours a week riding and scale back the weights. Generally, the only time I'm in the gym during the summer is to work out an injury of some kind.

The thing is you have to find what your body responds to. If you just started training you may not get the results you want because you don't know what your body responds to. For example, every book about weightlifting says that you only need 2-3 sets on each muscle group. If I do that, I get NO results. I found I need to do like 8-10 sets to get any results. I don't know if it's because of my cardio or what, but that's how my body works so I don't argue with it.

Point is, training is as much about exercising as it is about learning about your body. Having gone from out of shape to in shape many times, I can whip myself into pretty good form in about 6-8 weeks because I know exactly what to do, what to eat, what not to eat and what supplements to take. I learned it over about ten years and what works for me probably won't work for anyone else.

If you are new to getting in shape the best advice I can give is just exercise to start. Do not start an exercise AND a diet program. First of all because most people don't know how to diet properly when working out heavily and end up doing more harm than good. Second, because you will probably eat too little you will get sick and even if you don't, you'll feel terrible and sabotage your efforts.

Spend the first 8 weeks just exercising. Giving your body plenty of rest and off days when needed. Better eating should start to happen almost naturally as you start to avoid heavier foods, but eat normally.

Once you are healthier and your body is use to the new stress, you can start to slowly adjust your diet.

Good luck

[Cozy Monica]

That's some really good advice Jim... I agree.

In the beginning I couldn't even diet if I tried. Because of all the exercising that I wasn't used to, my body started to crave food food food. On top of that, just thinking about dieting makes me focus on the foods I will miss, and I crave them even more.

I decided to just ignore the food issues for the beginning and exercise more.

It's interesting that I've been able to add so much more exercise when before I really believed I didn't have the time.

Now that I've been at the gym for almost two months, I've started to try watching what I eat. I'm not restricting myself heavily, just trying to eat better. Avoiding the treats everyday mentality and using them as a reward occasionally. I'm eating a lot less bad food and I've added a lot more vegetables and fruits to my diet.

It's definitely a slowly but surely approach.

NoLimits, ooooo all muscle yum!

[PorniSteph]

Originally posted by Cozy Monica
I joined a gym in January because I desperately needed to add a lot more exercise to my life. Since starting at the gym, I've also taken up yoga, started to go swimming once per week, and I just went snowboarding for the first time last week and will be going again on Friday.

Does anyone else here work out?

I guess what I'm finding frustrating right now is I have seen absolutely no change in my weight. However, what is really nice are the changes I do see in the shape of my body. My leg muscles are showing shape from the hard work on cardio.

I just wish I could change the shape of my waist... but I'm sure that will come with time too.

Hey Monica,

Been working out for a few years now and you'll see the weight come off slowly, but surely! It's a process where every little change counts wether it's physical or psychological (does miracles for the head and gives you a much more positive self image and attitude towards your peers).

Also, don't beat yourself up if you skip a session here and there... just make sure you keep it constant and have fun! Too many people started working out and saw it as a chore and ended up quiting within months!

Cheers!

[crockett]

I do push ups on a irregular schedule, does that count?

[PorniSteph]

Originally posted by crockett
I do push ups on a irregular schedule, does that count?

Better than plucking your nose hairs in front of the TV on regular basis!

[razor]

... how do you think I got this six pack

[balls_deep]

Originally posted by razor
... how do you think I got this six pack

who needs a six pack when you can have a keg?