<p>Fireandrain, IMO, 32 mins is VERY good for a newbie! There will be many, many people slower than you at a 5k. </p>
<p>Dart dad, that is a machine I have started using - I also like it much enter than elliptical.</p>
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<p>NO. Four years ago, when this thread started, I wanted to run a 5k at my college reunion. Didn’t make it to the reunion, still haven’t run in a 5k race. Probably never will. I think I weighed around 190 at that point, having already dieted down from a weight that will never be mentioned. I belonged to a nice gym, but had to quit as I couldn’t afford it. Exercise at that point was dog walking - Sabadog’s predecessor who moved at the speed of a really slow turtle. </p>
<p>Ups and downs over several years. Last year, instead of saying to myself “I am going to run a 5k this year” I said, I am going to exercise. And that happened to involve lots of climbing to Kiliminjaro on the elliptical. Again, I had eaten my way back up to around 195 after being at a “low” of around 160 at one point. But, not wanting to be a hippo at D’s graduation, I stuck with the diet and joined Planet Fitness. Best $10 a month I’ve ever spent. As I lost weight, I gained confidence that I could run again without really hurting myself. Those early efforts were ugly, but instead of just saying “I’m going to run for exercise” I continued with the elliptical and added the C25k program. As the weight continued to drop, I could run for longer periods and at a higher intensity. There is no way I would have stuck with running if it was the first exercise I did last January. </p>
<p>I think someone sent me to the MarathonRookie website for training plans - here’s what they say about running for weight loss: </p>
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<p>I lost 60 pounds in a year. I have maintained that 60 pound loss for several months. I think it’s a combination of diet and exercise - you can’t lose weight unless you change the way you eat and running isn’t an exercise the average overweight geezer should start out with. I think you are doomed to fail if you do. I know that these habits are going to stick with me this time because I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of anything - this is just the way I live now and plan to continue living for some time!</p>
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<p>Yes, but that is often not pointed out. </p>
<p>Also, while heel striking may be harder on the body than not-heel striking, running has to be harder on the body than walking, no matter what, just because of the higher forces and larger number of reps (per minute).</p>
<p>As far as intensity, there’s a bit of paradox. As I understand it, to become a better distance runner, you must reduce the intensity to whatever pace you can maintain without increasing the heart rate very much. So, as you get better at running, you probably lose the effectiveness for fat loss. The research is pretty spotty, but it sure seems that high intensity is the way to go for improving insulin sensitivity (and probably for fat loss).</p>
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<p>Fair enough. I actually wouldn’t give much credence to any findings from self-reported survey answers given by fitness magazine subscribers. There are so many variables inherent in the highly self-selected sample.</p>
<p>Sabaray, your post really makes me smile. That is a great story and a testament to finding what works for you as an individual. The only “race” you need to run is the one against yourself and the one that keeps you wanting more. Sounds like you have found that. :)</p>
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<p>Heart rate when doing endurance running is still significantly higher than for the same person walking. However, someone running for distance won’t want to run past the anaerobic threshold during that run.</p>
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<p>Nothing prevents a runner from doing some sprint-interval type runs in his/her training if that is his/her desire. Also, at the elite levels, distance runners and sprinters are both quite lean (though sprinters tend to be more muscular – the extra muscle for higher maximum power and speed during a sprint, while the extra weight penalty is less compared to a distance runner).</p>
<p>If you can do so without injury, either distance running or sprint intervals will give you more and higher intensity exercise than walking for the same amount of time.</p>
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<p>And that’s the catch-22 for fat loss. I suspect that exercising past the anaerobic threshold is desirable from a fat-loss standpoint. Running certainly does that for me! That’s probably why I can’t run more than half a mile… :)</p>
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<p>BTW, I don’t think regular old walking will be a complete fitness program for long. I ran into that problem. As I got more fit, I could no longer get my heart rate up walking, even on modest hills. Because I want to jack my heart rate up, that’s why I added jogging intervals and, later, some really big hills.</p>
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<p>Sabaray,</p>
<p>Great journey. I remember when i started my little one mile walks in the local park, I jogged once to cross the road in a break in traffic. I couldn’t believe all the stuff jiggling and the pounding…</p>
<p>Ninety pounds later, I feel like I can run modest amounts now and not have much injury risk, but I’m much more fit.</p>
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<p>There’s a chicken and egg aspect to this. Are elite level marathoners rail-thin because they are elite level marathoners? Or, are they elite level marathoners because they have elite level marathon genetics, genetics that also make them rail-thin?</p>
<p>For those who’ve done yoga, pilates, and/or zumba, which do you like better and why? Any particular drawbacks or strengths that you see? Someday I might decide to take a group class and these are ones I see offered frequently. I’m guessing I’d probably like the pilates best, zumba second. Thanks.</p>
<p>~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~</p>
<p>PlantMom, wondering how you’re doing. You mentioned a horrible stitch in the rib area a few days ago. Has that subsided?</p>
<p>Thanks for the welcome, everyone. 
And for the ideas. I’m going to stick to just walking until I can see the doctor and PT, since I know that there are exercises which are great for people with healthy bones, but can do a lot of damage if you have osteoporosis in the spine. Besides, the big challenge at first is going to be simply establishing a routine of getting out, and that is my first goal. Once I’ve done that, I’ll add rigor.</p>
<p>Re sweating – it’s something that I’ll have to learn to live with, but who knows, maybe I’ll learn to like it as some of you do.</p>
<p>Yoga, pilates, and Zumba was my life last semester. Lol </p>
<p>Zumba
Why I Liked It:
Zumba is fast paced. It WILL get your heart pumping and body shaking. My instructor played current music that you would hear in the clubs and was upbeat and engaging. She also had this killer squat routine that made my legs feel like jello, but it was to a catchy song at the time so it was bearable. You’ll learn great dance moves. If you love dancing, you’ll take to Zumba a lot easier. </p>
<p>Why I Stopped:
There was too much twerking and grinding for my taste. Once in awhile it’s fun, but when every song has grinding…This is not to say this will happen with you. Completely instructor based. </p>
<p>Pilates
Why I Liked It:
Pilates provides killer toning. I enjoy how I KNOW I will see results in the targeted areas. It’s versatile. One moment you can be doing legs and then at the next moment you’re doing your arms. Make sure to stay hydrated. Strength exercises are a pain when you’re muscles are cramping up. </p>
<p>Why It’s Great: It allows you to keep your tummy flat, you butt tight, and your muscles burning. </p>
<p>Yoga
Why I Liked It:
There are so many different variations of yoga. (I’m not going to list them all…) I’ve only taken a class in Amrit Yoga. Very calming and focused on unity. I practice acro yoga in my spare time. I enjoy it because it really joins strength with stillness. It drives you to find an inner strength and stillness that allows you to really push your mind. There’s nothing like conquering new poses and accepting yourself for where you are today. </p>
<p>Why It’s Great: Yoga better your health. It helps the heart, bones, muscles, AND mind.</p>
<p>I like both yoga (hot power vinyasa) and pilates, and don’t have the coordination to do anything like Zumba. It’s a little hard to compare for me because the yoga is group classes that I started only this year and the pilates is with an individual trainer who I’ve used for a few years now. But I think they compliment one another and frankly I can see how adding yoga has really improved my pilates moves. Yoga has sculpted my body from the outside and pilates from the inside.</p>
<p>Never tried yoga. Tried Pilates - lots of stretching , repetition - low key in terms of movement - I prefer to be up on my feet moving to a beat - which is why I liked Zumba - like the music, the movement, the fast beat - that’s Just me. My Zumba Instructor used a more ethnic slant - Latin. No twerking. :)</p>
<p>Raising the anaerobic or lactate threshold is the key for faster distance running. Tempo runs are the best way to raise lactate threshold.</p>
<p>She did everything: Latin, Hip/Hop, Pop, Techno. I think she did so much twerking/grinding/booty-popping (whatever you call it) because 1) It’s a college group fitness class 2) Young age group and 3) She needed something to fill in her choreography. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve done Pilates and a number of kinds of yoga. No Zumba since I’m not much of a dancer. I think yoga can vary so much that it’s hard to say which style might appeal. It is also very dependent on the skill of the instructor. I finally settled on Bikram or a Bikram clone as the best format for me, but it is a huge time commitment. Classes are always 90 minutes. I found a knock-off Hot yoga studio with 60 and 75 minute classes which were good. I felt that a 90 minute Bikram class felt like a 10 mile run. It was good for me mentally, too.</p>
<p>In Dallas I also did some restorative yoga classes! which were good in terms of stretching, but didn’t really make me feel like I had worked out. If you have anything wrong with you- I.e, a knee injury, back issue, etc. you need to be very careful with some of the yoga postures.</p>
<p>Pilates is good but I like the reformer class/lesson better than the floor classes.</p>
<p>If I get injured again and can’t run, I’m going to do spin or Computrainer classes and swim.</p>
<p>ohio:</p>
<p>I had to to look up “tempo runs”.</p>
<p>[What</a> is a Tempo Run? | Running Times](<a href=“http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/what-exactly-tempo-run]What”>What is a Tempo Run: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started)</p>
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<p>Yikes. 20 minutes at just under lactic threshold is a very challenging workout! Come to to think of it, that’s actually my goal on an uphill hiking pace. I can’t go 20 minutes, but I really try to adjust my pace to keep my legs from “burning”. Once my heart rate goes above 80% of my max, I’ll be anaerobic sooner or later.</p>
<p>My Airdyne intervals are self adjusting so that I typically hit the leg burning point at the end of an interval. Half miles are about 1:20. Miles are about 3 minutes.</p>
<p>Thank you, Niquii, PG, Abasket, and MOWC. That gives me a better idea what the yoga, pilates, and zumba classes are like. I used to really enjoy doing tai chi and qi gung and would probably go that route again for focus on calming, meditative aspects and balance. When I see pictures of yoga poses, some of them look overextended is the best way I can figure out to describe it. Flexibility, great, but some of those positions… Pilates – I think I already do a lot of these exercises. Zumba could be fun, as long as I could find a class that wouldn’t be too huge. Ideas for when I want to change up my routine. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Interesteddad, can you tell me how you do your intervals? I have an Airdyne at home that gives me a much better workout that the regular exercise bike at rehab. At what levels did you start and what’s a good progression?</p>
<p>I do a mile on the Airdyne and I’m puffing, but on the exercise bike at rehab I can go five miles and I’m bored/not exerted.</p>
<p>Re: big weight loss and running – I run enough so that if I have to cross a street quickly or flee in an emergency, I’m not going to drop dead. I don’t want to risk screwing up my knees – I have to keep the cardio exercise going and with two crummy shoulders, I need at least some parts that work!</p>
<p>Counting Down:</p>
<p>There are infinite possibilities for Airdyne intervals. I think the biggest mistake people make is too short a rest interval. </p>
<p>I like to start with something like:</p>
<p>20 seconds fast
60 seconds easy</p>
<p>Repeat six times for a set, then fully recover (stop panting) and go for another set.</p>
<p>That’s a 1:3 work to rest interval. If you did </p>
<p>20 seconds fast
40 seconds easy</p>
<p>That would be a 1:2 work to rest interval. 20:20s would be a 1:1 ratio. Those are brutal and will send your heart rate through the roof pretty quickly. The rest periods are too short, so the heart rate just goes up and up and up to a point where it’s just steady high heart rate exercise. In theory, the idea of intervals is to give enough rest that oxygen returns to the muscles to avoid burning legs and keep a pretty aggressive pace on the fast intervals.</p>
<p>You could do 10:30s, 15:45s, 20:60s, 30:90s. I like to do no more than 4 to 6 minute sets with full recovery in between sets.</p>
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<p>Or, if you wear a heart rate monitor, you can do heart rate based intervals. When I do longer intervals (1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1 mile), I rest between intervals until my heart rate has fallen below 70% of my max – that’s right about the point where I’m breathing normally again. I need longer rest periods after several intervals, but am able to maintain a fairly consistent pace on the intervals.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten to the point where a 20 minute interval workout is all I can stand. 3 minutes of easy warmup to start, 2 minutes of easy cool down to end, and some combination of intervals and rest that adds up to about 15 minutes in the middle. Ideally, the last interval will push my heart rate up somewhere in the 95% of max range. I have done Airdyne intervals up to 100% of my max, but those are so overwhelmingly miserable (literally a feeling of not being able to catch a breath), that I can’t bring myself to do them anymore.</p>
<p>I have also done intervals where I simply pedal hard until my heart rate hits 90% and easy til it falls to 70s, repeat over and over. The problem is that the first interval is miserable. I need to change that workout to give me a couple to 85%, then increase to 90%.</p>
<p>The great thing about basing intervals on heart rate is that it automatically adjusts to any person, in any state of fitness on a given day, unlike timed intervals where two people might need diffferent amounts of rest.</p>