<p>As Dan John famously suggested: the goal is to keep the goal the goal…</p>
<p>Exercising to perform better in the next marathon and exercising to lose/maintain weight are two VERY different goals. </p>
<p>From a fat loss standpoint, it would not make sense to schedule low heart rate cardio workouts until you are already doing 6 to 8 hours a week of resistance strength training (3 to 4 hours), high intensity intervals (1 to 2 hours), and aerobic interval/conditioning with heart rate above 75% of max (1 to 2 hours). At that point (more than an hour a day of higher intensity exercise) recovery becomes an issue and any additional exercise should be lower heart rate, recovery type stuff. The exception might be if you are not physically capable of high intensity exercise. In that case, starting with a daily walk would be a sensible place to start. </p>
<p>Relatively speaking, not achieving adequate intensity is a far far far more prevalent obstacle to fat loss than “over-training”. The typical fat loss exerciser would be better off doing just 30 minutes of high intensity resistance circuits three times a week than hours of low heart rate cardio. It is a completely different challenge than faced by someone running 5K or more seven days a week or going for 26 mile high speed bike rides.</p>
<p>To maximize fat loss, it is better to do things that build lean muscle and elevate heart rates simultaneously. Things like KB circuits are very effective. It’s a tough challenge to successfully lose and maintain weight loss without building/maintaining lean muscle. Long term, that muscle is what burns calories 24/7 and prevents the problem of lowering your metabolism as you lose weight.</p>
<p>I understand more, although my head spins with some of this. I don’t think I need to worry about it – I’m not trying to lose weight, just trying not to gain it, and I’m not planning on becoming a competitive racer or running a marathon. </p>
<p>I average a 10 mile pace (9.30 is super fast for me), which definitely gets my heart rate to 90-100% of max, but I typically run just once or twice a week. For the sake of my joints and feet, I have no intention of running more frequently than that.</p>
<p>I swim once a week, and I have no idea what my heart rate is, but I find it hard to do intense workouts when swimming so I know I don’t come close to maximum heart rate. I am tempted to get a heart rate monitor for when I swim, because I am curious (and I hate counting laps).</p>
<p>My goal is to do 2-3 workouts a week that include some high intensity cardio, and I walk very briskly the other days, which doesn’t get my heart rate going too much. And weight lifting 2-3 times a week.</p>
<p>I’m running 5K races the next two Sundays – it would be nice to finish high in my age group, which is possible in the one this Sunday (a small local race) as opposed to the one next weekend, which has thousands of runners. </p>
<p>Sounds like a good all-around approach. You’ve got the resistance strength training covered. The running a couple of times a week are high intensity workouts. The swimming and the walking are lower intensity add-ons, which makes perfect sense. </p>
<p>I think that, for general fitness, the variety of stuff you do is big plus. For starters, it automatically works different muscles in different ways, which is good. Beyond that, it has to help with sustainability – not getting bored to tears with any one thing and having options to go to if you do. I heard an interesting podcast with Alwyn Cosgrove a while back. He said that the biggest failure he sees clients at his gym make is going all gung-ho with a crazy workout schedule that even a professional athlete would struggle to maintain. So, a month or two of super intense workouts and the inevitable crash and abandonment. He preaches “minimum effective dose”. What’s the least amount of exercise you can do to get the desired results? I think that’s a very smart approach to sustainability. It really doesn’t take a lot of exercise to get results. </p>
<p>Bunsen- I think you would like the Mio Link, because I know what a pain the straps are along with a sports bra. I’m very happy with the Mio- it’s comfortable and it’s on your lower arm and not around your chest!</p>
<p>Good birthday lunch with co-workers, birthday cake with co-workers, dinner with H, daughter and son -in-law (not healthy foods)- all in all a good birthday. Said goodbye to my old office- it’s been the best two years of my career, and I know it will only be better in the new offices- but it’s sad to close the door (literally). </p>
<p>I’m wrestling with how to pick up my pace hiking. I’ve spent the last year getting really good at low-heart rate hiking. My top HR the first day this week was 81% of my max and 79% on the second day. On the downhill, I never hit 70% and am typically in the 60% to 65% range. That’s great and I have definitely seen lower heart rates in everything I do. The problem is that it’s not showing up in a faster pace. I think I’ve got to shift gears and do some shorter hikes where I push the pace harder, either by hiking faster or not taking the frequent short breathers I need to keep my heart rate low.</p>
<p>Dropped D2 off at her ACT (should be the last ACT in the household - woohoo!!! One less thing to stress about!) and headed over to the nearby Metropark for a morning run. 51 - seriously! 51 degrees on my car. Didn’t feel that cool while I was running but have to say, my hands were actually a little cold at the end of the run - surprisingly. New running record for me! - 4.75, with a couple short walking breaks and a photo opp or two (lots of deer out). I’m usually a rounder-off kind of person, but wanted to set my self up for another goal sometime - the big “5”. </p>
<p>Great start to the day and a little pressure off with the calories burned when I head out to dinner tonight! </p>
<p>If 30 minutes three times a week is good, what about 15 minutes six times a week? In other words, how do you know “What’s the least amount of exercise you can do to get the desired results?” </p>
<p>12.2 low heart rate miles DONE! It was 60 degrees, cloudy with some very light mist in the first couple of miles. The polar opposite of the last few weeks. I felt like an idiot, but I wore a light long-sleeved shirt over my Nuu-Muu dress because I knew I would get chilly in the walking breaks and it wasn’t going to warm up at all. At this time of year, we think 60 degrees is winter in Tennessee! Anyway, I wanted to do 11-12, which in the past has always meant 12. Today I thought a shift had occurred and it was going to mean 11. Once I got chugging along, I felt better and did get over 12. Didn’t have to take walking breaks for the HR until 8 miles, at which point I just couldn’t keep it down enough, espec on the upgrades, without some walking. Averaged 12:12 and 136 (held 135 ave until last 1/2 mile) which is a lot better than last week. Now I have the confidence that I can complete the half marathon in Toronto despite all the setbacks of this summer! (My daughter- who never thought she was an athlete- did 18 miles today at 10:15 pace and is trying to PR in the Toronto marathon.) </p>
<p>The American College of Sports Medicine and American Council of Exercise, based on some good science, both recommend either 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise (which does not preclude some interval work) or 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise (which does not preclude recovery intervals). How that is divided up is influenced by one’s scheduling needs and whether days are needed for strength training. In order to achieve desired metabolic changes and cardio adaptations, however, you need more duration than 15 minutes per session. That’s not to say 15 minutes won’t provide any benefit but in general, short periods of cardio exertion are usually part of a progression for unconditioned individuals who are building to longer durations. Conversely, you don’t want to schedule all of your cardio work in long sessions only 1 or 2 days per week because the training effect and benefits start to backslide with large gaps between sessions and, more importantly, 1 or 2 longer sessions per week do not permit progressive adaptations and the likelihood of muscular compensations due to over exertion, protracted need for recovery due to over exertion and injury increases.</p>
<p>I’m wary that general guidelines such as those should be taken as the gospel truth. They are almost always extrapolated from population studies where people who got some desired result happened to do “x” amount of exercise. Useful as guidance, but unlikely to be definitive. And, in any case, almost certainly based on a study using either a treadmill or an exercise bike.</p>
<p>I have several workouts in my rotation that run 22 minutes including a short warmup and cool down. Airdyne intervals. Fast paced KB circuits. The dreaded burpees and KB swings (that I haven’t done for awhile!). These are awesome workouts – all of them leave me bent over panting like a dog. Frankly, I can’t go much longer with these types of workouts on a regular basis and keep the intensity up.</p>
<p>I actually think an argument could be made that multiple short/intense workouts each week would be a good way to go for general fitness/fat loss. It should allow higher intensity exercise.</p>
<p>Logistically, I can’t get under 20 minutes, so 15 would be pressing it. I’d have to cut a set or an interval out probably, but I think the general idea is fine – again, just from a general fitness standpoint, not if the goal is endurance cardio.</p>
<p>3.1 miles today. 47 degrees out, the best running temp, I felt great. Wore capris and a long sleeve shirt with a vest on. Could have left the vest off but I wasn’t too warm and the vest is very convenient (nice pockets lol!). </p>
<p>Yea to MOWC D! I know how she feels. No better feeling than thinking you are not an athlete and working at something and succeeding. Someone introduced me the other day as her athletic friend. I said, no! I like being active but am not an athlete! Part of me felt absurdly proud </p>
<p>Yay to the WC’s sister and his mom! You two rocked. :)</p>
<p>I’m feeling like a total slug. Ate a fabulous dinner and had a glass of nice CA meritage last night. Should have skipped the dessert because it was not that great, but somehow found that the plate that was slipped in front of me became almost clean. Gotta watch out for that mindless eating! </p>
<p>Many of the studies involved manipulation of the variables of duration and intensity and measurements of physiological changes. And there’s more to it than just fat loss. Cardiovascular health should be a primary goal.</p>
<p>75 minutes of a hypertrophy upper body free weight session this morning. Then 4 hours of continuing to clean out my basement to get ready for the equipment and flooring installation on 9/27. I’ve still got hours to go to address 31 years of accumulated crap. The biggest challenge was bringing up to an empty bedroom the immense 3 story doll house I had built for my daughter. Keeping it for her kids. 15 minute breather then back down for 75 minutes of cycling base training- nice low intensity ride with 125 max hr. It’s all about foundation and recovery.</p>
<p>My condolences. That is brutally hard work. My suggestion is to rent a 30 cubic yard construction dumpster, have it parked in the driveway, and fill it up. Knowing what I know now, I would have done that every five years. I think we loaded ours up with SIX tricycles and bicycles from an only child. Just ridiculous.</p>
<p>Second tip: make a run to Home Depot and buy the stuff to mount a heavy duty 10 foot clothing rod in the basement or garage. Then, start going thru closets and moving stuff to the basement to hang on that rod. I organized it by size: 32 inch pants, 34 inch pants, etc. This giving you a staging area to successfully attack closets and ultimately make trips to Goodwill. </p>
<p>“Running for as little as five minutes a day could significantly lower a person’s risk of dying prematurely, according to a large-scale new study of exercise and mortality. The findings suggest that the benefits of even small amounts of vigorous exercise may be much greater than experts had assumed.”</p>
<p>“Those who hit the paths for 150 minutes or more a week, or who were particularly speedy, clipping off six-minute miles or better, lived longer than those who didn’t run. But they didn’t live significantly longer those who ran the least, including people running as little as five or 10 minutes a day at a leisurely pace of 10 minutes a mile or slower.”</p>
<p>“Pensioners can improve their health by doing one minute of intense exercise a week, a study has found.”</p>
<p>To achieve my high intensity workout today, I did 8 minutes on this machine called the Jacobs Ladder and another 20 on a machine that is a combination reclining bike/elliptical. Plus weights.</p>
<p>That UK geezer experiment is pretty interesting. Six to ten 6 second sprint intervals on an exercise bike with a full hart rate recovery (or minimum 60 seconds rest) between intervals. So those would be 10 minute workouts plus, presumably, a little warm up and cool down. You could do that in fifteen minutes, easy. That’s very similar to some of the Airdyne interval workouts I do, although I tend to do somewhat longer sprint intervals.</p>
<p>I do six 1/4 mile sprints which take me just under 40 seconds. Typically takes 1:30 to 1:40 between sprints for my heart rate to fall to the level they are talking about. I have done intervals as short as 10 seconds. I do those in sets of six with 10 seconds sprint alternating with 50 seconds recovery and a heart rate recovery after each set of six – very similar to what they tested. Those are brutal because, for 10 seconds, it is all out max effort as fast as I can pedal the Airdyne (over 100 rpm).</p>
<p>I would probably start out with 15 or 20 second intervals. 6 second intervals are pretty “violent”.</p>
</p>
Knowing what I know now, I would have done that every five years. I think we loaded ours up with SIX tricycles and bicycles from an only child. Just ridiculous.</p>