<p>rutgers:</p>
<p>15 pounds in 9 weeks is fantastic! That’s as fast as you would want to lose weight. Plus, walking every day has laid the base foundation for exercise. In retrospect, I would have have been smart to just spend the first nine weeks walking.</p>
<p>Nearly unanimous philosophy in fat loss and fitness circles these days is that a well-rounded fitness program should include two components: **strength training **and high intenstity interval training.</p>
<p>a) interval training simply means altering your “cardio” (i.e. walking) to include short periods of high intensity that get your heart rate up alternating with periods of lower intensity recovery. So, if you were to throw some steep hills into your walk, you would be the high intensity bout on the hill and then the recover on the flat and downhill. Even if you can find one hill or one stairway or one steep section on your walk and have to go up and down it a few times, you will increase the benefit of your walking tremendously. Intervals can also be done on an exercise bike, rower, or whatever.</p>
<p>b) There’s fairly broad concensus that the best strength training for all-around fitness is bodyweight circuits. The exercises mostly involve moving your bodyweight (like pushups), combined with the use of simple weights (like dumbbells from WalMart), and some simple equipment (like a good stability ball). You do six to ten of these exercise in a circuit and then repeat the circuit for two or three sets. There are millions of variations all over the internet and training videos, but I will caution you that many of them are insanely difficult, so the trick is to start with something easy and progress over time. These things are misleading because the exercises “look” easy.</p>
<p>As an example, here’s my circut from yesterday:</p>
<p>**Step Pushoffs: **Stepping up and down onto a step with one foot while pressing a dumbbell overhead with the other arm. Keep the right foot on the step, left foot on the ground. Step up and back with the left foot, while pressing a dumbbell up from the shoulder with the left arm. The right foot stays on the step the whole time doing all the work. Half the time on one side and then switch sides. Find a taller step and a heavy enough dumbbell and this thing will get your heart rate going for sure. It’s wonderful exercise that works ever muscle from your leg through your core to your shoulder and arm in one connected movement. It’s the same move you would use to put something up on the top shelf in a closet.</p>
<p>**Plank on Stability Ball: **core ab exercise. Toes on ground. Body up supported by bent arms with elbows on the ground (or stability ball). Just hold. Works the abs like crazy.</p>
<p>**Back Extensions: **Stomach on stability ball, feet against wall, legs straight. Bend down around ball and the lift the upper body up to a straight line with legs. It strengthens the lower back core muscles.</p>
<p>**Pushups: **Core strength and upper body.</p>
<p>**Squat presses: **Squat down on the heels (like sitting back onto a bench) and raise back up. Press dumbbells overhead from the chest as you raise up. This works everything. Thighs burn, arms burn.</p>
<p>**Side Plank (side bridges): **Strengthens side abdominals in the core. Like the plank, but on the side. 45 seconds on right side, 45 seconds on left side.</p>
<p>You can find YouTubes of all of these exercises. They are very common. I’ve increased over several months to 45 seconds of each exercise with 30 seconds of rest in between. Three sets with a 3 minute break between sets. Finish up with some intervals on the exercise bike. Under an hour, total. I’m a huge believer in this kind of strength training. Whole body, functional athletic movements. Burns a ton of calories, builds muscle, and pays readily apparent dividends in real-life fitness (like carrying stuff from the basement to the second floor).</p>