What kind of exercise do you do?

[momg]

sleeping

[koala]

By the look of Pippi's avatar, she is getting plenty of exercise. She hasn't stopped all day.

[blistex]

lol

[nagem]

typing lol

me too!

[fierce_angel_6000]

for fun: badminton, tennis

for a serious workout: 45 min of elliptical/bike machine. Then 1 1/2 hrs of weight training.

I'm finding it really hard to find the time, though, nowadays...

[ycswid]

I try to walk daily and I have a couple of stretching, exercise, yoga tapes that I do regularly. I sure do notice when I don't make time for it, only a couple of days and I'm stiff and sore.

Tricia

[Megan29]

Outrigger canoeing!!! Surfboating and surfing ... on cold days just getting in to warm gear and walking for half an hour is cool!

[Sandralew]

Hiya all,
I lift weights for 15 to 20 mins a day, I split up my routine so I lift 6 days a week, but only one area 2 times a week. So it goes like this: Monday, legs and abs, Tuesday, Chest and back, Wednesday, Arms and abs and so on with Sunday off. I walk for 45 - 60 mins everyday(I walk to work) and Stretch for 15- 20 mins per day. I used to hate exercise. I used to joke that I wouldn't run if a car was gonna hit me. Then my Dad died of a heart attack at 53. My Mom is overweight and has diabetes, My grandmother died of a stroke related to diabetes. I eat clean 6 times a day and it is cheaper to eat now than when I bought junkfood. My biggest peeve is when I hear women say, "I don't want to get big from lifting weights" That is total BS! 1 lb of muscle takes up 1/3 of the space as 1 lb of fat.
Weights helped me to lose the final ten lbs, I can walk 5 blocks with 6 or 7 bags of groceries without getting tired and there is NO such thing as toning, it is a Total Myth!!!!!! I can tell you unless you take steroids, you will not get big! PERIOD! END OF STORY! Women, just do not have the hormones to bulk up physically. I love to lift weights. I feel strong and my body is nice and tight, even my excess skin, from losing 30lbs, shrunk up. I love to show my muscles, and I don't look like a she-male. If you want to lose weight you must lift weights.I am smaller now in clothing size and inches than when I was a teenager and weighed less! When you do cardio, you only burn calories while you do it. But when you weight train, your body must now repair, feed and grow new, healthier muscle, so now you are burning calories for 48 hrs, thats why each body part should only be done every 2 days. Hmm, 1 hr of calorie burning or 48 hrs, tough choice. Yes cardio is good for you, it strengthens your heart and your lungs, and by raising your pulse, it helps to move lymph through the system. Cardio trains your body for quick jolts of movement. Weight training helps you to pick up your child, put stuff in the back of the car, take out the garbage or the recycling bin, things we do on a daily basis. Some good magazines to read are Oxygen, which is published by a Canadian, Robert Kennedy, Fitness Rx, and Muscle and Fitness Hers. No airbrushed, anorexic 13yr old models.
I would never give up exercise now, it just feels too good to be healthy.

[ilovemykids]

Wow... Sandralew what a fantastic post.
Really!

I've been thinking of starting some sort of routine for a while now but haven't a clue where to start.

[Sandralew]

Thank you so much, Angie. I really appreciate it. I didn't mean to rant, but I hear it all the time from my mom and my mother-in-law, who is also overweight. It did take me a while to get into shape, and it is so worth it. Its not about lbs on the scale, It took me 16 years to figure that out. I don't diet, I eat 3 times as much food as the girls at work and they just look at me like "it must be nice to be able to eat so much" I used to have the metabolism of a slug, then I stopped starving myself. I would eat less than 800 calories a day, and not lose a pound. I now eat 2500c to 3500c per day. My skin got better, my joints don't hurt, and my hair stopped falling out in clumps. I really did a number on my body. The day I picked up a fitness magazine, I was hooked. There were pretty and healthy women inside, who had butts and legs and were short like me. And they looked fabulous. It took me 2 years to reverse the damage of yo-yo dieting and a 30lb weightgain. But I saw results right away. The inches fell off, and I did a full sit up for the first time in my life. That was amazing to have the strength to actually pull my own body up. Getting in shape was one of the easiest things I ever did, because I constantly saw a difference every day. If you would like some help getting started, a book I would recommend is "The Ultimate weight training journal"by Productive Fitness Products, you can find it at chapters, or any fitness shop. It starts out very basic and helps to build you up. Get a pedometer and measure daily, one week of walking, then add up your daily totals and divide by 7. Then the next week, go for 100 more, then the week after 200 more. Aim for 10,000 steps per day.
Don't count calories, and don't weigh yourself. Go by the way your clothes feel. After a month, add weights.
Start the training with no weights at all. This is to help your body adjust to the movement. After 3 weeks add 5 lbs. Start slowly or you will just get bored and tired and sore. There are so many tips and tricks. "The Eat Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno is very good, and there is now a cookbook.
Hope this helps.
Sandralew

[Megan29]

I just started rock climbing.. wow.. what an exhilerating sport!!! Good on you Sandralew Really cool to read your post!!

[dwankrista]

Wonderful advice Sandra!

I dropped 65 lbs. a few years ago by starting an exercise regime and dropping the crap I was shovelling into myself constantly. I started running and fell in love. Now, 3 years later, I've found myself injured and some of the weight has crept back since I was unsure of what else to do.

However, now, while I'm waiting to heal, I've been water running and biking while wearing a cast and have just been able to start back on an elliptical. I do approximately 70 minutes of cardio per morning, 5-6 days a week depending on how I feel, and follow it with weight training, stretching and balancing exercises for strength.

Every little bit helps. While I've become frustrated that about 20 lbs. have crept back (about 10 that were needed since I was training heavily) I know it's always better to do a little than to give up.

For anyone who is just starting or thinking about it, start slow, increase gradually, do not get discouraged, stick with it, and most importantly, DO IT RIGHT. Seek medical advice beforehand, even go see a nutritionist to get some sense of how you should approach such a change.

Remember, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle and while fad diets and such programs will probably work in the short term it will come back when you stop. It needs to be a permanent change. I know that I now feel a million times better than I did when I was a lazy slug. Your body, mind and folks around you will thank you for it. It's never too late.

[harkatsmom]

My biggest peeve is when I hear women say, "I don't want to get big from lifting weights" That is total BS! 1 lb of muscle takes up 1/3 of the space as 1 lb of fat.
Weights helped me to lose the final ten lbs, I can walk 5 blocks with 6 or 7 bags of groceries without getting tired and there is NO such thing as toning, it is a Total Myth!!!!!! I can tell you unless you take steroids, you will not get big! PERIOD! END OF STORY! Women, just do not have the hormones to bulk up physically.

Hi Sandra,
What a wonderful post...you should be very proud of yourself

Although, I agree with most of what you wrote, I have to say that some women can build muscle, and I am one of them.
I have never taken steroids or anything like that, but I guarantee that I build lots of muscle, and quite quickly.


Here is an article that I found on the internet that some of you might find interesting and informative...

How Women Build Muscle

There are more myths and misconceptions about strength training than any other area of fitness. While research continues to uncover more and more reasons why working out with weights is good for you, many women continue to avoid resistance training for fear of developing muscles of herculean proportions.
Other women have tried it and been less than thrilled with the results. Don't worry, people say. Women can't build muscle like men. They don't have enough testosterone. This is, in fact, only partly true.
Many women, believing they wouldn't build muscle, hit the gym with a vengeance and then wondered why, after several weeks of resistance training, their clothes didn't fit and they had gained muscle weight.
The truth is, not everyone responds to training in quite the same way. While testosterone plays a role in muscle development, the answer to why some men and women increase in muscle size and others don't, lies within our DNA.
We are predisposed to respond to exercise in a particular way, in large part, because of our genetics. Our genetic makeup determines what types of muscle fibers we have and where they are distributed. It determines our ratio of testosterone to estrogen and where we store body fat. And it also determines our body type.
A question of body type
All women fall under one of three body classifications, or are a combination of types. Mesomorphs tend to be muscular, endomorphs are more rounded and voluptuous and ectomorphs are slim or linear in shape. Mesomorphs respond to strength training by building muscle mass much faster than their ectomorphic counterparts, even though they may be following identical training regimens.
Endomorphs generally need to lose body fat in order to see a change in size or shape as a result of strength training. Ectomorphs are less likely to build muscle mass but will become stronger as a result of resistance training.
Building just your heart muscle
One of the fundamental principles of strength training is that if you overload the muscle, you will increase its size. With aerobic training, the overload is typically your body weight. Activities such as step/bench training or stair-stepping result in changes in the size and shape of the muscles of the lower body. Increasing the height of the step or adding power movements increases the overload.
For those concerned about building muscle, it would be better to reduce the step height or lower the impact of the movements. While this may reduce the aerobic value of the workout, it also will decrease the amount of overload on the muscles, making it less likely that you will build more muscle.
Training by the rules
When it comes to strength training, the old rule still applies: to get stronger, work with heavier weights and perform fewer repetitions. To promote endurance, use lighter weights and complete more repetitions.
It's encouraging to note that just like men, most women will experience a 20 percent to 40 percent increase in muscular strength after several months of resistance training.
Understanding your body type and how you might respond to exercise can help you set realistic goals and expectations. Avoid comparisons to others you see, at the gym or elsewhere, and remember that no two people are alike.

[Beast Master]

Surprised no one likes "indoor sports"

[Megan29]

Ive just started yoga.. it is really one of the best work outs I have done in ages!! Didnt realise how inflexible I was tho!!