How much do you push yourself?

spyro88

So I have just started going to the gym again, for the first time in ages. Bearing in mind that I am 200lbs and very unfit at the moment... I have pretty much just been doing a 45-60 minute workout and it's all cardio - cross trainer, treadmill and bike.

What do you all think of this? I know some will say I should do resistance as well. But I am always sweaty when I come out and my heart rate gets up. I am wary of pushing myself REALLY hard because I get dizzy/light headed if I go too far and then can't carry on. Do you push yourself to that point or would you cool off a bit? Sometimes I see people exercising and I think "That's gotta be too much for him/her!" but maybe I'm not doing enough, I don't know??

jemhh

I started off as very out of shape as well and, for me, the best thing to do was to ease into exercise. I walked 3x/wk for a couple of months. Then I added in a bodyweight routine 3x/wk, started doing C25k instead of walking, and bit by bit became more active. You don't have to do it all at once. The point is to be active and stay active, not to make yourself dizzy or uncomfortable or injured so that you can't do it again tomorrow or the next day.

janjunie

I started off very inactive, troublesome pregnancy and surgery 10 weeks after baby was born. I went to the gym at 5 months postpardem and started out slowly I managed to do an hour on my first day half cardio and half weights...very light weights. I'm now at the gym longer and can lift a little heavier. It's been 20 days since I started working out and I'm already noticing a change in my energy and strength. Take it slowly, whatever you have to do, it's worth it.

cwolfman13

Exercise shouldn't make you sick or dizzy or whatever...also, you should be doing some resistance work.

Also, nobody can safely go from nothing to balls...I've been at this going on three years...my capacity for exercise activity far exceeds what I could do 2.5 - 3 years ago...if I tried to do then what I do now I probably would have had a heart attack or something.

Building fitness takes time.

htimpaired

Don't base your effort on what others are doing-everyone's at different fitness levels and has different goals. You should not feel dizzy-that's your body's way of saying slow down!
And yes, you should absolutely be doing some resistance work-even if it's just body weight. You need those muscles to complete those cardio workouts! (plus a multitude of other reasons why muscle is important).

nossmf

Measure yourself against yourself. If you lifted this much weight this many times last time, try to do better today, whether lifting heavier or lifting for more reps. On the treadmill, maybe you up the speed, up the incline, go just a little longer, some variable can always be tweaked. Small improvements, over time, add up to big improvements.

Lofteren

nossmf wrote: »

Measure yourself against yourself. If you lifted this much weight this many times last time, try to do better today, whether lifting heavier or lifting for more reps. On the treadmill, maybe you up the speed, up the incline, go just a little longer, some variable can always be tweaked. Small improvements, over time, add up to big improvements.

^This. Always push yourself hard. Eventually you'll be doing twice what you are now but your exertion will be the same. Just keep hitting those PR's.

CrabNebula

Two years ago, I couldn't hike trails with elevation gains of more than 1500ft. I would also get exercise headaches that would have me out the rest of the day vomiting if I tried.

Now that I lost all the weight and I started hitting the gym, I don't get exercise headaches anymore and 1500ft is a joke. I barely get out of breath (unless the grade is insanely ridiculous, of course!).

Something I can't stress enough is how much EASIER it is to do any kind of cardio when you aren't carting around 50-150 extra lbs. I had been fat all my life, so never noticed how much it was dragging me down until it was gone.