How much "exercise" do I really need?

GrokRockStar

I walk 2-3 miles every few days and now that I'm well into the Whole30, I'm feeling that I can do more. I have a gym membership but haven't gone in a year, and used to go to a CF box until it got too expensive, but i know all of the CF workouts. I prefer to play rather than exercise because I want my exercise to come naturally. Any words of advice or guidance to help get my butt off of the proverbial couch would be greatly appreciated!

Akimajuktuq

I have a Primal attitude towards exercise. There are no gyms where I live but even if there were I wouldn't bother. Bodyweight exercises can give me all the strength training I need and so does hauling heavy stuff around town on my sled. Exercise should be normal daily stuff that is enjoyable and playful. It should include things that need doing around the house, exploring the outdoors and should involve other family members. For the life of me I will never understand leaving the kids/dogs behind to fight through traffic to go run on a treadmill/track or lift weights on a machine at a gym. Besides, all those scheduled work outs do NO good if one sits around the rest of the time. Ideally, we should be lightly and moderately active every day, with occasional full effort bursts of activity.

You can get everything you need by walking, playing and lifting heavy things in your daily life. Sit less, move more.

GrokRockStar

Yeah, I do not do well in a gym environment. I prefer walking outside versus on a treadmill. I did have a lot of fun doing CrossFit, but I couldn't afford it. It's good to know that I can just play and not worry about how I'm "working out." Thanks!

shuki_cotren

If you are wanting weight loss (as I am) I can only recommend what has worked for me. I have lost 12.5 lb so far in 2014 (50 lb total since my max. weight of 212 in 2013) and I attribute that to both the Whole30 and exercise. For my job I sit around on my butt all day- can't really help that. But I try to exercise in the morning and in the evening both to help make up for that. If I don't work out both times, I'm okay with that. I try to exercise a certain amount each week. Right now my goal is at least 100-150 minutes. I have a daughter and sometimes dancing with her to fun music will count as my exercise for the day, but most of the time I do something in addition to playing around. The weather here has been horrible! 0-10 degrees with windchills making it feel below zero. And tons of snow... so I pretty much decided early on this winter that I would be doing exercise DVDs. So I do Leslie Sansone and Jillian Michaels.... yeah, it's probably the same as if you were REALLY intense with your vacuuming and some other cleaning tasks, but to me it seems like it helps me work out muscles that otherwise I don't use day-to-day. I started out with Leslie "Walk Away the Pounds Ultimate Collection" but I wanted something more fun, upbeat, so I just bought her new "Walk it off in 30 days". I do that DVD with the "music only" option on the disc and the Jillian's 30 Day Shred. I have other Jillian DVDs but it's my favorite. I find that my body doesn't want to do the same workout for much longer than a month (it will be too easy or I'll be bored), so I switch it up. I find that I get good weight loss when I switch up my exercise regimen every once in awhile.

chani8

I do impulsive activities throughout my day, short spurts of exercises, a little weight lifting, some jumping rope, calisthenics, dancing. And try to walk in the fresh air as much as possible.

ahviendha

I think it depends on what you want.

When I was seriously losing weight (when I was heavier, 180+ at 5'7") I was at the gym 3x a week or more, burning 300+ cals.

Now at 150, I'm working on my diet and exercising more for the fun of it. I run 2-3 miles a couple times a week, burning 200-300 cals. I try to weight lift when I can to keep the arm flab at bay. I'll call this one the trying to maintain this for the rest of my life method.

I like both the gym and at home workouts.

I still have to cruise workout forums for inspiration to get to the gym. Some days I can't wait to put on my sneakers, other days I don't want to leave my apartment! But I suck it up and get it done. Heart health! :drinker:

Dragonwolf

I have a Primal attitude towards exercise. There are no gyms where I live but even if there were I wouldn't bother. Bodyweight exercises can give me all the strength training I need and so does hauling heavy stuff around town on my sled. Exercise should be normal daily stuff that is enjoyable and playful. It should include things that need doing around the house, exploring the outdoors and should involve other family members. For the life of me I will never understand leaving the kids/dogs behind to fight through traffic to go run on a treadmill/track or lift weights on a machine at a gym. Besides, all those scheduled work outs do NO good if one sits around the rest of the time. Ideally, we should be lightly and moderately active every day, with occasional full effort bursts of activity.

You can get everything you need by walking, playing and lifting heavy things in your daily life. Sit less, move more.

(Mainly responding to the bolded part, but I have thoughts on most of it.)

I've got a desk job (yeah, my fault, I know), which means it's difficult to do the "be lightly active all day" thing (though I'm starting to consider a treadmill desk). However, I do have a gym subscription and make use of it. Specifically, it's for a boxing gym, so two or three days a week, I go and spend an hour beating on a punching bag. For me, the activity itself relieves enough stress that any added stress for the trip is negated. Prior to that, it was various other things, including lifting weights, which still provided the same stress relief and "recharge" time that I need, and something to do to stay in shape, without having to try to find stuff to do around the house that would accomplish the same end goal (the act of coming up with stuff constantly actually puts more mental stress on me than just about anything else).

I also have an introvert, home-body of a husband, who I'd have to drag, kicking and screaming, out of the house to do anything, which means that most of the time, if I want to do anything to keep from going stir-crazy, it means going by myself. I'm okay with that, because it's my "me" time, and it gives my son and husband some "kid and dad" time.

That said, I agree on principle, especially with regard to what is basically a base level of fitness (ie - you don't *need* to lift weights to have that base level of strength).

each_day_stronger

If you'd rather play, how about looking into joining a meet up? I know there lots of folks you can find on the internet for a game of sorts, like ultimate or soccer or a pick up game of basketball?

Right now I'm trying to do a little (very little) weight lifting with some adjustable dumbbells I purchased. I also am trying to do the primal movements Mark Sisson talks about: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/subscribe-to-blog/#axzz2t3mQlPfl

I personally think if you want to make a number on a scale go down, then exercise is not gunna do much for you. BUT if your goal is to look good naked/lose fat/gain muscle then I think some lifting heavy things and the occasional sprint is pretty useful.

Akimajuktuq

I have a desk job as well. I take "standing breaks" (and sometimes I don't). This involves at the least just getting up or can involve some jumping, walking, squats, push ups etc. Another option is getting a standing desk. One can either modify an existing desk or buy one made especially for standing.

Seriously, our lifestyles are a CHOICE. I choose to sit too much at work and at home. It shortens my lifespan. Armed with this knowledge I can choose to do things differently or stay the same.

The involving other family members depends on that family. Adults can choose what they want, but children need to be involved and guided in a healthy lifestyle. (I'm very introverted and have zero interest in going to busy places for exercise- if that were even an option.) However, our modern lifestyles keep us away from our children far more than is healthy so (as a single parent) I maintain that it's inexcusable (for me) to spend more time away from my child when it's easy to involve her in activities.

For goodness sakes, connection with nature is vital and most of us are stuck inside buildings and machines most of our lives. How do our kids learn to value life and our planet when they have zero connection with it? We cannot survive independently from our natural world; it might be useful to make sure future generations have an appreciation for that which enables our life.

Dragonwolf

Oh, indeed, I don't disagree that our lifestyles are choices (like I said, it's my own fault for staying seated at my job, and for choosing a desk job to begin with). I'm terrible about standing breaks (in part due to the fact that I've been fired or pressured to leave more than one company due to perceived slacking), but that's still my choice. Just standing doesn't really work for me due to back issues, which is why I've been kicking around how to get a treadmill desk at work (I can walk for ages, but can't really just stand in one place for more than a couple of minutes).

Unfortunately, our schedules are such that we don't have much time between when we all get home and my son has to go to bed during the week since he's still at that age for a 7pm bedtime, which pretty much leaves just enough time to eat and wind down for bed. The weekend is generally more open, and when the weather's decent, we try to make a point to go places like the park or the zoo. I'd like to get him involved in some of the stuff that I do, but as it stands, he's still too young for those activities (I've been chomping at the bit for that one, though). We're not perfect (and I feel inadequate compared to you, Akima!) with it, but that's also one of the reasons why we're looking to take an opportunity to relocate to a place where more physical activity (and family time) is built into the culture, should said opportunity pan out (and if it doesn't, we've been ever on the lookout for a way for us to prosper back in our rural roots).

GrokRockStar

Thanks for all of your replies and suggestions! I recently landed a desk job, which I'm not used to (I've worked in a lab most of my career), andiknow how important it is to get up and out. My bum is actually starting to hurt :frown: I like the meet up idea and will start there, it would be fun to play with some new friends!!