Different means of exercise???

melhayes1115

Do any of you have an uncoventional means of exercise? What I mean by that is, I did a little experiment on myself to see how active I stay during any given time. One Sunday I wore my HRM during a football game knowing that I have a tendency to jump up and down and get a bit rowdy during the games (just when my team is playing). That and chasing around after my 2 year old. Well, as it turned out, I burned over 500 calories.

ChrisD2366

Wow I think that is great and I believe "exercise" to mean anything that keeps you moving. As long as you are moving, you burn calories and I think that a lot of people do no understand this fact. Exercise doesn't mean that you have to go out and buy all kinds of equipment or even go to a gym (unless you are a gym type person). You can do a lot of exercises without any kind of apparatus. Remember Jumping Jacks, Walking, Running, Push-Ups, Sit Ups, and all the other exercises from gym class in school? We weren't handed dumb bells or any other thing to do these exercises, we used our own body weight. And if you like you exercise gadgets, instead of investing in expensive memberships or equipment, buy a jump rope or a hula hoop.

dad106

I want to warn you, that calorie count isn't accurate. HRM's are not meant to be worn during non exercise.. IE when the heart rate isn't elevated. Yea your heart rate may have been elevated a bit, but it's not actual exercise.. so I wouldn't count it. Jumping during a game and chasing after a child is more of a lifestyle thing anyway, since is something you would do normally.

I personally view exercise as something that you don't normally do... IE walking on a treadmill, running outdoors/on a treadmill, weight lifting, zumba, etc. Things like cleaning, walking the mall, etc are part of a normal life and shouldn't be counted as exercise.

grumpers

I don't know about the calorie count issue with the heart monitor, but there's an article in this month's Prevention magazine about this very type of activity. Apparently it is called nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). I think it works pretty much like the 10,000 steps program in that it encourages you to add activity to your day constantly, what they call "incidental activity", like always taking the stairs, parking at the far end of the lot, making multiple trips across a room to do a task (ie least efficient way to get stuff done!). Their test combined it with a 1600 calorie per day diet for results. They liked it...

marthafox1

For me the differential is in the terminology: I exercise every day wherein my heart rate is raised exerting energy to achieve various goals - such as cleaning, shopping, gardening etc., and doesn't get logged. Training to me is entirely different and is a conscious effort to put my trainers on and workout at a specific heart rate to achieve particular goals and every second and calorie burned is logged.

I understand that for some people they log anything that is over and above a 'normal' day so Christmas shopping, spending all day baking in the kitchen all gets logged. Ultimately, it's about what works for each individual to achieve the end results you want.