Cant even last 5 mins

mogletdeluxe

We all start somewhere!

I regularly run 8k on the treadmill - when I first started, I could barely do ten minutes at walking pace. But keep at it - hard work pays off, and frankly people are too involved in their own workouts to give a damn about anyone else!

MystikPixie

I think 5 minutes is really good considering you're not an active runner. Plus you have asthma, so double good. I use singulair before exercising, it helps ALOT. When I get back to exercising I doubt I'll be able to do 5 minutes either.

savyjenn

Make sure you stretch a long while before starting a new workout. Your muscles may not be fatigued they may just be overly tight. Also, dont be hard on your self for starting slow. you will get there. Can you do 5 mins then get off and do weights, then back to 5 mins. Like circuit training?

You should stretch AFTER working out, not before. You need to have warm muscles before you stretch (think pulling on a cold rubber band versus a warm one). If you enjoy stretching pre-workout, you should still warm up first.

You can do large fluid movements to limber up....think windmill arms, gentle neck rolls....shaking it out....just to kind of get your blood flowing....

rotill

If you want to up your oxygen intake in the most efficient way possible (for untrained people), this is a workout pattern which has been deveoped through research. You won't become a very strong runner, but it will help your heart and your circulation, and it's a good place to start if you have never tried before.

You do it biking, walking, running - any cardio exercise is fine.

4 minutes very easy and relaxed.
2 minutes as high intensity as you can.
3 minutes relaxed.
2 minutes high intensity, want to be really fighting it.
3 minutes relaxed.
2 minutes very intense.
3 minutes relaxed.
2 minutes intense.
3-5 minutes relaxed cooldown.

The clue to this is in the high intensity in the shorter periods. If you were able to do 8 minutes in one go, as hard as possible, full out, you could do that - but then you need to be fairly fit. This way you get to catch your breath.

It's the strain on your system by high intensity that helps your heart and your circulation.

This won't make you fit fast, so if you want to become a long distance runner, this is not the wrkout. But if you are very unfit and just want to do the quickest thing you can to take care of your heart, this is it.

Repeat 4-5 times a week.

And it's perfectly normal if you hurt 2-3 days after this, for the first 10 times. You are pushing yourself as much as you can, something you hardly ever have done up to now. You wil lbe sore.

kirstyfairhead

I am also an ashtma sufferer and I mostly either run (street running rather than at the gym) or do Zumba class as exercise. When I started my 'running' plan i set out on a 2.5 mile circuit, jogging about 200 yards and then walking for 3-4 mins and then jogging again. I just about made it round and was exhausted.

Last night I did a 5 mile jog, it took me 61mins so I'm not breaking any speed records but I jogged the whole way without stopping, even up the hills where I used to have to stop. It's only taken me about 4 months to build up to this and that was with a break of weeks off with an injury after a car accident.

Just keep at it and you will amaze yourself!!!

Good luck.

Superchas

Took me three months of walking starting at one mile in 25 minutes with pauses and building to ten miles per day in 150 minutes
Then I got on an exercise bike - went for 6 miles in 30 minutes at 12 mph
Took me three months of bike before went for first jog - disastrous
Took me another three months of bike before started training for 5k
After year on mfp did my 5k without stopping in 30 mins
Now can go for 40 miles on exercise bike in 120 minutes at 20mph

Running is waste of space for me as bad for joints but have promised to run again in 7 weeks to see if losing a further 25lbs makes a difference

2012 3800 miles on bike; 25 miles ran
2013 to date 600 miles on bike ; 0 miles ran

Luckily apart from the running all done in the comfort of home and have watched a lot of blu-rays

It ain't easy but it is worth it

Enjoy your journey

sarahrbraun

So i decided to try out the gym. Im 5ft 1 and around 190lbs. I suffer asthma and am very unfit. I have been swimming twice a week for a few weeks but nothing major in the way of exercise.

I started off on the treadmill for a warm up and could barely last 5 mins. The back of my calves were killing me!
I moved onto the elliptical and same... could barely last

Is this normal? Im so embarassed thats its completely put me off going to the gym!

I was 5'2" and 228 when I started at the gym last year...managed to walk for 30 minutes, but my calves were on FIRE to the point where I literally stumbled when I got off the treadmill. And I had just come off a REALLY bad cycle of bronchitis and asthma flares that lasted 4 MONTHS. But I stuck with it...and after a while I wasn't dripping in sweat, and I didn't stumble anymore. I still don't go more than 3.4mph, but I do do hill intervals at level 7!

I swear that darn treadmill is the reason I have had nice legs for months--I already had nice legs when I started lifting 4 months ago!

CyberEd312

When I started I could barely stand for 30 seconds at a stretch and walking was just impossible. I had to get a doctors script for aquatic therapy to utilize weight displacement so I could stand long enough to get any exercise and the first time I ever went I still only last 5 minutes. Fast forward to today (42 months) and I have swam 78 laps in the last 2 days and am heading to the gym in an hour for my normal 75 minutes on the elliptical. Point is we all started somewhere and most cases it wasn't pretty but we was persistent and kept going back and over time built up to what we all can do today... But it never means we stop pushing ourselves. If I did 38 laps Sunday then I was going for 40 laps yesterday and Wednesday it will be 42.... Best of Luck,,,,

Dad_of_3

First of all, good for you for trying! You rock for making up your mind to do it, and the fact you are asking for help means you are not quitting!

Others have said it, but you have to start slow. When I first started, I was DYING after five minutes, Six months later I walk on a 2% incline for 45 to 50 minutes, about 2.5 to 3.0 mph. You have to build up to it. And not quit.

I tried C25K. I got dehydrated while I was doing it, and got tachycardic. After I got re-hydrated and took off for a week, my stamina was nil. Make SURE you stay hydrated, and cut the caffeine. I still walk and will not be running until I get below 300 pounds, because it was hurting my legs way, way too bad. I will go back to C25K when I hit 299.

Said that to tell you this- sometimes you have to modify your goals based on what your body allows you to do- which in turn is based on your fitness level (look at Ed Davenport's post above for a prime example of not quitting because you can't do it like everyone else).

Keep it up, and know that we are here to help!

CherishQuick

Hey, this traffic has been very encouraging. Really was struggling these last 2 weeks: someone thought I was walking but I was running....Does anyone have input regarding the weigh ins? 194 lbs on Saturday and 199 by Tuesday morning! Yuck.

KANGOOJUMPS

yeah, it all takes time, baby steps.

rezn8

This first 5 minutes or about 1/2 to 3/4 mile seems like it's going to do you in every time. You can push through it. Set a goal of at least 1 mile for sarters and work your way up. When you hit the 1/2 mile mark you'll mentally know your halfway there and on the down side. Heck, you might even go further once you hit the mile. No matter how much I run it's always the same.

Unknown

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damiannikodem

IMHO the treadmill is the most un-natural machine ever invented. I can do run at a pretty reasonable pace on normal ground or do suicides for 10/15 minutes as a warmup, but I have trouble with 5 minutes on a treadmill

Dad_of_3

IMHO the treadmill is the most un-natural machine ever invented. I can do run at a pretty reasonable pace on normal ground or do suicides for 10/15 minutes as a warmup, but I have trouble with 5 minutes on a treadmill

+1!!!!!!!!!!!!!