For those who have experience with working out

Adrini

Cause I am new to it.

I have been working out for about two weeks and I am try to take it easy and build up, to avoid injury. When I get back I fee like I want to work out more. I know it can be beginners eagerness, but I also wonder if it means I'm ready to do more. i don't want to get hurt and have to do this all over again. :frown:

I am doing 30 minutes of cardio and 10 minutes of light-moderate weightlifting. Nothing difficult. Thoughts?

jimmie65

That's a pretty light workout. Pump it up a bit. but listen to your body and don't push too hard. (Don't push too easy, either).

prettyblu

Keep challenging yourself, just little by little.

CharRicho

That's pretty much what I do at the gym, maybe 15-20 mins of light weightlifting.

I figure if I go for a little bit, more often (like 3-4 times a week) that is better for weight loss than going only once or twice a week and working for 2 hours. BUT if you're trying to really build up muscles then you'll want to do a lot more with the weights.

dfquigley

You could easily increase to around 30 minutes or so of weights, targeting different muscle groups, just google a good beginner weight program. The important thing is good form and not doing too much weight too fast.

As far as cardio goes, increasing cardio can usually be done relatively easy without much issue if it's low impact, such as a spin bike, elliptical, stairclimber, while running puts a lot of impact on the joints and can lead to injury if you increase too quickly.

As long as you keep the cardio effort on the easier side and don't go too hard on the weights to where you actually ruin your next workout, go ahead!

PTJamie

As a personal trainer, I say that you need to challenge your body. If your workouts feel too easy, then they are. Your body is telling you to work out, not take an easy out. Strength train at least 2 times a week and do some type of cardio activity most days of the week for at least 30 minutes minimum. Be sure to stretch after all workouts. Flexibility is just as important as strength and cardio.
Now, with all that said, you should still listen to your body and take it easy if hurting.

damiannikodem

you have to remember that pain is weakness leaving your body.

since you have a ambitious goal your should probbably get a PT that can help you with teqnique and limits to avioid injuring yourself.

If you are training weights/looking for limits they have to hurt (for the last few rep's) prior to taking any real effect, the purpose of most lifting is to first cause mirco-tears in your muscles, and then the muscle will grow when you are recovering.

same goes for most cardio ( is similar, as you push yourself lactic acid builds up and is then flushed away,during the first 10 to 15 minutes when pushing myself I can feel it building up and then being flushed away, then my muscles get used to it and I feel like I can go forever. )

I remember a few years ago when I started martial arts again after a break of about 8 years, after the first class _ALL_ the things hurt, (for about 6 days) then the next week ,everything hurt for about 3 days, and since then I havn't had that come back (google delayed onset muscle soreness, aka DOMS)

Adrini

Pain is also major damage, stressed bones and possible long term injury that make an extra 50 pounds look like a walk in the park. A friend my mine, a 25 year old, had to have knee surgery last month due to pushing too hard. I do not want that..

But I will increase it to an hour. I think that is safe.

damiannikodem

Pain is also major damage, stressed bones and possible long term injury that make an extra 50 pounds look like a walk in the park. A friend my mine, a 25 year old, had to have knee surgery last month due to pushing too hard. I do not want that..

But I will increase it to an hour. I think that is safe.

Major damage usually occurs from poor technique, I am willing to bet that you would be able to deadlift 30 to 50% of your bodyweight without injury using proper form, today, if shown how, I am also willing to bet that if you lift 20 pounds with poor enough form you can end up doing major damage.

Get a personal trainer (mine only costs me $25 for a session, I see him once every few weeks/months at most) talk with them about your concerns and get them to help you come up with a workout plan they can teach you proper technique and even help you calculate your how many repetitions and weight per rep.

krickeyuu

Pain does not equal DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Pain can keep you from moving forward,. I injured myself and it took 2 years to come back from it. Go slow but push yourself regularly. I used DVDs and went from walking, to jogging, to kickboxing. to circuit training. You can push yourself, but let your body tell you what is too much.

MeanLiftsSpy

assuming you're fit and healthy and have no pain you could easily increase walking or add walking to the end of your current cardio and workout.

if you walk at a brisk pace before eating in the morning; you are doing unfed cardio & will burn calories during your brisk walk. it's great you could burn 1000 or more in an hr without much effort.
you wont burn calories throughout the day with this unfed walk, but at 1000+cals you probably wont need to.

if you want to you could add a walk after you workout(wo). and once your wo is long&strenuous enough to burn up your muscles stored sugars your walk will burn your stored fat. bonus.

you might choose to add some hi intensity workout to your weekly routine. such as a 5minute warm up to get the blood flowing and jogging on the spot for 20secs and resting for 8. & stopping for breath, say 4 breaths or more, if need be, is really common practice.
once you can manage it mix it up with star jumps or/& then situps. later try stair climbers.

eg. 5minute warm up i use, you choose how fast to perform each activity, and perform each for 15seconds,
Marching on the spot
Jogging on the spot
Jumping on the spot
Jumping forwards and backwards on the spot
Jumping side to side on the spot
Jumping twists on the spot
Jumping jacks on the spot
Jumping half squats on the spot
Side to side leg lifts on the spot
Reach across lunge on the spot
Cross body toe touch on the spot
Scissors on the spot
Forward stretch mountain pose on the spot
Front leg hamstring runners stretch on the spot
Opposite leg Forward stretch mountain pose on the spot
Opposite leg Front leg hamstring runners stretch on the spot
Twists from the waist up on the spot
Inhale reach up on tippy toes arms to the sky overhead and slowly bend over stretch touch your toes, BEND your knees, BRACE your stomach-abs, LOOK up and rise up SLOWLY with firm belly- on the spot
Side to side stretch arms overhead on the spot
Finish with 5 GENTLE shoulder rolls forwards
And 5 GENTLE shoulder rolls backwards
in-fact it's all pretty much on the spot, down on the spot where you are standing


eg. hi intensity wo, you choose how intense & when you need to catch your breath do so,
8 rounds,
20s marching / jogging / sprinting / hi knees on the spot.
8s of rest
20s star jumps / situps / stair climbers on the spot.
8s of rest
after 8x those Two - cool down with walking on the spot 2-6minutes

write down how many you do on a pad on the floor or chair near you. you might surprise yourself how quickly you add 2 or 3 to you count. (Count your right leg/foot only saves you trying to count every step!)

I can burn 368+Cals in 13minutes this way (5warm up + 8workout). So I imagine you might burn even more.

PLUS if you eat before you wo you will be doing fed exercise. Which means your body will continue to burn calories throughout the day & while at rest.

I will have light meal after my cardio and 40-90 mins before this 8 minute wo.

Afterwards you could let it burn. The majority of burn will occur up to 90minutes after a hi intensity wo. So you could eat then for maximum burning effect.
Or do what i do,
I eat pretty much straight away because im time constrained.

Peach or 1/2 Banana slices on 1tsp pb/philadelphia cheese on toasted rye bread very lightly drizzled with honey or golden syrup on top over all.
It's not many Cals, tastes great, and puts me in a fantastic mood for the day. Which is important when you're running a marathon not a sprint.

hi intensity or HiIT training is more strenuous. Start of with once or twice week. IF you're not sore and feel like more- HOLD BACK, and enjoy the fact you're feeling so great after exercise. The next intense training day is always just around the corner.

remember to have fun with it . it's all game for fitness-Health really

Cause I am new to it.

I have been working out for about two weeks and I am try to take it easy and build up, to avoid injury. When I get back I fee like I want to work out more. I know it can be beginners eagerness, but I also wonder if it means I'm ready to do more. i don't want to get hurt and have to do this all over again. :frown:

I am doing 30 minutes of cardio and 10 minutes of light-moderate weightlifting. Nothing difficult. Thoughts?

danmcgarrigle5

Keep a journal, it doesn't have to be complicated, just what exercise you did and maybe how it felt (easy, hard, couldn't finish, etc...)

There is a function on this site to keep track, but I still keep a paper journal then transfer over to the site. Then every time you go look at what you did last time and if it seemed easy bump it up a bit, like one more plate on the weight machine, or another 10 minutes of cardio, or maybe the next level of resistance on the cardio machine you are using. For example I started at level 6 out of 12 on the stationary bike for 30 minutes, now I'm at an hour at level 10 and increasing the weights slowly depending on how hard it was on the last trip. It usually takes a week or more before I feel I should bump up the weight

rm7161

Cause I am new to it.

I have been working out for about two weeks and I am try to take it easy and build up, to avoid injury. When I get back I fee like I want to work out more. I know it can be beginners eagerness, but I also wonder if it means I'm ready to do more. i don't want to get hurt and have to do this all over again. :frown:

I am doing 30 minutes of cardio and 10 minutes of light-moderate weightlifting. Nothing difficult. Thoughts?

That's all I do and I'm 51 pounds lighter now... just that and watching my diet.

You can gradually up the intensity as you progress without tacking on a lot more time. I started out doing a lot less actually, just about 10 minutes of light calisthenics and 15-20 minutes of light cardio, and I ramped it up and up to where I do a half hour on the elliptical using its crosstraining mode and interval training (its an octane fitness Pro3700 model at the local fitness center, and it lets me really do a challenging workout) and now graduated to the circuit training machines doing about 10 minutes of that... have gradually increased the weight on those too over time.

I'm a heck of a lot stronger now, and my lung problems I used to deal with, have all disappeared.

trogalicious

Check out New Rules of Lifting for Women or Stronglifts 5x5. I've no experience with the first recommendation, I've just seen it thrown all over the forums for women that are looking for information on lifting.

As far as Stronglifts, I can recommend that. The whole concept is to perfect the form, then build up the weight used. So long as you're maintaining technique, you're gonna be better off.

Personally, I'll do a 15 minutes cardio warmup (elliptical, treadmill, or arc trainer) then follow the program for lifting. It's working out for me pretty well and I recommend the same to others that are just starting off. As far as your training, it isn't as much about adding time as it is intensity. I could bust my butt for 15 minutes doing cardio, or just slug away for 30 at a super low intensity.

RunFarLiveHappy

There is a HUGE difference between soreness and pain. Soreness = keep going, pain = STOP IMMEDIATELY. Your body should know the difference. Push yourself! Stretch, drink loads of water (I recommend at least 1/2 of your body weight in ounces; weight-150 pounds, water-75 ounces) and make sure you have adequate potassium and protein in your diet!

spamantha57

You can do as much as you want as long as you are listening to your body & doing things safely. I was very active all growing up & had some health issues that prevented me from doing much of anything for a couple years, & just started being able to be active again about a month ago. I can totally relate to the new eagerness & wanting to push yourself, but my first couple attempts I kept doing too much & hurting myself. I paced myself more half-speed (in my mind at least) for the first week or so, then started pushing a little more the week after, & that seems to have worked pretty well for me. It's quite a jump going from doing nothing to doing anything & you want to take care of your body so that you will be able to keep going & not stop.