How often to exercise??

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13

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  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    lolol @being an *kitten*. I knew the admission of guilt would emerge at some point.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    LoL. I have absolutely no problem admitting when I am being an *kitten*. I know I am, and I do it intentionally.

    However, to answer your question, yes. My schedule I run now is what I started at. Like I said, I've only been pulling for a few months. I saw the logic in taking the most advantage of noob gains, and I ran with it.
  • this1bigdog
    this1bigdog Posts: 350 Member
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    You guys work out too much, you need to rest more often!
    3, 4 days a week tops. Rest!!! Get lots of rest. And lift weights.

    Hmmm if you are a cardio bunny then you don't need to rest as much because you are not destroying your muscles like when you lift weights . .lifting weight burns fewer calories but look better in the long run . .
    but if you are just trying to burn calories. . there isn't much need for rest days . .you can burn calories without need rest days if you start off easy . .

    My schedule
    Monday: run 3k, then eltipical ~1k Cals
    Tuesday: Karate 1.5-2.5 hrs ~2k Cals
    Wednesday sit on *kitten* 0 Cals
    Thursday: Karate 1.5-2.5 hrs ~2k Cals
    Friday Hangout with friends ~0 Cals
    Saturday: Karate 1.5-2.5 hrs ~2k Cals
    Sunday: run 3k, then eltipical ~1k Cals

    but I am here cuz I need to work on food control cuz

    food control > exercise . .

    When I watch my food intake I get amazing results . .
    so be concerned with watching your intake more then exercising in my opinion
    it's way easier to "not eat 1k calories" then to try to burn them off. . .

    Good luck
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    I figured. I couldn't imagine that someone could take such a tone without a little tongue in cheek. However, I even disagree with lifting that much at the beginning. A beginner needs at least a full day of rest to build muscle. Even strength programs like 5/3/1 or NROLFW advice a 3 or 4 day rotation. Add in cardio, you could hit 6 days a week, but that's a lot of stress on your body and will minimize your lifting gains. Especially if you're carb cycling---your macro goals would be all wrong if you had a full schedule like that.
  • Alissakae
    Alissakae Posts: 317 Member
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    In mid- July I started out taking a walk two or three days per week, for two miles (at first it took me a full hour to do the two miles). In August I joined a gym and tried out the personal training. He gave me a workout to do 3 days per week and told me to walk 30 minutes per day at least 2 days per week, so I did that until Octoberl. At that time I started doing personal training once per week. The trainer gives me a circuit type workout to do three days (inclined treadmill, weights, floor excercises). So I do the trainer's workout three days per week now, water jogging for an hour two days per week, and a Zumba class on Friday mornings. I take Sunday off. I could not have done this routine when I was starting out, but have eased into it. I'm enjoying the variety and it is working for me.
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    And to actually answer the OP's question, I do 3 days of 30-45 min HIIT biking (alternating light and HEAVY resistance) coupled with a 25 min compound lifting session. Try to achieve that by hitting the gym M, T, Sa but I'm not adverse to doing cardio two days in a row if my schedule is crazy.
    I also try to do 2 half-hour sessions of vinyasa yoga at home, usually on my "rest" days.

    However, I am 6 months pregnant, so I think my schedule is light enough for a beginner. In my "cutting" days, I would do 6 days a week, 3 heavy lifting and 3 cardio with sporadic yoga thrown in but it took me about 6 months to work up to that pace.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    I figured. I couldn't imagine that someone could take such a tone without a little tongue in cheek. However, I even disagree with lifting that much at the beginning. A beginner needs at least a full day of rest to build muscle. Even strength programs like 5/3/1 or NROLFW advice a 3 or 4 day rotation. Add in cardio, you could hit 6 days a week, but that's a lot of stress on your body and will minimize your lifting gains. Especially if you're carb cycling---your macro goals would be all wrong if you had a full schedule like that.

    That's what I don't get. I see this argument all of the time, but my personal experience has been the exact opposite. I already told you what I'm pulling, and I've been in a 700+ caloric deficit the entire time. By most of the arguments I see on here, I should have either keeled over dead, or at the very least been riddled with injuries by now.

    If you want to be bothered to look back at most of my posts, you'll see that I generally tell people to feel out themselves (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, especially since I post a lot of random crap). We can give advice all day, but since we can't feel their body, we could be giving the wrong advice entirely, and not even realize it.
  • jrocnrun
    jrocnrun Posts: 21
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    I work out 6 days a week. but when I was starting out it was every other day. if youre trying to lose weight ( which we all are) cardio is the most important. Start there. then after a few weeks start stenght training.
  • cpaman87
    cpaman87 Posts: 193 Member
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    I do an hour a day for 6 to 7 days every week. When you are my age (50ish) it becomes very important.
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    Hmmmm....like I said, from having set and hit lifting my own lifting goals and knowing the stress/toll that took on my diet and body, I guess I would just argue that consec. lifting without rest will not stand the test of time. I'm not doubting your experience, I just would be interested to see if someone with your lifting schedule can stick to that emotionally and physically for years/decades without permanent injury or disinterest.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    Hmmmm....like I said, from having set and hit lifting my own lifting goals and knowing the stress/toll that took on my diet and body, I guess I would just argue that consec. lifting without rest will not stand the test to time. I'm not doubting your experience, I just would be interested to see if someone with your lifting schedule can stick to that emotionally and physically for years/decades without permanent injury or disinterest.

    One of those "only time will tell" kind of things, I suppose. It was said to me before during a tangent similar to this one "anyone can keep a hard lifting schedule for a couple of months. But doing it for years on end, through all of the personal trials and the injuries is what separates the elite from everyone else." There are people who do this very thing.

    Can the 'average' person do it? Not likely. However, the 'average' person is stuffing their face with Ho-Hos, watching Jersey Shore, and working their way toward Type-II diabetes right now, not on a website that is about trying to change their life. To me, anyone here could be the next elite athlete if they are willing to put in the effort, so why discourage them from doing so from the very beginning?
  • suzely0530
    suzely0530 Posts: 150 Member
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    Hi all,

    Newbie here and looking for a bit of guidance, just wondering how many days people are working out for and for how long each day?

    All help appreciated.

    Thanks
    Nic

    I work out 4-5 days per week (most often, 5). I spend 30 minutes strength training + 30-40 minutes of cardio on a cross trainer. On days when i don't lift weights, I spend 45-55 min on the cross traininer.
  • studentforlife
    studentforlife Posts: 19 Member
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    I fit it in when I can... I have a goal to hit the gym eveyday for at least a half hour of cardio... The only time I can do it is before work which means being at the gym @ 3:30 in the AM... So far I have been able to hit 4 days a week with a longer run on Sunday's....One of these days, I will need to get some weight training in, but is not a high priority for me right now, so I settle for push ups situps and looking at a pull up bar at home
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    When I was a newbie, though, I was searching for any type of sign that I could ever have a chance of becoming one these "active/healthy people" on MFP. Someone telling me 6 days a week (at the beginning, not the way that others have told us that they worked up from 2-3 days,) would have made me feel totally inferior and hopeless. Or, it would have challenged me to go 6 days a week for the first 2 weeks and then feel dejected/frustrated when I felt tired/sore/unmotivated and didn't see the scale move the way that the Special K commercial told me that it would. ;)

    *Have you seen all the "why am I not skinny after 3 weeks of working out like a dog" threads lately??!*

    I think it's better to help newbies set realistic early goals like what we all started doing. 3-4 times a week is a great goal and totally doable for most people, versus the zero that they (and most of the population) were doing before. As you get more fit, 5 days a week is average for most "active" people and I would consider 6 days (as long as you're not doing "f-ingarounditis and leisurely walking/pedaling while watching "The Kardashians") to be elite/superdedicated. However, I stand by that 6 days a week for someone starting off is unrealistic, unsustainable and setting that person up for injury and quitting.

    OP, don't forget that 3 days of elevated heartrate, DOMS-inducing *work* is far superior to 6 days of half-hearted "showing up" where you barely break a sweat!
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    Now you see why I am such an advocate of 'do as much as you feel you can'. Your personal experience runs counterclockwise to my own.

    I have seen all of those threads, but I expect that this time of year. It's hitting the time where most New Years Ressers who have the drive, willpower, and patience of a neurotic field mouse will start giving up. I see them left an right at my gym all of the time. It's great for the Personal Trainers' pockets, but disheartening to me, as every single one of those people could better themselves physically, if they could just kick themselves in the *kitten* mentally.

    I wanted to push hard in the beginning, because the very beginning is where you see the most results. If someone doesn't have the drive to wait a couple of months to see some decent results, they are REALLY screwed when they get to the point where it can take months or even years to get that lift just a little bit higher, or that mile just a little bit faster.
  • nicnak8585
    nicnak8585 Posts: 6
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    Oooohhh lots of difference of opinion :wink:

    What i've picked up from the feedback is that i should listen to my body and do quality workouts and make sure i get rest in between. That sounds sensible to me, although i didn't expect my post to get so intense :wink:

    Each to their own and nobody can judge other people's workouts if it feels right for them.
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    I hear ya. When I see the woman next to me doing 8mph for 20 minutes (not even checking her heartrate , which is probably less than 100,) and then know that she's going to start the next "Why Am I Not Losing Weight" thread, I want to give her a serious talking-to about how you have to *try* if you want to see results. But if I did that, or told her to do 6 workouts a week, she'd probably quit coming altogether. You've got to win converts with candor yet compassion.
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    Oooohhh lots of difference of opinion :wink:

    What i've picked up from the feedback is that i should listen to my body and do quality workouts and make sure i get rest in between. That sounds sensible to me, although i didn't expect my post to get so intense :wink:

    Each to their own and nobody can judge other people's workouts if it feels right for them.

    I hope that you are able to find a way that works for you! =) At least noone said 7 days a week or 1 day a week, so you can work somewhere within the parameters ;)
  • nicnak8585
    nicnak8585 Posts: 6
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    Definately i'll aim for the middle ground and go from there :wink:
  • jayche
    jayche Posts: 1,128 Member
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    When I was a newbie, though, I was searching for any type of sign that I could ever have a chance of becoming one these "active/healthy people" on MFP. Someone telling me 6 days a week (at the beginning, not the way that others have told us that they worked up from 2-3 days,) would have made me feel totally inferior and hopeless. Or, it would have challenged me to go 6 days a week for the first 2 weeks and then feel dejected/frustrated when I felt tired/sore/unmotivated and didn't see the scale move the way that the Special K commercial told me that it would. ;)

    *Have you seen all the "why am I not skinny after 3 weeks of working out like a dog" threads lately??!*

    I think it's better to help newbies set realistic early goals like what we all started doing. 3-4 times a week is a great goal and totally doable for most people, versus the zero that they (and most of the population) were doing before. As you get more fit, 5 days a week is average for most "active" people and I would consider 6 days (as long as you're not doing "f-ingarounditis and leisurely walking/pedaling while watching "The Kardashians") to be elite/superdedicated. However, I stand by that 6 days a week for someone starting off is unrealistic, unsustainable and setting that person up for injury and quitting.

    OP, don't forget that 3 days of elevated heartrate, DOMS-inducing *work* is far superior to 6 days of half-hearted "showing up" where you barely break a sweat!
    DOMS isn't an indication of a good workout. Higher frequency training has also been shown to be more optimal for natural muscle growth.

    You are correct in saying that in fitness MORE isn't BETTER and that adequate rest needs to be emphasized to continue to progress, but 6-day a week training splits do work/produce if done properly as they do provide enough time for each muscle group to fully recover before the next workout (only problem you would run into is fatiguing your CNS, which is why lower volume/non-failure training is something I would highly recommend if you plan on following a 6-day split).

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