Workout Advice.

Lovestruckfatty
Lovestruckfatty Posts: 2
edited September 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone, new here! (Atleast to the forums) :)

I've been in and around the lifestyle change scene for about a year/two years now (more serious these two years, but i've always been lightly taking interest, etc). I'm not going this venture alone. I have a pack of girls with me, all wanting to drop variable amounts of weight. I'd say the lowest needed would be 40-50 and up from there. Currently we do:

Ea Sports Active 2 four days out of the week, every week
Just dance (1 and 2) on almost every day, for anywhere from 15-45 minutes at a time.
1-2 25 minute walks on the treadmill just about every day

And then we'll throw in some 'every now and then's'

Strength training (in addition to the EA sports training)
Pilates
and we plan to incorporate some more things we have on hand already like:


Zumba
Workout dvds (We have 'hip hop' type aerobics, cardio videos, ab stompers, etc)
Medicine balls
Exercise balls
Boxing on the wii (we might invest in a sparring kit or a boxing bag in the distant future)
Other interactive wii games (wii fit/resort/sports/etc)

We will soon have a 'Total Gym' for tightening/toning/strength training
We are thinking about getting a gazelle or an elliptical (I'd like input on which is better calorie/workout wise).

We're on the Atkins diet. Induction phase (for the last month). Im wondering exactly how we should map out each thing. Yes we want to lose weight but we also want to keep what we lose toned and tight. I know that working out your muscles too much will cause damage/and you wont build any if you dont let them rest.

I'm wondering if an 'Every other day' method would work. 1-2 hours every day. Maybe an hour cardio every day (aside from whatever it is we do throughout the day thats a given) and an hour of muscle building on either our upper or lower body. The next day we rest whatever part we worked out and switch the hour to the next (Example: Mon-Wed-Fri could be upper and Tue-Thur-Sun could be lower).

Is this the best plan of action? Is there something else we can incorporate, or utilize in a better fashion? I plan to map these out on calendars for each of us, so we know exactly what we need to do each day and can move on from there.

Thanks so much for your time. I love your community!


P.s

We also have other things i haven't mentioned like jump ropes and other videos we arent ready for yet (the 'bar method', Jillian Michaels, biggest loser discs, etc from over the years, and raiding our closets). We will (or plan to) have bicycles in the summer, and hit the pools as well for some good swim time.

Replies

  • boniekatie
    boniekatie Posts: 147
    Don't forget streting and flexibility exercises. Try to encorporate fun things that will carry you through when you get bored with routines. When the weather is nice do your walking outside or plan a hike with a picnic. If you live near water see if you can rent a row boat. Put together a vegetable garden that you all work in and reap the benefits. Roller skate, swim, or whatever. Your exercise plan is good, but two hours a day can seem like a lot of work and might cause an emotional rebellion. Try to find ways to encorporate your exercise into an active lifestyle instead of just a "work"out.
  • Vicky14174
    Vicky14174 Posts: 715 Member
    i have a Pro Gazelle which has hydraulic cylinders that can be attached for added resistance which i love. Good luck you all of you.

    One thing though, trying thinking of this as a lifestyle change not a diet. I don't put much faith in diets as it has been my experience that everyone that I've every known that uses a "diet" will lose weight but then when they stop using the "diet" they gain all of the weight back plus some.

    The word diet refers to what you eat. There are all kinds of diets such as junk food diets, vegetarian diets, meat & potatoes diet, Atkins diet, etc, etc, etc, You can lose weight by just making healthier food chooses and eating the correct portions. I mean you can eat real food. It's that "lifestyle" change that will stick because it becomes a way of life and you lead by example. Everyone in my house eats what I eat, from the 2 year old to my 81 year old mother. I'm teaching my grand kids to eat a healthier diet instead of the fast foods and junk foods that have tons of calories, fat and god only knows what else in them because I can't pronounce the words in the ingredients. I want them to not have the problem with being obese later in life. I'm helping to set their lifestyles now.

    Good luck again and welcome to the family.
  • Lovestruckfatty
    Lovestruckfatty Posts: 2
    Hey look at that! Replies already :)

    Yes, i dont use 'diet' as a part-time thing. Just that we're on the diet based off the atkins menu (the 4 phases that you eventually taper through until you're on the most lenient 'maintaining' phase). The two hour/day workout is also just until we do start getting the weight off and can incorporate more fun/interesting things. I have a feeling once we start getting in the groove, we'll be more apt to think of fun trips to take or things to do which will be a lot of exercise in its own then the workouts will taper to maybe an hour a day, or an hour and a half every other day or so depending on the amount of exercise we're receiving by what other things we're doing.

    We do try to incorporate fun things and i think once the warm weather hits (SNOW STORM TODAY! :() we'll be ready to get out and do a bunch of things we're currently limited on. Ive been thinking of how to make it into some sort of a competition game because i notice when we workout, we all give it our all if we're together for friendly competition. Either that, or having some sort of 'Fantasy Loser' along the basis of any other fantasy club (fantasy baseball/football/etc) where we all bid on who we think will be the biggest loser and on weighin day, whoever voted gets some kind of exercise related item or maybe a new top/pants.. something to take it that extra inch.

    Do you have anything creative that you do to keep you focused and out of a rut? Im trying to stockpile a bunch of ideas to pull out along the way.


    Thank you thank you thank you for your replies, i really appreciate it :) And Vicky - the Pro Gazelle is something i've had my eye on lately, its the only reason im having a hard time deciding to get an elliptical. I hear varying comments in regards to how many calories you burn on the Gazelle (in general) over the Elliptical. Some say its the same, others say one way or the other. Have you been able to notice a difference if you calculate burned calories on both?


    ::Edit::

    Sorry BonieKatie, didnt mean to miss your comment i thought i replied to it earlier :/ Yes, we do warmups and cool downs (i normally wouldn't but the EA SA that we do has made us each and every time, so now its kind of ingrained in me. I can notice a difference when i stretch/warm up and those times that i dont stretch/warmup/cool down i never noticed it prior, so its harder for me to ignore that now (thank goodness!)
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