Women and Exercise

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zenmama
zenmama Posts: 1,000
in Fitness and Exercise
According to Women's Health Magazine on the average women should aim for no more than 6-7 hours of vigerous exercise each week (unless you are training for a serious endurance event). They suggest that you work out for 60-90 min a day for 5 days and take 2 days off....(15 min walk is OK on the 2 days off). You should not take the 2 days off in a row. This is to help the body recover. :smile:

dd

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  • zenmama
    zenmama Posts: 1,000
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    According to Women's Health Magazine on the average women should aim for no more than 6-7 hours of vigerous exercise each week (unless you are training for a serious endurance event). They suggest that you work out for 60-90 min a day for 5 days and take 2 days off....(15 min walk is OK on the 2 days off). You should not take the 2 days off in a row. This is to help the body recover. :smile:

    dd
  • bossypants
    bossypants Posts: 11
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    i wish i had time for 60-90 minutes a day...by the time i get home from work i am sooo tired i manage 30 minutes a day
  • dhayes
    dhayes Posts: 216 Member
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    i wish i had time for 60-90 minutes a day...by the time i get home from work i am sooo tired i manage 30 minutes a day

    I was in the same boat as you get to work at 8:30 leave office at 6:30 -7. No time to work out...or so I thought. I joined the YMCA which is directly on my way home and I can now get in 1.5 to 2 hours a night. :glasses:

    And I have way more energy now than I did when I thought I was too tired to work out. Give it a try.:wink:
  • zenmama
    zenmama Posts: 1,000
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    30 min. is still something! Try adding time gradually....5min at a time that is what I did.

    dd:happy:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Eh, I've also read in a women's health magazine that we shouldn't lift heavy either, it's "dangerous" :laugh: I guess I'm really taking chances lifting heavy for 60-80 min. 6 days a week :wink:
  • zenmama
    zenmama Posts: 1,000
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    But you are training to do it for competitive reasons. All good right :happy:

    dd
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Yea, but I have yet to compete and I have been training like this for over a year now. My comp isn't until October, and when it approaches, I'll be doing more activity. Statements like that just make no sense...why is it only 'women'? Are we somehow unable to work harder than that? Is it dangerous for some reason? If we can give birth multiple times in our lives, we can definitely lift harder and more often than that if we want to. Shoot, I lift more than or as much as quite a few guys in my gym.
  • blessedmamma
    blessedmamma Posts: 55
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    I just researched the issue of women lifting too much, and don't see anything specifically saying that women shouldn't lift any certain amount. I lift too, so I wanted to know. I must say that I wouldn't have slowed down on it anyway!
  • ariannedavis
    ariannedavis Posts: 520 Member
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    Ha Ha, give birth multiple times! One took 18 hours! So much for that weekly limit :laugh:

    Our average team practices 90-120 minutes 6 days a week with unorganized activity on the 7th. An average competition lasts two hours, so that really skews the numbers!

    I know my cross country & track practices in college averaged the same. Thank God races were a little over 20 minutes! I only hope to return to that level of training someday. :tongue:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Ha Ha, give birth multiple times! One took 18 hours! So much for that weekly limit :laugh:

    Our average team practices 90-120 minutes 6 days a week with unorganized activity on the 7th. An average competition lasts two hours, so that really skews the numbers!

    I know my cross country & track practices in college averaged the same. Thank God races were a little over 20 minutes! I only hope to return to that level of training someday. :tongue:

    LOL yup my mom was in labor with me for 36 hours. She survived and had another one 10 years later hehe :laugh:

    There really isn't a limit to what you can do. Eat enough, rest if you're injured, take a day off. But that goes for men and women. In fact, women need to focus on resistance training much more than they currently do now because it does SO much in the fight against osteoporosis and broken bones as we age. I lift with guys and follow exactly the same program for upper body..and for lower I actually do more strength work than they do, so I press a *lot* of weight.
  • Nich0le
    Nich0le Posts: 2,906 Member
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    I read that article too and for those that "don't have time" you may want to do like many others do, find a gym that is on the way home and make a point to leave work at a certain time everyday because lets face it whats on your desk at 5 can probably wait until the next day.

    We give too much to work and not enough to ourselves.
  • neverbeenskinny
    neverbeenskinny Posts: 446 Member
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    I guess I don't understand why it's dangerous for women to lift weights. I've been lifting heavy for years, I've competed in Powerlifting on and off since 1979, and back 10 years ago I was a world class Powerlifter, competed with the US Team. I've always out lifted the men in my gym and I don't understand why someone would say that it's dangerous. I did it naturally, and was not on any supplements of any kind, not even protein shakes. I now coach Powerlifting and have one female under me that may actually break some of my records soon. Can you tell me where I can find the article that states that it's dangerous? Or can you recall the reason that it's dangerous?
  • Pcarolln
    Pcarolln Posts: 39
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    I also will be going to the YMCA and I will be going 3 times a week. 2 weekdays and a Saturday/Sunday. Joining again for the 2nd time. I pack my gym bag the night before and ready to exercise after work. If I go home to change clothes to go to the Y, I will never get there. I tried going to the Y before work, that did not work for me.

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