40+Club-Making it Work

I found a HRM on sale at our sporting goods store. It has all of the information about the watch but doesnt say just exactly where a girl would wear the chest strap. Above or below the.... yea... hehe

Tron, I got mine a couple of days ago. Yea, they make it so confusing, don't they? I finally just had look up pics on google to figure it out. I put it just under "the girls" under my bra. It worked great and was comfortable. I forgot it was there and I even wore it all day (lol, well, I didn't completely forget as I kept checking the watch part for cals burned all day tee hee).

Hoamai, I hear you there on the mornings. I have to get up at 5am to workout but this past week I seem to be working out in the evenings. I have heard that working out in the morning is better because it helps to burn calories the rest of the day.

I'm just glad to get a workout in when I can. Some days are harder than others, thats for sure. I actually burned 700 cals yesterday and was so proud of myself. I'm not even all that sore today where the past couple of weeks have been excruitiating at times.

Cardigirl - I prefer morning workouts also but just started breaking my workouts up this week. I'm experimenting to see what works best. I felt like working out 90 minutes was pushing myself to hard I've switched to an hour in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening. I'm not as tired, and I'm working out even longer in total so I'll see how it goes.

TexasMom, this is interesting, as sometimes I don't have enough time in the mornings to fit everything in. I'll be interested to see how this works for you. Nice to work out with your daughter...some good bonding time there, I imagine! The track time sounds very good!

And because of your decision to change up your routine, I'm curious as to how much time is a good amount to work out? I see many people on here who do 90 minutes or more on their workout days. I'm good if I get in 60 minutes...how much is too much or overtraining? I see people discuss that as well, and am unfamiliar with that concept. I can understand doing weight training at the gym and then going for a run later in the day, or something like that, just haven't gotten to that point yet, myself.

Some people talk about having an effective and efficient workout, vs working out longer times...it's all quite confusing to me. I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts on this.

Hi everyone. It's nice to read everything that is going on with everyone. I have to vent a bit... I'm going downstate with a good friend on Saturday and we're going to see a musical at Circle Theatre. Anyway, she asked what I was wearing. I told her I wasn't sure - that not much fits me. :noway: She got after me, telling me not to be so hard on myself - to be keep in mind, that "we're in our 40's!" I told her that I wasn't being hard on myself, just honest - that I don't have many dress slacks that fit me (yet). I get this "in our 40's" comment from her whenever the subject of clothes or dieting comes up - or when I'm ordering (carefully) when we eat out. I never make a big deal of any of it. Up to now, I've been rather diplomatic with my response, but one of these days.....:explode: How does "being in our 40's" justify weighing too much? It doesn't!!! GRRRR!

And because of your decision to change up your routine, I'm curious as to how much time is a good amount to work out? I see many people on here who do 90 minutes or more on their workout days. I'm good if I get in 60 minutes...how much is too much or overtraining? I see people discuss that as well, and am unfamiliar with that concept. I can understand doing weight training at the gym and then going for a run later in the day, or something like that, just haven't gotten to that point yet, myself.

Some people talk about having an effective and efficient workout, vs working out longer times...it's all quite confusing to me. I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts on this.

cardigirl, there really is no quick, easy answer to this. Even those responsible for making exercise recommendations--and who study it for a living--can't seem to agree on how much a person should workout in terms of time. You'll see official recommendations from 30 minutes 3-4 days a week, to 60 minutes 5-6 days a week. I have not studied this, but I think some of the variations come from what the intent behind working out is for those doing the studies, etc.

So there are few rules when it comes to this. I happen to think the absolute best answer to 'how much should I workout' is 'whatever works best for you'. If that means you have 30 minutes a day, workout those 30 minutes a day. You just have to make whatever time you invest into working out works for you.

I usually workout between 45-90 minutes a day (with the average being 60 minutes) because this is a habit I got in years ago working out with DVDs. Generally speaking, that is the length of the DVDs the instructor I workout with the most (Cathe Friedrich--and I've been using her DVDs now for over 10 years) makes, so that's how long I workout. And I've always managed to work my schedule to allow for that (I'm very fortunate in that regard).

But I also know that I probably could get as effective of a workout for less time if I pushed the intensity a bit, which goes to your second paragraph up there. So I will give you an example. During a steady state step aerobic workout, my heart rate stays between 130-140 most of the time, and I burn about 300 calories in an hour. However, if I do a bootcamp/drill style workout, my heart rate will fluctuate between 120 and 150 (or more), and I can burn a similar amount of calories in less than 45 minutes. The second workout is a more effective use of time in terms of calorie burn (and there are other benefits to doing that type of workout which I won't go into), but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with doing the 60 minute workout either. I enjoy different things on different days, and, for me, it is important for me to actually like the workouts I'm doing, so I vary my routine (especially with cardio) quite a bit. Days I want to push it, I do drills. Other days, if I'm not all there, a steady state is just better for me.

As far as overtraining goes, there again, there are no hard and fast rules. One of the things Jillian Michaels has brought up which I found interesting is that if you workout intensely more than 2 hours straight, the body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol, which can actually lead to putting on more weight (especially on the belly). So I think that is a good guideline to follow, and it actually makes sense that the body would respond to intense workouts with a stress hormone.

There are distinct signs of overtraining, though. One is fatigue in the legs (like you are walking through heavy mud all the time, not muscle soreness caused by the exercise itself). Another is having a higher resting heart rate, but are unable to raise your heart rate during your workouts. Another sign of overtraining is an increase in things like colds. Those are just a few examples. I did double workouts for a number of years, and never had any issues with overtraining.

But there are a couple of things to watch out for, especially if you are doing any strength training. Don't workout the same body part two days in a row. That's really important. Your muscles need time to recover. So if you workout biceps today (as an example), the next earliest day you'd want to work them out would be Saturday. Another thing to watch out for is to make sure you are varying your cardio routines (for instance, one day the elliptical, the next day the treadmill, the next day a kickboxing class) to prevent overuse injuries and to make sure your body doesn't adjust to whatever workout you are doing. The body can adapt to a workout in about two weeks, so you want to make sure you change things up as much as possible.

Hope that didn't muddy the waters further for you!!

Good to see you back, TexasMom. Thanks for your kind words. :flowerforyou:

kelligirl, that's kind of interesting what your friend said to you because I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about this change in lifestyle I'm going through. She is a few years older than me and has, quite honestly, served as a huge inspiration to me even though we now live thousands of miles apart. But she is a very clean eater, and in spending about a year living near each other, she put enough thoughts into my head that it is really her example I'm following in trying to clean up my diet.

Anyhow, we were talking on the phone the other day about this, and I told her that one of the reasons I feel it is so important for me to take charge of my health/nutrition/fitness right now is BECAUSE I'm in my 40s. It makes me sad that the attitude that being unhealthy or overweight or unfit is expected at this age is so pervasive (and it is). For me, it became paramount to make the change because it was when I hit 40 that I finally began to feel the ill effects of the lifestyle I was living, and I had the ability TO change it still. I certainly wouldn't want to kick this can down the road for another 10-20 years and then have some illnesses/diseases that I might not be able to change.

So enjoy your night out, but maybe if she ever makes a remark like that again, you can calmly look at her and say 'And that's exactly why I'm trying to create a new lifestyle for me'. It might get her thinking about her own situation. Just a suggestion!

Sorry this is so long. :blushing: Hope everybody is enjoying their day.

The comments and info on workout timing and efficiency was on my mind too - useful information. I workout at least 40 minutes 5 x a week with one day "rest" - and I do try to switch things around on a regular basis (also because it is just boring doing the same thing every day). I've thought about taking some tennis classes this summer - I haven't played for years - and am looking forward to getting out the badminton set in the back yard when back home.
In terms of age and fitness - I think it is even more important to stay in shape the older you are - I see people my age (in 50s) who have no energy, but working out & eating healthy really makes me feel energetic and able to keep up with my hectic life. There is a woman in one of the circuit training classes I take at the "y" who is probably in her mid to late 70s - and she keeps up and looks great!
Chao :glasses:

goodmorning to all here :flowerforyou:

annaliza, that's really a high calorie burn for a day. I would definitely say you don't lead a sedentary life. I've not worn my HRM for an entire day, but I did wear it for about 7 hours yesterday, including my workouts. And in that 7 hour period of time, I burned only about 800 calories, so I would estimate my average daily burn to be somewhere in the mid 2000s at most (to compensate for the time I'm sleeping, where I would obviously burn less) if relying on my HRM.

That being said, I'm actually not sure how much I trust the HRM to accurately assess what my body is burning when I'm not in an aerobic state. My resting heart rate is relatively low (between 40-50 beats per minute), and I do believe it is based on heart rate that the HRM is assessing how many calories are burned. In other words, it can't possibly take into account things like metabolism or body composition, which have alot to do with how many calories the body burns (for instance, if you are more muscular, chances are you are burning more calories at rest than somebody who isn't muscular).

My recommendation to you is to play with your calories a bit. If you feel like you are eating plenty, you may actually want to decrease your calories some to see if your body responds because, again, there is no guarantee that your HRM is actually totally accurate. But if you feel like you aren't eating enough (you are tired all the time, having difficulty completing your workouts, feel weak and light headed, etc), then you might want to up your calories. But listen to your body first because I know I have found that my body pretty much tells me exactly what it needs if I'm willing to listen to it. I just have to remind myself that the cravings for carrot cake are coming from my emotions and NOT my body :happy: when I'm doing that!!

I'm holding steady at 109.7 this week. Body measurements are pretty much the same (down a little in my waist but not much). I upped my calories to 1500 last Saturday. I'm going to increase them another 100 a day (to 1600) starting tomorrow and see how my body responds to that. I'm hoping that holding the weight steady this week at 1500 calories isn't a sign that 1500 is where I need to be sitting to maintain. I don't think it is because I was able to lose weight so easily eating 1400. So I'm going to keep increasing (slowly) until I start gaining weight right now.

Had a great week working out. One more week in the second cycle of STS and then I move on to heavy weights. Yay! :drinker: Today I'm going to do a combination of step aerobics and lower body conditioning for about 80 minutes.

Hope everybody has a good weekend. :flowerforyou:

hi robin,

don't know if it would work for everyone but i had terrible trouble with a shoulder (two years of therapy and only minor improvement) and arthritis in my knees and hands until i discovered bikram yoga (done in a very heated room). I'm pretty much pain free now. good luck.