The Gym

No weight gain to be had... but I would restrict weight training to only 3 times a week, you need to let your muscles rest, it is during the rest time that they actually develop. check out bodybuilding.com for great 12 week workout plans (completely free)

that brisk walk for 40 mins sounds mind numbingly dull! you would get better results if you alternated 30 s walk with 30 s sp;rint for 10 minutes! HILT its called it works wonders and its really fun.
heavy weight training is better thna light weight training, if you train light it won't do anything much. you have to challenge your body. and change your p;rogramme every six weeks.

Does anyone know whether I will gain weight if I do light weight training about 5 times a week?

Unless you use shake weights you definitely will. Shake weights prevent the fat cells from clinging onto your body and you end up pooping them out.














Try heavy lifting on compound exercises, you'll see better results.

that brisk walk for 40 mins sounds mind numbingly dull! you would get better results if you alternated 30 s walk with 30 s sp;rint for 10 minutes! HILT its called it works wonders and its really fun.

This is good advice. If you want to burn fat and halve your treadmill time.

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is really simple. Basically you run as fast as you can for 1 minute and then walk for 2. Repeat 5 times. My fastest is 15kph on the treadmill and my walk is 5kph. So a full HIIT session for me on the treadmill with a 1 minute warm up is 16 mins. Like this:

Minute 1 - 5kph
Minute 2 - 15kph
Minute 3 - 5kph
Minute 4 - 5kph
Minute 5 - 15kph
Minute 6 - 5kph
Minute 7 - 5kph
Minute 8 - 15kph
Minute 9 - 5kph
Minute 10 - 5kph
Minute 11 - 15kph
Minute 12 - 5kph
Minute 13 - 5kph
Minute 14 - 15kph
Minute 15 - 5kph
Minute 16 - 5kph

Just work out your fast and slow speed settings and adapt for yourself. Once you get used to it you can try 1 min run / 1 min walk, or you could increase your speeds.

HIIT will really burn the fat. There was a Horizon programme about it last week. You can still watch it on the BBC iPlayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cywtq/Horizon_20112012_The_Truth_About_Exercise/

Spinning Classes use the same methodology so you can do this on an excercise bike also. Pedal as fast as you can for 20 seconds then get your breath back for 1 minute. Repeat 5 times. You are only actually doing 1 full minute of full on pedalling but the benefits are amazing. It is to do with speeding your heart up and letting it slow then speeding it up again. It is more beneficial to do this than a straight run / walk / bike.

I do a 5k run every day and throw in some HIIT every other week.

This is good advice. If you want to burn fat and halve your treadmill time.

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is really simple. Basically you run as fast as you can for 1 minute and then walk for 2. Repeat 5 times. My fastest is 15kph on the treadmill and my walk is 5kph. So a full HIIT session for me on the treadmill with a 1 minute warm up is 16 mins. Like this:

Minute 1 - 5kph
Minute 2 - 15kph
Minute 3 - 5kph
Minute 4 - 5kph
Minute 5 - 15kph
Minute 6 - 5kph
Minute 7 - 5kph
Minute 8 - 15kph
Minute 9 - 5kph
Minute 10 - 5kph
Minute 11 - 15kph
Minute 12 - 5kph
Minute 13 - 5kph
Minute 14 - 15kph
Minute 15 - 5kph
Minute 16 - 5kph

Just work out your fast and slow speed settings and adapt for yourself. Once you get used to it you can try 1 min run / 1 min walk, or you could increase your speeds.

HIIT will really burn the fat. There was a Horizon programme about it last week. You can still watch it on the BBC iPlayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cywtq/Horizon_20112012_The_Truth_About_Exercise/

Spinning Classes use the same methodology so you can do this on an excercise bike also. Pedal as fast as you can for 20 seconds then get your breath back for 1 minute. Repeat 5 times. You are only actually doing 1 full minute of full on pedalling but the benefits are amazing. It is to do with speeding your heart up and letting it slow then speeding it up again. It is more beneficial to do this than a straight run / walk / bike.

I do a 5k run every day and throw in some HIIT every other week.

I would make a suggestion, particularly when you first start out. HIIT can be really tough on a treadmill. Finding your own pace is important, and keeping it at something you can feasibly do is of course sound advice. The thing is the sprint sessions are supposed to be challenging, and that can be hard to get the hang of early on. Trying to fiddle with the speed while running your fastest can easily get you injured. Consider testing the waters on an elliptical first, or doing it on a track rather than a treadmill.

My $0.02

THanks! I usually run 3-4 miles on the treadmill and sprint towards the end, so I do know what my fastest speed is (between 6.8 & 7). Thanks....I know how that can injure somebody just getting into a new fitness routine.

I always wondered what HIIT was. Great explanation. Thanks! I'm going to give it a try!!!

What you will find is that HIIT will allow you to run faster in your regular runs.

So if for example you are running 4k in 30 mins, after some HIIT you will be able to up your speed a little and do it in 28 mins. (made up numbers obviously). It allows you to run on faster speeds for longer.

I have gone from 5k in 45 mins to my PB this week of 26.15

The fastest speed I ran on was 8.5 - 9.0 , now my baseline speed is 11.2 - 11.5, my sprint is 15.0

Awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing how this will help my speed. Thanks!

Obviously this isn't an overnight thing. Every other session do HIIT and you should see results in a few weeks.