Gym Report
Not being sure what to aim for in terms of exercise, I decided to start small. My goal was three days a week, 20 minutes on the elliptical. I know I should go more, go longer, add strength training, etc. But really I just want to get back in the gym-going habit.
So far, it's been working out! I was aiming for a MWF schedule. I went for 20 minutes on Monday and 22 minutes on Wednesday. (I decided somewhat arbitrarily to add two minutes each time.) There was a big work party on Friday night so I didn't go on Friday, vowing to make up for it on Saturday.
On Saturday I drove to a gym farther away from my house. (The one near my house is in the middle of the Berkeley farmer's market on Saturday--no thank you.) That one was pretty empty and even more ghetto than my original gym. I got an old elliptical with a broken heart-rate monitor. Some of the other ones didn't even have heart-rate monitors.
Speaking of which, maybe some of you will know this: the "weight loss" zone for cardio is lower (a lower heart rate) than the "cardio" zone. Which one is healthier? What heart rate should I be aiming for? Right now I am aiming at 135 or thereabouts, right on the boundary of "weight loss" and "cardio" but I have no idea what this means. What does this mean?
A-ny-way. 30 minutes on Saturday; pretty good. I wasn't going to go on Sunday but then Sunday night I found myself bored, and what better to do than to hit the gym? It was awesome, I guess because it was Sunday night--plenty of parking, empty gym. I sadly forgot my iPod, but then I got sucked into Remember the Titans on cable, so it was okay. 35 minutes!
Today my legs hurt. I was trudging up the stairs and one of the producers was like "girl, you were struggling getting up those stairs." I immediately said I overdid it at the gym--I guess to avoid the "fat chick can't haul her fat ass up the stairs" impression. Yikes.
So far, it's been working out! I was aiming for a MWF schedule. I went for 20 minutes on Monday and 22 minutes on Wednesday. (I decided somewhat arbitrarily to add two minutes each time.) There was a big work party on Friday night so I didn't go on Friday, vowing to make up for it on Saturday.
On Saturday I drove to a gym farther away from my house. (The one near my house is in the middle of the Berkeley farmer's market on Saturday--no thank you.) That one was pretty empty and even more ghetto than my original gym. I got an old elliptical with a broken heart-rate monitor. Some of the other ones didn't even have heart-rate monitors.
Speaking of which, maybe some of you will know this: the "weight loss" zone for cardio is lower (a lower heart rate) than the "cardio" zone. Which one is healthier? What heart rate should I be aiming for? Right now I am aiming at 135 or thereabouts, right on the boundary of "weight loss" and "cardio" but I have no idea what this means. What does this mean?
A-ny-way. 30 minutes on Saturday; pretty good. I wasn't going to go on Sunday but then Sunday night I found myself bored, and what better to do than to hit the gym? It was awesome, I guess because it was Sunday night--plenty of parking, empty gym. I sadly forgot my iPod, but then I got sucked into Remember the Titans on cable, so it was okay. 35 minutes!
Today my legs hurt. I was trudging up the stairs and one of the producers was like "girl, you were struggling getting up those stairs." I immediately said I overdid it at the gym--I guess to avoid the "fat chick can't haul her fat ass up the stairs" impression. Yikes.
5 Comments:
Aim to work as hard as you can manage. Don't worry about the "weight loss zone" or anything like that.
The reason they say that's the "weight loss zone" is because in that range, you burn a higher percentage of calories from fat. But overall, you burn far fewer calories per hour, so in effect, you actually burn less overall AND less fat calories.
It's something like 30% from fat in the "weight loss" range, and 25% from fat in the "cardio" range. But you burn 200 calories per hour in the "cardio" range and only 100 per hour in the "weight loss" range. 25% of 200 is 50, and 30% of 100 is only 30. My numbers might be off, but the concept holds true.
So, you're way better off working as hard as you can comfortably manage.
You should be able to manage to talk to the person next to you without gasping for breath, otherwise you're working too hard.
I'm not sure how old you are, but I , at 30, would probably shoot for more like 165-170. Unless you're really feeling like you're killing yourself, you body will do what it needs to do and you'll be fine.
Thanks for the info, Toni! According to the AMA, 165-170 is too high. If you are 30 (I'm 32), the max heart rate is 220 and the target heart rate is 95–162 beats per minute. It also says:
"When starting an exercise program, aim at the lowest part of your target zone (50 percent) during the first few weeks. Gradually build up to the higher part of your target zone (75 percent). After six months or more of regular exercise, you may be able to exercise comfortably at up to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. However, you don't have to exercise that hard to stay in shape."
So there you go--I think you're exercising at the very top of the target zone and even a little beyond it. I am starting out at 134 or so, so I will gradually try to work my way up to 140 and 150s.
So there you have it.
I think those AMA recommendations are just general guidelines for the average person. Every unique individual varies.
Unless you have some sort of heart condition (in which case your doctor will tell you exactly what is safe), your body will protect you. If you start feeling dizzy, nauseous, etc., STOP. That's definitely too hard.
Plus, it depends on where you're starting out from. When I'm horribly out of shape, like now, my heart rate jumps really high really quickly. The better in shape I get, the harder I have to work to get it up in the high numbers.
I've found, for myself, and you might be totally different, that I make absolutely NO progress at lower intensities. I build my endurance for low intensity workouts, and that's it. I have to push higher to see any muscle building, weight loss, cardio benefits (i.e. not gasping for breath after 1 flight of stairs).
So I choose, when resuming my workouts, to jump right in as hard as I can handle without going so crazy that I might injure myself, etc. I feel like I'm wasting my time if I start out too easy.
But, I think the key is doing what feels right to you. Otherwise you'll never stick with it.
Of course, this is all coming from someone who hasn't worked out for 3 years until yesterday, and I managed all of 10 minutes and a weight routine!
walking up stairs is harder than walking on a flat surface. even "in-shape" (bah) people can get winded going up the stairs.
also I found this article and thought I'd share
http://www.healthylivingnyc.com/article/49
Mo, I don't know if this would interest you, but I love Cardio Coach workouts when I'm using cardio equipment at the gym. You can either do them using Rate of Perceived Exertion or HR ranges. Once you get the hang of what the levels of effort mean to you, it's easy to get a good workout.
FWIW, everything I've ever heard leads me to believe the "Cardio" and "Fat Burning" modes on cardio machines are mostly worthless and/or a load of crap. Toni gave a nice science-flavored explanation, so you might want to go with her opinion instead. :)
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