Exercise! Love it or hate it, let's motivate each other to just DO IT!

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Old 06-20-2005, 08:37 AM   #1  
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Question How much exercise is too much?

Recently I just started walking on the treadmill. I walk for a total of 60minutes a day, every day. Im starting to wonder if this is too much exercise or if in fact I should be doing more.
Please help!
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Old 06-20-2005, 09:39 AM   #2  
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Wouldn't seem like too much, but everyone's different. When I first started out, I walked 1 mile everyday, which was nowhere near 60 minutes. But as I progressed, I upped my distance and my speed til I was jogging then running.

If 60 minutes seems too much for you, it might be. But unless you have some problem that makes it hard to walk, I wouldn't say that it is. To lose weight, we should exercise around 60 to 90 minutes per day.

However, it might be to stagnant. Meaning that you may want to do something other than walking at times so that your body doesn't become too used to just the one thing.
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Old 06-20-2005, 04:00 PM   #3  
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Depends on you. How do you feel? Is it a casual stroll or a high intensity walk where you are sweating and feel a little winded by the end? Are you starting from couch potato or were you active before starting the treadmill?

If you feel energized when you are done, then no, you aren't doing too much.

If you are exhausted or even very tired when it's time to do the next workout, maybe it's time to cut back some. Listen to your body. If you wear yourself out quickly, injure yourself or get sick, then you'll fall off your execise program and have a difficult time getting back into it.

Take care,
Sarah
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Old 06-21-2005, 02:54 PM   #4  
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I don't think it's too much. I do 60min on the elliptical 5-6 days a week and I think it's just the perfect amount. It's too much if you feel okay during/after your exercise. My legs just hurt when I'm done.
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Old 06-21-2005, 03:01 PM   #5  
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I've been doing 60 mins (mostly elliptical, I've done weights a couple of times though) 4 times a week. I want to get there more often but with 2 kids, it's hard to find the time every day. I think it sounds like you're on a great track.
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Old 06-21-2005, 04:16 PM   #6  
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There's no way to say that X number of minutes of Y activity is too much, too little, or just right. It all depends on your goals, your current fitness level, and the intensity, among other things. I might do 30 minutes at 80% of my max heart rate and that would be good for me, but someone in exactly the same physical condition could work out longer at 60% and that would also be good.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Are you working in your target heart zone for most of the workout, except for 5 to 10 minutes warm up and cool down? If not, you'll want to work harder to get the maximum cardiovascular benefits, but you may have to cut down the amount of time and work back up.

Do you feel pleasantly tired when you are finished -- not worn to a nub, or more bored that tired?

How is your energy level the rest of the day? Do you feel tired ALL the time, has your resting heart rate increased, have you stopped losing weight even though you're eating is good, and you might even be experiencing loss of appetite? These are possible signs of overtraining.

Are you ravenously physically hungry a lot of the day? That may mean you just need to eat a little more to support your activity level if you keep it up.

One thing to keep in mind is that your body gets really efficient at activities it does repeatedly. So if you exercise the same way at the same intensity for the same amount of time every day, your body starts to figure out how it can do that and expend LESS energy. It's like your car figuring out how to get higher gas mileage on your commute to and from work every day. In order to keep it burning the MOST calories possible is to engage in different types of activities, or at least work at different intensities for different lengths of time during the week. For example, if you want to stick to the treadmill every day, a really hard and fast workout for 30 minutes one day, a medium pace for 40 minutes another, a more moderate (but still in your target zone) for 60 minutes another, etc.
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Old 06-22-2005, 12:15 AM   #7  
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Do you go to a gym to workout? If you do maybe incorporate some weight training while you're there... Or get some weights for your upper body to workout too...

I agree with FG that you must do something different and mix up your workouts regularly...To mix my treadmill workouts, like tonight I did an interval session where I would run for 1 min and walk for 1 min.... every running minute I would bring the speed up a bit by .2 or .3 till I was running for a minute at 7mph.... then I walked some hills bringing it up every minute up to 5% then I jogged at 3% incline ... then I did a slow jog of 5mph for the rest of the run... I find that time really flies when I do intervals...
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