MRC Exercise
 

Hello all....
I thought that I would start a thread just on exercise for questions and ideas to change your workout.

They say that if you do exercise you need to switch it up every 2 weeks to keep it working well. Change the intensity, the weight, the amount of time, or the exercise. Something has to change to challenge your muscles into building muscle.

I will be posting some of my workouts so that you can have ideas. Please jot yours down as well!

Lower Body Workout Option #1
 

Squats http://exercise.about.com/od/exercis...howtosquat.htm
Do 3 sets of 12....when it gets easy hold free weights, if you don't have any you can use cans of food or milk jugs.

Traveling Sideways Sumo Squats http://exercise.about.com/cs/butthip.../aa092900a.htm look at plie squat. Don't use weight when you start. Add it when you can do them without easily. To travel just step together and then move to the side back into the squat.

Walking Lunges http://www.myfit.ca/exercisedatabase...ercises&ID=134 make sure to keep your knee over your toe and the back knee does not touch the floor. Start without weight. When you add weights use freeweight and alt bicep curls, shoulder press, etc.

I also will do Lying Hip Raises Didn't find how to for this. Lay on your back like you would for a crunch. Hands at your sides on the floor. Keep you knees and feet together and raise your hips as high as you can keeping your knees and feet together. Count to 3 then lower. Do 3 sets of 12

Calf Raises http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exerc...alf_raises.htm These are great if you get shin splints.

Follow with Ab routine.

Beginning Cardio Ideas
 

Walking - try to go at a pace that will allow you to talk but you are breathing a bit challenged. When this gets easy add intensity by adding a sprint 2 or 3 times during your walk. Just run for about 30 secs and then go back to your walk.

A favorite sport

Couch to 5K - a training workout that will get your from no exercise to jogging a 5K in about 8-9 weeks. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Fit TV workouts - http://fittv.discovery.com/ They have everything from belly dancing to step aerobics on your TV

Exercise TV on demand - http://www.exercisetv.tv/
This has free videos for trying some workouts.

Biking

Hiking


My best advise is to find something that you love. Find a friend that will do this with you because you will stick with it longer!

Intense Cardio
 

Make sure that you prepare by eating better and knowing to not cut this day.

You want to have cheese with breakfast or use group 3 protein to add cals.
Eat raw veggies instead of cooked so that you can have more carbs for energy.
Drink all the water that you can.
Have Fiber drinks to help keep hunger at bay.
Max out your HNS
Make sure to have HNS after your workout to aid with recovery.
Don't do weights right after....make sure that you rest and do weights after another meal.


My favs are
Kickboxing
Spin
Jogging/Running a 5K

I play roller derby. It's 5 hours of very intense speed skating each week, and it's a great exercise because it's a group sport, so you make friends and keep coming back. It takes lots of lower body and core strength.

I live in a small town that does not have much at all for exercise, so I have to make do with what we have. There is a walking park a half block from my house. I have put a playlist on my ipod that has a fast beat song then a not as fast beat song, over and over in that order. I go walk at the park and listen to my ipod and I go really fast on the fast songs and I slow my pace on the slower songs. I have a membership at the hospital and me and hubby try to go a couple times a week. I do this recumbent bike thing, and this thing you do with your arms its like pedaling but with your arms, sometimes the eliptical, and this other really odd machine I can't even describe. I took my treadmill over to my SIL/bf last week, she has a treadmill too, her and my brother are getting a divorce so she cant leave to exercise because of small children so we walk on our treadmills and what our shows that she recorded. I wish one of you lived here so I would have someone to exercise with that was excited about losing weight and becoming healthy. It seems Im the only one who gives a darn, I have to practically drag hubby, I have to give a speech to get SIL in the mood. I walk at the park alone. Well my exercise routine isnt much of a routine and isnt extravagant but its about the best i can muster right now. I read somewhere that the slowing and going fast again helps when doing cardio.

Weight training!
 

I used to weight train and my husband used to coach!

Just adding a note: (Nautilus or free weights)

When lifting to tone:
Less weight with more repetitions (3 sets)
(Example: leg raises - 30 lbs for 22-24 repatitions)

When lifting to build muscle (bulk):
More weight with less repetitions (3 sets)
(Example: leg raises - 50 lbs for 10-12 repatitions)

Note: Do not do all 3 sets back to back, allow your muscles to rest in between sets. If using nautilus equipment, maybe do 1 set on each machine and then start from the beginning and do 2nd and so on (create a round robin)!

When working out upper body and lower body, alternate days!
(Example: Mon. and Wed. - Upper body, Tue. and Thur. - Lower body)
Cardio and abs workouts can be done every day!

It is a common misconception when trying to lose weight, if you lift more weight, you will burn away more fat. In fact what you are doing if you try and do heavier weights, you are building bulk muscle under the fat layer which makes it harder and take longer to loose the fat!

When losing weight, you want to tone first and then work on building muscle.

When weight training, start out with a weight that is compfortable as to not strain, do that weight for 1 or 2 weeks, then add a little weight. (This will depend on the individual and how often you are weight training. Do not lift more than you are compfortable with (if you try to over do it, you can easily sprain and or strain the muscle).

Have you guys visited the Exercise section here at 3FC?

The MRC chat and recipe threads are fine where they are, but there is an entire segment of the 3FC forums related to exercise-everything from lifting weights to equipment to workout videos.

Rather than having a third MRC thread here in General Diet Plans (the other two are perfectly fine over here) I think this topic is better suited (and you might get a better response) over in the Exercise forum.

You might also find that you will get a better response if the thread is open to everyone, and not just MRC members, since the information is more general, and not specific to just one diet plan.

I think it is a misconception that lifting more weights will build bulk and not burn fat. I've lifted weight for years and when I was lifting weights and watching what I was eating, I only lost inches, never gained. Plus it is very hard for women to actually gain bulk. Our muscles actually have the ability to gain strength and fat burning ability without gaining any bulk. Toning is really a myth.

Body builders, when they are trying to build bulk, do work with very short reps (8 and under) per set. Body builders also know it is very difficult to build muscle, even with the right hormones. Those who use weights for building overall muscle for weight loss and general health, tend to work in the 10-15 rep range per set. If you are lucky, you could build a pound a month of muscle.

If you are interested in more about weight lifting, I'd definitely recommend visiting our Weight training forum.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=80

Bike Riding
 

For those of you that like to ride your bicycle there is a great web site that is free to join call bikejournal(dot)com.

It's an online log that you can keep track of the miles you ride, clubs you belong to and lots of other bike related information.

mapmyrun.com has a training calendar too. It is great and you can map all of your exercise. You can also map and see how long your walk outside is.

For eating....if I eat group 3 protein instead of group 1 in the morning for breakfast, it will help alot with hunger.

Also, on high intensity wo days I will have an apple or orange with lunch because they are higher carb options for your fruit.

I've been pretty consistent with my exercise. I do curves (30 minutes of cardio and resistance training) 6 days per week. This keeps me within the range of what the center wants you to do. Recently, I've substituted 30 minutes on my ecliptic twice a week. Definately a higher intensity work out and this is a day I add the higher calorie options to help with the extra calories burned.

Jeweliek mentioned the Couch to 5K program above and I just wanted to add that there are some awesome podcasts you can download for free and add to your iPod or mp3 player to go with the program. They have great upbeat music and a voice that tells you when to jog and when to stop and recover so you don't have to worry about taking a stopwatch. You can find the website easily through a Google search.

Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds for cardio (I do this anywhere from three to five days per week) and strength training exercises with weights six days per week.

I have a hard time mixing it up. I like to run. If I am not sweating I don't feel like I get a very good work out. Will be runnning a 10K this weekend. Hope I don't poop out before I finish. I think just getting out and moving makes all the differance. :carrot: