Working Out?!?!?!
 

Does Anyone Have Any Ideas For Exercising? Any Kind Of Feedback Is Helpful. Currently I Do 400 Crunches On Our Ab Lounge And About 30-45 Of Biking, Running/walking Or Just Brisk Walking. Do I Need More ? I Do This Routine 6-7 Days A Week.

My doc says do 30 mins of cardio a day. I'd say your doing pretty good. BTY does the Ab Lounge work for you? I have one but since I joined the gym I have not used it.

I have been taught that your body does not start burning fat until you have done cardio for 20 to 25 minutes. First your muscles burn the glucose that is stored in your muscles and then they go to burning the fat. So if you only workout for 30 minutes, you only burn fat for 5 to 10 minutes.

So it is best to workout for a longer period of time but not more then 60 minutes. After 60 minutes your body starts to burn muscle.

Also, You have to give your body at least one day of rest. So on your 7th day when you exercise, just make it a leisurely(sp?) walk. Dont over do it..Give your body a break...

Hope this helps!

Wendy

Doing 30-45 minutes of cardio each day is great! If you really want to bump up the calorie burn, try doing 60 minutes a day. For losing weight, its all about the deficit....burning more calories than you consume....therefore, if the speed and intensity remains the same, 60 minutes burns more calories than 45 minutes. Regarding the crunches....I don't believe that doing 400 crunches is of more benefit than doing 40. For the abdominals, intensity is more effective than quantitiy. Do 40 very slow crunches and concentrate on tightening the muscles...this will build up the muscles and make them strong and shapely.

I agree with GGSebas, too...doing that many crunches isn't really doing that much for you, though it's really impressive! :eek: Also, crunches are only working some of your ab muscles...so vary the exercises. A great book for understanding your ab muscles with tons of great suggestions is The Complete Book of Abs for Women: The Definitive Guide for Women Who Want to Get into the Ultimate Shape by Kurt Brungardt.

If you do the exact same thing every day, or even the same thing on different days every week, eventually your body figures it out and you burn less. It's best to switch it up a lot. So try adding other cardio routines. If money is a factor, try doing drop-ins to fitness classes (I love Jazzercise and water aerobics! Also Yoga and Pilates!), check out exercise videos from the library (or Netflix/Blockbuster.com if you already have an account with them) and if you find one you love, try buying it used on Ebay or another online website, or check out magazines (like Self, Shape, or Cooking Light) or books at the library or online for workout ideas and suggestions.

In addition, you really need to do strength training. It's harder to do at home, but not impossible. If you look online you can find tons of recommendations for things you can try at home. I have a word doc with a ton I downloaded--I tried putting it on here, but it's too big. Just PM me with your e-mail addy if you want me to send it to you. :) Anyways, strength training builds muscle...and muscle burns way more calories than fat! Plus, if you lose slowly and build muscle in the meantime, the muscle takes the place of the fat so you have less saggy skin. This was especially helpful in my arms. :strong:

Hope this helps! BTW, the reason every work in your post starts with a capital letter is that you typed all in caps. The system won't let that come through (because all caps is interpreted as 'shouting' at others) so it changes it to a capital at the beginning of every word. Next time, use the regular lower and upper case and it won't turn out like that. :D

Great question to ask...sounds like you're really committed to exercising, which can really, really help your weightloss and your gain in health!

well you need to probably add strength or resistance training and you probably want to vary your cardio routine. i've heard from folks at goal for long terms that shaking up and chaging your routine every 6 weeks or so is important.