Who has really pushed themselves exercise-wise?

[adagray 1]

I see a lot of posts on here w/super low calories that people eat per day, but rarely see anything about people pushing themselves on the exercise front. I would love to hear from anyone who has embraced exercise and really learned to love it. I would love to hear your story and how it has helped your progress w/weightloss and getting fit.

I am at a point in this journey where I want to take my fitness (exercise-wise) to the next level. In the past month, I've gone from doing 2 exercise classes per week to 7. I do a regular Jazzercise class (1 hour cardio, weight training, stretch) every day Monday through Friday and another strength training class (1 hour more intense weight training) after my regular Jazzercise class on Mondays and Wednesdays. For now, I'm taking the weekend off.

I'm thinking about upping my classes to 9 per week when my kids are back in school (early August). I would add a second Jazzercise Lite class (another hour of cardio, but low-impact, weight training, and stretch) immediately after the regular Jazzercise class on Tuesday and Thursdays. That would be 2 hours of exercise Mon-Thurs and 1 hour on Friday. For those that have pushed themselves exercise-wise, does this seem like a reasonable progression? There is a small part of me that wonders if this is too much exercise, but the bigger part of me (haha) figures that if those 'biggest loser' people can work out 8 hours/day, then 2 should not be a problem. I am really loving the results I am getting w/more exercise and I really do enjoy these classes too.

[MrsShannonDennis 10]

HEY!! Well I have really grown to LOVE working out. I started working out all the time 2 weeks post op. I am now 1 year post op and the gym is my 2nd home and I LOVE gOINg. Ive had a trainer for 9 months and she had literally helped me become a trainer. I am so knowledgebale now on fitness and what it takes. First here is what I do weekly:

Monday 5:00am: Advanced Step class (1hr)

5:30 pm: Boot Camp (very intense)(1hr)

Tuesday 5:00am: Weight lifting class (1hr)

5:30pm: Cardio circuit training (1hr)

Wed 5:00 am: Kick boxing (1hr)

5:30 pm: Boot camp (1hr)

Thurs 5:00am: Weight lifting (1 hr)

5:30pm:Zumba (1hr salsa dance aerobics)

Friday: anytime 1 hr cardio curcuit training.

I take weekends off. Heres the deal. I figured this out personally and from doing research. There is NEVER TOO much working out as long as your calories can support it. I realized I was wprking out more than I should for the amount of calories I was eating. So eigher cut back work outs of up calories. I upped my calories. The people on the biggest loser do work out all day, but they have a high calorie diet to support it. To figure this out, once you have your total calories for the day, subtract calories burned, then you should have a deficit between 1000-1200 calories. This is an average estimate, but its the one that helps me lose consistantly even at a year out.

My advice to you is to up your workout, its fun and it helps give your body new things to do. Just make sure you are upping your calories to fuel your weight loss. Also make sure you are doing a combo of weight trainging and cardio so you are losing and toning! Working out had been amazing for me. I actually read so many (most) post about people working out and I am like THATS IT?? Maybe I just do a lot, but still I dont think 30 min a day is going to help you become more fit and grow to live a very healthy life and loving fitness. Maybe it can, but I dont see it. Working out gives me energy and gives me knowledge to live an OVERALL healthy life and maintain it for life. I love it so uch, I am now training people to lose weight and am using my story to push them through. If people would go to a gym and take different classes they wouldsee how much FUN FUN FUN working oiut can be. There is so much to do!

I eat based off south beach diet. It is mainly lower carbs/sugar (eating complex carbs only), big emphasis on veggies, Protein etc. My surgeons live by it as well as my nutritionist and trainer. Its a nice well balanced diet to live off of.

I could go on forever about this topic. Its a huge passion of mine. I heard of too many people doing the minimum or nothing at all in exercising after surgery and I SWORE I would not be one of them. My goal is not just to lose the weight, but build a new found passion for a healthy life is all aspects of it FOREVER!

[vlp1968 83]

I agree, I don't think there is such thing as too much excersise. Although, I have heard you should only do cardio 6 days a week. Not sure if that is true or not. Keep up the great work!

[LoseIt! 0]

I've made a committment to exercise and track it daily. I average 30 minutes per day which includes weekends. I don't work out everyday, but keeping track helps me see that I'm keeping up with it. I always said that I worked out about 30 minutes a day, but when I started tracking it, I found that wasn't true. A day off here because of a hair cut scheduled during class or a day off there because of dinner with girls... I was average closer to 15-20 minutes per day. Since 4/7/10, I am averaging 34 minutes per day.

I'm a Jazzercise class manager and my classes are scheduled on Mondays and Thursdays after work. I love Jazzercise and typically go at least one other time during the week. Right now, I also work out with a personal trainer 1-2 times per week. I only have a few more sessions though so when that runs out, I will probably add another Jazzercise class.

I also work out during my lunch hour two days a week. I either bike, elliptical or jog. I would like to get to the point where I can jog a 5k, but I have to work out some feet issues first. I have found that jogging takes the pounds off the fastest! But I also like the strength training I'm doing.

My friends call me an exercise fanatic which always makes me laugh. I do love it though and can't express enough how great it makes me feel.

I say do as much as you are able! You are doing just great!

[juliansmom2003 3]

OMG I am soooo glad I found this thread. I am starting to exercise a LOT more than I used to. This week I have worked out every night, and two days did a morning workout along with the night time workout. I do cardio and sculpting with weights.

I've done mostly the Beachbody stuff like Hip Hop Abs, Turbo Jam, etc. and the Jillian Michaels stuff, and while they are fun, I just don't LIKE exercising. I make myself do it and am very happy and feel a sense of accomplishment after I'm done, but I still don't like it, and I've been working out like crazy for a solid 3 months now. I want to like it. How do I like it? I don't know what I don't like about it either (and sorry if I don't make sense lol). It could be I don't have a ton of time with two little ones running around and 2 jobs, and getting all sweaty and gross means taking additional time to shower when I need to be doing other things. I know I need to make the time and I am, I just want to enjoy it as much as everyone else on this thread does. Any advice?

I have tried zumba and some other things as well to mix it up and give me a little variety. Luckily, it's summer, so I can get some good exercise in by swimming and riding the new bike that my hubby just bought me for my birthday.

Sorry to ramble, but I really do want to figure out how to look forward to exercising and stop feeling like it's such a chore.

[Jachut 487]

The real way to progression is not more and more and more exercise, its to work smarter with the time you do have.

Classes are great fun and you should continue to do them if you really like them. They're great "maintenance" if you like. So do your jazzercise class, but dont follow with another class, go into the gym and do some circuit training or an interval run on the treadmill or something like that.

But if you really want to get to that next level of fitness its intensity that's required, not time. That means stuff like Rockstardiva has mentioned, and you're looking for the I'm going to vomit feeling, lol. Things like boxing and kickboxing, hardcore spinning, cicruit, interval running and bootcamp.

I've found with this, my time commitment is about an hour a day, not too scary. I've been able to lose on about 1500 calories, I maintain on about 2000 and because of that, I can eat a balanced diet which supports the energy I expend. I can keep a looser band, so I can eat anything and enjoy living with a band.

My routine is: Saturday boxing, sunday day off, monday bootcamp, Tuesday a run (about 10kms), Wednesday another run, Thursday bootcamp, Friday usually just a run on the treadmill, something easy.

Try googling interval training, educate yourself about the benefits of super intense exercise, half an hour of real interval training will blow two hours of low impact cardio out of the Water. It will 'switch on' your metabolism like nothing else. I find my bootcamp and boxing that sort of training and my long runs are relaxing recovery. I come home from those intense classes barely able to walk, lol.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Jachut

[BetsyB 9]

I exercise twice a day, every day; some days, I add in a third activity. (I am working toward doing this most days.) I also try to just be generally more active; my occupation is sedentary, so getting up and moving more makes a huge difference in the way I feel (and lose).

It's summer and nice, so I do a LOT of walking. (I can't run because the gait aggravates ortho/neuro issues, but I walk around 7 miles/day at a rate of 10-11 min/mile.)

I also belong to the Y; there I do resistance training. They just added Zumba, so that'll be added to the repertoire next week. I am adding power vinyasa yoga (at a studio) as soon as I can cough up the $$.

I still have to eat very low calories--it's just the way my body is. But I think in the long run, the exercise is probably more crucial. I know it will be for maintenance, in particular.

[adagray 1]

Thanks for all your replies. Its inspiring to hear what others are doing.

Jachut, I get what you mean about intensity. My strength training class is intense. I feel like I'm gonna die during the class and am sore for days afterward. I could take that four days a week instead of adding two more days of the regular class, but I'm not sure if my body is ready yet. And, trust me, the regular class is no walk in the park for me yet. Maybe one day it will be. But, I am huffing and puffing and soaked through w/sweat by the end of it.

Another option is for me to start taking tennis lessons when the weather cools down. I live in Arizona (Scottsdale area) and we hit 113 degrees yesterday so it will be a couple months at least before I would think of taking tennis lessons. But, I used to play when I was much younger and it would be fun to start up again.

[adagray 1]

Juliansmom, I get what you mean about it not being fun because it really does eat up a lot of time between getting there, doing it, and then having to shower and get ready to do all the other things you need to do. I'm lucky right now that I have the time to commit to this. Really, its the first time in my life that I have time like this. I'm not working and have two children, but my son just entered Kindergarten last year and my youngest starts Jr. Kindergarten (5 hours Mon-Fri) starting in August. Exercise will eat up a lot of that time because I drop them off by 9am, first class starts at 9:15, second class starts at 10:30 and is done by 11:30. By the time I get home, eat, shower, and get dressed, it will be 1pm and I have to pick up my daughter at 2pm. There is no way I could fit this all in if I had a job. So, I don't have any advice for you except I understand what a time sink it is.

[LapNYC 3]

If you really wanted to pick up the intensity I would integrate a couple spinning classes or runs to the mix if your body allows. I also think that lifting free weights on your own provides way more bang for the buck than the weights incorporated into a class or a circuit. IMO heavy weights are the way to go. The ability to build giant muscles is determined by genetics. I hate when women say they "don't want to get big." Not that you did! More Jazzercize or another dance/cardio class sounds a little redundant.

I should, of course, take my own advice. I spin my ass off and lift weights by body part, but I really need to throw some yoga and something involving lateral movement like a boot camp or a dance-y something in there. It's hard because you tend to do what you like over and over again, whereas keeping your body guessing and mixing it up is what really works.

I'm definitely no expert, but I've had several trainers and used to spend a ton of time in the gym. But I wouldn't necessarily listen to me! I'm sure there are more well-credentialed out there.

[childgod752 0]

Hi,

It's great that you all have begun to enjoy your workouts more and have the desire to amp it up a bit. That extra energy is from all that time not being able to be as active as you'd like to have been andthe strength you aquired from carrying that extra weight on your bodies. BUT... there is a thing of working out tooo much.

:smile: Too much exercise will begin to canabilize your muscles causing them to eat themselves because there is not fat content on the body. The muscles will also start depleting themselves because that have not been allowed to recuperate. By not allowing your body to actively rest you open yourself up to infection and disease. Without proper rest, the chance of "stroke" or other "circulation" problems increases, and a greater risk of injury will occur. Add some kick boxing, or MMA style exercise to your routines

Edited June 26, 2010 by childgod752
more advice

[Jachut 487]

That's very true.

The thing that worries me with huge time commitments is burn out, that you'll just get sick of it being all you do. I was in your situation Ada when I got banded, three kids, not working, a full time student but that's very flexible. I had time to put into my weight loss and I used it. But I took up running knowing that I'd be going back to full time work when I finished my degree and that there would be days when half an hour is what I had.

I really appreciate being able to burn 500 calories in half an hour now.

You make a good point about what you can handle - you really need to listen to your body. I guess you have to read yourself well and listen to the signals your body sends you - if you work very hard at the one hour jazzercise, there's probably not a lot more to be gained from another class apart from some calories burned, which will be less than you burned in the first hour because you'll be tired. If you can handle it, and whilst its not boring you to do so much, then that's fantastic, but if you find yourself dog tired and slowing down for the rest of the day, rather than energised, its counter productive and the calorie burn is not going to be worth the time commitment.

As to actual fitness putting the most into your hour class is really all you need to do, because its the intensity, not the length of time that counts.

[honk 780]

In the past I have done a walk at lunch and a mix of cardio 7 days a week and M,W, F weight lifting. Currently I lap swim 7 days a week for 60 minutes. Personally I do think there can be such a thing as too much exercise. If you are going to do high intensity weight bearing exercise (multiple times a day, 7 days a week); then I think you MUST have a high Protein Low fat/carb snack. Otherwise your body will start to break down muscle to fuel itself. In regards to the biggest looser personally I don't really see that show as being healthy. Many of their contestants gain their weight back so clearly the philosphy they are teaching is'nt guarenteed.

[Llyra 3]

Working out (as in spinning, treadmills, weight lifting, repetitive exercise) bores the holy hell out of me. I like to walk, I ride my horse (and anyone who thinks the horse gets the exercise hasn't posted a trot for any distance), I clean stalls and haul hay and Water, I garden, and I teach a three hour dance class each week along with whatever practice I do in prep for the class.

[shoewhore17 0]

I exercise everyday, most of the time twice a day. I do spin classes 3-4 times a week, I take step classes a couple times a week as well as some muscle conditioning classes. When there isn't a class scheduled I go into the gym use the treadmill, do circuit training or I swim laps (which is much more difficult that I had remembered!). I lost 12 pounds last month and that wouldn't have been possible without the intense exercise, using the band alone I probably would have lost 3-4 pounds.

If anyone wants to try an intense workout and hasn't already done so, I highly suggest spin classes. I attribute a lot of my calorie burning to spin classes, which is why I take 3-4 classes per week.