Hi and some Questions

Hi my name is Brooke and even though I've been on this site several years I never realized there was an exercise board!!   I hope to be sticking around for awhile. I just joined a gym (which I love 'says the person in her first week') but I have a few questions. First... I vari my strength training, but I do cardio every day and usually it's on the treadmill (the elipticals make me feel uncomfortable)  I'm trying to mix it up some but I was wondering which is better to walk slower longer or to walk/jog intervals for shorter?  I mean either way I cover the same amount of ground.... my friend asked me if I wanted endurance or calorie burn... I told him I wanted "look good naked". or  Would it be better to maybe alternate intervals one day and longer walking the next... then I get endurance and calorie burning?  (one of them has to be look good naked right?) Also how often should I very my strength training routine? Thanks in advance...

Hi Brooke, There are many things people do.  A lot of us on this board are training for something and we have training plans we are following.  As far as overall fitness goes, it's a combination of cardiovascular fitness and strength. I would say cardio every day is okay, but make it something a little different everyday. If you do an endurance walk/jog or a speed workout, do a recovery one the next day which means shorter time and distance.  Follow that up with some sort of cross-training like biking or swimming or elliptical trainers a couple days a week.  When you do a variety of activities, you also work your muscles a little differently so they don't get used to the same things all the time and you quit seeing progress. Just to make a point my marathon training plan called for 2 easy runs, 1 long run, and 1 speed run per week. I did 2 days of biking for my cross training and often only did 1 of the easy runs.  I also tried to do weight training the days I cross-trained. I'm not into a lot of strength training and only do specific weight training for my upper body since all my cardio is legs (running and biking). I only do this twice a week when I can make myself do it. I don't know if I'm much help, but there really are many training plans that people use and all for different reasons. By the way, when you do your cardio work, you're burning calories and doing all sorts of other good things to your body.  When you do strength training you get all those muscles nice and toned.  It is my belief that you need both to REALLY look good naked! Linn

Linn said it well.  I am a proponant of speed work since it really gets the heart going and it taxes the muscles.  Mostly though, I want to see the after pictures!

I agree with the other posters about cardio.  I'm a big believer in interval training, but you need to balance that with endurance as well.  But, to "look better naked", your best bet is with resistance training.  I recommend that you work with a trainer at the gym to put together a routine, and switch it up every 4-6 weeks.  Just FYI...one of the trainers at my gym said that men tend to overestimate how much weight they should lift, while women tend to underestimate.  That was no big surprise.  But, the amount of misconception was pretty surprising.  Men overestimate by 10%.  Women underestimate by 70%.  I'm sure that many women are afraid of developing big muscles.  But, most of us just don't have the right hormones to get big manly muscles.  If we work with the right intensity we'll get sexy, defined muscles, and that's the goal! Tami