Working out
Dear Laura:
How inspiring you are! I am just getting back to working out and need to do more.
Your plan sounds pretty good, but you should do some type of strength training every other day to build muscle. Not anything crazy, just strength stuff. Either free weights, bands or weight machines (if you go to a gym). Muscle is very importatnt in this journey.
How inspiring you are! I am just getting back to working out and need to do more.
Your plan sounds pretty good, but you should do some type of strength training every other day to build muscle. Not anything crazy, just strength stuff. Either free weights, bands or weight machines (if you go to a gym). Muscle is very importatnt in this journey.
Tell someone that you love them!
Dawn
253/223/167/127
HW/SW/CW/GW
Hello
I will tell you what my exercise routine is but I have to tell you I'm not big on variety and actually like doing the same thing every day. That is my struggle...to try to inject variety into my workouts.
When I started out I started out simply enough and as time went by I started reading books about fitness, weight lifting, metabolism, and stretching. So as I have learned I have changed things about my routine...kind of fine tuning it as I go along.
First- I am on the treadmill 60 minutes. I didn't start out doing that much. I increased my time and intensity as I went along. I would say one of the first things you should get is a heart rate monitor. The reason is that in order to efficiently workout and burn calories you need to work out in your target heart rate zone. To find out what your target heart rate zone is go here - zone..http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm
If you exercise below your target heart rate then you aren't exercising hard enough...if you exercise above your target heart rate isn't helping you...you are in an anaerobic state. Make sure you warm up and cool down for at least 5 minutes.
Second- Strength training. This is important for many reasons. The main reason to include weight lifting into your work out is metabolism. Your muscles are your fat/calorie burning machines and the stronger and leaner your muscles the faster your metabolism and you lose weight faster. The next reason is weight lifting is good for your bones. All women no matter what age should be weight lifting. When you are lifting weights your muscles release osteoblasts...these osteoblasts help strengthen bone. Another reason is stronger muscles don't get injured as often and protect surrounding structures. For instance I am starting interval training and it's hard on my knees. I started working out my quadriceps and hamstrings ...because these muscles will help strengthen my knees. So I won't injure them as easily.
Now when you are lifting weights as women generally we want to tone. So you want to lift less but add more reps. Also when lifting the weights you want lift slowly. Taking your time with each lift and release. If you go too fast then the momentum is helping you lift and you only want your muscles doing the work. I do 3 set of 25 reps. You will want to rest at least 30 seconds between each set. When lifting weights you want to lift a weight that is a challenge but not a strain. Your last couple reps should be a struggle but not a strain. As time goes by and your strength improves you can increase the weight.
Third- When I'm all done and I'm covered in sweat..I stretch. It not only feels really good and relaxing. It also helps prevent injury. And of course flexibility is a very important part of being fit.
You will want to stretch to the point of discomfort but not pain. Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds. DO NOT BOUNCE. Just hold the stretch and breathe deeply.
I know I just sputtered on and on about this. Well good luck with the working out.
I will tell you what my exercise routine is but I have to tell you I'm not big on variety and actually like doing the same thing every day. That is my struggle...to try to inject variety into my workouts.
When I started out I started out simply enough and as time went by I started reading books about fitness, weight lifting, metabolism, and stretching. So as I have learned I have changed things about my routine...kind of fine tuning it as I go along.
First- I am on the treadmill 60 minutes. I didn't start out doing that much. I increased my time and intensity as I went along. I would say one of the first things you should get is a heart rate monitor. The reason is that in order to efficiently workout and burn calories you need to work out in your target heart rate zone. To find out what your target heart rate zone is go here - zone..http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm
If you exercise below your target heart rate then you aren't exercising hard enough...if you exercise above your target heart rate isn't helping you...you are in an anaerobic state. Make sure you warm up and cool down for at least 5 minutes.
Second- Strength training. This is important for many reasons. The main reason to include weight lifting into your work out is metabolism. Your muscles are your fat/calorie burning machines and the stronger and leaner your muscles the faster your metabolism and you lose weight faster. The next reason is weight lifting is good for your bones. All women no matter what age should be weight lifting. When you are lifting weights your muscles release osteoblasts...these osteoblasts help strengthen bone. Another reason is stronger muscles don't get injured as often and protect surrounding structures. For instance I am starting interval training and it's hard on my knees. I started working out my quadriceps and hamstrings ...because these muscles will help strengthen my knees. So I won't injure them as easily.
Now when you are lifting weights as women generally we want to tone. So you want to lift less but add more reps. Also when lifting the weights you want lift slowly. Taking your time with each lift and release. If you go too fast then the momentum is helping you lift and you only want your muscles doing the work. I do 3 set of 25 reps. You will want to rest at least 30 seconds between each set. When lifting weights you want to lift a weight that is a challenge but not a strain. Your last couple reps should be a struggle but not a strain. As time goes by and your strength improves you can increase the weight.
Third- When I'm all done and I'm covered in sweat..I stretch. It not only feels really good and relaxing. It also helps prevent injury. And of course flexibility is a very important part of being fit.
You will want to stretch to the point of discomfort but not pain. Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds. DO NOT BOUNCE. Just hold the stretch and breathe deeply.
I know I just sputtered on and on about this. Well good luck with the working out.
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