Exercise, Nutrition, WLS, and Cooking Q & A - 3/19/2014

I think any form of exercise that you will enjoy and stick to is worth doing. I am not very familiar with Leslie Sasone's program but if it is something you enjoy and you can relate too, that makes it all that much easier to do day after day so from that perspective I am all for it.

Something to consider is that for walking you should try to hit 60 mins per day or if you prefer a step counter 10,000 steps (roughly 3 miles). When your exercise capacity improves I would suggest incorporating a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) pattern to your cardio, it is far more effective than the brute force approach. Also finding a way to do some sort of weight training is good for a lot of reasons. If you are not ready to pick up the weights doing some core and big muscle groups training like planks and squats will go a long way in improving your health and will certainly accelerate your weight loss.

All of that being said, the best fat burning exercise you can do right now is walking.

Is that 10,000 throughout the day or at one time? I was wearing a step counter to work do all those steps count towards the total?

Throughout the day, but at one time works too. 

Is that 10,000 throughout the day or at one time? I was wearing a step counter to work do all those steps count towards the total?

Perfect - I have been bugging my sister about this, but now I can get your opinion.  I am trying to a second full body lift option, so that I am not doing the same thing every time.  

This is my plan - each of these sets I would cycle through 4 times with reps between 6-12 depending on the weight -- typically I increase the weights a bit each set and the reps go down. 

Set 1:

sumo squat

traditional dead lift

1 legged squat

push ups

set 2: 

db chest flies

upright row

db pull over

bicycle crunch

set 3:

assisted pull up

weighted step ups

db military press

plank

set 4:

hammer curl

skull crushers

side lunges

back extensions

What do you think?  

Thanks!

So some good exercises in there, but let's take a look at the coverage to see where we stand:

Set 1:

sumo squat - legs/posterior chain

traditional dead lift - posterior chain

1 legged squat - legs

push ups - chest

set 2: 

db chest flies - chest

upright row - shoulders/back

db pull over - triceps

bicycle crunch - abs

set 3:

assisted pull up - back

weighted step ups - legs

db military press - back/shoulders (some chest but really its a shoulder exercise)

plank - abs

set 4:

hammer curl - biceps

skull crushers - triceps

side lunges - legs

back extensions - back

So just my 2 cents here you are a little light on chest exercises (not that there really are a lot of them), a little heavy on legs (not that its a bad thing), probably over working your triceps. If I were going have you put me through this exercise, I would rather see it like this:

Set 1:

push ups - chest

sumo squat - legs/posterior chain

upright row - shoulders/back

1 legged squat - legs

set 2: 

db chest flies - chest

traditional dead lift - posterior chain

db pull over - triceps

bicycle crunch - abs

set 3:

db military press - back/shoulders (some chest but really its a shoulder exercise)

weighted step ups - legs

back extensions - back

assisted pull up - back/lats

set 4:

side lunges - legs

hammer curl - biceps

skull crushers - triceps

plank - abs

Not even changing your exercise, just rearranging them will give one muscle group a rest while you are working the other. Also these go from biggest to smaller muscle groups so you will be optimizing your energy expenditure to get the most energy for the muscle that require the most.

Thank you!

Hi Keith,

I recently joined EveryMove where you can earn rewards associated with fitness.  My first reward is for 50% FitDeck.  Are you familiar with this product?  Not expensive by any means...  http://fitdeck.com

Also - I'm working the couch to 5k program.  I'm on week 2, and when I was jogging/walking Monday, my lungs were on FIRE!  It was cool outside, but definitely not cold.  Is this pretty normal when you're beginning to increase a workout routine?

Thanks, Keith!  Love having you here to bounce questions off of!
angie

There are lots of similar iPhone apps for free, so you may want to check those out if you have an iPhone. If you do not have an iPhone I think the deck concept is cool because you leave your routine to chance to some degree plus you can set aside the ones you really like or get the most out of, so you can control your routine. The down side to the deck is it doesn't know anything about you so you can't tailor your routine to you like bad knees, or if you are too heavy to do certain exercise or they may even be dangerous. That being said, if it is something that will help you stick to a routine because it adds and element of fun or excitement, then I am all for it.

Yes the burning lungs is very normal. Chances are you haven't breathed that hard in a long time or ever. But trust me it gets better the more your cardio capacity improves, the more weight you lose, and the greater your endurance becomes. The burning could be a sign of asthma but it is also very normal for new cardio. You can help this a lot by doing breathing exercise during the day or while you are watching TV, at your desk, whenever you have some free time. Especially good to do 5 or 10 minutes before you start your routine. But basically you just want to breath in as much air as you can. Sit up straight and expand your chest as much as you can and use your diaphram, breath in through your nose, hold it for 10 to 30 seconds (this will improve) and then let it out quickly and forcefully through your mouth. Do this slowly at first so you don't get light headed. Do this for 3 to 5 mins at a time. Basically you are exercising your lungs so keep that in mind. 

Again, thank you so much for the great advice you offer.  Will definitely start adding the breathing exercises to my daily routine, and I think I'll get fitdeck for my non-C25k days :)