Get fit plan

[imonedaful]

I agree with everything posted above except for "It is better to do something of high intensity for 30 minutes than to spend 2 hours with a lot of breaks in between" ... that statement should come with a disclaimer.

It totally depends. For example, if I am working my compound exercises like squats, benches, deads, etc. I want to have proper time in between sets for rest. I don't want to super set in between my compounds (not unless I am intermediate or an advanced lifter, and even then it's touch and go). So for example, it is recommended when you bench (and doing it for strength not hypertrophy) you take somewhere between 2-4 minutes rest between sets for proper muscle growth (I am forgetting the exact word to use here, so close enough).

In the end there is nothing wrong with doing a high intensity workout for 30 minutes as that there are many benefits to it, however as usual, one must understand what they can get out of it compared to other types of workouts.

The only people that can work out this way are people who actually know what they are doing. haha. I would not recommend this to a novice. That is a workout more along the lines of an athlete, bodybuilder, or someone with an extensive knowledge of fitness. This is how we lifted a few days a week as a collegiate athlete. The other days were reserved for more high intensity stuff. As long as you lift the proper strength training cycles it sounds great. Athletes lift in a cycle that has them peak for the end of their season so they start off the beginning of the year lifting higher reps (sets of 12-15) and after so many weeks decreases the number of reps and increases the weight until the end of the season you are lifting heavy for only 4-5 reps in a set. That builds strength the best over periods of time. If you are not competing in something you can kind of cater it to how you want to. But those people that come in and do 4x8 of bench press every couple of days really aren't going anywhere.

[MinervasOwl]

The only people that can work out this way are people who actually know what they are doing. haha. I would not recommend this to a novice. That is a workout more along the lines of an athlete, bodybuilder, or someone with an extensive knowledge of fitness. This is how we lifted a few days a week as a collegiate athlete. The other days were reserved for more high intensity stuff. As long as you lift the proper strength training cycles it sounds great. Athletes lift in a cycle that has them peak for the end of their season so they start off the beginning of the year lifting higher reps (sets of 12-15) and after so many weeks decreases the number of reps and increases the weight until the end of the season you are lifting heavy for only 4-5 reps in a set. That builds strength the best over periods of time. If you are not competing in something you can kind of cater it to how you want to. But those people that come in and do 4x8 of bench press every couple of days really aren't going anywhere.

This is interesting. I was taking a couple of classes at an exercise studio from Nov to May, including a class called body pump which was an hour long class of strength training with free weights, where we did about a 60-100 reps in 2 or 3 sets. i wonder what the philosophy was behind that then?

I have to say though that several months of 5-6 hours a week (classes) of working out did less for my goals than my current practice of running 3 times a week for 20 min and swimming or doing aerobics twice a week for half an hour. This is because I am finding it easier to cut calories when I'm working out for shorter periods. Those hour long workouts used to drive me nuts with hunger and I couldn't control myself I'd be binging like crazy.

I want to add strength training to my routine now and am trying to decide whether to do 15-20 min twice a week or do the body pump paradigm for an hour once a week?

Edited June 21, 2012 by MinervasOwl

[antecedent]

I have to say though that several months of 5-6 hours a week (classes) of working out did less for my goals than my current practice of running 3 times a week for 20 min and swimming or doing aerobics twice a week for half an hour. This is because I am finding it easier to cut calories when I'm working out for shorter periods. Those hour long workouts used to drive me nuts with hunger and I couldn't control myself I'd be binging like crazy.

During any cardio/endurance workout of an hour or more, you should be fueling every 30 minutes and drinking water every 15. Runners and cyclists deal with this by taking sports gels or chews and wearing water belts. I honestly thought that was BS until I did my first 1h30 run and didn't fuel properly. I was in so much pain afterwards I could hardly walk. From then on (including race day) I hydrated every 15 minutes and took a gel every 30 and both the hunger and the physical pain were greatly reduced.

Now, I don't know if it's possible to do that during workout classes, but there should be some way to make sure you can fuel while you're exercising. It's also possible that you might want to consider nutritio, as you should be able to go an hour without eating (this is coming from someone who eats 6 or 7 times a day).

[MyNamesNotRick]

@MinervasOwl

If hunger is an issue you can do what I do as that I do a longer workout myself (albeit not classes but resistance training).

I eat about 3 hours before. A decent meal. Nothing to over fill me.

And if and when I get hungry during my workout I have a bag of cashew nuts that I start to snack on or I'll eat a clif bar.

It is something that you will have to figure out for yourself how you will get to that point where you can workout a little longer.

But that's how I get through it.

[TropicalCharlie]

My plan is to eat smaller portions and do cardio at least 4 days a week. It has worked well for me in the past, so I just have to keep myself motivated.

Here's an interesting article on aerobic exercise vs strength training.

I think many people who responded this article perhaps missed the point. It is not advocating cardio exercise over strength training or discouraging strength training. It is simply stating that when it comes to burning abdominal fat, aerobic exercise is shown to be more effective. Anyone who has ever taken a PE class knows about the benefits of both types of exercises. Of course, everyone's body responds differently, so to each his own

[imonedaful]

I think many people who responded this article perhaps missed the point. It is not advocating cardio exercise over strength training or discouraging strength training. It is simply stating that when it comes to burning abdominal fat, aerobic exercise is shown to be more effective. Anyone who has ever taken a PE class knows about the benefits of both types of exercises. Of course, everyone's body responds differently, so to each his own

That is because if you do strength training without anything aerobic you are just building muscle underneath your fat. That is why you see some football players who are big and strong but chubby looking. Lots of strength conditioning, lots of eating, and little cardio.