Building stamina - is running good?
I got some great feedback the lats time I posted:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/losing-weig…
Basically, I'm slowly hitting the gym, starting slowly on the exercise bikes, weights, a little cardio but I find myself out of breath very quickly. My conditioning sucks right now.
I was hoping to pick up some tips to build up my stamina. What could I do? I've changed my diet completely - getting rid of fast food and food high on sugar, and drinking water, etc.
What do people think about running? How would i begin? I realize all this shit is online somewhere but I find its much more helpful to hear from people who are currently doing what they're preaching.
Should I start running? What would you suggest? I'm quite desperate here.
I want to lose these extra 50 pounds or so by at least June.
Boxing is a great way to lose weight and increase stamina. Could do MMA as well or any serious martial art. I would go with boxing though.
Why post this on a finance forum? Will running help you build stamina? No, it'll make you fat and covered in hives.
The banking approach to work-life balance (or lack thereof) probably necessitates some very specific ways of trying to lose weight which other people don't have to resort to. After all... if you're sitting in the office 100 hours a week, your options are gonna be pretty limited.
That being said... OP: Which line are you in?
I'm working at PWC at the moment, recently started. I was actually in good shape up until some serious ankle injuries caused me to lounge around a lot.
And yes running is good too, but I don't see why you need to ask how to begin running? You should have learned it around age 1-4 or something.
Here's a tutorial:
For a serious answer...
Sit on a bike and do the "Hill" workout. If you do it for 30 minutes, it'll basically go 1 minute easy, 1 minute level 2, 1 minute easy, 1 minute level 3... and so on.
Pushing hard for 1 minute then taking a minute of cool down is much better than spending an hour doing a light jog.
Plus, bike = easy on your joints and your feet. N00bs tend to get over zealous and hurt themselves, then never return.
You can easily lose 50 lbs in a month with a combination of weight training and cardio, but it does take some time to learn the proper form when lifting. Just watch youtube videos and start packing on some lean muscle to increase your metabolism and let it burn most of the fat for you.
You cannot lose 50lbs in a month, while being healthy
Can't believe I wrote that haha. Yah definitely not a month, but in 4-6 months I can see that happening.
Yeah, unless you're literally starving yourself while stacking ephedrine, you won't ever lose 50 lbs. per month.
OP, I lift weights regularly and i am a bit of a health-freak myself, so i'll tell you what i know:
--I would highly suggest doing something that you like to do, as you will be more inclined/motivated to do it more often. High-intensity cardio exercises such as boxing, basketball (actually playing, not just shitting around and shooting every once in a while) and cycling are great exercises. But I can tell you, if you're SERIOUS about this, you must commit to a strict, healthy diet.
--Losing weight is 80% nutrition, 20% exercise. Eat small, frequent meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism high. Eat lots of veggies, fish, chicken. All grilled, nothing fried.
--Lose processed sugars (e.g. diet sodas, sweets, and even fruits). I know, at first you're probably like, wtf? fruits are healthy. But the sugars in fruits convert to fructose, which are metabolized differently and make it difficult for fat loss.
--Eat a high protein diet. Ideally, you should have ~30-40g protein per meal (4-6 times a day) This is essential for building lean muscle mass and shedding fat. Grab a shaker bottle and some whey protein and drink it after your workout. This is important.
--Lift weights. In addition to burning extra calories, you will be building muscle, which will help lean you out and give you a more toned body rather than being skinny but flabby once you lose the weight.
--Eat fats. The GOOD ones. Incorporate essential fatty acids (EFA's: polyunsaturated fats, monounsatured fats) into your diet regularly. This comes from things like fish oil, flax oil, peanut butter, nuts, etc. This is one of the more important aspects of losing weight that people overlook. A diet that has EFA's will actually help you to increase metabolism and keep your body functioning well. You will LOSE more weight than you will gain weight by doing this, believe it or not.
--Drink a LOT of water. Lose the sugary fruit drinks and soda's. Really, the best option would be to replace almost all liquids with water but that's kind of unrealistic. Aim for ~gallon per day to increase metabolism, melting the fat and staying hydrated.
--Don't be dumb and starve yourself. This will rob the body of essential nutrients, and while you may drop a few pounds quickly, it won't be a lasting effect. You'll gain it right back whenever you stop starving yourself. Seen it happen way too many times.
Losing weight is a slow, but steady process. Stay healthy, hit the weights/cardio, and follow the instructions above and you'll be on your way.
Yeah, if you amputate your lags or get cancer or something. There is absolutely no way you can lose 50 pounds in an even moderately healthy fashion in a month.
lol I assumed OP was 200 lbs+. At that weight level the fat just melts off.
How tall are you and how much do you weigh now? Losing 50lbs by June won't happen.
Any type of cardiovascular activity will increase your stamina, do which you are most comfortable with. Changing your diet is the first step in losing weight which you have done. A caloric deficit plus cardio and weight lifting you will see results. If you don't you are taking in too many calories
You sound like you're not used to exercising...
I played basketball in college, so take this with a grain of salt.
Do something that you enjoy doing the most. For example, I hate running on a treadmill. Refuse to do it. So when I'm trying to get back in shape, I'll go for a run on the beach (running on sand = crazy workout) or bike for an hour or two. Both are extremely enjoyable - I can stare at women as I run by them on the beach, and I can enjoy being outside on the bike.
Sports are also an option, though I'm guessing you don't play any if you need to lose 50lbs.
Weight lifting is a whole different animal. If you don't know what to do, you'll need to ask someone at the gym. They'll give you a quick run through. Do NOT try to lift without getting at least a little guidance.
Gotta say that I agree that you should do something you love. I've been a runner since I was 11 and I still struggle with it at times. You can't just jump into running and expect to stick with it on a consistent enough basis to lose a lot of weight. It's too hard and the monotony will eventually break you down if you're not used to it. Start with a combination of different exercises - biking, hiking, swimming, boxing, whatever - mix it up, and once you get a feel for what you like, then start concentrating on one exercise. The weight will start to drop pretty quickly then.
Boxer/wrestler here. Definitely agree with first poster in that boxing is a great way to have fun while working out and get a far above average workout. Also the Hill workout on bikes is a personal favorite during weight cuts for me. 30-45 minutes on there a few times a week is amazing too. Also could try swimming if you're decent at that. I never recommend running though I'm sure a lot will disagree.
Aim to run 20-30 minutes three times a week. Your goal should be to get to about 3 miles in 25 minutes no sweat. If you can't run a full 3 miles, keep plugging at it, walk if you have to, until you can go the whole way. The first run is always brutal on your breathing but after a couple runs you'll probably be fine for a cardio perspective. It's actually amazing how fast your body can get used to doing something.
If you're out of shape interval training on bikes is probably the best way to go to avoid injury. Most bikes have interval programs you can run and you can increase in difficulty as appropriate. Once you feel comfortable and are in better shape, stairmaster interval training can SLAY some calories.
Blurb on interval training: http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/interval-training-workouts
.
HIIT is a good way to do cardio and shed fat, especially if you are so overweight.
Interval training is probably best to start with. I'm trying to get back into better cardiovascular health so I've starting doing a condensed workout. I do 5 minutes on a stair stepper, then do a quick set of curls, shoulder presses and shrugs while standing without resting. Also I'll do a set of front shoulder raises with a 45lb plate and then immediately do some lateral raises (standing, but leaning forward) to do some more work on my traps (shrugs just don't get the job done because I would have to use like 80lb weights and it kills my hand).
Anyways, I do the cardio on the stair stepper, the workout routine above, rest for a short period of time, back to the stair stepper and so on. If you start and end with the stair stepper you can get your three (or four if you need it) sets of weights in all while working yourself back into cardio with your four (or five) sets of stairs. As with all machines, you can switch out the intensity level and length to suit your needs...moderate intensity with increasing time would probably be your best bet if your aim is to increase stamina.
I would try to avoid running be it take so much mental energy to stay engaged. If you do have a place to run laps or whatever, I used to enjoy jogging around a track and then sprinting between landmarks...usually light poles that lined the track. So jog between one or two and then sprint the next one or two (depending on how far apart they are) and then focus on getting your breathing under control. The benefit to this is not only stamina, because you are jogging the whole time, but you can easily keep track of your progress because you will see that you can recover in the distance it takes to jog from one pole to the next instead of two or three poles when you started.
Regards
Surprised at the lack of support for running. It was the very first sport at the Olympic Games. I am going to agree with most people and say do something you love; basketball, football, soccer, ultimate frisbee, whatever as long as it's active.
When it comes to training and building stamina I hate biking (it is incredibly boring in my opinion). I usually go for a 3 mile run 2x a week on the track or outside, I get some push ups, pull ups, and ab exercises in every day (only takes 40 minutes and you can do them all from home before you shower). When I was in season while at college I would hit the gym 3x a week and do agility ladders 2x a week.
I have never tried it, but I heard P90x is great for burning fat and gaining muscle.
Swimming and stairs.
Swimming improves mainly breath I think.
In order to burn calories in any serious manner, i suggest
1- Eat often, but eat healthy. A colleague at work eats one meal a day, but eats little bits of one meal very often (for example he cuts one sandwich into 5-6 pieces, and then eats gradually over the entire day. That sort of thing.
2- Exercise. My exercise of choice by far is running. You need to realise though, it's all about the amount you run. I ran 8 miles 3 times a week for a month, and dropped about 4-6kg (10-12 pounds?). Be aware though, you need to build into this schedule, otherwise you WILL get injured
It's worth noting that swimming is great for avoiding injuries, too.
Hmm. I get you.
here's the thing - swimming is quite good, but in terms of the all-round cardio-vascular development, nothing beats running. Please note that I did not say jogging. When I say running, I refer to running at a pace outside your comfort zone, not just pounding the concrete lazily. Not neccessarily an all out sprint, but something that puts some stress on your lungs and heart. If you get used to a pace (usually takes 3-6 weeks depending on fitness, age and gradient of the course), then you need to step it up.
Swimming is quite good as well, especially for an all-round body workout, but in terms of the sheer shock to the body (which is what is needed to shed weight), I'm of the opinion that nothing comes close to running. to match the sheer energy burn of running for an hour with swimming, you'd need to swim for a fair bit - I can't quantify the amount unfortunately. I can't imagine your body craving oxygen during a swim as much as it does during a brisk run - the controlled breathing required while swimming simply can't match the body's demand. I think the breast stroke may be an exception however, but I'm willing to bet there aren't too many people who can sustain the breast stroke for 30 minutes.
One major advantage of swimming is that you don't risk any injury because of the support provided by the water.
I'm glad to be corrected here....
PS: I played soccer too, back when I lived in the UK. Happy memories.
BLUF...
1) 30-45 min of non-impact cardio (bike, elliptical, etc). At least 4 times a week. 2) 30-45 min of heavy weights. 5-8 reps per set. 2 times per week. 3) Eat brocolli, garlic, and chicken breast. (clean essentials) 4) Be consistent.
I went from 155lbs benching 195lbs to now 190lbs lean and bench 315lbs.
Most important is consistency.
It is literally all about interval running, nothing else parallels it in terms of weight loss. Get on the treadmill, job .25 miles at a low speed 5-7 mph, then crank it up to 9-11 for the next .25 miles, repeat process, shoot for 3 miles or so. If you can't do a mile with those speeds, then try breaking it down into .30 job and .20 run, or some easier combination. If you eat decently and do this 4-5 times a week I can guarantee you that you will lose lots of weight.
I cant stand running at all. Besides the monotony of pounding the pavement for 30 minutes, it does very little to stimulate your major muscle groups. Find a crossfit gym in your area. The workouts are 45-60 minutes of HIT workouts that work your core muscle groups through compound or dynamic exercises. Nothing better in terms of fat loss. Also do a little bit of reading on the paleo diet. its flexible, healthy and still allows you to eat red meat as well as fruits and veggies.
Crossfit is the shit
http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm
If you're trying to exercise but are strapped on time like me, the above list provides a list of how many CALORIES BURNED PER HOUR doing these various exercises. Boxing, rowing, and cross-country skiing are some of the most efficent ways to shed those pounds.
A beginner's running plan that has helped me IMMENSELY:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-520--9397-F,00.html
[quote=Bob Loblaw]A beginner's running plan that has helped me IMMENSELY:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-520--9397-F,00.html[/…]
Thanks. Definitely give this a go. I think I'm going to start running very soon.
anyone else have celiac disease..this sucks..wondering if others are on gluten free diets and how ez it is to follow..no soup??
And yeah, basically no soup. They all use wheat flour as a thickener. Be sure to check everything, because you'll find gluten in random shit, like meat and cheese (meatballs, meatloaf, some fast food meat and cheese, etc.).
Crossfit is amazing. Not completely practical depending on how much time you have though. And I've heard good things about P90X (and the new Insanity) as far as being a weight loss program goes. I disagree with people saying it's good for packing on muscle (lean muscle, maybe, but P90X is in NO way a substitute for strength training) but from what I've heard I'd support it as a good cutter.
As far as Running vs Swimming goes, I can't disagree with someone saying running is great but I was a swimmer for a long time and would say you rarely see a decently average swimmer who isn't shredded, and I can't say the same for runners outside of sprinters. Obviously a generalization so tear me apart if I'm wrong, but it looked like most of the long distance guys I know were really skinny and lacked definition. Not to say their cardio didn't absolutely put mine to shame. Swimming I've always found to be a better balance.
PM'd you
I got into running practically by accident during my army service. Key is going outside and running cross country, which is much more fun than anything you can do stamina-wise in the gym. It helps to often vary your route to keep things interesting. In terms of weight control, I don't think anything comes close - I ran about 90 minutes this evening, burnt 1100kcal in the process, and even skipped dinner afterwards as I effectively passed out on my couch after I got back home :). Cycling is also huge if you're in the right area.
Intermittent Fasting brah. Check it out. You can stick with eating under maintenance and doing cardio. But, if you do not have the time for that, IF is the way to go.
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