Discussion Board

I touched on this in my journal today, but thought that I might get more answers here. I'm turning 63 soon, and I try to exercise 6 days per week. Sometimes it is only 5. My favorites are biking, elliptical, Curves, swimming and walking. I walk a lot, but often don't count that as my exercise - I'm often strolling, or stopping and starting. Anyway, lately I've been doing mostly biking, plus Curves a couple of times per week. I've been biking for over an hour, and not feeling very tired from it. I live in southern GA - no hills at all. I'm on vacation now, and today used the hotel elliptical. I haven't done the elliptical in several months, even though I have access to one near home. I did the elliptical for just 40 minutes, and it was very tiring - I got really sweaty and a little out of breath. I'm guessing it is best to do some of each, but would you recommend more long slow exercise, or shorter higher intensity? My daughter thought that longer slower might be best for weight loss. Thanks, LauraA

Hi Laura:

My opinion is like yours - do both types of exercise, long and slow, short and fast, as well as 'intervals' - combining one or two minutes of fast exercise with five minutes of slow. Our bodies can become used to one type of exercise if done regularly and then they adapt to that type and become very efficient at using a certain amount of energy when exercising. Given that idea, it makes sense to change what you're doing every once in awhile so that your body has to adapt to the new way of exercising. I think the bottom line is any type of exercise is better than none, and when combined with good food it will help the weight loss. Hang in there. Joe.

thanks so much for your reply. I think that my body was getting a little to used to biking. The elliptical is perfect this week where I am walking around most of the rest of the day. Take care, LauraA

Cross-training is good. Keep it up!

Biking without hills.... I find that more difficult than with hills to really make it a effort.
I don't mind pushing up a hill. If fact you almost have to put in extra effort.
Mentally I find it much more difficult to pedal on flat ground at the same extra effort I enjoy on hills.
My only way around this mental block is to ride with fast friends or to be "on the clock" trying to hit some time points.

What I dislike most is riding on flat, into a wind. Ugh....

Here, everywhere I go is all hills. On any given ride, at least 1/3 his up hill, 1/3 downhill, with at most 1/3 flat.

BTW, I also like walking more with hills. Even small hills make you work harder than you do on the flat.

Anyway, you are doing very good to exercise so many days each week.
Keep it up for 5 years and you are guaranteed to succeed.
Guaranteed.... Think about about that compared to the 5 year results of most diets.

Hills are kind of like a built-in interval workout whether biking, hiking or walking. Without the hills, I would suggest doing some sprints while standing up. Shift up a couple of gears and stand up and sprint at a higher intensity for 30 seconds. Wait a couple of minutes and do it again.
The reason it may seem harder to exercise indoors is because your body remains cooler when cycling than when indoors. You may be burning just as many calories but it seems easier because all that wind allows the sweat to evaporate quicker and you remain cooler and drier.

Michael

Laura,
Congratulations on your dedication to exercise. All types of exercises help. However, attempting to train 6 days per week is, in most probability, overtraining. You need to let your body rest and recover from the workouts. 5 days per week is really the maximum number of times one should train.

On top of your cardio training, might I suggest weight training to increase your muscle strength and very importantly, bone density. You need not train with heavy weights, but start off gently. You will soon build up your strength, which will assist your biking.

Your recent tiring in 40 mins might very well be a sign of overtraining and also being on vacation always puts one's mindset in holiday mode. Think nothing of it. Take this time to rest your mind and body. You will not lose your fitness level if you take a week or 2 off.

There is much debate about what type of exercise is best for weight loss. The answer is both and neither!!! Why? Some will work hard in the gym and after go and eat all the high fat foods they can find and ruin all that good work. Sadly, some may not even know they are doing this. Take a look at Dr McDougall's MWL books and follow his recommendations as it comes down to eating for weight (fat) loss.

Slow exercising at a certain heart rate range is said to burn fat at the maximum rate as compared with carbs & protein. High intensity/high heart rate training is said to burn more carbs than fat but after training, the body is still burning calories even at rest for hours afterwards.

I have personally benefitted from a variety of cardio workouts such as interval, spectacular hill running and fast running, rowing as well as a 3 part heavy weight training over not more that 5 days per week, often just 4 days per week.

Best wishes

I think there are a number of factors that impact each other when it comes to exercise. How often, how intense, how long for each session, whether you are cross training or doing the same exercise each time, how many calories you eat, and how much rest you are getting are a few that come to mind. I don’t think it’s simple enough to make a blanket statement that 6 days per week is too much. For some people who consider a 30 minute casual stroll their exercise 7 days per week may be fine. For others who train much more intensely for a longer duration more rest be in order.

Hi NC,

My reason for advising Laura to ease up on her exercise frequency was because of clues she gave in her original post. Like tiring after 40 mins, albeit a nice, long session on its own. However Laura has stated she is able to do better.

If you are exercising to improve rather than stay the same, you MUST rest & recover period. A blanket statement - yes. R&R is part of improving. If you exercise to stay the same, then go ahead & do 7 days as you will not change. Your body is in a state of equilibrium.

You state that some consider walking as their exercise, but you miss the point that Laura does not. This is another clue.

I was also advising Laura based on her personal situation, not as a general rule. It is important to read and understand the entire post before extracting & quoting only a part of it. Laura seems to be training to improve or at a reasonably high intensity rather than stay stagnant, hence the wording of my advice.

Best wishes to you.

AussieDavid,

It was not my intent to offend you and if I did so I apologize. I assure you that I have read through both the original post and your response several times and I simply don’t agree with all of your advice. Having said that I respect your right to have a different opinion than I do and I think there is little to be gained by anyone, including the original poster, by us arguing about it on the message board. I would be satisfied to agree to disagree and let it go. However, if you want to continue to discuss it I would be happy to do that. If that is the case, I would respectfully suggest that we do it via PM or email.

Hi NC,

I do not wish to have an argument with you either. Apologies I i too offended you. I just wish to say that I used to train too frequently and after researching LOTS of info, I backed it off and improved dramatically.

I have been training for personal improvement since 1992, not terribly long, but I do have a little experience and all I want to do on this board is help those who might benefit from the various approaches that helped me achieve a reasonable level of strength and fitness for a now 167cm/68kg (5'6" 10 stone and a bit) person who used to weigh close to 90kgs.

This board would not improve if we didn't have some lively debates, so rather than back away, I would love to keep hearing from you.

Best wishes

It depends on your primary goals, what you want to do. Moderate exercise burns fat....vigorous exercise only burns carbs. I don't see anything wrong with exercise 7 days a week. I use a bicycle for transportation and don't feel right on days when I don't ride at least 4 miles....this is pretty moderate exercise unless you're peddling hard and going uphill a lot. There's nothing wrong with more intense exercise, but it won't burn fat and it's not necessary to stay in good shape. Your energy levels will vary depending on many factors.

Well, this isn't really true. Moderate exercise burns fat. Vigorous exercise burns MUCH more fat. Clarence Bass, an expert on fitness for older people, wrote several layman articles on this subject. He summarizes the scientific evidence, the studies by Tabata and by Tremblay concerning how different levels of exercise burn fat:
http://www.cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM
and how different levels of exercise increase fitness:
http://www.cbass.com/INTERVAL.HTM
and an article on the subject, with a quote from Jeff Novick:
http://www.cbass.com/EACAPING.HTM
Keep in mind, though, that the vigorous exercise approach that Clarence Bass advocates, is not for people who are just beginning an exercise program after years of being sedentary. High intensity workouts should be gradually eased into, not suddenly jumped into.

So has Dr. McDougall changed his recommendations in light of new evidence? Does anyone know? Here is what he wrote in Maximum Weight Loss:

"When you are exercising at 60 percent of capacity - not full-throttle workout by any means - you are deriving about half your energy from carbohydrate and the other half from fat. But as you increase the intensity of your workout - say, to 90 percent of muscle capacity - you get your energy almost entirely from carbohydrate. In other words, the harder levels of intensity burn little fat. Thus to burn fat, your exercise program should be one of moderate and sustained exercise. When the program becomes too strenuous, you'll exhaust yourself without burning much fat"

He goes on to say, "You should be able to carry on a conversation with someone while you exercise".

I am personally not trying to burn fat and don't care either way. However, I do know that the moderate exercise I have got from riding a bike and a physically demanding job is more than enough to keep me in shape.

Hi, LauraA,

I'm the same age as you are. I work out six days a week. I lift weights three days a week (M,W,F) for about 30-45 minutes. I walk the beach 4-6 days a week for "10,000 steps" or close to that. I also do interval DVD's on Tuesdays & Thursdays. These are 30-45 minutes as well.

I find I feel great as long as I stick to MWL plan...when I get out of hand with flour or (raw) sugar my engery decreases.

I hope this encourages you. Keep up the great work. I have a client who is NINETY NINE years old, she DRIVES to my house for a massage every week and prior to her massage she works with a personal trainer twice a week.

Keep up the good work.

Deb