Discussion Board

This just up on the blog:

4 pillars of the ideal workout schedule: What the research says

I did my best to simplify over 18 sections compiling over 400 research reports in this new document to bring you news you can use.

Looking forward to your thoughts, either on the blog or here!

Lani

Well done... great job of putting the information into a clear and concise article...

I currently far exceed the minimum recommendations but will probably reduce my time and intensity to once I reach my desired weight. The health benefits have already been enormous...

I lift each body part 2 x weekly... once with high intensity and only 3 sets including warm-up... and once with medium intensity going 5 sets with increasing weight to failure.

Cardio is alternating one day of HIIT, followed by 45 min. of sustained cardio the next day. Repeat. Several times a week I add 30 min. of cardio after dinner.

1 1/2 hour walk in the mountains every day

One day off except for the walk.

Thanks Knut. Sounds like your in a good rhythm. Now I'm doing some research about "active couch potatoes". Apparently even if you get your hour plus in every day but the rest of the hours are spent sitting or lying, your biomarkers start to turn on you as they would on a full-time sedentary. Yes, you get the benefits of your exercise but if you don't break up hours of sitting, mortality increases nonetheless. Early stages of research on this one, but worth taking a look at. I'm putting an article together on same.

Lani

Looking forward to reading Harold Mayer's research on interval training.

Even though it's been almost 10 years since I worked out in earnest... even with a poor diet my earlier workouts and activity levels appear to be paying off. Have yet to come close to feeling the effects of over training and continue to increase intensity and duration a little every day. HIIT... which I only used on an infrequent basis in the past, have now become center stage and the improvements over regular training have been noticeable... that... and I think I've become less patient at 57 than I was in my prime...

Starting up again was a slow process with forcing myself to work out. Fortunately I've reached the stage where I'm almost as addicted to working out as I was back in the day. Almost have to force myself to take a day off from the gym and settle for a long walk and or easy bike ride.

Knut, you may also be interested to read my article on hazards of sitting too much -

5 reasons too much sitting is hazardous to your health & what to do about it

This information really has enormous impact on personal and public health. It's possible to be fully compliant with the ACSM fitness guidelines and yet suffer from the side effects of being an active couch potato. In other words, even if we do our workouts for fitness, if we have big chunks of sedentary time we suffer the same downside biomarkers as everyone else who just sits around. So you need both, exercise designated for health and/or fitness (there can be a differentiation) AND movement to break up the sedentary periods.

Which shines a big shiny beam on fitting in short segments of activity throughout the day. Moving 10 minutes every hour makes a big difference, and these can be either cardio breaks, resistance training breaks, and even mixing in standing work instead of sitting. I'm doing a quick overview here but read the article and you'll see what I mean. This research is in its infancy but there is a lot of it all pointing in the same direction - the dangers of 'sedentarism'.

Had an excellent interview with Harold Mayer. Hi will be presenting at ACSM and has another paper coming out about interval training. He makes a clear differentiation between interval training and HIIT. According to his work, HIIT can create more fitness but may bypass health measures - getting more fit does not necessarily getting more healthy. He has more studies planned, specifically on the fitness/vs. health model as well as the effects of EPOC or post-exercise oxygen consumption, which is also seen by Len Kravitz, Phd. from UNM and the American Council on Exercise as playing a role in overall calorie consumption that adds up for us, beneficially, over time.

Lani

Hi Lani,

Thanks for all of your articles - they are very inspiring and informative. I'm quite new to the McDougall program and I'm just loving getting my health back on track after years of restrictive diets. I finally have the energy to live my life. I just wanted to get your opinion on my weekly exercise plan. I am also a dancer, which is why I include alot of yoga/Pilates exercises.

Mon: 30 min jog, 1 hr Pilates
Tues: Ballet class (lots of jumps and anaerobic work)
Wed: 30 min jog, 1 hr yoga
Thurs: Ballet class (includes stretching, ab work)
Fri: 30 min jog, 1 hour Pilates
Sat: 2 hour advanced hiphop class, 1 hr walk with dogs
Sun: 1 hour yoga class

Just wondering what you thought of this plan and if you think I need to add or replace anything.

Thanks!

Hayley

Thanks Hayley.

It depends on your goals. If you are looking for within the guidelines as published with the ACSM healthy adults, a quick compare puts you pretty nicely in with all requirements - cardiorespiratory (jogs and walks and no doubt the hip hop!), flexibility and neuromotor with yoga and pilates. strength training with the ballet. Are you getting sufficient upper body challenge with the pilates? Throw in a few pushups and planks perhaps and it looks like you're there. Then check for 'active couch potato' details next.

What ballet do you do? Are you in a class? I developed a lot of my Fit Quickies moves from the body-weight sustained moves from my dance training because they're so good at challenging for shape and grace at the same time.

Lani

Thanks so much for the quick reply.

I do ballet in a class (1 hr) - they also include push-ups and upper-body work and lots of jumps which are very challenging for my legs! Pilates is where I feel I get most of my toning/strengthening - I do the advanced workouts that include alot of planks, core strengthening and also butt and thigh work.

I guess my goals are to increase muscle tone (especially in the abdonimal region), flexibility (as a dancer I've never been naturally flexible and always had to work hard at it) and aerobic fitness. I find that I put muscle on quite easily as I already have a low body fat percentage but if I put a little bit of weight on it goes to the abdominals (with McDougalling and jogs though I find that my stomach is already looking more toned).

Thanks for your help and advice.

Hayley

Lani,

how does T-Tapp fit in? I know it combines strength/resistance training and cardio ...

if I was using T-Tapp as a "base" (BWO+ or one half (or the other) of TWO, so ~15-20 minutes per day, 5 days a week) then what else do I need to add to be hitting all the pillars?

Slugmom,

It depends on what your goals are and how much of a challenge what you are doing presents to you for resistance. Remember flexibility training as well. Cardiorespiratory over the course of the week should also include sustained, rhythmic activity of the large muscle groups for the duration of the training period, with no stop or start. Strength training specifics depend on your goals as well, such as in strength for sport. I also like to see people do a variety of exercise sequences, within their ability, to achieve optimal progressive results.

Hope this helps you with assessing your current practices to bring them into alignment with your goals!

Lani