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Crazy High-Calorie Burning Excercises -- Suggestions Please

Halla74

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OK, I'm biased as I've been a natural bodybuilder for 18 years, but I honestly and truly believe that no personal fitness regimen is complete unless it is composed of both:

(1) Cardiovascular Exercise

and

(2) Resistance Training

TRAIN YOUR WHOLE BODY:
--------------------------
Without both, your body is not going to be totally fit. There are a lot of misconceptions about weight/resistance training. Firstly, many people think they will bulk up if they lift weights. I have news for you, that takes alot of time and effort unless you are going to get juiced up, which isn't very healthy. Normal people that integrate weights into their fitness routine are not only getting stronger, they are staying off the de-ossification of their bones (VERY important for women after age 30), they are keeping their tendons and ligaments in good order, learning to balance, and believe it or not - BURNING CALORIES!

KEEP IT SIMPLE - BE INSTINCTIVE
---------------------------------
I don't like overly anal retentive workouts counting weight used, # of reps, etc. I do at least 30 minutes of cardio every time I go to the gym, sometimes 45, sometimes 60. I either jack the elliptical up to level 16 on a random workout, or it the treadmill on a random setting and interval train (jog/sprint/walk/sprint/jog/etc.) and just rock out on my MP3 player. Then I hit the weights.

I have an ordered system of working my muscles consisting of 4 different workouts: (A) Chest, Triceps, Abdominals (B) Back, Trapeziums, Calves (C) Shoulders, Biceps, Forearms, Abdominals (D) Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Calves
If I simply follow this series I know that I am working my entire body of the course of a week or so, taking the guess work out of training evenly.

NOTE: If I am way busy I do 20 minutes of cardio + a circuit workout on the weights, doing 2-3 sets of one exercise for each bodypart, done in 45 minutes for the whole shebang.

I do not choose exercises to perform, since sometimes the equipment at a gym is taken, its best to be flexible and use what is available, for the sake of giving your body variey, and for the sake of keeping your metabolism up instead of waiting around being lazy.

I do not count reps, I rep to failure every set. Most of the time I will do supersets (2 exercises of the same bodypart done one after the other) or giant sets (3 exercises of the same bodypart done one after the other), 3 sets per series. I warm up, do my heaviest set first while I'm fresh, then break down from there for the next 2 sets.

STRATEGY TO CONSIDER:
-------------------------
When you do cardio, the first 15 minutes basically burns the sugar out of your blood.

At 30 minutes you have burned the fatty acids out of your blood.

Any cardio work longer than 30 minutes is burning STORED FAT. So, if you stop at 30 minutes, you are killing the most productive time of the workout.

That's why I do weights right after cardio, it keeps my metabolism up and allows me to keep burning fat (since I'm training quickly and intensely).

NUTRITION:
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Outside of all this, eat whole foods, cut your carbohydrate intake in half, don't eat sugar or soda or too much bread or pasta. Eat as much fruit and vegetables as you can and make the rest of your calories come from lean meats, organic dairy products, and whole grain breads/brown rice. Drink as much water per day as you can.

CONCLUSION:
--------------
If you train and eat like this for a month you will see a mjor difference in you physique and how you feel each day. If you do it for 6 months you'll look great on the beach this summer. If you do it for the rest of your life you will look decades younger than all your peers, and feel good too.
 

kyuuei

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^ This was very handy stuff to read :D I'm not a total dunce on working out, but I didn't know that bit about the amount of running done and the stuff being burned!

:cry: I love bread and pasta though!! I love fruits and vegetables, no doubt, but giving up bread?! Pasta?! :dont:
 

Biaxident

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:yes:

Halla, sounds a lot like my schedule. Although I use 4 sets, and between 6-10 reps. Except for legs which are 4 sets, with between 10-20 reps. My legs grow better with more reps.

But I get lazy sometimes and eat things I'm not supposed to. I like food. :)
 

Moiety

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It doesn't have to be.

I'm the P-est of the Ps. Everything dealing with routine just bores me to death. Sometimes I'll think "I'm too much of a couch potato, I need to exercise damnit!" and hit the gym. I kinda feel good after going, but it's more of a "I survived 2 hours of mindless repetition!Hellz yeah!".It's a relief. I feel good about myself but ...what do ya know?....I plan on returning the next day or so...and when the time comes I just think "The hell with it!".

I'd love to be disciplined. I mean, lack of discipline is definately my achilles heel. But I just can't seem to stick with anything that bores me.

As far as exercise goes, I prefer team sports. There's that game element. I think it's about stimulating the mind. Pumping iron makes me feel like a zombie...Still I don't have much of a chance to do team sports regularly these days.
 

Biaxident

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I'm the P-est of the Ps. Everything dealing with routine just bores me to death. Sometimes I'll think "I'm too much of a couch potato, I need to exercise damnit!" and hit the gym. I kinda feel good after going, but it's more of a "I survived 2 hours of mindless repetition!Hellz yeah!".It's a relief. I feel good about myself but ...what do ya know?....I plan on returning the next day or so...and when the time comes I just think "The hell with it!".

I'd love to be disciplined. I mean, lack of discipline is definately my achilles heel. But I just can't seem to stick with anything that bores me.

As far as exercise goes, I prefer team sports. There's that game element. I think it's about stimulating the mind. Pumping iron makes me feel like a zombie...Still I don't have much of a chance to do team sports regularly these days.

If I spent 2 hours in a gym I would be bored as well. I spend 45 minutes max lifting weights. Yet I do just as much as those who waste and hour or more, if you watch, they mostly sit and talk. Cardio is done outside in the hills or mountains. Usually with a few pounds of something in a pack.

I also lift odd things around the yard. Like tree trunks, rocks, trailers full of dirt, etcetera. Keeps my muscles guessing.
 

Halla74

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It's still the most boring thing ever, though.

That's because you do not value what that type of exercise accomplishes.

If you had a desire to be stronger, leaner, or with bigger msucles, you would have a valid reason for engaging in a fitness regimen as I described. Obviously you do not then, which is fine, no harm no foul.

Outside of physical capability or vanity working out is good for your health. You are aging with each and every minute, and although young now, you will eventually succumb to the chronic pains of the aging process. The only thing that slows it down??? WEIGHTS + CARDIO + NUTRITION.

You are not gaining years on your life by being fit, you are slowing your natural rate of decay, and improving the quality of the years you make it through.

Me personally, I am a naturally energetic person. I love the pump of a good workout, it energizes me, I feel like a million dollars. If I leave the gym drenched in sweat, unable to fully use my arms and legs due to total muscular fatigue, and breaking out of my shirt from an outrageous pump, then I am in heaven.

I don't know if Biaxident and I are part of a strange breed of human that identifies with weightlifting as we do, but anyone who tries fitness as a lifestyle and commits to it for a year or more will one day wake up with such inclinations...

:yes:
 

Halla74

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:yes:

Halla, sounds a lot like my schedule. Although I use 4 sets, and between 6-10 reps. Except for legs which are 4 sets, with between 10-20 reps. My legs grow better with more reps.

But I get lazy sometimes and eat things I'm not supposed to. I like food. :)

Ha! Biaxident, you and I both have the same problem giving in to food. Great minds think alike, right?

I hear you on the legs, more reps for sure. My legs are sickly strong by default, but I have 2 discs injured (L3, L4) so I don't go crazy ojn squats anymore. I warm up, then I do a set of 25 with 225, then I do a set of 15 with 275, then I hit 315 for as many as I can and move on.

Sometimes I do a giant set of (1) rear squat, (2) front squat, and (3) vertical leg press. Other times I just do drop sets to failure on the leg press and then knock out a few sets of hack squats.

For hamstrings I really like mule kicks on a pulley machine, straight legged deadlifts, and of course leg curls.

Sometimes I just go outside with a 60 pound barbell and do sets of walking lunges, 25 steps out and 25 steps back.

For calves there's pretty much nothing to do but standing calf raises, seated calf raises, or donkey calf raises, all drops sets, all to failure. Boy do I ever love taking the stairs up to my office after a good leg workout...JEEZ!

I like what you wrote below about doing your cardio outside with some weight in a pack. That's good to get outside, we were not meant to be hamsters in air conditioned cages!

Your comment about lifting stuff in the yard is legit too, I love doing that. A few years ago I was removing about 2 acres of kudzu as a side job, for a friend of mine. There was this dead pine tree in the middle of the lot, the damn thing kept dropping branches from the top, some of them came too close for comfort. So one day, I squared off with that tree and just started pushing into it really hard, like an old football sled press, and then I'd run to the other side and do it again, and repeat over and over until I felt that bastard start to sway, and then I gave it one more big bad push and powered through the trunk and I heard it go "CRACK!" and I stepped back and that big old dead pine tree came down. It was really fun! :D
 

Little Linguist

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I just want to thank Halla and Biaxident so much for sharing - that was helpful indeed....

Just out of curiosity because I have to admit I *am* a bit anal retentive:

When the machines say you burn X calories and you're not a huge-ass bodybuilder, rather a woman who goes to the gym 3-4 times a week, and you put in your real weight, would it be accurate to say that I could take the calories burned, divide it by 2, and it would be the calories I burn?

I love to see calories melt away! (And btw. I also do cardio for at least 60 minutes every time, then weights - does good for me too!) :D
 

Halla74

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I just want to thank Halla and Biaxident so much for sharing - that was helpful indeed....

Just out of curiosity because I have to admit I *am* a bit anal retentive:

When the machines say you burn X calories and you're not a huge-ass bodybuilder, rather a woman who goes to the gym 3-4 times a week, and you put in your real weight, would it be accurate to say that I could take the calories burned, divide it by 2, and it would be the calories I burn?

I love to see calories melt away! (And btw. I also do cardio for at least 60 minutes every time, then weights - does good for me too!) :D

Hey, you're very welcome, I hope my long winded advice comes in handy. :)

As faras the displays on the machines at the gym, I really cannot attest to their accuracy or lack thereof, I go by how my clothes fit and the mirror.

:)
 

Biaxident

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Unlike Halla, I don't even go by the mirror. Too many people have body image issues, and don't see the real person when they look in the mirror. I go by how my clothes fit and how good I feel after the soreness has gone.

And everyone seems to be obsessed with losing "weight". It's not weight you need to lose, it's the excess fat. And the way to lose excess fat it to do any activity hard and long enough to sweat and raise your heart rate to the proper level, and keep it there for a good 20 minutes or better. Which will in turn increase your metabolism for far longer than the exercise actually lasts.

You can do sit-ups till you're unable to walk, but you still won't lose the spare tire until your metabolism is in the fat burning zone.

And the machines at the gym most likely aren't going to be accurate. The companies want you to feel good about yourself so you'll use their equipment more. They don't really care if they are accurate. :)
 

Halla74

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And everyone seems to be obsessed with losing "weight". It's not weight you need to lose, it's the excess fat. And the way to lose excess fat it to do any activity hard and long enough to sweat and raise your heart rate to the proper level, and keep it there for a good 20 minutes or better. Which will in turn increase your metabolism for far longer than the exercise actually lasts.

You can do sit-ups till you're unable to walk, but you still won't lose the spare tire until your metabolism is in the fat burning zone.

Both are very good points that are too often overlooked!
 

Stanton Moore

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Here's what I like:

running
cycling(for at least an hour)
cross country skiing
swimming

All burn a lot of calories. Bikes are the most fun for me. It's like flying!
 

Stanton Moore

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What sort of pedals are you using for clipping in? (the 2 holed horizontal shoes for SPD/eggbeaters/, or the triangular 3-holed LOOK or the other brand similar ones i.e. the larger road cleats)

(I currently ride with SPD because I bought the shoes not knowing what kind of riding I'd end up interested in; I'm sticking with road so I will likely buy road shoes and pedals sometime this year with my ridiculous LBS discount. I love my job.)

---

BTW, cycling is great because it's one of the few outdoor activities you can measure your progress with. Buy a little cyclocomputer for $24.99 CDN (I'm sure it's cheaper in teh USA) and chart your progress.

SPD's are standard for spinning, at least I think so; I've never actually done it.

but I've used all the pedals you mentioned. If you want maximum float, get Speedplay. they are really easy to clip into too. If you go this route, get the cleat covers, as they are hard to walk in, especially on slippery floors. the cleats wear out a bit faster too. I Think the egg beaters are better for walking, but are easier to accidentaly clip out of, IMO. They are light and durable though.
Three- hole shoes and pedals (road stuff) are fine, but usually have less float, and can only be entered on one side; Beaters and Speedplay are double-sided.
 

Little Linguist

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Unlike Halla, I don't even go by the mirror. Too many people have body image issues, and don't see the real person when they look in the mirror. I go by how my clothes fit and how good I feel after the soreness has gone.

And everyone seems to be obsessed with losing "weight". It's not weight you need to lose, it's the excess fat. And the way to lose excess fat it to do any activity hard and long enough to sweat and raise your heart rate to the proper level, and keep it there for a good 20 minutes or better. Which will in turn increase your metabolism for far longer than the exercise actually lasts.

You can do sit-ups till you're unable to walk, but you still won't lose the spare tire until your metabolism is in the fat burning zone.

And the machines at the gym most likely aren't going to be accurate. The companies want you to feel good about yourself so you'll use their equipment more. They don't really care if they are accurate. :)

Question: Will you burn fat in the cardio zone or only in the fat burning zone, which I hear is less...and what would that zone be for a woman who is going to turn 29 on April 1?
 

Stanton Moore

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Question: Will you burn fat in the cardio zone or only in the fat burning zone, which I hear is less...and what would that zone be for a woman who is going to turn 29 on April 1?

You burn fat and carbohydrates at all times. It is the ratio of C&F that changes with intensity. With low intensity, the ratio is tilted to the F side. Higher intensity tips the ratio to the C side, but here is the thing to keep in mind: you are still burning fat at higer intensity, just a lower percentage of the total. You may actually burn as much fat by going harder, but you will burn more Carbos too, which means you are burning more calories overall. So the logic that says that burning fat is best accomplished at a low intensity, is a little misleading.

this article explains it well:

Consumer Health Digest :: The Skinny On Fat Burning
 

Halla74

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You burn fat and carbohydrates at all times. It is the ratio of C&F that changes with intensity. With low intensity, the ratio is tilted to the F side. Higher intensity tips the ratio to the C side, but here is the thing to keep in mind: you are still burning fat at higer intensity, just a lower percentage of the total. You may actually burn as much fat by going harder, but you will burn more Carbos too, which means you are burning more calories overall. So the logic that says that burning fat is best accomplished at a low intensity, is a little misleading.

this article explains it well:

Consumer Health Digest :: The Skinny On Fat Burning

If desiring to burn fat a low intensity it is necessary to assume long duration of activity. The analogy I can think of is this, muscular strength, lifting 1,000 pounds on a bench press, is the same as 10 reps of 100, or 4 reps of 225, right?
 

Biaxident

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Or in simplified terms. Short bursts of activity burn more carbohydrates. Longer term activities like hiking, burn more fat. Carbs are a finite source of energy, once your body runs out, it starts burning fat as the primary energy source.

Which is why most "fat burning" activities are of a longer duration than muscle building activities.

But, the more muscle you have the more calories per day you burn, which means any activity you do will use more energy, and even sitting on your duff will use more energy.

Question: Will you burn fat in the cardio zone or only in the fat burning zone, which I hear is less...and what would that zone be for a woman who is going to turn 29 on April 1?

Your body is always using some fat for various things.

The thing you have to remember is those numbers are a guess, based on what some researcher thinks is normal.

And if you do anything that raises your heart rate, you burn more fat. Don't worry about the exact zone so much. Worry about enjoying what you do.

If I remember correctly the formula is 220-[your age] = your "maximum safe heart rate" and 50-75% of that is your "fat burning" zone.
 
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