Posted: 4/12/2010 8:40:13 AM EDT
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I began my fitness journey last August. I weighed 274 @ about 5'10". Today I am 208 and feel like I am in much better shape. I am 40 years old. I go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week and do cardio (run,walk,crosstrainer) 5 or 6 times a week. I am now to the point I lose a pound then gain a pound back and forth. I really want to be 200lbs. Then I would be ok with bouncing between 200 and 205 or so. I am eating pretty good taking in about 2000 cal per day sometimes a little more. I also would like to improve my cardio endurance. I run a mile and a half in about 18 minutes. My legs get weak and my wind just gives out. What is the best way to improve this?
Thanks, James |
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Lower calorie intake. Slow down on your run and try to make your run last 30 min. To elaborate on this a little. Going for better timing and speed will come with training for now to get your cardio up go for length of time, not distance get out there and run at a pace that is comfortable that you can maintain for like 30 minutes then increase as that 30 minutes gets easier. You will see that as you do this you will increase your cardio and slowly bring down that mile time if thats what you are really worried about. But start for length of time not distance. |
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Quoted: Lower calorie intake. Slow down on your run and try to make your run last 30 min. Lower than 2000 calories at 200+ pounds? Running slow will make you good at running slow. If you want to be fast, you have to run fast, even if it's for a shorter distance...who's in better shape, the guy who pushes himself to run 1.5 miles in 9-11 minutes, or the guy who takes 30 minutes to run 2-3 miles (for example). I'd put money down that the first guy would also be able to run for 30 minutes, and he's going to make it a hell of a lot farther too. My advice would be to ramp up the intensity. I would also hit the weights, do the big lifts- squats, deadlifts, bench at the very least. Strong legs make running easier as well. |
| True speeding up the tempo or intensity, would improve time but you also have to figure in that they are just getting back into shape and need a little more base before ramping things up in my opinion. Also, going to deads this early maybe not a great idea this early in the game. |
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Quoted: True speeding up the tempo or intensity, would improve time but you also have to figure in that they are just getting back into shape and need a little more base before ramping things up in my opinion. Also, going to deads this early maybe not a great idea this early in the game. Meh, I don't know. He's been running since August, I think upping the intensity would be good. Same with deadlifts...you have to start sometime, might as well be now, even if it's not a huge amount of weight strengthening those muscles used in squats and deads is important. |
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True speeding up the tempo or intensity, would improve time but you also have to figure in that they are just getting back into shape and need a little more base before ramping things up in my opinion. Also, going to deads this early maybe not a great idea this early in the game. Meh, I don't know. He's been running since August, I think upping the intensity would be good. Same with deadlifts...you have to start sometime, might as well be now, even if it's not a huge amount of weight strengthening those muscles used in squats and deads is important. Weight training is always good. Never to soon to start. To loose weight getting your target heart rate up and maintaining for 20-30 min is best, and dropping calories always helps. If he is trying to get a faster 1.5 mi time you are correct. But cutting weight is different. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
True speeding up the tempo or intensity, would improve time but you also have to figure in that they are just getting back into shape and need a little more base before ramping things up in my opinion. Also, going to deads this early maybe not a great idea this early in the game. Meh, I don't know. He's been running since August, I think upping the intensity would be good. Same with deadlifts...you have to start sometime, might as well be now, even if it's not a huge amount of weight strengthening those muscles used in squats and deads is important. Issue is we dont know how much running he is doing, he says he is walking, and running and some crosstraining. So going for length of time before he jumps in intensity is probably still his best bet. Either way it sounds like he has platued so any change at this point is going to help his gains. |
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My week generally goes something like this, I work for the fire department on a 24on 48 off shift.
Monday - off work - Gym Day - 20 minutes on a Cardio program on the cross trainer - Upper Body weight such as Assisted Pullups and Dips 15 to 25 reps on each ( working on lowering the counter or helper weight to 0) - Lateral Pulldowns about 95lbs per arm 5X5 - Butterfly Machine125 or 130 lbs 5x5 - 20 minutes on treadmill walking 3.5 mph @ 27% for 5 min the 24%for 5 then 21% for 5 then 18% for 5 making 20 minutes. Tuesday - Work FD - 1 1/2 walk / Run - Where I do this is a rectangle parking lot. I run the long sides and walk the short side. My best time is 17:49 worst time was 19:50. When I first began I did not run just walked and then I walked faster then I got to where I run the short sides and walk the long and now I am running the long and walking the short. Wednesday - off work - Gym Day - Pretty much same cardio on crosstrainer and treadmill but I change to lower body workout such as Leg extensions 5x5 - Leg Curls 5x5 - Leg presses 5x5 Thursday - Repeat of Monday Friday - Work FD - Repeat of Tuesday Saturday - Would either be a repeat of Wednesday but on nice days espically in the summertime I might not work out in lieu of working outside cutting grass etc. But this is not an excuse. If I don't have things to do I go to the gym. Sunday - Rest Day This is just an example of how a week generally goes for me.Maybe this helps. Thanks for all the suggestions and am very open for more as you get more info from me. Thanks again |