The TFP Health Club

I'm a member of two gyms, neither of which have rowing machines... I'll figure something out, I usually do.

 

just got my media privaleges back and with them, my iPod and playlist of running music. my calves get pretty pissed at me the next day but whatever, i had a good time burning off all the energy and mentally screaming like Mr. Plant in "Whole Lotta Love"

 

Well, the recumbent bike at the gym isn't hurting me too much. Doing intervals over 20 minutes might just be the thing. My knees aren't happy with it, but they don't really like anything I do.

 

Did 30 minutes of moderate cardio this morning. The first time since Feb. 7. Was hard to keep the intensity down but my surgeon told me on Wed. to take it easy getting back into shape. Heart rate never broke 100, will start ramping up from here. Tomorrow I hit the machines. Not sure hw much to dial back, maybe 3/4 of the last weights I was at. I lost 7 pounds in the past 6 weeks, I'm hoping to keep that off and lose a few more. Was afraid I'd gain weight after surgery so I'm pretty happy how this all turned out.

 

Do you have a heart rate monitor? It would probably be best to wear that when weight lifting as well as while you're doing cardio. Your heart rate can increase pretty quickly while doing resistance exercise.
--- merged: Mar 10, 2012 at 6:03 PM ---
In my own update.. I'm competing in the CrossFit Games Open. The workouts so far have been:

12.1: AMRAP (as many rounds/reps as possible) of burpees, 7 minutes. I did 64, I was hoping for 80-90. My blood sugar was super fucked up.

12.2: AMRAP in 10 minutes of 30 snatches (75# for men, 45# for women), 30 snatches (135/75), 30 snatches (165/100), 30 snatches (210/120). I did 40 snatches - PR'd at 75# overhead!

12.3: AMRAP in 18 minutes of 15 box jumps (24" for men, 20" for women), 12 push press (115# for men, 75# for women), 9 toes-to-bar. I completed 2 rounds and a third round of the box jumps AND the push presses. 36 push presses at 75# just about killed me, since that's my overhead PR - had to break it up into sets of 2 or 3 to get through. Honestly, the box jumps and toes-to-bar are easy for me, so they took me about a minute each round.. which means I spent about 15 minutes doing 36 push presses. That's how much they sucked.

I'm really curious about what next week's workout will be!

 

I miss riding a bike, but with the traffic around here I'd never live through it.

 

How comes all my joints ache with yoga? Will it get easier.

 

Ran today for the first time in about six months. Trying to get back into it. Using the "couch to 5k" podcast.

On the scale of couch to 5k, I think I'm still at couch. Gonna be sore tomorrow.

 

walked along the boardwalk today with my SO - 45 mins at about 3 to 3.5 mph. Supposed to be a nice way to burn 200 cals. I like to run, and will get up early to run a quick 25 min 6KM before breakfast. Sometimes at lunch, I have a 5 KM route that I use because I only have about 45 mins to change, run, shower and get back to work.

I just found out at this late date in my life - from the personal trainer at work - that I shouldn't be pushing so hard if I want to lose weight. That I should be keeping my heart rate at in the aerobic zone which is optimally at 220 minus my age times 85 percent for the max rate so that I burn the fat on my body, rather than the carbohydrates that I just consumed. This is because in the aerobic zone described above, the body uses fat for energy, but once you start going higher than the 85 % heart rate, the body starts to burn carbs instead.

Interesting.... True?

 

Maybe, if you have carbs available. Carbs just don't float around in your body waiting to be burned. If you don't use them, they generally get transmogrified into fat cells. ( heh, transmogrified ). So, if you haven't eaten recently the body has no free carbs, and will have to burn fat. Something, something insulin, something something chemistry.

I've read a lot recently about how the above advice of fat-burning lowish intensity cardio is pretty useless as a fat burner, and terrible for conditioning the heart. I'll have to look for links, if I can find them.

Here's on article that's somewhat sourced: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/livestrongcom/debunking-cardio-myths-fo_b_661072.html
A lot of emphasis is placed on HIIT these days. I am using intervals to improve my cardio. Plus I can get it done quicker, and with less banging on my old knees and feet.

 

Swam 600m last night and then rode 15km this morning and ran 4km right after that. Just getting ready to go out for another swim. Going to try for 700m tonight.

 

cool thanks for the input & link. ended up doing 45 mins of free weights in the morning yesterday and then 30 mins of jogging on the treadmill after dinner.

 

Re: fat burning.

The body is always using a mixture of energy sources. Primarily, through the day, you are burning fat - followed by blood glucose, liver glucose, and some of the "instant energy" sources in your cells (ATP, creatine phosphate).

When you exercise at a low intensity, the fat burning gets ramped up. You are still using other energy sources (blood glucose, etc.), but fat is the energy substrate that is easiest to ramp up at low-intensity exercise.

At higher intensities, you are STILL burning all of that fat, however you are *also* burning muscle glycogen to support the intensity. If you run out of glycogen (your stores have already been depleted by previous exercise, or you eat an extremely low-carb diet), you start burning muscle instead.

Those are the basics. Basically, at high intensity you are still burning fat, and plenty of it, and you are also burning muscle glycogen. If you run out of glycogen, you run the risk of burning off muscle, which is why many people recommend staying at a lower intensity to lose weight - retaining muscle is the best way to lose weight. Depleting muscle glycogen also can increase your hunger response, though, which can thwart staying on a calorie deficit.

Hopefully that explanation helps!

 

Wikipedia article on HIIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

It may be better for overall body composition, than steady state cardio. There are references if you want to follow them. You don't do highly intense exercise long enough to burn off all of your glycogen stores, for one. You would gas out too soon, anyway. I almost reached burnout last night. I started with intervals on the bike for 20 minutes, then lifted weights for about an hour. I was dragging ass when I left the gym. Too much. I'm going to have to cut back on the time lifting, and probably put the intervals at the end of the workout.

 

I've always thought that weights should be done before cardio.

 

It takes me a while to warm up, so I usually do cardio first, but upping the intensity of my cardio is kicking my butt, so conventional wisdom may be right.

 

When you eat something high-carb, do you really think all of that glucose ends up in your bloodstream? The body doesn't USE all of the glucose as you ingest it - high blood glucose stimulates insulin, which causes those carbs to be stored as fat if glycogen stores are already adequate. When blood glucose gets low, the body breaks down fat for use in energy systems and breaks down liver glycogen to keep glucose levels stable in the blood. Blood glucose is the BRAIN's preferable source of fuel, but even its energy systems adapt to low-carb diets within a couple weeks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_oxidation

I suggest you do some reading. I just took an exercise physiology course and can quote you pages and pages of information and study references to show you that what you have stated is not, in fact, the way the body uses energy in general.