excercise

[babalicious]

my husband and i are quite unfit and slightly overweight, we have just bought an excercise bike and a motorised tredmill, just wondered if anyone could suggest how long and how oftern we should go on them as we dont want to do too much or too little??

[PhilBy]

Put the treadmill in front of the fridge :-)

[PhilBy]

That posted itself before I was finished!

I was going on to say start off very easy, most folk get these exercise machines and go at it like a bull in a china shop, unfortunately all that results in is all the pain with no gain!

[Ward-Minter]

It depend how unfit you are initailly. Don't go hammer and tongs straight away. Find a comfortable level which makes you a little oit of breath (NOT PANTING) but still manageable.

Alas..........if weight loss is your main Goal as opposed to fitness (they are separate!) monitor your heart rate. It is the best thing you can do. You will NOT LOSE WEIGHT unless your heart is in the FAT BURNING ZONE.(A.K.A "aerobic") So many folk look at "calories burnt" etc on the little computers. Trust me waste of time!

If your heart rate is too low, you will be simply giving yourself a circulatory workout. If it is too high you will be whats called "anaerobic" This is almost maximum heart rate (the next stage is death!) and is reserved for supreme sportsmen. Aanaerobic will burn more stuff than fat (i.e muscle and other proteinious matter) Not good for you.

Put "hat burning zone and heartrate in Google and learn the maths. It's the way forward.

[Gevs1966]

Ward Minter your definitions of aerobic and anaerobic are incorrect, they have little to do with the actual heart rate in terms of fat burning.

Aerobic exercise is exercise "with oxygen" and anaerobic is exercise "without oxygen". Walking is a good aerobic exercise and is efficient at burning fat if undertaken regularly for sustained periods in conjunction with a good balanced diet.

Jogging, cycling and swimming are all good aerobic exercises which are more commonly known as cardio vascular exercises.

Anaerobic exercise is the explosive type exercises that involve the holding of your breath and last no more than a few seconds or so. Things like the 100M Sprint or heavy weightlifting Amatuer athletes / general public exercising will rarely take parts in these sorts of activities.

[Gevs1966]

to answer the question posed by babilicious. If you are concerned about doing too much. Why not put the equipment in front of the tv and use it whilst watching your favourite programme. You could start with the treadmill and hubby on the bike. You will be concentrating on the tv, taking your mind of the exercise and will make the activity more bearable, especially if you are not used to it.

The next night you could swap over, so you go on the bike with hubby on the treadmill.

Take the exercise at a steady pace to start with. It is easier to cycle for half an hour than it is to jog so don't be disheartened if you don't manage to last too long, generally as long as you work up a sweat and are out of breath you will be doing good. Your body is the best indicator of when to stop, trust it.

[malaise]

The very first time I joined the gym, and was super unfit, I was advised by my personal trainer to do 20 minutes of aerobic exercise per session, and advised to come to the gym about 3 or 4 times a week. I found this really difficult at first, even though it doesn't sound like much! I would do a 5 minute warm-up on one machine, and then run for my little life (Or at least at a pace I could keep up for 20 mins!) on another. I soon found 20 minutes easy, and would do 15 mins on one machine, half an hour on another, half an hour of weights, and an hour-long swim. Seriously, you'll be amazed at how quickly you get fit if you stick at it! Good luck to you and your husband :) xxx

[malaise]

p.s Ward-Minter is correct about heart rate. If you go to a gym, they have metal plates on the machines which detect your heart rate and tell you if that's the optimum rate for your height / weight. Cool, huh?

Anaerobic exercise I think is defined as any exercise which makes your heart rate faster than your body can absorb the oxygen it breathes in, rather than running while holding your breath. SpinFit is anaerobic, for example. The same chart on the machine (in a gym, at least, though I'm sure you can find it on the net too) will tell you what heart rate for your weight / height is anaerobic, and should be avoided as it's not the optimum rate for weight-loss / getting healthy!

[Ward-Minter]

PPS Ignore gevs (too complicated to explain) work to your AEROBIC heart rate (60-70%) of maximum. Simple. and the weight will fall off (Unless you start eating extra)

But most of all enjoy it. After a while, you will feel like exercise is a drug.