351 replies to this topic

[CelineAndRene]

samart, on Jan 24 2011, 01:44 PM, said:

Do you think this is a good way of exercising? I always skip those Sculpt & Tone sections on workout DVDs simply because it seems more logical to me to divide cardio and strengh training. If I want to work my muscles I focus on them and I hit them hard, that's the purpose of it - building muscle. Cardio, on the other hand, is all about helping to create the calorie deficit (as far as the body image and weight loss are concerned)...It appears to me that combining them like that is like trying to kill 2 birds with 1 stone which never ends well...

Yes it is. Only because for example, the class above (Group Power) is for basically toning. It's the perfect exercise class. It's not meant for people who want to build muscle in a short period of time (although you sure could by adding extra weight). Most of the people who came to my class when I taught Power was typically men and women in their 40s-60s. (It seems to me that was the majority of the people in the class, but there were also young teens new to "lifting" and was just beginning and also people around 30.)

To answer your question: it's a great way to exercise, yes! And a perfect way to find motivation through others' attitude for some who need a little motivation to get fit!    

[samart]

CelineAndRene, on Jan 25 2011, 01:47 AM, said:

Yes it is. Only because for example, the class above (Group Power) is for basically toning. It's the perfect exercise class. It's not meant for people who want to build muscle in a short period of time (although you sure could by adding extra weight). Most of the people who came to my class when I taught Power was typically men and women in their 40s-60s. (It seems to me that was the majority of the people in the class, but there were also young teens new to "lifting" and was just beginning and also people around 30.)

To answer your question: it's a great way to exercise, yes! And a perfect way to find motivation through others' attitude for some who need a little motivation to get fit!    

Thanks, got it. I'll probably stick with the old way of weight lifting/cardio though in order to hurt my muscles as much as possible.    People in their 60s do that kind of thing??? I think it's a bit intense for them...I'd probably be just walking if I were 60.  

[CelineAndRene]

samart, on Jan 26 2011, 12:32 AM, said:

Thanks, got it. I'll probably stick with the old way of weight lifting/cardio though in order to hurt my muscles as much as possible.    People in their 60s do that kind of thing??? I think it's a bit intense for them...I'd probably be just walking if I were 60.  

It's funny because some of the 60 year old people are more active than me! Most of them have clearly worked out and exercised all their lives that's why they can physically do everything in my Power class. Just kind of goes to show if you exercise all your life it helps you later in life physically.

[reamary]

Hey cool to see this kind of topic to be "revived"!! Cause I'm crazy about working out!! I'm pretty much as hooked up as one can be. I normally work out 5-6 days a week, my favourite things are BodyStep, running and spinning (or indoor cycling, however you call it). At the moment step is my number one thing I guess, cause I go there 2 to 3 times a week.. Then I also go to BodyPump and to zumba too. Plus walking. Next summer I will run my first half marathon (in July), so soon I should change my weekly training schedule a bit.. Probably will have to drop out a few step classes... to concentrate on running more.
I think that there are just not enough days in a week to exercise all you want to!!
I feel sports really give you so much! I mean, you have more energy, you're happier, your digestation and everything works better, plus the social side it has etc. It's so great!  

[fallen]

man this topic makes me feel so lazy... i walk on the treadmill for 60 minutes and do sit ups if i'm not in a mood of lazyness...... this topic makes me depressed

[samart]

Can we discuss eating and nutrition here as well? I just finished reading "Why we get fat and what to do about it" and it's quite controversial. For example, Gary Taubes, the author of the book, suggests that exercise plays no role in weight loss, and sometimes might even contribute to weight gain. There are lots of books on nutrition that I've read that I'd like to discuss with you if you are interested in or/and aware of the topic.

[RLAAMJR.]

Haven't been exercising lately (looks at the tummy)  

[reamary]

samart, on Feb 8 2011, 10:36 PM, said:

Can we discuss eating and nutrition here as well? I just finished reading "Why we get fat and what to do about it" and it's quite controversial. For example, Gary Taubes, the author of the book, suggests that exercise plays no role in weight loss, and sometimes might even contribute to weight gain. There are lots of books on nutrition that I've read that I'd like to discuss with you if you are interested in or/and aware of the topic.

Yeah, let's! I'm really interested in nutrition as well. I think the suggestions about what to eat and how to eat "right" are indeed quite controversial. But in my opinion, the most important thing is the SIZE OF PORTIONS that you eat and the AMOUNT of food. I think you can eat pretty much anything, if you keep the portions reasonable. I too think that food and eating play the most important role in weight loss, but exercise can of course back up, and makes it easier to control the weight! But if you only increase a little the amount of exercising, and don't do any changes in your eating habits, it's really hard to lose weight...

I don't believe in any "wonder diets", like no eating any carbs, or not eating after 6 PM, and so on, whatever diets there are, because, to control your weight that way, you should be able to pursue that "diet" basically the rest of your life.. and I don't know how anyone can do that.

I personally have found the right way to eat, I mean the way that works with me at least. And I believe it would work with most people. That is at first, to eat regularly, small portions several times a day. I eat 5 times a day, that way I never get those huge "gravings" for anything and don't ever end up like emptying the fridge cause I haven't eaten anything at the day. Then, eating breakfast is super important! Again, it keeps you from getting that starved feeling at the day and of course it gets you going so much better and gives energy to the morning. At least I can't function at all without breakfast.
Then of course, to eat a lot of vegetables (and fruits). I think it's just a matter of extreme lazyness if you claim it takes too much effort to prepare a salad next to your main dish.. I mean seriously, it takes what, 5 minutes? One of my friends once said to me that she normally doesn't eat salad, cause after she has put the main dish on the plate, there's no more room for the salad.....   I was just thinking like, well, LEAVE some space for the salad!! Or if you don't want to leave space for it, take another small plate for the salad! But of course, better would be to cut a little off the main dish.
And then, don't eat chips and crisps and doughnuts and chocolate bars every day, save them for special occasions, and there you go!

These are just my opinions of course, but they do work.

[CelineAndRene]

samart, on Feb 8 2011, 02:36 PM, said:

Can we discuss eating and nutrition here as well? I just finished reading "Why we get fat and what to do about it" and it's quite controversial. For example, Gary Taubes, the author of the book, suggests that exercise plays no role in weight loss, and sometimes might even contribute to weight gain. There are lots of books on nutrition that I've read that I'd like to discuss with you if you are interested in or/and aware of the topic.

That's a great idea!!!

(Nutrition is a very funny thing! Some things you may think are healthy for you may just be the worst!)

I would love to hear what some forumers eat to stay in shape, to give me some new ideas to try!

PS. I'm not very picky with my food, open to anything

[samart]

reamary,
That's the thing - common sence eating like you described works for some people and doesn't for others. And the question I want answered is why. Why do I have to watch very closely what I eat and my brother doesn't? He snacks with lots of NUTS AND RAISINDS for goodness sake, and still can't get any fatter. That led me to exploring different approaches to eating, wich, unfortunately led to more confusion. 2 books that I really liked are the aforementioned "Why we get fat and what to do about it" and "The china study". They both seem to have similar style - lots of history and research, yet they come to two completely different conclusions. The first one suggests that the Atkins diet (mainly animal-based products) is the way to lose weight, since carbs lead to insulin peaks, which in turn "forces" the fat cells to store more fat. The second one implies that plants are the way to go, the main argument being that a lot of animal-based products may cause cancer, as was shown in a lot of experiments with rats.

Neither of them explored the psychological aspect of it. Why do some people have cravings and others don't? If it's just a habbit, then how come I can't just put a reminder phrase on the kitchen table saying "eat carrot, not chocolate" and be done with it?

My logical conclusion is to get rid of all simple carbs, yet I'm still searching for a way to do that...

[XxRichelleXx]

I work out about 6 times a week. I mainly participate in classes. I love Step (Im training to become a Step Instructor) I take a kick class, Centergy (which is a mixture of yoga and Pilates) and I take a spin class. I really enjoy working out. Its a great stress reliever and I feel so great afterwards  

[CelineAndRene]

XxRichelleXx, on Feb 16 2011, 09:44 PM, said:

I work out about 6 times a week. I mainly participate in classes. I love Step (Im training to become a Step Instructor) I take a kick class, Centergy (which is a mixture of yoga and Pilates) and I take a spin class. I really enjoy working out. Its a great stress reliever and I feel so great afterwards  

NICE TO MEET A FELLOW INSTRUCTOR (In-training)!!!

[reamary]

CelineAndRene, on Feb 13 2011, 02:53 AM, said:

That's a great idea!!!

(Nutrition is a very funny thing! Some things you may think are healthy for you may just be the worst!)

I would love to hear what some forumers eat to stay in shape, to give me some new ideas to try!

PS. I'm not very picky with my food, open to anything

Well I kinda already "suggested" this, but I eat quite a lot of vegetables and fruits, for example. At least green salad, tomatoes, bananas and apples (and raisins and nuts too) every day plus other vegetables and fruits few times a week I'd say. I mostly eat rye bread or whole grain bread (never completely white bread!), and a lot of food which is rich in dietary fibres (keeps you full for a longer time), like rye bread exactly and porridge, for example. Then I always pick the low fat options on everything, and foods which have as little added sugar in them as possible. And I try to avoid convenience/prepared foods. I don't know if you got some new ideas from this?

samart, on Feb 15 2011, 11:40 AM, said:

reamary,
That's the thing - common sence eating like you described works for some people and doesn't for others. And the question I want answered is why. Why do I have to watch very closely what I eat and my brother doesn't? He snacks with lots of NUTS AND RAISINDS for goodness sake, and still can't get any fatter. That led me to exploring different approaches to eating, wich, unfortunately led to more confusion. 2 books that I really liked are the aforementioned "Why we get fat and what to do about it" and "The china study". They both seem to have similar style - lots of history and research, yet they come to two completely different conclusions. The first one suggests that the Atkins diet (mainly animal-based products) is the way to lose weight, since carbs lead to insulin peaks, which in turn "forces" the fat cells to store more fat. The second one implies that plants are the way to go, the main argument being that a lot of animal-based products may cause cancer, as was shown in a lot of experiments with rats.

Neither of them explored the psychological aspect of it. Why do some people have cravings and others don't? If it's just a habbit, then how come I can't just put a reminder phrase on the kitchen table saying "eat carrot, not chocolate" and be done with it?

My logical conclusion is to get rid of all simple carbs, yet I'm still searching for a way to do that...

Well yeah, I don't know why is it that some people have to watch it very closely what they eat and some can eat almost anything without getting extra weight.. I don't know why. But even if that's the case, I still believe that the key thing in weight control is the amount of food and size of portions. I mean, as long as you don't eat more than you consume, you won't get fat! That's really the thing! I mean, maybe some people just consume more and more easily than others, and so it's easier for them to stay in shape, but nevertheless, if you consume all the amount you eat, you don't get extra weight.

I also don't believe in not eating carbs.. I don't have any personal experience of it and I haven't even read very much about it to have any reliable scientifical proofs to back up my opinion, but I know carbs are the main source of energy for people and especially if you exercise a lot, you NEED carbs. The quality of the carbs is relevant of course, I mean, sugar is an "unnecessary" carb I would say and that you don't really need.

And about those gravings, I don't know about the psychological aspect of it either. But I think that at least part of it is a habit.. and it has to do with the power of mind too, you can choose to either give up to the graving, or resist it! And resisting it is easier, if you eat regularly and enough, especially during the day. At some point you don't even have to resist the graving so much anymore, as you will get rid of it, when you see how good the right eating habits will make you feel! At least that's what happened with me.

[samart]

reamary, on Feb 26 2011, 08:10 AM, said:

And about those gravings, I don't know about the psychological aspect of it either. But I think that at least part of it is a habit.. and it has to do with the power of mind too, you can choose to either give up to the graving, or resist it! And resisting it is easier, if you eat regularly and enough, especially during the day. At some point you don't even have to resist the graving so much anymore, as you will get rid of it, when you see how good the right eating habits will make you feel! At least that's what happened with me.

Actually that was proven wrong by the scientific society. It has nothing to do with will power, despite general knowledge. Apparently some products, like simple carbs, engage a part of the brain that activates "reward systems", which are also activated during sex, pleasurable activities and...drumroll...exercise. The release of endorphins is really high, so you are bound to do it again and again. There was an experiment with a rat (poor animals). They put a tiny wire to that part of its brain and placed a button in front of it, so that when the rat pressed it, the brain was stimulated by the electricity to release endorphins. Eventually, the rat kept pressing the button so often that it killed itself... So, the obvious conclusion made by a lot of psychologists is that if you don't enjoy your life enough as it is (hence the endorphins are rarely released, hence the serotonin levels are low), you will engage in those kinds of compulsive activities. But, once again, that's only one side of it.

As far as carbs are concerned, I agree, you definitely need them, but you don't need sugar. Easier said than done though  

[Bell]

I do a little exercise sometimes but I actually hate it.

[volleyceline]

I work out everyday, for around 2 to 3 hours in the gym, both volleyball and in the weight room! Now that it's spring break, it's gonna be tough to keep exercising. My team and I are going to join this intense gym tho, called Human Performance Center, designed to help us train to jump higher and sprint faster.
It's around $60 a month, and once a week, but during summer we might boost that up to 3x a week. Summer time, ironically is when we work out the most, from open gyms to the weight room. During the summer there's also a camp, for 4 days a week 8 hours a day. I've never been but they tell me it's non stop intense :x uhoh!
BUT regardless of all these exercises, I don't eat very well :/ I'm guilty of eating junk food! But I do cut out sodas on game days.

So I'd say I would like to cut out junk food more, but being a teenage girl that's very hard to do!

[RLAAMJR.]

Somehow, this thread reminds me of exercising again. I am thankful to the creator of this thread.

[CelineAndRene]

Quote

Well yeah, I don't know why is it that some people have to watch it very closely what they eat and some can eat almost anything without getting extra weight.. I don't know why

Genetics.

[CelineAndRene]

Quote

As far as carbs are concerned, I agree, you definitely need them, but you don't need sugar. Easier said than done though

Agreed. Especially when trying to gain muscle, or keep the fat off. >

Again, I'm not very picky so if somebody has yummy recipes to share I'm all ears! Deli meats are getting too expensive and a bit old...

[Anniina]

Gym stick and pilates tomorrow!

[RLAAMJR.]

if you really want a flat tummy, just eat a little everyday like one bread around 7am and another bread around 6pm

[volleyceline]

^ Easier said than done.

Went to the doctors today about my ankle, sprained. He told me to stay off of it for 2 weeks, explaining that my muscle has been stretched away from the bone (similar to shin splints, but on my ankle). So at first I didn't wanna follow the dr.'s regimen telling me to rest my ankle, but I realized I'd rather miss two weeks, than a month.

Anyway, I'm not sure how to keep in shape, not being able to use my ankle? Sure crunches, but I need to work on my legs. You'd be surprised how much out of shape someone can get in 2 weeks!

I'm really bummed out because of that news, so instead of working out every day, now I'll have to focus on my diet  

[Anniina]

Going to try aero-pilates tomorrow.. It's a mix of aerobic&pilates, I think I'm gonna like it

[volleyceline]

SEEKING ADVICE!

Ok, so I went to the doctor about my ankle (it's been bothering me for more than a month now). He advised me to stay off of my ankle for 2 weeks, he says the muscle has partially stretched apart from my bone, similar to shin splits.

Next week, (even though it's off season) for volleyball we have 2 games on Thursday for a league.  If I don't practice all week, I won't play on Thursday, and I'm working at Varsity here. So should I just ignore my doctor, and shake it off? Or stay off it the whole week?

Thanks in Advance

[RLAAMJR.]

i haven't exercised lately but i only eat twice a day though

[CelineAndRene]

volleyceline, on Mar 20 2011, 04:13 PM, said:

SEEKING ADVICE!

Ok, so I went to the doctor about my ankle (it's been bothering me for more than a month now). He advised me to stay off of my ankle for 2 weeks, he says the muscle has partially stretched apart from my bone, similar to shin splits.

Next week, (even though it's off season) for volleyball we have 2 games on Thursday for a league.  If I don't practice all week, I won't play on Thursday, and I'm working at Varsity here. So should I just ignore my doctor, and shake it off? Or stay off it the whole week?

Thanks in Advance

Hi love,

First of all, I broke my ankle 8 months ago, and it's still not fully recovered. I URGE you not to mess up your ankle any further. If you were meant to play, then he would have told you to play. Believe me, it's not worth messing up the part of your body (ankle) that takes the LONGEST to heal! (Something to think about...)

[CelineAndRene]

Anniina, on Mar 20 2011, 03:19 PM, said:

Going to try aero-pilates tomorrow.. It's a mix of aerobic&pilates, I think I'm gonna like it

How did it go!? That sounds like uber FUN

[samart]

CelineAndRene, on Mar 21 2011, 12:38 AM, said:

Hi love,

First of all, I broke my ankle 8 months ago, and it's still not fully recovered. I URGE you not to mess up your ankle any further. If you were meant to play, then he would have told you to play. Believe me, it's not worth messing up the part of your body (ankle) that takes the LONGEST to heal! (Something to think about...)

+100
I broke my ankle 7 months ago, started exercising about 2 months after that, even though there was some serious discomfort. Now I regret it because it's still in the process of recovery and bothers me sometimes.

[Anniina]

CelineAndRene, on Mar 21 2011, 09:39 AM, said:

How did it go!? That sounds like uber FUN

It really was fun and TOUGH! Just the way I like it   but I'm not very into aerobics, the moves are so easy and I get bored so fast when we just repeat the moves all over againnnnn. But I'm really loving pilates!!! I love that it's so calm, but yet so tough at the same time. Everytime after the class my head hurts so bad because the amount of breathing

[Anniina]

volleyceline, on Mar 21 2011, 01:13 AM, said:

SEEKING ADVICE!

Ok, so I went to the doctor about my ankle (it's been bothering me for more than a month now). He advised me to stay off of my ankle for 2 weeks, he says the muscle has partially stretched apart from my bone, similar to shin splits.

Next week, (even though it's off season) for volleyball we have 2 games on Thursday for a league.  If I don't practice all week, I won't play on Thursday, and I'm working at Varsity here. So should I just ignore my doctor, and shake it off? Or stay off it the whole week?

Thanks in Advance

Dear, really believe the doctor! Last year, I was in my last dancing rehearsals before the championships, I landed down from a jump in a wrong position and I broke my foot. It was 3 weeks to the competitions and I decided to dance even if the doctor said that I had to recover at least 4 weeks. So, after 3 weeks I started to walk without the shoe I had to wear. And I shouldn't have done it - the foot wasn't fully recovered. I still get sometimes this really nasty pain in the place where it broke. So I really know how you feel wanting to play even if the doctor doesn't allow you to, but still you really should believe him!