Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with workout and cardio

How to improve my workouts while visiting family?

mizrachi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:54:21 -0800

What's the best way to take my workout routine to the next level while spending ten days with my family? As it is, I do cardio six days a week and perform a very basic weightlifting routine every other day. I've seen gains and I'm getting stronger and more muscular but I know there's more I could do.

Since the chances of eating poorly and working out less while visiting family on Long Island are great, I've decided this visit would be a good time to push myself more than ever.

I'm considering: crossfit, a personal trainer, a revised, more difficult workout routine, an increase in my weights and time on the elliptical, etc.

What would you recommend?

FUNNY HEALTH TITLE

Team of Scientists — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:16:05 -0800

I'd like to lose the bit of fat that has been with me for as long as I can remember. What should I include in my diet/workout regimen? Some background: I am male, 6'0", 25 years old, and I weigh about 180 lbs. I am in decent shape right now, and I feel pretty good about myself, but I think I'm ready to experiment with a highly disciplined lifestyle to see what kind of results I can get.

I have a bit of belly fat that seems as if it won't ever go away. My goal is to drop my body fat percentage to a point at which this pudge finally disappears.

For the first 6 months of this year, I had been eating relatively healthy and lifting weights regularly with no cardio. In June, I dropped the weights and began swimming 5 days a week for 50-60 minutes each session.

I really enjoy the swimming, and I'd like to continue it, but I'm not sure if I should be supplementing my cardio workout with some more strength training. I was thinking of simply adding about 20 minutes of calisthenics to the beginning of each swim workout (think pushups, pullups, dips, etc.) to maintain some muscle mass. Does this sound like it would be more effective than simply swimming every weekday? What kind of workout regimen would/did you adhere to in order to lower your body fat?

Now to perhaps the most important part: my diet. I have recently been eating well (lean proteins, veggies, fruit for the most part), but I have no set routine. This results in me occasionally settling on some Panera or Qdoba for meals. I'd like to structure my diet so that I know what I am eating at what time each and every day. One caveat: I don't want to drive myself insane by eating the same bland crap every day. Is there any way to do this? I think I'd be satisfied with the same lunch/breakfast/snacks every day, and if I could just have a different dinner each day of the week, that would be just fine. Also, in the interest of saving some time, I'd like to stick with the three main meals of the day with snacks in between instead of, say, 7 small meals throughout the day.

How many calories should I be consuming, factoring in my workout regimen? What kind of foods should I include in my diet? High protein? High/low carbs? Any healthy and delicious entree suggestions?

I enjoy omelettes for breakfast as a cheap source of protein. I think I could go on a spinach and feta omelette or something similar every day for a while. I love asparagus, broccoli, sweet potatoes, apples, cheese, cottage cheese (these are many of the staples of my current diet). I'm sure I can work most of this into my diet, but how? Also, I currently drink a smoothie consisting of a banana, 5 strawberries, 3 spoonfuls vanilla yogurt, a scoop of whey, and some milk after every workout. Should I keep this?

Is there any other advice AskMeFi can offer that I might have overlooked? Apologies for the long post, but I know you MeFites are a generous source of health information.

I would like to start working out during my lunch hour.

heeeraldo — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:47:19 -0800

Help me plan a lunch-hour workout. There's a gym in my office building, and I've decided to use it on my lunch break, which will mean I spend less time puttering around malls downtown, I bring lunch more often, and I get in to better shape.
I'm not too worried about cardio, as I am doing the 6 weeks from couch to 5K thing.

The gym itself is decently equipped with free weights, cardio machines, a bunch of the not-free-weight machines and a couple of balance balls/yoga mats.

I'd like to figure out a routine or a number of them I can rotate through (which is better?) for four workouts a week which take up no more than 30-40 minutes altogether, as I need time to eat, change, shower, etc.

Thanks in advance, gang!

Is drinking Red Bull before a cardio workout a dumb idea?

Senor Cardgage — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:06:43 -0800

Is drinking Red Bull before a cardio workout a dumb idea? For the last year, I've been doing a pretty strenuous weightlifting regimen on my upper body mondays, wednesdays and saturdays. I would like to start doing cardio/ab work on the remaining days. Mainly I want to add cardio in as a means to get my own natural energy/stamina levels up so that I wont have to rely as much of caffeine or energy drinks throughout my day or (more importantly) when I go dancing on the weekends.

I am 34, naturally pretty energetic anyway and have very little body fat. What my hope is it that cardio will give me a marked increase in energy.

Now, here's the conundrum: when I do my lifting regimen, I usually have a sugar-free Red Bull beforehand just to get my wherewithal up. If I do this for cardio (say the running incline machine) will this be like "cheating", and will it lessen my gains? Is it a bad idea to mix Red Bull and cardio anyway?

Note: this may be a really dumb question, but humor me.

Fighting Blubber—The Gym Reassurance Questions.

wildrain2008 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:06:36 -0800

Fighting Blubber—The Gym Reassurance Questions. INFORMATION:
=================

Background: So here's the deal, during late high school and early college I hit the gym on and off for a month or so, always breaking my routine and never getting the the exact point that I wanted to reach—which was getting cut like B. Lee but with a bit more mass.
After college work left me drained so even though I had time to hit the gym after.. I rarely did.

Negative Result: The result of not hitting the gym was not so much as getting overweight (I have a relatively fast metabolism) but rather the addition of blubber... that fat over the 6 pack and the love handles and especially Gluteus Maximus.

Resolution: After a year I switched jobs (on my new job 5 months now) and I've forced myself to get back into shape—watching my diet and resurrecting my gym routine. My current weight is 190lbs, I guess that's not so bad for a guy who's 5'11. But there's definitely has room for improvement from what I've read.

The Stalling: So I've been hitting the gym 3 days a week for almost 2 months now. My routine involves 30 mins of jogging or stationary bike, followed by 45 mins to an hour of weight lifting.

Weightlifting Routine breakdown:

Bench Press: 3 sets/ min 127lbs max 157lbs
Lat Pull Down: 3 sets/ min 90lbs max 100lbs
Sitting Bicep Curl: 3 sets/ 22.5lbs
Tricep Pull Down: 3 sets/ 40lbs
Dumbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets/ 30lbs
Butterfly: 3 sets/ 110lbs
Shoulder Machine: 3 sets/ 70lbs
Glutes Leg Press: 3 sets/ 260lbs
Abb Death Circuit: 3 sets of: hard medicine Ball leg lift, large medicin ball crunches (lying on top), standing oblique lifts (45lbs each side)

Positive Results: I've noticed definition on my body in general and the showing of the 3pack lol upper abbs.

Again my goal still remains to: to get cut up but have a bit more mass than just the average kung-fu fighter lol.

QUESTIONS:
=============

I know that 2 months at the gym is a short time for me to expect major results, but I would really love to get rid of the blubber that is still covering the results that I'm trying so hard to improve (aka the muscles and the tone that is slowly appearing.. again very slowly lol).

1. How many moths do I have to wait to see substantial results aka the evaporation of this darn flab?

2. Is there anything I can do to improve the weight loss but not damage my other goal (building mass)?

3. My brother after a year of swimming completely transformed his body, would adding maybe 1 or 2 days of pool to my overall routine damage or improve the results I'm striving towards?

END NOTES:
============
I told myself this time that I'm never quiting gym again.. and it looks like I've caught the gym bug as I get antsy (like an addict) towards the end of my work.. to get back into the gym.. :)

Andy advice is always helpful.

Help me work out, in.

Ambrosia Voyeur — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:35:01 -0800

How do you make a home-based workout work for you? When I go to the gym, I pretty much only use the elliptical (an adjustable incline type so I get butt-work) and a mat for crunches or leg lifts. I think when I move out of this teeny apartment, I would like to buy my own elliptical, as it would pay for itself in a few years.

What are some strategies for guaranteeing good home workouts? How do you minimize distractions, stay comfortable (I'm used to a lot of air flow, and I workout sweaty hard) or keep the honeymoon going with in-home fitness routines?

I think one thing I'd like to do is have a small tv in the same area so I can do dance video workouts there some of the time, too.