I want to be moving for many hours a day.

January 31, 2010 5:47 PM

If you had 4-6 hours a day to work out, what would be a good routine?

This is obviously unrealistic for most people, but I'll be in a situation until this summer that is socially and geographically isolated enough that it's possible. I spent last summer hiking about 15-20 miles a day (with a pack) and I miss the feeling of intense fitness. I also have fond memories of twice-a-day workouts from when i played sports (tennis and rugby). My alternative to activity has been sedentary tv-watching and web surfing, causing rapid weight gain. I do have a job now so I have to stay in one place and not exhaust myself completely, but it's part time and very low stress. What I want to focus on is weight loss, but also strength, flexibility, balance, and rhthym.

For the past month I've been being active 2-3 hours throughout each day. I want to ramp it up a bit as my work hours decrease. What I'm thinking is:
Power yoga, an hour 6x/week
Kickboxing or similar, an hour 5x/week
Weight training, 3 day split then rest day
Dance (ballet or hip hop), an hour 5x/week
Outdoors cardio (jogging, sprints) up to an hour 5x/week
I feel as though the rest of the time should be filled with lower-impact cardio, such as walking, treadmill, recumbent bike (hate) or elliptical.
My questions:
-what other activities should I consider? I don't have a pool or a bicycle. I could get a bicycle, but it's a bit too expensive.
-what form of low impact cardio should I do, and for how long? I've experimented with walking with a weighted backpack, and I could try to find some hills. I don't want to get to the point where I have to eat significantly more carbs to complete the activity, as I did last summer...or do I?
Thanks! Ps: I'm a tallish young female, quite strong, an experienced lifter, about 190 pounds.

posted by acidic to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

If you're into weight training, check out www.stumptuous.com. Krista has a great site full of well-researched information on lifting heavy things for your health. Here are some workout ideas. I've been getting into the routine she came up with for a long-distance runner (just search for "routine 2: runner" on the page), as I myself run a lot.

I also mostly follow Hal Higdon's Novice Marathon Training Program for running--I'm not training for a marathon, but I've worked up to week 10, and my maintenance runs roughly match the distances in week 9 and week 10.

Hope that helps!
posted by guybrush_threepwood at 5:59 PM on January 31, 2010

You really should reconsider a bicycle. There's no need for an expensive new one, nor do you need to find bicycle trails or anything fancy like that. I rode a used old Schwinn Stingray around the city streets and I felt a noticeable difference. It was much better than walking, all around.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 6:10 PM on January 31, 2010

Be careful... you can easily overdo it with exercise and hurt yourself / hurt you muscle gain or fat loss... if you really want to "work out" for 6 hours a day hiking or walking is probably the best way to do it!

check out www.crossfit.com ;-)
posted by outsider at 6:15 PM on January 31, 2010

Through hike the Appalachain Trail.
posted by caddis at 6:24 PM on January 31, 2010

Try spinning if you have access. It's a nice balance for someone who runs quite a bit.
posted by beachhead2 at 6:44 PM on January 31, 2010

Train for an ultramarathon :) I ran 60-100 miles a week all last summer and got in really good shape. My stamina increased, blood-pressure went down, and legs got seriously stronger. It will help psychologically too. Consider it 4-6 hours of uninterrupted meditation.
posted by chime at 7:01 PM on January 31, 2010

It's a lot of time. As an ex marathoner and century/brevet guy I'd say skies the limit. What are you really into?
posted by fixedgear at 7:46 PM on January 31, 2010

Borrow a toddler for a few hours and chase them around the house/yard. That'll wear you out.
posted by CathyG at 8:56 PM on January 31, 2010

I do not have enough information to make a specific recommendation for you, but I would find an outdoor activity that combines a lot of what I was looking for. For example, I would split logs for my wood burning stove by hand. I would use a wedge and sledge hammer. Great cardio and muscle workout. IN general, I would do something physically demanding around the house that will benefit me later. Build a shed, split wood, clear brush, lay a brick walkway, build a deck, etc. I would start my day doing a traditional workout of cardio and weights then move to the productive physical work in the mid morning or early afternoon.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:38 PM on January 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

I would suggest you do whatever makes you the happiest. The only thing you should watch out for is frying out to fast, and by that I mean specifically that you will have to work up to some things that require a lot of intensity. Even when you do decide to take on something quite intense, like plyometrics, you find you'll only be able to do them sparingly on top of the rest of the workload.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:00 PM on February 1, 2010