When I was younger, and had gotten seriously into jogging, I tried making it harder by carrying weights. Not being one to bandy about, I took 100 lbs of hand weights for a jog around the block. I got about halfway before I had to sit down, and I could barely walk them back to my house.
A few years and five dozen pounds later, I was -incapable- of jogging, then at my most overweight; I went straight into a high-intensity interval jogging training, and within three weeks had developed shin splints and knee issues (my legs, lungs and heart could do it, if barely; my bones and joints could not keep up), neither of which I’d ever had a problem with before. I had jogged before (and got into incredible shape doing so), and I’m picking it up again since losing forty pounds (by dieting), but I think it’s misleading to suggest that endurance training is always a good idea starting off. Your muscles are one thing, but it’s very easy to strain your bones and joints, which don’t always let you know you’re hurting yourself until it is too late. In my case, it was necessary to lose weight before I could get fit. (No, they’re not the same thing.)
I will also add that losing forty pounds made jogging considerably more pleasant; the last time I picked it up, I had already been in shape. Having tried it both ways, my experience is this: sixty extra pounds on your frame turns an enjoyable activity into torture, and for me at least, resulted in lasting injury. Health benefits don’t matter much if you can’t keep doing it.
I view Romeo’s comments on strength training as an alternate mode to my own path, dieting. And I suspect, based on personal experience, that he’s more correct in his assessment that cardio is something that is best picked up after you’re already started down the road to good health than you are in your belief that it should be the primary focus, provided you’re in poor enough shape to begin with.
And if you disagree, I’ll ask you to repeat my original exercise experiment: Take a hundred pounds with you, and just try to walk around the block, just once. Or try taking 50 lbs of weights with you the next time you jog. Tell me that’s a program you could stick to.
Because most the people I see who push cardio as the best word in fitness have never really been there.
If you’re very overweight, then unless you simply do not have the resources to do so available to you, then a better option than not doing cardio is doing low impact cardio, such as swimming or using an elliptical or rowing machine (or rowing an actual boat for that matter.)
At the time, I was traveling almost constantly (which figured a lot into having gained sixty pounds to begin with). The only resources I could rely on were those of my own body. Which has led me to believe rather firmly in exercises that require absolutely no equipment; if you can’t keep up your routine, your routine is going to die.
I’m picking up calisthenics very deliberately this time around. I figure, for me, the value of memorizing exercises I can do anywhere at any time exceeds the value of exercises which are more effective, but require access to specific equipment.
I think you’re confusing high intensity with high impact. Taking weight with you on a jog shouldn’t, I think, make it much more effective as a cardio workout. It’s just going to be harder on the joints and muscles bearing the weight.
A stationary bike would be a good alternative if one is having joint issues.
The point was less about the weights, which I decided later were a horrible idea, and I have no idea what made me think they were a good idea to begin with. The point behind that suggestion is that the weights show you how much extra body weight affects your ability to engage in cardio exercise. If you haven’t been fifty pounds overweight, the effects aren’t necessarily obvious.
I switched to zero-impact exercise, but had already hurt myself, and had significant trouble until I gave up on exercise and switched to the strategy of diet-first, exercise-later, which has worked better for me.
It really puts the difficulty of getting into shape when you’re already seriously overweight into perspective. My arms and shoulders bore the brunt of it, but by the time I got back, every muscle in my legs were screaming, and I had full-body nausea. If it hadn’t been raining out, I probably would have had heat exhaustion to boot.
If you’re still having joint issues or would simply like to become more spry, I’d recommend you look into Bikram Yoga. Apparently it was scientifically proven to confer health benefits (I’ve never attempted to vet this claim since personal experience supported it).
If the claim is true the study may have been done by Japanese scientists—if you find and wish to read the original article, but it’s not yet translated, let me know and I’ll summarize the sections you’re interested in.
My joint issues have largely vanished since I lost weight, although I am taking yoga back up. (Yoga was one of my last experiments before I started gaining weight; I’m naturally quite flexible, but am approaching the age where this will start to decline, and wish to avoid this.)
The idea of a hot room is not at all appetizing. That sounds exactly like the kind of weather I routinely -avoided- as a youth in the swamps of East Texas.
I’ve performed strenuous activity in two types of hot rooms: a wrestling room, and bikram’s room. The wrestling room was poorly ventilated, humid, and I could barely breathe. Bikram’s room was extremely well ventilated, fresh, and I could breathe about as well as I can on a chill breezy day.
When I was younger, and had gotten seriously into jogging, I tried making it harder by carrying weights. Not being one to bandy about, I took 100 lbs of hand weights for a jog around the block. I got about halfway before I had to sit down, and I could barely walk them back to my house.
A few years and five dozen pounds later, I was -incapable- of jogging, then at my most overweight; I went straight into a high-intensity interval jogging training, and within three weeks had developed shin splints and knee issues (my legs, lungs and heart could do it, if barely; my bones and joints could not keep up), neither of which I’d ever had a problem with before. I had jogged before (and got into incredible shape doing so), and I’m picking it up again since losing forty pounds (by dieting), but I think it’s misleading to suggest that endurance training is always a good idea starting off. Your muscles are one thing, but it’s very easy to strain your bones and joints, which don’t always let you know you’re hurting yourself until it is too late. In my case, it was necessary to lose weight before I could get fit. (No, they’re not the same thing.)
I will also add that losing forty pounds made jogging considerably more pleasant; the last time I picked it up, I had already been in shape. Having tried it both ways, my experience is this: sixty extra pounds on your frame turns an enjoyable activity into torture, and for me at least, resulted in lasting injury. Health benefits don’t matter much if you can’t keep doing it.
I view Romeo’s comments on strength training as an alternate mode to my own path, dieting. And I suspect, based on personal experience, that he’s more correct in his assessment that cardio is something that is best picked up after you’re already started down the road to good health than you are in your belief that it should be the primary focus, provided you’re in poor enough shape to begin with.
And if you disagree, I’ll ask you to repeat my original exercise experiment: Take a hundred pounds with you, and just try to walk around the block, just once. Or try taking 50 lbs of weights with you the next time you jog. Tell me that’s a program you could stick to.
Because most the people I see who push cardio as the best word in fitness have never really been there.
If you’re very overweight, then unless you simply do not have the resources to do so available to you, then a better option than not doing cardio is doing low impact cardio, such as swimming or using an elliptical or rowing machine (or rowing an actual boat for that matter.)
Running is cardio, but cardio is not running.
At the time, I was traveling almost constantly (which figured a lot into having gained sixty pounds to begin with). The only resources I could rely on were those of my own body. Which has led me to believe rather firmly in exercises that require absolutely no equipment; if you can’t keep up your routine, your routine is going to die.
I’m picking up calisthenics very deliberately this time around. I figure, for me, the value of memorizing exercises I can do anywhere at any time exceeds the value of exercises which are more effective, but require access to specific equipment.
I think you’re confusing high intensity with high impact. Taking weight with you on a jog shouldn’t, I think, make it much more effective as a cardio workout. It’s just going to be harder on the joints and muscles bearing the weight.
A stationary bike would be a good alternative if one is having joint issues.
The point was less about the weights, which I decided later were a horrible idea, and I have no idea what made me think they were a good idea to begin with. The point behind that suggestion is that the weights show you how much extra body weight affects your ability to engage in cardio exercise. If you haven’t been fifty pounds overweight, the effects aren’t necessarily obvious.
I switched to zero-impact exercise, but had already hurt myself, and had significant trouble until I gave up on exercise and switched to the strategy of diet-first, exercise-later, which has worked better for me.
I am at a loss for words.
It really puts the difficulty of getting into shape when you’re already seriously overweight into perspective. My arms and shoulders bore the brunt of it, but by the time I got back, every muscle in my legs were screaming, and I had full-body nausea. If it hadn’t been raining out, I probably would have had heat exhaustion to boot.
If you’re still having joint issues or would simply like to become more spry, I’d recommend you look into Bikram Yoga. Apparently it was scientifically proven to confer health benefits (I’ve never attempted to vet this claim since personal experience supported it).
If the claim is true the study may have been done by Japanese scientists—if you find and wish to read the original article, but it’s not yet translated, let me know and I’ll summarize the sections you’re interested in.
My joint issues have largely vanished since I lost weight, although I am taking yoga back up. (Yoga was one of my last experiments before I started gaining weight; I’m naturally quite flexible, but am approaching the age where this will start to decline, and wish to avoid this.)
The idea of a hot room is not at all appetizing. That sounds exactly like the kind of weather I routinely -avoided- as a youth in the swamps of East Texas.
I’ve performed strenuous activity in two types of hot rooms: a wrestling room, and bikram’s room. The wrestling room was poorly ventilated, humid, and I could barely breathe. Bikram’s room was extremely well ventilated, fresh, and I could breathe about as well as I can on a chill breezy day.
Make of that what you will.