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Author: Amy
Date: 06-07-02 16:19
Hey!
I ma doing cardio workouts 6 days a week. Sometimes I run, other times I go to the gym. I weigh 140 and I am trying to get to 115 or 110. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Amy
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Author: Michelle
Date: 06-08-02 05:57
Amy -
Since you're within the normal weight range for your height (same case with me, as of a couple months back), do not expect to lose weight as fast as individuals who are beyond their prescribed healthy weight. Your body will be fighting hard to conserve its resources more hardly than usual because technically, there is no excess. Therefore, be patient about it, and expect to work a little harder.
First, make sure that your calories intake does not exceed 1800 calories a day. If you can consistently stay at 1600 calories/day, it will really help. You probabaly won't gain weight even if you eat at 2000 calories/day since you exercise, but you will really lose weight too slowly. Of course, your choice of food will also be important (low fat, complex sugars, and around 50 grams of protein per day).
Secondly, your aerobic exercise should at least be 45 minutes at a time. It's great you can do it 5 times a week, but I think 4 times will suffice (because I have a suggestion for the other day/s). Make sure you are reaching yout target heart rate [(220-age) x 70%] at least 20 minutes of your exercise time. My way of doing this is not to measure my heart rate per se (a little cumbersome), but instead to try to sing (with my walkman or the music at the gym), and if I can sing but not be able to finish the line, then I know I'm working hard enough).
Also, good way to achieve cardio maximal workput is through interval training. It's basically alternating high and low intensities of the same work out. A ratio of 3 minutes low intensity, then 1 minute high intensity seems to be the best. For example - run 3.5 mph for 3 minutes, then 6.0 mph x 1 minute. Watch yourself really sweat! I broke a major plateu I had (I was aroound 165 lbs. then with this technique).
For two days a week, it might be good for you to do weight training. We're talking low weights with lots of repetitions (15 reps x 3 sets with 30-45 second intervals between sets). This will not only help you burn calories faster, but will tone up (no, not bulk up at all) your muscle so that you might find yourself looking real good even at 120-125 lbs. See, muscle tone has a lot to do with how good you look and how clothes fit. You can be underweight and still not look good if you have a flabby muscle tone.
For upper body - find an exercise for these following muscle groups : chest, biceps, triceps, deltoids (shoulders) and back. For the lower body, squats and lunges should cover it all.
Good luck, and try not to go to low!
Michelle
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