23 and 1/2 hours

Check out this video with great information from Dr. Mike Evans.

Chronic Cardio

I’ve been listening to LOTS of fitness/weight loss podcasts lately, and I keep hearing over and over that chronic cardio is one of the least effective ways to lose fat. The reasoning is that cardio burns lots of calories – but your body doesn’t discriminate where those calories come from. Chronic cardio ends up burning more muscle mass than it does fat mass (that’s why marathoners look gaunt). Also when you repeat any exercise often enough your body will get used to it and burn less calories.

Achy

 

Half Mile

When I do laps on the track I like to alternate between walking and running (my pathetic little jog/shuffle). I only have time to do one mile so I end up with half mile walking and half mile running total.

This morning I wanted to push myself a little more and was able to run a half mile all at once. Two whole laps around the track!

I remember last year when I couldn’t run one lap all the way. So I’m feeling pleased with myself.

Tolerance

Lots of these workout DVDs seem to be geared towards 4 or 6 week routines. I think this is because your body will build up a tolerance level to the exercises and you won’t get as much benefit from them. Like a drug addict or an alcoholic  builds up a tolerance and then needs more drugs or alcohol to achieve the same high.

The thing to do then is to change it up. Switch to different DVD or a different routine altogether.

Last week I wasn’t able to come home and exercise like I normally do. It was about time for me to change routines anyway — so I switched to laps on a track. I can fit 30 minutes in the morning into my routine very easily. I like to walk a lap and then run a lap. I’d like to run the whole mile, but I can’t make it (yet). My legs start killing me way too much.

I figure I’ll do the laps at least 4 weeks — maybe a little more — and then I’ll switch back to a DVD at home. A different one than I was using before. Lets see how this works out.