Hello Beautiful!

It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Any exercise experts? HELP

Okay, so I need to lose about5-6 pounds in the next 5 weeks. I also REALLY need to tone up my stomach and legs, especially thighs! (Doesn’t every woman, lol) I am ready to work out hard core because I will be going on a beach vacation. Any advice on a workout routine? Doesn’t matter how difficult, I just have to hurry! I do interval training for cardio, and that’s what I’ll stick too, but how often and what else? Is it okay to do every day?

Comments

  • hey, I used to be a runner and the workout I did for increasing speed and endurance at the same time, happened to be a great overall workout. I did 60 minutes in intervals of 10. Here’s how it broke down: 6 minutes of walking at 4.0-4.2mph and 12% incline, followed by 3-4 minutes of sprinting (starting at 7.0mph and ending at 8-9mph) at 2% incline. It is killer, and the various heart rates etc really works you out. I used to be able to do it 5 days a week, the 6th day I would do 45min-1hr of elliptical and some cycling or rowing machine, or just walking. 7th day rest.

    Every other day I did some free weights (pretty light, I’m not very strong) 7-10lbs with various shoulder/arm exercises…I have no idea what they’re called but you can find some good ones on youtube. Also, do ab work every other day…crunches on an exercise ball are pretty good, as well as planks. You don’t need to do crunches every day…all that will do is bulk up the muscle and it’ll never get a chance to repair. For your legs, lunges and squats are good, I used to do this while holding 8lb weights to get an arm workout at the same time (i.e. squat and as you come back up raise the weights over your head)

    Just don’t overdo it and injure yourself – I was in amazing shape when I was doing this, if I tried to do it now I would die by day 4. But this is just to give you some ideas…and in my personal experience, no matter how much I work out if I don’t limit my eating I can’t lose weight (I actually managed to gain some weight while working out almost this hard, because I was overeating too much). Also, make sure you drink a ton of water and try to eat something with a little protein and fat in it within 30 minutes after working out – you need to fuel! wow this was a long post, haha sorry I just know a ton about exercise after years of competitive running

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    Ok Southernlover—you got it. I’m a physical therapist, Pilates Instructor and GYROTONIC Instructor. Your raw foods should protect you from delayed onset muscle soreness and enable you to do some two-a-days, though you hardly need to lose weight. Any “cheese” on the thighs will disappear with a 100% raw food diet as well. Then… no need to increase your cardio longer than 40 min. daily, Add in an hour of Pilates, 2-3x/week pulling the navel DOWN into a neutral spine (not flat back) with each full exhalation. Come to a full exhalation on each repetition in order to really train the Transversus Abdominis. I always recommend rounding all this out with 2-90 min yoga sessions as per your practice—Vinyassa, ashtunga or Bikram. Weight training can always be added—it will give you a quick tone and will also boost your metabolism. Pilates side leg series will tone and lengthen the outer thighs and all the rest will burn some fat and tone the abs. You really do not need to kill yourself working out when you are 100% raw—the body will lead you to either energetic runs, eliptical sessions and biking or quieter activities like Tai Chi, Pilates and Yoga. Word to the wise on the Pilates…there are LOTS of bad health club Pilates classes out there. I recommend the Stott series DVDs Basic for beginner, followed by Fit and Flexible (intermediate mat). Both of these are available from Amazon. Any yoga with Shiva Rae is a beautiful experience.

  • southernloversouthernlover Raw Newbie

    I have done a little yoga from watching a program on T.V., but I am not into the ‘spiritual’ side of it. I enjoy the stretching and movements, just not the rest. I wish I could find a yoga class that sticks strickly to the exercise, not the the beliefs of the yogis. Boo. Thanks a ton for the info, though. I am going to start training tomorrow. I have to get a pilates video!

  • pilates, swiss ball exercises or power yoga could help, anything really that is considered “core exercises”.

  • southernlover- like envirogenny said, PILATES is the way to go, it is similar to yoga but focuses on core excercises, which results in a lengthening/lean toning effect. It is awesome, I do pilates 1 night a week and powerwalk/sprint 3 nights or more. I have lost 16 punds so far just in the last month.

  • CarmentinaCarmentina Raw Newbie

    Southernlover, I hear you when it comes to yoga. My last instructor spent half the session or more speaking about spiritual issues or even politics. Needless to say, I dumped him. I just wanted to work out my body! What about PACE? I’m not sure I buy it, but I’m giving it a try. Send me an email (see my bio) and I’ll send you a summary ebook. It’s basically sprints of 30 seconds followed by 30 of walking in 10 intervals. After years of jogging, I still get sore every single time I do PACE (for about a month now.)

  • southernloversouthernlover Raw Newbie

    Yeah, I read the Ebook, and I’m about to start training. It sounds right to me…but I’ll see. Thanks.

  • omshantiomshanti Raw Newbie

    laughing about the yoga comments! yoga is the study of meditation the excersize is ment to train you to be able to achieve stillness for a long period of time…to relax at will… its a great work out too, try other styles there are some with more flow less sevahsanah!

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    jump roping and pilates sound like fun/easy ways to get in shape. i have a terrible time looking buff – i’m fit, but i don’t have a great stomach at all. but – when i ran a lot, i looked better.

  • Check out www.swissmasai.co.uk for a workout whilst standing still.

Sign In or Register to comment.