Working out... what am I really doing?

[BigToque]

Basically for the last 2 weeks, my exercise schedule at university has been like this:

M - W - F - At the gym for an hour at 7:30AM
T - T - At the gym for an hour at 2:30PM.

The routine is basically running the track for 25 minutes, then riding the bike for 15 minutes (so 40 min. of cardio), then I go to the weights for 20 minutes.

On the bike it says I burn about 150 calories in 15 minutes.

How much would I burn from the running (say I went for 30 minutes)? Could I say about 300? or is more burnt running then on a bike?

What about the weights? I usually do benchpress (3 sets of 10) at 100lbs (hey I'm pretty weak ), and a couple other upper body exercises (my legs are dead tired at this point, and they are already huge anyway).

How much do you think I'm actually burning here?

Today I was dead tired and didn't feel like going, so I got 2 pieces of cahjun chicken pizza and am now at home.

How do I know if what I eat during the day is just cancelling out with what I'm burning off and not getting anywhere?

 

[novon]

So how much have you lost so far Stefan? Are you still biking to work. I started when you started and made that original post, just biking to work and back about 4 times a week for 70 minutes, lost 8 lbs so far. Good to hear you are still on track.

 

[Goldfish]

I know that when you lift weights you are actually KILLING your body's muscle cells. They however quicly regenerate and become stronger because they need to be able to defend against that kind of "attack" should it happen again. This is why you get stronger.

 

[BigToque]

<< So how much have you lost so far Stefan? >>



1 sec, I'll go check

Goldfish,

I know that, but doesn't your body burn more calories as you get stronger?

 

[GrumpyMan]

Goldfish: too bad it doesn't work with men's uhh.....apendages.

 

[BigToque]

NovoN,

I'm 182, but I think that pizza I had, and the monster dump I gotta take is throwing the scale off a tad

I dunno, about 181.

 

[goofygrin]

Don't remember the comedian who said it but: "Why do women have their own way of weighing themselves: 'Well my clothes weigh 10 pounds, and my shoes are 5 and my watch is a pound...' What are you wearing? Lead shoes and Armor?"

I think he was talking about his wife too

[edit cuz I can't spell]

 

[Fraggle]

I dunno much about the caloric breakdown, so this may not be what you're looking for. here's what i gotta say anyhow:

don't be shy on the weights; "as you get stronger" (as you build muscle, that is) you DO burn more calories. your metabolism is boosted... and it doesn't matter at all if you're only benching 100 lbs; your success in losing weight will be a relative thing -- if you're at a particular weight now, and you add muscle, then you'll burn more fat than you were burning before, rather than more or less what someone else's results might be. sorry if that's too obvious, but i've known lots of people who were not getting that point.

another thing is, even though i've referred to your goals as "losing weight", people should really concentrate on their body composition more than weight in pounds... if you gain muscle and burn fat, you may gain weight; muscle is considerably heavier than fat, but also harder to build lots of (for most people). so, you'll prolly lose weight with any exercise routine, but that's not the only way of measuring the amount of fitness gains you attain. think of your body composition more -- your ratio of muscle to fat content. even if your weight loss is not very large, you should realize that this may be because you've gained a little muscle, and lost a fair amount of fat. as your body composition changes to a more muscularly biased one, you'll burn that fat more easily and make greater gains per unit of exercise completed. as that layer of fat gets smaller, you'll be able to see the results of the weight work.

don't over-exercise. it can be counter productive in a couple of ways: if you make yourself hate your workouts with a passion, then you're not likely to stick with them for enough time to make them a solid routine and get results. that one's obvious, but a big pitfall. another reason that people are less aware of is that your body is preprogrammed to protect its fat stores. if you starve yourself, then your body will slow down its metabolism to keep you alive longer... this is obviously counter productive to weight loss. so, when you exercise a bunch on a regular basis, you are raising the amount of caloric intake your body wants in order to function, and it can go into low metabolism mode even easier than before, if you don't feed it properly -- even if that means eating more than you usually do. so eat enough, but make sure it's good stuff. if you're watching your carbohydrate intake that's good, but make sure you get enough to fuel your body. best carb rule, in my experience, is NOT to allow any carbohydrate intake after a certain time in the early evening. you're going to go to sleep soon, and you'll still have those carbs in your system, but you won't be burning them (or at least not nearly as fast as when waking). if you're not burning them, then they'll be stored as fat -- something not even skinny people want.

k, that's the synthesis of what i've learned over time on this general subject. hope it helps, and sorry if it bored. goodluck

 

[PG]

You need to read this: http://www.cyberpump.com/roam/sean004.html

Here's a few parts:

Hardly a little old man, he stood just under six feet tall, and easily weighed in excess of 250 pounds. He wore a cut off sweatshirt and sweatpants, beat to he!! sneakers and nothing else. His totally gray hair was matted and he was unshaven. He was the absolute antithesis to the pretty-boy image pushed in Muscle & Fitness, and he appeared to aggressively pursue that look. Unquestionably, however, he was a man who had spent YEARS involved with moving serious iron. Hanging out of his torn sweatshirt was a pair of the most massive arms I had ever seen, at least 19 inches, with a look that seemed as different as he did. Later I would learn that this difference was due to strength. Actually, it took years before I absorbed what I was about to be taught.

The old guy introduced himself as Don. Just Don... no last name. He was exceptionally friendly, very open, and this was his first time in the rec center. He watched me finish up my pressdowns, on what must have been my 12th set, looked somewhat crookedly at me and struck up a conversation that summed up the essentials. It was the first time I ever heard, "If you want big arms, start squatting." He told me everything that the hardy souls of his generation knew about weight lifting: abbreviated workouts, plenty of good food, concentrate on the big exercises - particularly squats, and rest. I don't know what it is about youth, but I didn't listen. I finished my workout and I left for the day. In one ear and out the other...
...
The old guy dropped under the bar and stood... it was the first time I ever saw a human so powerful he could shoulder a load that made the bar oscillate.
.....

Don sucked in so much air I thought he would rip out of his sweatshirt... it was an awesome sight. His first rep he went so deep into the hole I thought he was sitting on the floor. Here were my friends and I, real tough guys we thought, doing quarter squats, and this enormous old guy was showing what it meant to go deep.
......

After his 8th or 9th rep I figured he was done. Not this man... he was just getting started. Each rep lasted about 10 full seconds on the way up. He was oblivious to anything other than his set, and like a man posessed, he showed no signs of letting up.
......

The gym stood still and watched this scene at the rarely used squat rack, and somewhere inside of each of us, we realized why he was who he was, and why we were still small.


You need to do more than a few bench presses.
A few simple, compound lifts are the key. Work you whole body every workout. Here are some exercises that I feel are necessary unless you have some physical problems that prevent you from doing them:
Standing Overhead Press
Some type of Deadlift
Squat
Pullups or Chins, your choice, add weights after you can do a decent amount of reps

Then throw in some heavy side bends for the obliques, weighted situps for abs, and some calf work. That pretty much covers it all. Well, you could do some grip work on some off days too.
Some cardio is OK, but you are probably over doing it.
Keep the total volume down and number of exercises down. 2 or 3 hard sets is plenty, and some people say 1 hard set is fine. Don't forget to warm up though.
Work out 2 times per week. Your body needs lots of time to recover.
Read as much as you can from Cyberpump.com

Eat more lean meat, cut white sugar and white flour where you can. Eat more veggies and drink more water. GET LOTS OF SLEEP!!

That should do it. Good luck.

 

[TheBlondOne]

I don't know how burning off calories works in conjunction with your size (meaning, if you're bigger you lose calories more quickly or if you're smaller), but I'm 120 and after running a half hour on a treadmill I lose almost 300 calories. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.

Anyway, it sounds like your workout routine is AWESOME! Keep it up!