What should i be doing?

i am trying to get my butt in to gear to lose my flab.
i have joined the gym and am waiting for them to do a program for me(:wall:) but in the mean time i have been just doing cardio..from 30 minutes to an hour
where should my h/r be for effective weightloss??
when on the treadmill should i just walk or jog or run??
what else should i do to kick this fat to the kurb??

you need to have a sustained heart rate elevated to over 100bpm but not exceed 180bpm to be effective.
you nee dto be comfortable to if walking briskly is raising your heart rate thats fine.

also look at the diet side of things and ensure your hydrating your body enough to actually burn teh fat and not attck teh muscles..

i usually recomend my diabetic patients to have 30 min of elevated heart rate, and to elevate gently and reduce gently so all up they are working out for around 45-60 min.

Interval training is an excellent way to kick up your metabolism. Try a walk for a couple of minutes, then a jog for a few minutes, then back to a walk, then up to a sprint (if you can) for a minute or two etc etc. It really does make a big impact. Also another good way to increase your metabolism is weight training, not sure if your gym does group fitness but if it does try a Pump class. It's fun, a fab workout and 2 or 3 a week will see you notice a big difference in your tone in 6 weeks.
Good luck.

it does have a pump class but after a miserable(and i mean miserable almost crying...)experience with step class i dont think i am game to try the group class thing for a while......

so with the interval training how long would i be on the tready for?

Also getting some resistance training in can be beneficial. Building some tone and muscle means that your body is working more efficiently when at rest.

Also, make sure you're getting plenty of protein.

Have you tried the Couch to 5km running program?
Google it and give it a go.

S X

Step classes require alot of choreography, Pup classes are different, it's basically just lifting weights to the music. Most gyms also will do a 15 min technique class before hand (best to ask) as well. I promise it's really easy, no fancy dance moves. Just hang up the back and copy everyone else!
The interval training is best done for at least 30 minutes at a time.
I think there is a PT in here ? CombatQueen?
Hopefully she'll stop in and give you some advice.

Hiya, just posting now to remind myself to come back and post when I have more time. Off to the gym now but I will come and post when I get back :)

Ok i'm back!

WRT to heart rate, it's different for everyone. How old are you? There is a way to work out your best training zones if you can tell me how old you are. Also how fit are you? Are you a newbie...pretty unfit...what have you done in the past and how long ago?

It doesn't really matter what you are doing on the treddie as long as your hr is in the right zone. For example for you to get your hr to 160 you could be walking but for someone else they would have to be running iykwim? Interval training is the best kind of weight loss training I have found. EG 5 mins Xtrainer, 5 mins treddie, 5 mins rower etc.

WRT the classes as someone else said Step is not an easy class! I consider myself to be pretty co-ordinated and it took me at least 4/5 classes till I started to "get it" and a few months till I really, really got it! Pump is very different, you stand int he same place and don't move! Pump is fantastic for weight loss as it increases you lean muscle mass which has a higher metabolic rate than fat so the more muscle mass you have the more cals you are burning when you're doing nothing!

Seriously - give Pump a try.

Can't think of anything else at the moment. Howoften can you/are you going to the gym? Two Pump classes a week, 3 int training sessions and you will lose weight :)

im 26 and 85kg 162cm
yep complete newbie to excersize...
i go to the gym 3/4 times a week
i could definatly do 1 pump class but i doubt i could get up early enough to do another....
today i did 3 min walkingat 6.2km then 90sec at 10.4km back down to 6.6km and twice more up to10.4 for about the 90 sec mark.(i started to wane off near the end)all up was 15 minutes not including cool down
20 min of random hill on the bike then 10 minutes on the rower(first time today on it)

Ok, your Predicted Maximal Heart Rate (PMHR) is 189.8bpm and as your a beginner you should be aiming for a heart rate of around 60% of your PMHR. So your PMHR should be around 113bpm. Do you have a heart rate monitor? If not the best way to guage if you're exercising at the correct intensity is to use the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. On the RPE scale imagine 0 is nothing at all, 1 - very weak, 2- weak, 3 - moderate, 4-strong, 5- somewhat strong etc up to 10 being very, very strong-maximal. You probably want to start out at about 4-5 and increase as your fitness increases.

If you don't have ahr monitor then use the RPE scale in conjunctio with the monitors on the machines but they aren't very accurate. A cheap hr monitor is better than nothing at all.

The minimum aerobic conditioning you should be doing is 3 days a week for at least 20 mins. I suggest, to keep things interesting...5 mins on the treadmill followed by 5 mins on the rower then 10 mins on the bike. Find out what levels/speeds you need to be doing to achieve the desired heart rate and use them for about 4 weeks then look at them again. Don't forget if you are walking/jogging on the treddie and youre not getting to the hr you need to, you don't have to go faster, incresing the incline can make your hr shoot up! On the bike, increasing the resistance by putting the levels up can make a big difference. At the end of my last interval training program I was siting on the bike at level 16 because I didn't want to sprint.

Honestly, interval training works...I had to stop because I was loosing too much weight - seriously, it's that good. As long as you have the right intensities it will work.

If you can only get to one Pump a week then try and do at least one resistance training program by yourself in the gym. Really chase them up at your gym becasue they should have sorted all that out by now.

Good luck HTH :)

ok so when excersizing i should be around the 113mark??? that seems very low
i have been using the hr monitors on the machines and its usually around the 140/150 mark
but i will go have a look at hr monitor though.

im getting a program done on friday now so that will have weights in there.

thank you

I'm being very cautious when I say 60% lol! Because i'm not there with you I don't want to tell you to go flat out and you end up on a heap on the floor and blame me IYKWIM?!! Also your predicted maximal heart rate is exactly that - predicted. And it goes by age which is silly as your PMHR is not going to be the same as someone of the same age who is a lot fitter or a lot less fit. A gym instructor at your gym will be able to work it out more accuratly by using a hr monitor and recording your resting heart rate (RHR) and using a different formula to predict your PMHR.

You also may be fitter than you think. Absolute beginner % for aerobic conditioning are 40-50% but 60% is a good starting off point. The main thing to remember is you have to be able to sustain this activity for at least 20 minutes - more is better, so it;s got to be slow and steady otherwise it's not sustainable.

Good luck with your weights program on Friday - are you looking forward to it? I'm excited for you lol! It's great, you're at the beginning of a journey to a fitter more healthier you - well done!!!

yeah i am looking forward to it as im getting bored of looking at the girls in the office while im on cardio.....hehehe

flogging my self is at about 180 so i think 140/150 feels good gets me swaeting and red but i dont feel like i will die after...
honestly its not the fitness part im worried about its the weight loss! i want it to go....

but i will get there! i have a goal set that i need to get down to 73kg so i can do my trash the dress shoot....

Thats good, do whatever you feel comfortable at, as I said it's hard for me to be too specific in the advice...but the RPE scale would be good for you as it seems you've got a good idea about how you feel when you're exercising.

Increased fitness and weight loss pretty much go hand in hand although it is possible to improve your fitness without losing weight (what i'm currently doing) thats more a manipulation of diet than anything else. And obviously you can lose weight and not increase your fitness!

Just remember the fitter you are, the more effectively your body is working...so increased fitness is a good goal to have as well.

I think you're going to do really well, you seem to have a really good attitude and focus towards the whole thing and that is a huge part of success. How are you going with your diet as well?

Good luck!

i am looking at my diet. for me its not so much what i eat as how much.... but I will get there.