And they only have snow in places where it is cold.http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...milies/eek.gif

hi all
could anybody recommend a distance regime for a 46+ year fat boy who wants to improve his cardio

I understand that over doing it WILL put me in a box but want to improve not only my Kendo but my overall fitness as well

thanks for any advice in advance

I think we all know what we should do, the internet has plenty of info on the subject... But I know the hard part is to start doing it and to have a commitment to a long term life quality improvement.

Something I think it would help is to find a partner for this journey... Someone that needs the same thing to help each other... Every day you tell him what you have eaten and he does the same, summing up the calories at fitday.com... You can also go together for long fast peace walks and so on...

Maybe you should also look for specialized professionals to set up a health improvement program for you... Besides the fact that he knows what he is doing, paying a specialist makes you think more seriously on the subject.

Regards.

Swimming probably is the best overall all-round exercise and has the benefit of little impact damage on joints etc. Good for cardio vascular stuff etc etc.

In a gym environment running machines and rowing machines are fine but tend to work on specific areas not all round stuff - both are fine for cardio and weight loss. A much better piece of kit is the Cross Trainer which aims to replicate the workout given by cross country skiing ( albeit witout the often glorious views). But for sheer allround weight loss cardio vascular exercise which is a good stomach toner haven't yet come across a piece of kit which is better

#1. Start by walking, lots of walking, walk as fast as you can comfortably. You are getting burst exercise with kendo, the walking is rounding out with longer duration exercise.
#2. Eat less, not a lot less because the increase in exercise will make you hungry and what you need to avoid is 'snacking' between meals.
#3. only fruit is allowed for snacks.
#4. Do not drink soda, the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar in a 12oz can. switch to juice, water, tea(no milk and no sweetened 'ice tea').

see how you feel in a month, if you feel good, do a little jogging while out on a walk, but the key is swapping out the snacks and sweetened drinks.

One of my parents are doing an interesting diet where you eat nothing but fruits and vegetables every other day, and normally the rest of the time. Seems to be working, although I don't know much about its health effects. As far as distance running, try running 2 miles, walk as necessary, and try to walk a bit less every time you do it. Then once you can run the whole thing, gradually increment the the distances. Alternatively, go as far as you can in one hour (walking as necessary), and try to get farther the next time, working on spending less time walking. I'm no excersise expert, but it just seems like taking baby steps up to the point where you can run a few miles is a good starting point. One trick you can do in either case, carry a stopwatch, and start and stop it every when you start and stop running, so you can know how much time you spent running. Then try to make sure that number goes up every time.

2 miles is a lot for a first time runner. I suggest you start with a 20 minute run. Take it easy and keep your heart in the aerobic zone, which is about 60-85% of max. A good rule of thumb way to tell this without a monitor is the talk test - if you are able to keep a conversation of brief sentences going, then you should be OK. If you can't speak a short sentence, you're pushing too hard - slow down or start walking for a while and let yourself recover.

Give yourself one or two days between runs, but don't leave it too long. Aerobic fitness builds relatively quickly, and leaves just as quickly. Within only a few weeks you will see a marked improvement.

Yeah, Neil is probably right. I was just figuring you'd run what you could, then do a quick walk to bolster the amount of excercise, but start with whatever seems realistic for you. How far and/or long can you run now?

well we're on a kendo board so I didn't think I was totally off the wall in thinking that you would want the muscles you use in kendo built up.

anyway, what I meant is that what most gym freaks I know do is go through periods (lets just say 6 months a piece) where they would focus on eating tons of protein and weight lifting to build up muscle. Then, they would focus on running and swimming (or any cardio for that matter) to burn off any excess fat.

And just in case you're thinking it, don't worry about that myth that having muscles makes you slow. As long as you don't train purely for bulk, you will get faster. Muscles were meant to be able to move their own weight and more.

So you meant to say that running wouldn't build me up for kendo, besides the leg?



And just in case you're thinking it, don't worry about that myth that having muscles makes you slow. As long as you don't train purely for bulk, you will get faster. Muscles were meant to be able to move their own weight and more. I know muscles don't slow you down (Terrell Owens has like 0% body fat), but when you build yourself up, doesn't it slow you down somewhat? Like, how bulky do you have to be for your muscles to slow you down? Just enough to look a bit big for your height, or enough so you can no longer scratch your own head?

question 1. well it would give you better endurance, yeah, but you won't get any quicker.

2. If you train with high weight, low rep to develop type 2 muscle twitch fibers then you shouldn't worry about getting slower. Though, I suppose if you got REALLY big, you would get some diminishing returns in some way or another. But I doubt you would get to the point where you couldn't scratch your head unless you got hooked on the roids.