Do we exercise enough??

[Gia]

According to this article, women need an hour of exercise Daily in order to maintain weight!! What do you all think of this? Do you follow 14mins per day? Is this news disheartening or inspiring?? http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010 ... ity-a-day/

[NoelFigart]

Well, keep in mind that Reinhard combines Shovelglove and Urban Ranger and by his own admission average over an hour of exercise each weekday.

I could see doing my usual half hour gym workouts and then Urban Rangering a half an hour a day, but an hour a day workout? No.

[Gia]

Thanks! That is good to know.


For those who are doing an hour a day - how do you fit that in?

[wosnes]

When I was walking a lot and getting 10,000 steps daily at work weight wasn't an issue. I've never done the gym thing, and probably never will.

[Spudd]

I aim for a 15 minute gym workout (in my home gym) every morning. Then I often commute on foot, which takes about 35 minutes each way. Depending on time/weather, that gives me anywhere between 15 and 85 minutes per day of exercise.

[sophiasapientia]

In a lot of places around the world, folks would perceive our whole idea of "working out" to be a very foreign concept. They get enough exercise through the normal walking, biking and activity they do in the course of a day to stay fit without hitting the gym.

During grad school, my DH and I lived in Cambridge, MA where Reinhard lives and does his urban rangering. It is a very walkable area. I didn't own a car during my 3 years there and walked everywhere ... to class, to work, to shop, to meet up with friends. I easily walked over five miles a day just to get around and, in addition to that, I walked for fun too. My opinion is that if you are getting enough exercise through normal activity, you could probably add in a 14-minute strength training/shovelglove workout and be good to go for exercise.

Nowadays, I live in the land of the automobile. It isn't walkable in the traditional urban rangering sense at all. I'm not within walking distance of anything except more suburban neighborhoods and a park ... and for a few months out of the year even walking around those isn't always realistic or safe due to snow and ice. If I need to run errands, I have to drive.

A few years ago I started wearing a pedometer and was shocked by how few steps I can get in during the course of a normal day if I'm not being intentional about it. If I walk for 30 minutes and am pretty active otherwise, I can get 10,000 steps in fairly easily. If want to shoot for more than 10,000 steps, I really need to get 45 minutes to an hour of walking in in addition to being as active as possible. Without that added, planned exercise, 14 minutes of shovelglove wouldn't be enough for me given where I live.

[marygrace]

I get well over an hour of exercise almost every day. I run for about 20 minutes most mornings, and then usually get 60-90 minutes worth of walking in throughout the day with my dog. Three days a week I also take a yoga class for 60 minutes.

It doesn't feel like a lot of work or inconvenient to fit all this in, but my favorite way to get exercise was when I used to bike commute 4 miles up and back to work. It gave me all the exercise I needed and didn't take up any extra time.

[clarinetgal]

I voted an hour a day, but I actually do an hour a day five days a week, and I take the weekends off. My knees are kind of tweaky, so my joints appreciate the two day break.

[Nichole]

I work out 5 days a week - sometimes four - and alternate between 35 and 45. When I do 45 it's because there's 10 minutes of weight training as well. This has worked for me.. Though, when not pregnant, I like to do 45 minutes on the exercise bike, but I'm taking it easy with 35.

[kccc]

I said 30, but it's usually between 30 minutes and an hour.

This is a bit discouraging, but nothing I didn't already know. The research in "Younger Next Year" says much the same, except it focuses on quality of life more than mere weight maintenance. (There's a version for men and for women, similar overall. It's co-written by a doctor who is passionate about wellness versus treatment and a 70-year-old who took his recommendations to heart. Inspiring.)

Time limitations are the biggest factor for me. My work is VERY sedentary and I have a long drive... and I do feel the effects on my body in mulitiple ways. Even starting every work day at the gym (30-45 minutes) isn't enough. I'm working on it.... "babysteps" do add up.

I will continue to try to fit in "just a little more." As the weather gets better and I want to be outdoors more on the weekends, it will be a bit easier.

[reinhard]

I wouldn't get too discouraged.

I think when most people hear the word "exercise" they think of grueling dedicated gym time, hard-core all-out running, etc.

By that definition I get 14 minutes a day -- and only on N-days. Upping that or something like that to an hour would be insanely hard (and in my opinion/experience, unnecessary).

But the authors of the study mean (and I quote) "moderate activity."

By that definition I get many times that - easily an hour a day just from urban rangering and shovelglove alone. And if chasing my children around qualifies, probably far more.

"Useful exertion" is far easier and more pleasant to integrate into your life than dedicated, pointless exercise. Walk or bike for transport whenever you can. Vow to take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator whenever possible. Integrate a walk into your "default" lunch break. Get a dog. It might not be trivial to do this, depending on your commute, etc., but it's not nearly as awful as you might think at first. It doesn't depend on going to the gym, for example -- in fact it might be better to get the gym out of your head altogether.

Reinhard

[Nichole]

As far as a gym goes, I am naturally VERY shy and it would take way too much psyching up every day to get there lol.... Sounds like a social disability, I know. That and if you get lazy and don't go, that's suchhh a waste of money. So I am a big believer of at home equiptment - that doesn't get turned into a hanger for your junk!- or walking outside.

[Happy Cooker]

Me too, Nichole. Plus the idea of driving somewhere to exercise on machines in a stinky place with everyone covertly evaluating one another's bodies is unattractive. I once lived in Cambridge and Boston and walked a lot just getting around; I really miss that. But I walk and do some yoga, stretching, T-Tapp, or half-assed Pilates almost every day. Then there's gardening and yard work, which is seasonal, and the occasional kayak. Working on increasing the amount of time for all that.

[NoelFigart]

HC, they might be less judgmental than you think.

Certainly gyms aren't compulsory, and if you don't find that a pleasant way to exercise, there's plenty of options that DON'T involve a gym.

But for myself. I am.... Well, let's just say NOT SLENDER and leave it at that. I do work out at a gym because I'm a fanatic swimmer (getting arthritis before you get gray hair is the PITS, but swimming doesn't hurt) and can't afford my own lap pool. I also am an enthusiastic weight lifter. I could buy my own bench, but what with the pool membership anyway, why bother?

I've been going to this gym for nearly three years. I am never mistreated. I'm not given diet advice, not made to feel I don't belong or any of that. Possibly the fact I go to a community gym rather than those chrome and tone fitness places might have something to do with it, but judging someone's body there, I expect, might get you whacked upside the head by an octogenarian's cane.

If it's not your kink, it's not. Walking's fun and good for you, shovelglove is great, biking is amazing, and Wii Fit is geekily entertaining. But I have to stand up and say that it's okay for the gym not to be your kink without assuming people who go are going to be mean to you.

[Happy Cooker]

NF--fair enough. Perhaps it's projection on my part--the judgment. I've only spent a very little time at a gym, long ago, and it was meat-marketish. Since then I'd heard of men treating women badly and decided I'd never pay to go somewhere I'd get attitude from b***holes. Your gym sounds good and clearly it works for you.

And I realize that for people with long commutes and sedentary jobs, gyms may be the best of very few options. I guess the important thing is realizing the value of moving every day and finding the ways that work for you.

[marygrace]

I wouldn't get too discouraged.

I think when most people hear the word "exercise" they think of grueling dedicated gym time, hard-core all-out running, etc.

By that definition I get 14 minutes a day -- and only on N-days. Upping that or something like that to an hour would be insanely hard (and in my opinion/experience, unnecessary).

But the authors of the study mean (and I quote) "moderate activity."

By that definition I get many times that - easily an hour a day just from urban rangering and shovelglove alone. And if chasing my children around qualifies, probably far more.

"Useful exertion" is far easier and more pleasant to integrate into your life than dedicated, pointless exercise. Walk or bike for transport whenever you can. Vow to take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator whenever possible. Integrate a walk into your "default" lunch break. Get a dog. It might not be trivial to do this, depending on your commute, etc., but it's not nearly as awful as you might think at first. It doesn't depend on going to the gym, for example -- in fact it might be better to get the gym out of your head altogether.

Reinhard

I agree with Reinhard. My 60-minute, twice weekly yoga classes and 20-minute daily runs are what I really consider specific, vigorous exercise--i.e. I have to change my clothes to do it and shower afterwards. If that was all the exercise I got, it probably wouldn't be enough. But I probably get 2 hours + of "useful exertion" each day from walking all over town with my puppy, playing outside with her, going up and down the steps of my apartment complex, etc. I think trying to fit in 60 minutes of specific, vigorous exercise every day is asking a lot--there's just not enough time in the day (and I doubt I'd have the energy or motivation). I think as long as you're active in some way for at least an hour a day, that counts as 60 minutes of exercise.

And to weigh in on the gym discussion, I've never really liked them. Aside from the fact that I always felt a bit self-conscious (but I guess that's my problem, not something anyone else was causing to happen), it just seemed like so much time and effort (and money). I find it so much more pleasant to get most of my exercise through activities I'd be doing anyway like walking. That said, I can see the appeal for some people. If you're really crunched for time and really hate being active, a 45-minute sweat session at the gym might be the best way to get it over and done with. And if you live somewhere where the weather isn't great (luckily, the climate in Austin is great almost all year), I guess going to the gym might be better than trying to work out in the snow or freezing cold.

[blueangel]

I do yoga about 30 minutes every morning 6 days. I also go to the gym and workout with weights 3-4x a week and once in awhile take a kickboxing or hiphop class. I have lower back or knee pain when I stop exercising for over 2 weeks.

[wosnes]

I think we forget how much a little exercise adds up over time. I saw this on the Today Show yesterday. I'm against the use of low-fat foods, but it worked for this lady.

We're so inactive compared to 30+ years ago. It's not been that long ago that we had to get up to change the channel on the TV, open the garage door and even answer the telephone. All of the labor and time saving devices have drastically cut down the movement in our lives. It's not a good thing!

I'm a big fan of lifestyle exercise -- and I love these quotes from Clara Cannucciari who wrote Clara's Kitchen:

If you don't think you have time to exercise, just clean your kitchen. I think it's kind of silly -- the people jogging. Scrubbing my floors and counters makes everything strong and my kitchen looks good.[

I like the old ways, and I always did. Even back then I didn't like change too much. I like scrubbing the floor clean on my hands and knees with a hard-bristled brush. It doesn't get clean any other way.

Walk to the grocery store. Because if you don't have a large car trunk to store things, you'll be forced to buy only what you can comfortably carry, which is most likely all you need.

Always use the stairs. People tell me that I shouldn't be going up and down my stairs at my age, but I need them -- they keep me limber. So what if we wear out our shoes if we keep ourselves fit?

While I think walking to the store is a great idea, I don't do that. But I do walk the dog 2-3 times daily and I'm consciously trying to spend another 15-30 minutes daily doing something physical around the apartment.

[Happy Cooker]

Wosnes, thanks so much for that post. I agree with Clara, and when I lived in a city, I did exactly as she does, though I admit I never clean my kitchen floor if I can avoid it. I'd love to walk to stores now, but I'd be taking my life in my hands if I did. Our local roads have no shoulders or walking space and everyone speeds. A teenager was killed while walking on my road not long ago.

Labor-saving devices have warped our ideas about worthwhile effort, but it's in our hands--and feet and heads, for that matter--to make movement part of everyday life.

[clarinetgal]

I totally agree that adding activity during the day makes a huge difference! An online friend of mine from one of the fitness boards I frequent bought a device called a GoWear Fit (I think that's what it's called) that tracks her calorie burn 24 hours a day. She has said a few times that she's burned more calories during a day when she's been really busy cleaning than she has doing an actual exercise workout.