How Many Days Per Week do you Exercise?

[Sandy]

4-6 days /week depending on my schedule. I aim for 6. Three are for weights, which have a day of rest in between. The other days are variations on aerobic activities- step, row or glider. If I haven't gotten in during the week, I will do weights and aerobic on the same day to "make up" some lost time/effort.

 

[StJohnsWood]

I run 30 miles a week. Try to do 8 minute miles. I need to start a little strength training and flexibility. Time to use it or lose it.

 

[dumpster56]

I run 30 miles a week. Try to do 8 minute miles. I need to start a little strength training and flexibility. Time to use it or lose it.

You can run them in 9 and run 60 miles a week. Long slow mileage. It works.

 

[Walt34]

12 oz. curl several times a day.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i marked 6 days. usually every day but then i might have a lazy day or three here and there. it's either gym or long beachwalks or bike rides or swimming or gardening (for me that can mean climbing or moving a tree) or any combination. now that its cooler i'm back to trail riding on the mtn bike which is much more strenuous than the road bike, more fun too.

A Little Regular Exercise Extends Men's Lives - Yahoo! News

...the largest such study ever -- found that a regimen of brisk walking 30 minutes a day at least four to six days a week was enough to halve the risk of premature death from all causes.

 

[TromboneAl]

Why is life so unfair that drinking beer six days a week wouldn't have the same effect? Or cooking bacon?

We all know that we can't get the benefits of vigorous exercise and healthy eating choices from a pill, but that day will come. IOW, currently, the only way we have communicating with our body so that it stays trim and fit is to exercise and eat right.

When I'm 68, I'll just put the Pfizer "7 days/week of exercise" patch on the left arm, and the GlaxoSmithKline "9 servings of vegetables/day and no sugar or fat" patch on the right arm.

So there's that to look forward to.

 

[unclemick]

Zero - have even stopped Mall walking. But I did eat a dressed roast beef Po-Boy from Check In Check Out in Slidell my last trip to New Orleans and ate the signature burger from New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company in Metaire plus medley plate at The Acme Oyster House in Covington.

20 lbs over and still dreaming of Kayaks - not doing.

If the scenery picks up at the Park or Mall - my enthusiasm for walking may also.

Brought my refugee kit back - I'm cooking Blue Runner New Orleans red beans and rice plus Winn Dixie green onion sausage over at some friends this Sunday.

heh heh heh - now getting the French bread 'right' up here is tough.

 

[sailor]

I'm really looking forward to warmer, drier weather this year. I have a new bicycle, a 2007 Specialized Roubaix that I've been drooling over for two-plus years and finally bought this month as a $1170 winter-close-out special. Yay!
It's 31 degrees (F) outside :-(

Excuses, Excuses...
Even my 3 year old rides in 30F weather.

 

[HFWR]

When I'm 68, I'll just put the Pfizer "7 days/week of exercise" patch on the left arm, and the GlaxoSmithKline "9 servings of vegetables/day and no sugar or fat" patch on the right arm.

Leaving both hands free for other pursuits...

 

[Nords]

Leaving both hands free for other pursuits...

I was going to make a comment about beer & Viagra but decided to pass...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Glad to see that others are almost willing to step up to the plate.

BTW, the pig hunt was unsuccessful, and several farmers are moderately displeased with me for riling up the livestock.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

I'm really looking forward to warmer, drier weather this year. I have a new bicycle, a 2007 Specialized Roubaix that I've been drooling over for two-plus years and finally bought this month as a $1170 winter-close-out special. Yay!

It's 31 degrees (F) outside :-(

Gee, too bad it's too warm for you to ride.
YouTube - Iditarod Trail Bikerace
But then I can't point fingers - I haven't even sprung for studded bike tires myself. They're popular up here but cost about 4 X as much as the tires for my Honda Civic!

 

[Insanity]

Excuses, Excuses...
Even my 3 year old rides in 30F weather.

Nice pic. Er, who's abducting the child?

Can I help it if I have an abundance of common sense and still enjoy being able to feel my fingers?

 

[megacorp-firee]

Does cooking an entire pound of bacon count as exercise?

I don't know about that ... but eating the entire pound surely does
... you're killing me ... I haven't had bacon since I was in Vegas last (Sept). It sucks to be old ... but the alternative sucks even worse.

 

[megacorp-firee]

I have been trying to get in 45 minutes of stretching and muscle toning exercises in at least 5 days a week... averaging about 4 days and only 20 minutes per.
Also trying to walk 2 miles a day every day. Averaging about 1 1/2 miles, about six days a week.

Gotta do this for my back problems. I am getting there.

 

[HFWR]

Due to my currrent status as "man of leisure", I'm doing resistance training three days a week, and walking for 60 min three time a week.

 

[mountaintosea]

Since I retired I started working out at the gym 3 days a week. 30 min. cardio & 30 min. weight machines. Then the other 3 days I walk around the Lake which takes a little less than 60 minutes and it's about 2.5 miles. Then I do 30 minutes on a stationary bike. Today was my gym day but too much snow to drive down to the valley and go to the gym. I spent two hours digging my 4wd car out just to drive into town to have a little coffee ended up putting chains on just to get the darn thing out of the driveway. I'm sure I used quite a bit of calories digging and swearing at the car and the snowplow.

 

[Insanity]

178 and you want to get to 165. Ya gotta starve yourself on this area. Yes I am at 179 and the only way I get to 165 when I am racing is to cut out all alcohol, all breads/pasta go to the veggies steamed, salads no oils but vinegars, low fat chicken and fish, no fatty sauces and calories of only 1000 a day. It will get you to that weight but you will be hungry at times until your body adjusts to the lower caloric intake. But when you put on those 32 inch waist jeans and have that flat gut it was all worth it!

Oh and workout 2X a day, yes about 2 hours of running and cross training a day for 2 months will get you to the place of the 165!! I am on this plan as of yesterday. My goal is 165 by april 1 08, I am at 179 this morning.

If I ate and exercised like that I fear I'd be doing more damage than good. Starve yourself and your body goes into conservation/famine mode, which makes it harder to loose weight. Research also shows this kind of dieting is associated with cyclic weight gain and loss and causes stress on the system that can cause permanent damage to your muscles and other organs including the metabolic systems that help us maintain a healthy weight.

Feed your body intelligently -- eat the right foods at the right times, limit or eliminate fatty foods, processed sugars & starches, and the like -- and exercise with the goal of burning just 50-500 calories more per day than you take in and most people will loose weight.

For me that means eating around 1750-2250 calories a day (with an occasional day here and there when I outright blow it) that include milk and cereal for breakfast, a non-fat latte', a "healthy" microwave lunch, granola bar snack, a workout about four or five times a week, a (usually) home-made healthy dinner, and a slow but steady drop in weight.

 

[dumpster56]

If I ate and exercised like that I fear I'd be doing more damage than good. Starve yourself and your body goes into conservation/famine mode, which makes it harder to loose weight. Research also shows this kind of dieting is associated with cyclic weight gain and loss and causes stress on the system that can cause permanent damage to your muscles and other organs including the metabolic systems that help us maintain a healthy weight.

Feed your body intelligently -- eat the right foods at the right times, limit or eliminate fatty foods, processed sugars & starches, and the like -- and exercise with the goal of burning just 50-500 calories more per day than you take in and most people will loose weight.

For me that means eating around 1750-2250 calories a day (with an occasional day here and there when I outright blow it) that include milk and cereal for breakfast, a non-fat latte', a "healthy" microwave lunch, granola bar snack, a workout about four or five times a week, a (usually) home-made healthy dinner, and a slow but steady drop in weight.

Have you read the studies on caloric restriction and life expendency? seriously we need many less calories than we think. In addition we eat many more calories than we think we eat. Sit down and write down everything you eat and drink this weekend. You will be amazed at the number of calories you eat. The underestimation is crazy.

By the way was a vegatarian for years never had a weight problem ever in my 51 years on the planet. I can loose or gain weight depending on simple caloric intake or restriction. Running upwards of 70 miles a week every week does help with caloric expenditures.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I don't know about that ... but eating the entire pound surely does
... you're killing me ... I haven't had bacon since I was in Vegas last (Sept). It sucks to be old ... but the alternative sucks even worse.

I dunno. I think I'd rather keel over at 75 with a piece of bacon in my mouth than live to 80 with a face full of steamed broccoli

 

[REWahoo]

I've never been the exercise type, relying on yardwork and projects around the house to get some physical activity. I don't do enough of that to really be of benefit but since the idea of a daily workout doesn't appeal to me, I've been trying to figure out how to get motivated. I think I've found it:

Exercise bike...

 

[Insanity]

Have you read the studies on caloric restriction and life expendency?

Yes, I have. I like this one on WebMD: Researchers Say Severely Cutting Calories Helps Rats Live Longer, but Not Humans

 

[TromboneAl]

The gist of a PBS special was that the severe stress of caloric restriction triggered the body into doing things that in turn happened to cause a longer life (producing very large HDL molecules, something like that).

 

[dumpster56]

Yes, I have. I like this one on WebMD: Researchers Say Severely Cutting Calories Helps Rats Live Longer, but Not Humans

Web MD from 05? Two years + ago, I would not take much on what is put out on web MD except how to treat a cold.

Seriously, we all need to eat less.

 

[Insanity]

The gist of a PBS special was that the severe stress of caloric restriction triggered the body into doing things that in turn happened to cause a longer life (producing very large HDL molecules, something like that).

I thought that was an interesting NOVA special. The part where they talk with the centenarians was great: they were coherent and really pretty vital. They had aged well, but they weren't on calorie restricted diets, their age advantage appears to be due to the unusually large HDL cholesterol their body makes, or at least that was the theory being offered up. Their advantage was due to lucky genetics, not diet or even health living. You can read an abstract for the original research, published in JAMA, here.

Web MD from 05? Two years + ago, I would not take much on what is put out on web MD except how to treat a cold.

Seriously, we all need to eat less.

I quite agree that, as a society and culture, we eat too much, and I agree that the FDA/USDA daily caloric allowances are likely on the plush side, too. There's a fair bit of research that suggests there are potential health benefits to reducing these caloric intakes by 12-25%, but not much beyond that figure.

My problem is with this fad of extreme calorie restriction diets that preach diets less than half of the 2000 calorie recommendation for minimally active, healthy adults. The utility of such extreme dieting is not supported by research; rodent research subjects starve to death when you drop their diets below 50% of normal, yet this is exactly the kind of diet you and the ultra-diet books advocate.

Worse yet, animal research subjects on restricted calorie diets are more prone to irritability, more likely to be aggressive with peers and bite their handlers, than subjects on standard diets. Thus, my philosophy is to just slightly reduce my caloric intake and extend my life without becoming a grumpy bunny.