Does EVERYBODY do this?!

I usually work out 5-6 days a week for an hour (more-or-less) each time, and sometimes I barely have time to do that. I have been known to have once-a-week double workout days occasionally (once a month or so), usually on either Saturday or Sunday, when I may have missed an extra workout during the week, or I feel like I need more cardio or strength.
 
Not me. I work out 3 days a week and it depends on what tape I'm doing. Weight tapes - about 1 hour. The cardio tapes I have are all about 1/2 hour. Now that football regular season is over, I may work out 4 days a week and that is fine with me!

Beth
 
I agree that I sometimes feel wimpy looking at some of these posts. Like Sue's (WD) but Sue taught me that I can double up on ab work sometimes... I'm grateful for that.
Anyway I "only" work out 1 hr, 5xwk.
 
Connie - you are definitely one of the posters I am so impressed with! (Well actually ladies (and Trevor) I am impressed with all of us for taking the time to workout and for putting emphasis on health.) But back to you Connie, you are the one that was doing the S&H series 2x's a week! I just get tired thinking about it. Yikes! You go girl!
 
A-Jock, my hero!

I have to get my butt on hwy 100 and come to that pool to meet you. You are just too much Annette!!!
 
I'm with you Kathy. In fact, many nights I do only one-half hour, not because I want to, but just because I need to eat dinner before it's time to go to bed! I LOVE working out for 90 minutes at a time, but on weeknights there's just no time :-( .
-Nancy
 
Not me!

Ha! I do cardio maybe 3 or 4 times a week doing whatever I feel up to: step, running, spinning. I'll do a weight video one day and on another day lift at the gym.

I have no workout plan, which has pros and cons. The cons are it suddenly is Friday and I only worked out twice and I'm tired! Or I'll forget to do a bodypart. The pros are I like exercising much more because I never force myself. I don't feel bad if I don't get in 5 days of cardio. In college, I always felt like I HAD to workout 5-6 days a week. Also, I never get burnt out which really sucks if it happens. Imagine no longer wanting to do step!

Honestly, I don't notice a huge difference between 6 cardios a week and 4. Of course, I might be a couple pounds heavier. I'm only 24, so I don't want to be too tough on my body now. I know my metabolism will slow and I'll have to add workouts.

To all of you who ONLY do 6 workouts a week for an hour, you're really in the minority compared to the rest of the world!
 
Try to remember.....

it's quality over quantity!!! IMHO......If you are working out more than 1 hour to 1.5 hours -- 5 days a week(that's cardio and weights)and not getting results, you are not pushing hard enough when you are working out or you are sabotaging your workouts by eating badly. Or.....you need to shake up and change the type of exercises you are doing. And I am not talking about people who need more time for some health reason or are training for a fitness event, but the average exerciser.
And unless you are a fitness intstructor why in the heck would you workout twice in one day? I don't get it. For the average person that is a waste of precious time. IMHO. :)
Heck I used to race mountain bikes and I did pretty well at it without logging insane amounts of training time. The key to it is QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY.
Trevor
 
Jilly............

Please remember that I don't work outside my home so I don't have any of the daily "grind" stuff that you have to deal with (co-workers, traffic, schedules, work, public, etc.)
I have all the time in the world in the mornings to devote to a 90min workout and sometimes a 2hr workout if its cardio + weights. I mean with Cathe, geez, you do one of her cardios (1hr) then you follow it up with PUB (1hr) and you've just done 2hrs. It's not every day though, even with the time on my hands I don't do that long day after day, there are 60min days in the week for sure! And not only don't I work, I also don't have any small children in the house (hubby's don't count do they? :)) so I'm full of energy after 7-8 hrs of sleep, my most grueling chore is scrubbing the toilet most days, so stop feeling like you should do more! Heck, I wonder all the time how I would do even an hour if I had to work AND raise my kids all over again!?
To me, you guys that do that are the real "Super Women!"

Donna


Fitness~It's a journey, not a race!
 
I only work out aboout 60-85 minutes 6 days per week. More than that, IMHO would be over training. I personally believe it is too obsessive to work out 2 hours per day. There is more to life that the perfect body. AND, the possibility of injury is increased.
Besides, if a person eats fairly healthy there is not need to do more than an hour or so, unless you are training for an event.

Judy
May God grant you a sunbeam to warm you, a moon beam to charm you & an angel so nothing can harm you :-shy
 
Since the summer I have started to get up early in the morning to workout.Before that I didn't do my workouts until after work.Now, when I sleep in I am awful.Something is bound to come up and I have to skip my workout.
But before all of this, I have tried getting up in the morning and working out.Then in the evenings I would workout again.Only reason why I was doing this is b/c I was trying to lose weight.I never did reap the benefits.Just two sore ankles.
I will probably put bets on myself and say that when I get the new videos, if I have some free time,I will probably workout twice a day.Just b/c they are new videos.Next thing you know, I will be bored from them and be looking for something new.
All in all, normally I don't work out twice a day.Unless my husband is out of town,or I have lost my mind.Normally just 60 min to 2 hours.Depends on what I am doing.
Sorry for babbling.....
Lori
P.s Alot of my friends moved away over the last year and I have had to make some new ones.In between trying to find new friends, I worked out more then to.I had nothing else to do.
 
Jillybean--

Just wanted to share my personal experience with you in regard to length of workout..

I used to be one of those "2 hours/day" kinda girl..after several years of this, I finally spoke to an exercise physiologist about my workout regimen and he told me that I was overexercising and to knock it down to an hour. He said to try doing 1/2 hour of cardio a day and a 1/2 hour of strength training.

I was extremely skeptical of his advice, but went ahead and agreed to try it for 8 weeks.. Guess what? I saw alot more muscle defnition, and no loss of cardio endurance. Also, I don't feel so tired and achy as I used to.

Not only that, but as you know, there is alot of pressure trying to fit in that much time in a day to dedicate to exercise. It can start playing head games with you a little bit, and the stress of trying to "fit it all in" can get pretty overwhelming.

Everybody is different, and for some,perhaps an hour is not enough. But for me, I WAS shocked that just an hour a day really did work.

Good luck!

Lynn
 
ME! I am a busy Mom who has to get up at about 4:45a to workout before getting daughter up for school. I work out for an hour to an hour 15. If I want to sneak in a bit of cardio on my strength day I will do my NordicTrack (hi intensity intervals) for 20mn or so before hand. Don't feel lazy and gross, an hour is plenty!!
I've been doing a 3 day on 1 day off approach and find my body is very happy with that rest. Cathe pushes us so hard it needs it. I started feeling guilty taking that day off in the middle of the week, now I look forward to it!
Keep up the good work and do what's right for YOU! Any amount of fitness you can squeeze in is better than none at all.
Take care, Susan
 
I'm with Trevor on this...

Jilly,

I think Trevor's hit the nail on the head. The watchwords here are QUALITY of workout balanced against QUALITY of life, and all that has to be supported by QUALITY rest and QUALITY food. (See a theme going here??)

I have two teens (13 and almost 16) and a flexible but demands-something-every-day job that I am blessed to be able to run from a home office. I pick my children up from school each day at 3:00, then ferry them all over creation to their afternoon activities (and, because I treasure that time with them, I plan to continue doing that as much as my older son will allow, even after HE'S a licensed driver on March 31! :)) I try to fling together a good dinner for the family every evening, even if I have to occasionally call take-out, because that's another piece of precious family time together. My DH is the world's worst start-stop-start-stop exerciser because of his hectic work schedule, so I try to keep him motivated and obstacle-free by leaving the workout space, equipment, and time to him in the evenings.

So, with all else that I have going on, I do my workouts either with the roosters, like so many folks here, or after everybody leaves in the a.m. Either way, I know that whatever time I devote to my workout is carved right out of the portion of the day that I'm free to schedule for myself (8:00 - 2:30, basically).

The point I'm making is simply this: Everybody has, or should have IMHO, other life goals besides being fit and healthy, and pursuing those goals has to fit into our 24/7 lives right alongside working out. So I don't think it matters whether you workout 30 or 60 or 120 minutes a day -- I think what matters is that you're achieving that balance of life quality that Trevor suggested.

For me -- and I think in many ways I'm a fairly typical slightly overscheduled working parent -- with everything else that is important to me to do, one hour a day on weekdays is about all the time that I have to devote to my workout. Frankly, some days I don't have that much time if I REALLY prioritize my day right. I allow myself one longer workout on the weekend (this varies from 90 minutes to much longer, depending on where else I'm needed and how many football games are on the bigscreen for my boys that day :)). I also religiously take one full day off -- usually Saturday, since that's the day my sons are usually involved in some sporting event, party, etc. But, again, that's a personal choice, and although I do it partly because the recovery day is recommended, I also do it because I like having that whole day to devote to a million other things. I also like being able to get showered and dressed at a reasonably early hour after sleeping well, and then knowing that I'm up and dressed for the WHOLE day, til bedtime if need be, without the need for another post-workout shower, hair repair, makeup, etc. :)

I am deeply respectful and not a little bit envious of our members who can fit these Amazon-like workout rotations into their lives. I would love to try it for just a little while. And wow, would I love to have their level of super-fitness. But that kind of workout schedule isn't in the cards for me, and I'm happy and pretty pleased with myself just to be maintaining a regular workout schedule that (1) is challenging to me, (2) sets a good example for my children and my DH, and (3) makes me feel great about myself.

Just my two cents' worth!

Hey, by the way, I haven't posted in a while, so Happy New Year, my good cyberpals!


http://www.clicksmilie.de/sammlung/sport/sport003.gif Kathy S.
 
I'm with Trevor on this...

Jilly,

I think Trevor's hit the nail on the head. The watchwords here are QUALITY of workout balanced against QUALITY of life, and all that has to be supported by QUALITY rest and QUALITY food. (See a theme going here??)

I have two teens (13 and almost 16) and a flexible but demands-something-every-day job that I am blessed to be able to run from a home office. I pick my children up from school each day at 3:00, then ferry them all over creation to their afternoon activities (and, because I treasure that time with them, I plan to continue doing that as much as my older son will allow, even after HE'S a licensed driver on March 31! :)) I try to fling together a good dinner for the family every evening, even if I have to occasionally call take-out, because that's another piece of precious family time together. My DH is the world's worst start-stop-start-stop exerciser because of his hectic work schedule, so I try to keep him motivated and obstacle-free by leaving the workout space, equipment, and time to him in the evenings.

So, with all else that I have going on, I do my workouts either with the roosters, like so many folks here, or after everybody leaves in the a.m. Either way, I know that whatever time I devote to my workout is carved right out of the portion of the day that I'm free to schedule for myself (8:00 - 2:30, basically).

The point I'm making is simply this: Everybody has, or should have IMHO, other life goals besides being fit and healthy, and pursuing those goals has to fit into our 24/7 lives right alongside working out. So I don't think it matters whether you workout 30 or 60 or 120 minutes a day -- I think what matters is that you're achieving that balance of life quality that Trevor suggested.

For me -- and I think in many ways I'm a fairly typical slightly overscheduled working parent -- with everything else that is important to me to do, one hour a day on weekdays is about all the time that I have to devote to my workout. Frankly, some days I don't have that much time if I REALLY prioritize my day right. I allow myself one longer workout on the weekend (this varies from 90 minutes to much longer, depending on where else I'm needed and how many football games are on the bigscreen for my boys that day :)). I also religiously take one full day off -- usually Saturday, since that's the day my sons are usually involved in some sporting event, party, etc. But, again, that's a personal choice, and although I do it partly because the recovery day is recommended, I also do it because I like having that whole day to devote to a million other things. I also like being able to get showered and dressed at a reasonably early hour after sleeping well, and then knowing that I'm up and dressed for the WHOLE day, til bedtime if need be, without the need for another post-workout shower, hair repair, makeup, etc. :)

I am deeply respectful and not a little bit envious of our members who can fit these Amazon-like workout rotations into their lives. I would love to try it for just a little while. And wow, would I love to have their level of super-fitness. But that kind of workout schedule isn't in the cards for me, and I'm happy and pretty pleased with myself just to be maintaining a regular workout schedule that (1) is challenging to me, (2) sets a good example for my children and my DH, and (3) makes me feel great about myself.

Just my two cents' worth!

Hey, by the way, I haven't posted in a while, so Happy New Year, my good cyberpals!


http://www.clicksmilie.de/sammlung/sport/sport003.gif Kathy S.
 
Your certainly not L-A-Z-Y. At least your working out. Think of the people out there that do no activity & complain why their fat & out of shape. I have a 2 1/2 year old & an hour a day is about all that little guy will give me to myself, even then, some of the time I'm working out around him saying, "watch out, mommy's excercising!" Don't beat yourself up. LOL Kisha:)
 
I work out 6 days a week for about an hour too--some days longer, some days shorter. I am addicted to those endorphins! Some days I am tempted to work out more after the endorphins wear off. Sometimes I feel guilty about event taking that much time (I have 5 kids and am working on my dissertation) but the exercise keeps me sane and healthy. I am also at risk for type-2 diabetes (I had enormous babies, high sugar levels and have had some of the symptoms, although so far my blood sugar level has tested ok), so exercise takes on a new meaning for me.

Although I've mostly been a lurker, I'm thankful for this community that shares my addiction for exercise.
 
Oh no Jillybean!
You must have me mixed up with someone else. I can do S&H once in 8 or 9 days, but not twice in 7 days!!
I do give it my all, though.
-Connie
 
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