running...

[AngelaG]

Right, if you want to lose weight you don't want your heart rate to go too high. If you are running fast you will build up muscles. If you power walk etc. you will be working on calorie burn. (Notice how long distance runners are skinny, whilst sprinters are muscley). One good way of seeing if you are in this calorie loss stage is that you will sweat a lot more. That's why if you sprint it's not until a little while later, as your heart rate slows down, that you start to sweat buckets. This is because you reach the range when you are burning off most calories.

www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040811/health.htm#1

health.yahoo.com/centers/weight_loss/10004

[random]

If you intend to loose weight the first place to look is diet. As for exercise, you should maintain a steady rhythm be it running cycling or rowing for a minimum of 20 min, it is after this point that anaerobic exercise starts to happen. A good measure is that you sweat a lot, and you shouldn’t be able to talk to someone while you are doing the exercise. That is why MA alone tends not to produce fit, muscled bodies, all the stop start, stuff, the body never really gets to the point where it is working to produce those kind of results.

The heart rate should always increase, the maximum is 220 minus your age, and as long as you don’t go beyond that rate you shouldn’t do any damage. The real measure is recovery time, the shorter the time it takes to get to your resting heart rate the fitter you are, not necessarily how far you can run, all though the two sometimes go together.

Different sort of running produces different effects, decide what you want to achieve, muscle build, fitness and endurance, or muscle stamina without much muscle gain while getting the fitness and endurance at the same time.

With the equipment that one finds in modern gyms which remove the impact of running on the road while producing the same result it has got to be worth joining a good modern reputable gym if one is serious about getting fit, loosing weight and all that kind of thing.

[katamasta]

ADMIN EDIT: We really DON'T care what you think - AG

[MasterH]

For my bad knees I take Gluclosimine (I'm sure my spelling is off) and Vit. E. They work well together.

Also try walking, you burn less calories, but you're still out doing something and it's much better on the knees.

[pasmith]

Sorry Angela but I have to take issue with this statement...

"Notice how long distance runners are skinny, whilst sprinters are muscley"

...as that is false logic.

They are like that NOT because the activity makes them like that but because people like that are best suited to those activities at a competitive level.
By extending your theory you could also say that doing high jump makes you tall and skinny, doing sumo makes you fat, doing shot putt makes you big and heavy set etc. Clearly that is wrong.
Sure, activities will effect your physique in certain ways but not to the extent of changing your basic physical type. I guarantee that sprinters and walkers were pretty much like that to begin with. The activity merely accentuated the differences when done for long periods or when trained competitively.

[darkstar]

hmmm.

i've done a great deal of running in my time including a marathon and many many speedmarches (up to the 30 miler in boots with 38lb kit plus weapon) and my knees are fine.

i agree that you should get good running shoes and run on soft surfaces if possible, (the beach is absolutely ideal because of the extra effort every step takes) and even the military have started issuing semi-decent trainers these days.

but this ..

Seriously though, sustained running is incedibly bad on the knees and ankles.

..is a massive sweeping generalisation. in fact "running" is too. i run about 3 miles per session these days, with intervals and hill-running built in, and "rest" periods of sustained speed to recover from the sprints.

To increase fitness and stamina I would highly recommend talking up something like cycling or rowing instead. Either that or a power walk, or hiking.

cycling can be counterproductive to MA because of the tightening effect on the legs and power-walking or hiking is likely to not put your HR into the correct zones to improve CV fitness unless you are pretty unfit to start with.

running is one of the easiest and more time-efficient methods of upping your calorie expediture and cardio fitness, and i would suggest that if you find running higher impact than your MA training, you're not training hard enough

[darkstar]

this...

Right, if you want to lose weight you don't want your heart rate to go too high

is also a myth. you're referring to the "fat burning zone" yes?

ok, it is true that at lower HRs you'll burn more cals of fat than cals from carbs. however at much higher HRs, whilst the percentage fat/carbs will change, the overall total fat burnt will still be more.

and this...

As for exercise, you should maintain a steady rhythm be it running cycling or rowing for a minimum of 20 min, it is after this point that anaerobic exercise starts to happen

isnt strictly accurate either. 20 mins is the threshold for seeing improvements in cardio fitness, but nothing to do with anaerobic work. that is simply a higher intensity of exercise after which you cannot supply the muscles enough oxygen to maintain that level and have to dip into anaerobic energy production.

you can go anaerobic at any point just by increasing intensity, and you can work aerobically for hours and hours if you want to.

[AngelaG]

Ha, I'm just passing information passed on to me by fitness trainers at the gym, and some medical personnel. I don't claim to be either though

[MasterH]

Boy, you can get kick in the head really fast here. Keep the guard up.