I'm not a natural exerciser, but I've been doing regular walking for the last few weeks, two or three times a week. I do about 1.5 miles each time, sometimes a bit more, and my average time is between 13-17 minutes per mile. Is this enough to get fitter? I'm definitely losing a bit of weight through it. I know what I'm doing isn't a lot by some people's standards, but for me it's a big achievement

I've discovered that roads which are flat when you drive along them are actually steep hills when you walk them I've found that it's easier if you lean into the hill but any other tips would be appreciated!

What exercising do other people do?

Run - usually around 70-75 miles a week

I don't understand the question. Do you mean other than raising a fork to my mouth?

nothing right now... I keep meaning to get into running again, but I like doing that in the morning. I already get up at 5:45 so really can't fit it in. And it's dark in the evenings....

And I'm so slow that I get fed up

Any exercise is better than none. Walking is reckoned to be one of the best. Easy enough for most people to do, intense enough to make you fit, but not likely to lead to injury. 4 miles per hour is brisk for walking, so - unless you are interested in speed-walking, to go any quicker you'd need to start running/jogging. You can probably get all the fitness you need by building up the distances that you cover.

Running is a lot more intense than walking. The benefits come quicker (you become thin very quickly) but against that there is a much bigger risk of injury or permanent damage. When you first start running it is very intense and muscles ache that you never knew you had. To start off with relatively short distances and modest speeds is very sensible - hardly faster than a brisk walk is fine. When you start running faster the stresses on the body increase enormously so it is wisest to build up slowly. If you stick at it you'll soon be amazed at the distances you can cover with ease, and the speed at which you can cover them. But a word from the belatedly wise (and previously rather stupid). Listen to your body!


Yes, we all find this when we get out of our artificial environment and into reality. By the laws of physics you have no choice but to lean in to a hill, otherwise you would fall over backwards! As for running up hills, when you investigate you find that the experts on running disagree as much as the experts on piano playing about the right way to do anything. There are (at least) two schools of thought on getting up hills. One school argues for a high, driving knee lift. The other for a relaxed shuffle. The same principles may apply to walking. I do know that when you are out fell walking a stick is a big help. Not a traditional walking stick, the special hi-tec ones that you see serious walkers using.

I used to swim and run competitively so I am used to hard and lengthy training (not that I was ever outstandingly good at anything athletic). As a swimmer I used to cover more than 20,000 metres a week in the pool, and as a runner I trained anything from 25 to 75 miles a week, at speeds varying from short flat-out sprints to many miles of "survival-shuffle" ... depending on what events were coming up. However, I am unable to run much at the moment because of a chronic foot problem.

So at present I swim to stay fit, just three times a week, for up to an hour each time covering about 3000 metres in a session. I also cycle everywhere (this is Holland - everyone does it) including to and from work - a total of at least 60 miles a week. Finally, I do a bit of styretching and a few strengthening exercises on mosts days.

This is quite a lot of exercise by most people's standards (especially those that are over 50), but one of the drawbacks of having been exceptionally fit as a young person is that after a certain age there is no way to go but downhill - however much you might train.

Better than any of this would be to be 20 or 30 years younger!

Mountaineering...

Usually a 15-20 mile walk and some climbing. Trying to get back to the level of fitness where I can do some of the major Scottish winter climbs.

Hi Sylark,

As someone who has done lots of different activities I'd say walking is one of the most pleasant and rewarding forms of exercise.

If you want to get thinner the secret is to take it fairly slowly. If you set off, for example, at a running pace your body will feel a sudden demand for extra available energy and will not go to your fat reserves to get it. I can't quite remember what it does, but there are other less obvious places where fat is stored than the belly, thighs, etc. and it's to those that the body turns preferentially if the demand is sudden. So, walking at a comfortable pace (and yours sounds good) should do it, provided you do it for long enough. Twenty minutes I believe is about the minimum. If, as you get stronger, you feel you want to start a gentle jog, well so much the better. If not, walking is terrific exercise.

Also, as a bit of fun, if you want to see how many calories you're losing, you could invest a few pounds in a "pedometer". This is a little box you clip to a belt or trouser tops that counts your steps and converts them into distance and into calories. It's a rough guide of course, but can be fun. They're available in just about all sports/hiking shops.

The other comment I'd make, and probably more important than all of the above, is (unless you are naturally very supple) add a bit of bending and stretching to your routine. This is the one thing that helps to retain an overall feeling of fitness and physical wellbeing as we get older* (especially when combined with something like walking or biking). There are loads of books showing different exercises and, above all, do them GENTLY.

So, take it slowly and easily at first, progress will come quickly enough, and don't forget to enjoy it….. Don't ever let it become a chore….

The Elephant

*I'm assuming you're an adult

I used to be fit - Karate 2 or 3 times a week, then I had kids, now generally I do nothing and I need to lose about 4 stone. My husband persuaded me to play a badminton match last week, I was soooo exhausted it was embarrasing, I haven't played badminton, let alone competitively for about 20 years, mind you I still won 2 of my games

I've also started roller skating again over the last couple of months with my girls (I last did it about 30 years ago) and am really enjoying that.

So Skylark, I think what your doing is great, it's fun without being sweaty and exhausting and there is nothing like a nice country walk. I just never get around to doing it on my own, I feel an idiot without a companion, or a dog.

I walk between one and six miles in total per day.. with my dogs. I don't consider myself fit enough and would love to lose weight.

I used to ride 20-40 miles a week on horseback.. usually at a 'spanking trot' (exercising endurance horses) which was extremely good exercise and really hard work. At that time my dog-walks usually included some running too.

Do wear the correct footwear - good boots for walking and proper running shoes etc.,etc.


I would love to go back to roller-skating because it is truly excellent for working out your entire body if you do it correctly. Unfortunately the roads around here are too mucky for tiny wheels.

What a wonderful phrase brings all sorts of things to mind!!!

I think the 'sweaty girth' at the end of it would bring you back down to earth!!! .. and then there's the hose-down with cold water, scrape and rub with handful of straw.. followed by a good roll around in the paddock!!!

I usually play squash once a week in the winter and spring.

I then do indoor cricket sessions in spring and outdoor cricket sessions and matches in the summer.

I used to play football in the spring term but don't any longer. Also when I used to live in surrey with my dad i would cycle 8 miles a day to and from school but now I take a train to college.

I exercise my biceps by lifting my pint with alternate arms each swig!

I'm terrible... I was really good when I was working abroad, swimming every day and even hitting the gym, but I can't be bothered over here!

Cycling to and from school, on average three days a week (the other days I have my bassoon...), plus to drama on Sundays.

Of course there are school PE lessons two hours a week... ah, the joys of netball in T shirt and shorts when it's 4.5 degrees outside...

I love swimming, but atm I only swim for one hour a week, in a lesson. Last Saturday we did one mile (which normally takes me about 30mins) in 16 lots of 6 lengths, starting each set every 2 and a halk minutes, so getting about 30s rest between each set.
I have got a card that lets me swim for free at our local pool, but I haven't had the time to go swimming yet - too busy with music-related things!

I do ballet twice a week normally which is really good for keeping supple and so on, and I also try to swim as much as possible, which is generally once or twice a week. Usually I swim about 40 lengths, but I have to be quite careful because my asthma is quite poorly controlled so I get very wheezy/short of breath. That's not to say that I don't push it at every opportunity I get though! Thinking about it, it's probably the reason I always seem to be dashing to hopsital!

I am currently not allowed to do anything except lie on the sofa and I am really missing it - not that I did much before except walk everywhere! Can't wait to be going swimming and walking again though.

Just started again on Sunday. I have found a circuit of 2 miles. I walked it on Sunday. Will walk briskly a few times, and then start a few jogs in it, and build up slowly so not to pull anything. Eventually joggin the lot. Then I will lengthen it.
Bev

I swim once a week at a local swimming club. It's a training session for 1 and a half hours, and we usually swim quite a long way (not sure quite how far, but the warm up is usually about 1000m and lasts us 20 mins! ).

I run occasionally on a Monday lunchtime at school, a 40 minute jog to the local park, once round and then back to school again.

Then there's PE at school. At the moment I'm doing basketball, which has us all running around and is very tiring, and fitness, which so far has been a couple of weeks of aerobics, then a few weeks of step aerobics, so this keeps us quite fit too.

I used to be extraordinarily fit (it happens when you train with world-class coaches for an average of 5 hours a day for 7 years). Alas the last vestiges of that fitness disappeared years ago!

These days I am extraordinarily sedentary.

In an effort to acquire even a moderate level of fitness again I started going to the gym. Having gone enough times to be confident that I meant it I forked out the fee and joined. With extraordinarily bad timing, the very next day I developed a temperature, a headache, muscle & joint aches . . . in short, a flu-like illness that laid me out for the best part of a fortnight.

On Wednesday I will try again!

Good luck. I am starting the gym this week too. I ache just thinking about it.

From Monday to Friday I go out with my dogs twice a day whatever the weather. On average one walk will be for about an hour and the other for just over half an hour. I always try to incorporate a hill into the walk so I have to work harder, and one of the walks I do has some bits of rough walking so I have to work a bit harder at that too. On Saturday and Sunday my husband gets his turn - he does the dog walks. Although I welcome the extra time - might get some housework done - I do miss it. If I don't get out I get cross and stressy, I find walking very relaxing. The walks are longer if I take my camera out with me, cos I keep stopping to take a photo. Doesn't seem to have any effect on my weight sadly, and I do need to lose some.

Run for the bus.

I cycle commute, 10 miles each way, 2 or 3 times a week at the moment. Have I ever mentioned this to anyone?

I keep trying to up the number of days, the ideal being 4 times a week (one day I need to swap over the clothes in my locker - I do this on music lesson day when I have extra luggage to carry!), but work keeps getting in the way and making me stay late [until 23rd Nov, at which point I should be free of late meetings for a while!])

Still running, for the marathon I'm now not doing in April 2010...

I walk between 5 and 10 miles almost every day (walking, not strolling ) for aerobic exercise and getting daylight - I don't walk in the dark. Not because I'm scared, but because I have to teach, and also because I need a bit of daylight. I tried running, but it does nothing for my rather damaged knees (down to pretty heavy dancing for years).

Yoga every morning straight before I have a shower, which keeps me supple and (almost) free of backpain.

Sometimes I will also do aerobics, a bit of weightlifting and resistance training in the gym, but very often, I cannot be bothered with the rather time-consuming process.

I eat too much junkfood (as in chocolate and cakes) though, so I just about hold my weight

One of my close friends has taken up boxing training and various other gym activities so she can eat all the junk she wants without putting on any weight! Good plan to be honest!

Not really sure because of all the other effects it has on my body

I have so little willpower though when it comes down to sweets Living with a man who actually likes me a bit curvier than I used to be and therefore always puts my favourites in the cupboard doesn't help either ...

Mean!

This is not entirely true. There is still some residual fitness from his days as a top-class rower. He had no trouble cycling around Utrecht.

Ha ha

Now that's more like it!!

Mind you I am one of those irritating people that eats man size portions, (even though I am only small) plus I eat quite a few goodies here and there but I don't put on weight. I don't make time for exercise as there is no real incentive ,plus all my spare time goes on the piano, so you could say my fingers are well worked out.

Its a shame as I am quite a sporty person.

Slither across muddy garden to get car.

I'm one of those sad old men who tell the youngsters "when I were a lad, I used to...." and then regale them with tales of marathons and ultra runs (24 hours or 100 miles). This was not a problem in my 30s because I was in the TA and very fit all round.

Nowadays, I run 3 or 4 times a week simply to stave off the effects of approaching the mid 50s!

I tend to exercise in cycles During my teens, I swam and played tennis regularly, then less and less when I went to uni (and preferred pub-hobbing). When I started working, I then started going to the gym regularly (even had a personal trainer! ). These days I'm again lazy so I do yoga and/or pilates once a week at most. I'm very lucky that I simply don't put on weight no matter what/how much I eat so exercise isn't quite necessary in that respect

That is because you are still young, but very likely someday that will no longer be true. It was once true of me, but - alas - somewhere between 45 and 50 something changed and I can no longer eat (and drink!) anything and everything I fancy with impunity.

When my back is behaving (I have disc probs), I run, go to the gym and play football. I aim to exercise 5-6 times a week.

Simple answer - nowhere near enough! ..although I'm filled with good intentions.

As opposed to on cycles?

Which - as we all know - are what pave the way to h e l l

(Sorry Forum-nanny - you don't censor my posts THAT easily)

Has anyone got any inspiring stories of having a good early morning routine? Earlier this year I was getting up at about 5.15am and going on our exercise bike for 30 minutes and then taking my dog for a short walk before work. However about a month in I came down ill (non related to exercise) which involved a trip to hospital and since then have found it really difficult to get up in the mornings, not that I found it especially easy before, and as a result haven't been doing the exercise in the morning. I'd like to be able to get up and have time to exercise, take the dog out, have breakfast and get ready, but I found it really awkward to fit everything in. When I was being good I was getting up, having a drink of water, warming up, going on the bike, taking the dog out and then having breakfast, but doing all of that without eating isn't very good I don't think. When do early morning exercisers eat?

I would love to start running again. When I was younger (junior school) I was the only one out of my group of friends who didn't have a bike so I would have to run alongside them whenever we were out. As a result I got really good at running and was quite fast at sprinting as well as doing cross country. But I gradually stopped as I went through the senior school years. However now I think I'm quite OCDish about running as I worry about the impact it has on your body. I'd love to be able to take my dog running though.

In answer to skylark's OP, at the moment I don't do anywhere near enough exercise. I walk my dog but would love to take him out more often, hence wanting to be able to get up in the morning and walk him then as well. I go out with him about 3 times a day at the moment. I want to start going on the exercise bike again. Another part of my problem is not eating healthily enough and like Mezzo I really like sweets and cakes - not so much of a fan of chocolate anymore. However I'm trying not to have any treats until Christmas. My boyfriend is trying to get on with losing weight so I should go without something that I consider a treat to show my support.

Lucid

Just returned from a league match at my squash club. I'm grumpy that i lost 3-2 from 2-1 up.

Got another match on saturday so the fitness levels are in good shape at the moment.

I do a bit of aerobics twice a week at least.

The best recently discovered exercise is taking one of my dogs out on roller blades (wheels on me not the dog )

He's a Greyhound so most of the time he's pulling me but luckily he's a sprinter not a marathon runner or I would be in trouble.

Lois

'Fraid not, early morning is definitely not my best time for exercise. Which is a shame, because very often the day is sunny when I first get up but has clouded over within an hour or so.

Even the modest exercise I've been doing has made me fitter - I can now run upstairs whereas before, not only could I not run upstairs but I was breathless when I got to the top I run upstairs now for the h3ll of it, just because I can

Went out for a short run this evening, just to see if I still can. Not much more than a mile but it's been years since I did this seriously and I managed not to stop for a puff, and managed a sprint at the end.
I'm 51 and 20lbs too fat so I prefer to be out when its dark. (Probably everyone else prefers it, too!)

This might be the beginning of great things....have to say, I feel much better for it.

Well done! Build up gradually, and make sure you enjoy it, rather than it becoming a chore. The hardest step of any run is the very first one out of the door!

I can do the early morning routine part (whether it is inspiring I am not sure ).

I've pretty much always woken up early (not that I have always found it easy).

I found getting up at the same time (virtually) everyday is a lot easier, for me this is around 0530. I tend to either run outside or go to the gym and use the treadmill most days. If I run outside I am usually out the door by 0530 and back by 0700 with time for a shower and a cup of Tea and then get the bus to the office.
When I go to the gym I eat breakfast and then get to the gym for 0700 when it opens. My old gym opened at 0630 but I switched as it was more expensive.

In order to do this the body needs enough sleep (I need to get 7-8 hours sleep, two days with 5 hours will not work and I will start to feel it!) and it helps to keep to a routine i.e. asleep but 2200 at the latest. Plus the diet needs to be good too, I have vastly reduced my coffee consumption to 1 cup a day (from 10+ in previous years )
In order to wake up I set my CD player, mobile phone to go off, plus I have a alarm clock with built in light that gradually gets brighter the hour before you set it to get off, I swear by this alarm clock, I think they are great!

I can do the getting up early part, but that also ends up with me leaving the house at 6:50 and on the bus to uni before 7

I'm impressed that you can be out of the door just after waking up.When I used to run (slowly) at that time I had to take about half an hour getting changed, have a drink, go to the loo....

I've got one of these as well but can't get the hang of setting it; you need an electronics degree to stop it lighting up at 3a.m to glare into your face inducing prison camp dreams. The instructions seem clear but the buttons don't click satisfactorily so I probably press randomly thinking I am correcting a previous fault!
Sorry -

Badminton once a week (not very good yet though!), and I cycle and walk a lot. My early morning run is still all in the mind, but I have hopes of making it real soon. Middle aged spread is beginning to be a possibility, so I'd like to stop it before it gets any worse.
N

Which one is it? There should be a setting where you say how far in advance of the alarm time the thing starts getting brighter eg 30 mins. So if alarm is set for 0700 it would start getting brighter from 0630

Not sure offhand, but its getting to the time of year when I need to start trying it again. I have similar problems with my heart monitor thingy so I accept full responsibility for the ineptitude.

Yes I too am waiting for the day that I wake up 10 stone heavier!!!