good workouts for losing weight

[LBTC]

Tuckervill

Some post workout strategies to reduce your muscle soreness:

drink tons of water

take calcium/magnesium/zinc (up to 1000mg) the night after the workout

after the workout stretch stretch stretch. stretch the muscles you worked the hardest, and make the stretches very gentle, but hold them from 30 seconds up to several minutes. the bigger and the more you've worked the muscle, the longer you should go

eat an excellent recovery food - potato with veggies, and some protein worked best for me. I found I need quick carbs, but needed some protein at the same time.



From my experience, a very strenuous workout (back to back glute focussed kickboxing classes is my experience that comes to mind), will really really hurt the muscle groups on day 2 after the workout. My best muscle recovery was doing a very long, not intense road ride the day after the heavy work. Lots of spin and keep the muscles moving. I think it may be because the exercise promotes so much blood flow, while not straining the muscles further.

I bet the other girls have some great ideas for recovery, too!

Now, if you need 2 recovery days anyway, even with good recovery strategies, you should take them. Your body needs to be your guide, and you need to respect its need for rest and recovery as much as its need for exercise and food!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[GLC1968]

LBTC's recovery advice is good! I agree that after a TOUGH workout, the soreness doesn't strike me until the second day after as well. This means that you were hit with your soreness from the first workout right about the time your muscles are trying to recover from the second one! I found that as my body got accustomed to weight training (after long periods off), that the soreness hit sooner (and therefore also went away sooner).

It won't be long before 48 hours is plenty of recovery time (assuming you are fueling correctly). The first few workouts are always the hardest to recover from!! Hang in there!

[han-grrl]

DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness is usually at its peak almost 48 hours after a tough workout. rest is needed when you are sore because you are causing micro-tears in the muscle during weight lifting. without rest the muscles can't heal. a kind of gross way of thinking about it is think about a scab, if you keep picking, what happens, it bleeds and never heals. During the healing process, the muscles thinks "hmm, she really put some good stress on me, i will make myself more efficient so i am ready for her next time"...so maybe in a few more workouts, the weight will seem easier, thats when progressive over load kicks in, you need to keep challenging the muscles so that they continually improve. during the active season, you might maintain the same weight to keep what you have, you don't want to be too sore to ride...

rest or active recovery, meaning light exercise such as yoga, or walking, can help with soreness. also stretching post exercise (not before) will help with maintaining mobility.

Some recommendations for very heavy lifting would be 3-4 days rest.

icing can also help reduce inflammation, no ice directly on skin, wrap in towel, watch for giving your self frost bite. this would be done within 24 hours of the workout, after 48 hours, icing can't do much.

and as i can attest to...WATCH OUR FOR IBUPROFEN!!! DO NOT rely on that stuff...you can read my other post on my ulcer on that one.

and as you can see, i am still stuck at home and babbling away

Smile!

Han

[Tuckervill]

Hey, thanks for the advice!

I worked out today, and went back to the original weight that I started with. I'm still feeling sore, but it's getting better. I have been doing PT exercises for my shoulder (car accident), but the gym didn't have any weights smaller than 5 lbs, so I used those. That could be the contributing problem, too. Today I did not use any weights for those exercises. I also think at least one machine is slightly too big for me (I'm 5'4"), and it is causing poor form. I will find an alternative to that machine.

It did occur to me today that the soreness might have been from the first work-out, but I really did not feel bad after it, and I didn't FEEL like I worked too hard.

I may not be eating well enough, because I do feel more hungry more often now. I am trying to cut calories. Although the diet plan I am on suggests 1200-1500, I already knew that would be too low, so I'm aiming for the 1700 range and give myself all the way to 2000 on some days, just to make sure I'm building good habits. Maybe I should allow more calories on work out days. Today I did 45 minutes on the treadmill rather than 30, and I am always hungry afterwards, even though I ate breakfast about an hour before!

So thanks! I will continue to study this.

Karen

[equus123]

[han-grrl]

I hear a lot of clients complain that they eat breakfast and find themselves still hungry soon after.

usually its because there wasn't enough breakfast, personally i aim to have a little carb, a little protein and a little fat with each meal including breakfast. this made a huge difference in my hunger, because i was balancing things out with the macro-nutrients.

Nancy clark in her book recommends 500 calorie breakfasts. i think this might depend on the person.

[Veronica]

I eat about a 500 calorie breakfast - yogurt and cereal. My favorite yogurt company went to smaller packaging - used to be 8 ounces and now it's 6. I tried that one day this week. I was starving when school started. Fortunately I came prepared with two snacks instead of one. I get grumpy when I'm hungry. My students don't need me grumpy.

Now I eat 1 and a half yogurts.

Still I'm hungry about every three hours.

I don't know how you ladies eating less than 1500 caloriues do it. I'd be gnawing my fingernails. Metabolism, I guess. I am not a little person, with a fair amount of muscle so maybe I just need more. BTW my weight is stable and I like where it's it for the most part. Less is always good for climbing... but whatever.

V.

[Tuckervill]

I only get hungry after breakfast if I was on the treadmill immediately after.

I usually eat a healthy breakfast--oatmeal with walnuts (omega-3) and raisins (iron). It lasts me a few good hours, and I always have a snack (fruit or something) mid-morning so I won't be ravenous at lunch.

Today, I left for the gym early because we are expecting a snow storm, so I went through McD's and got an egg mcmuffin without the egg. (Hate "formed" eggs. eww.) I was ravenous after the treadmill, but worked through it on the machines. Got home about 10:30. Ate a Nature Valley bar and an orange, and by noon I was ravenous again. Not getting enough calories, I think. After a ham and cheese, I felt much better.

I'm hungry after the treadmill with my oatmeal breakfast, too. But I can ride 10-15 miles after oatmeal with no ill effects. I think it's the weight lifting that's wearing me out. I've been in bed all afternoon. May be a cold coming on, too.

Should be a restful weekend, if the predicted snow materializes!

Karen