am i really that unfit ?

M

mackabee

0
Hi all

About 18 months ago i decided i would start to try and keep fit. I am 42 and have spent most of my life avoiding exercise (i even have an office job sitting down all day).
I bought myself an indoor spin bike and i have now got to the stage where i can do 20 minutes a night on it (5 nights a week) - and i average about 10km in each session.

My question though is this : i keep reading about how you know you are overdoing it if you cant hold a conversation while doing the exercise. At its hardest point (i use different levels of resistance) i can barely take a sip of water from a bottle let alone speak to anyone.
Am i doing it too tough, or is it just a sign that i am still a little unfit ?
I dont feel like i am overdoing it - my legs are not sore and i can feel my leg strength improving as every week goes by (by the way i have gone through long periods of my life with chronic fatigue).

I sometime use a heart rate monitor and occasionaly it gets up to 92% at the peak of the exercise.

What do you guys reckon ?

Cheers

Mackabee
 
Got something for you I wrote on the other forum...sec.

Question about heart rate during exercise - Weight Loss Forum

Read the whole thing, but particularly posts # 5 and 6.
 
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Athletes routinely work out at levels at which they cannot maintain a conversation. If you are healthy and not experiencing any difficulties, keep at it. 20 minutes is not very long, but with time you will develop better erobic capacity, muscular development and endurance.
 
Thanks Focus and G8R80 - good to know these tips.....

I know 20 mins per day may not sound much but i am only beginning !

My aim is to get a lot higher. Actually them main reason i am doing the spin bike is to strengthen muscle - i dont want to lose any weight as i am quite thin anyway.

Cheers

Mackabee
 
Mack, have you had a physical recently? I strongly recommend anyone who works out hard to get one, but especially people who have not been working out recently and those over 40. If you can, get an exercise stress test so that the doctor can monitor your heart function in a controlled environment while you hit levels that you will probably hit at home. Very prudent.
 
Hi G8r80 - thats a good bit of advice - i am off to the doctors next week anyway so i shall ask about a physical.

i guess its better to be safe than sorry !

Cheers
 
Mackabee,

I've never heard of such a thing. I think it's good to just focus on your exercise rather than wasting precious energy talking. That's a little silly for whoever told you that. You could try an exercise vest if you want to increase your endurance. hyperwear.com has one and it acts a sort of resistance wear. I've heard all kinds of suggestions about increasing endurance, but I never hear much about exercise vests.
 
I'm going to agree that most workouts should be down at a level where you are capable of having a conversation. Most athletes push too hard. I think the percentages are 90-6-3-1... essentially meaning that 90% of workouts should be done in z1, 6% in z2, 3% in z3, and 1% in z4.

Make the easy days easy and the hard days hard. Most athletes can't do either.
 
tsilcyc said:
I'm going to agree that most workouts should be down at a level where you are capable of having a conversation. Most athletes push too hard. I think the percentages are 90-6-3-1... essentially meaning that 90% of workouts should be done in z1, 6% in z2, 3% in z3, and 1% in z4.

Make the easy days easy and the hard days hard. Most athletes can't do either.
Click to expand...

Im agreeing with the part where you say make your easy and your hard days...but why wpu;d you want to have a conversation while working out anyway?
If your serious about getting results then you need to be focused on working out...However this wouldn't really madder for like treadmill exercises and such...
 
L-T said:
Im agreeing with the part where you say make your easy and your hard days...but why wpu;d you want to have a conversation while working out anyway?
If your serious about getting results then you need to be focused on working out...However this wouldn't really madder for like treadmill exercises and such...
Click to expand...

It's not that you "would" have a conversation, it's that you "could" have a conversation. The point being that if you can have a conversation, you're probably at the correct pace. If you cannot have a conversation, you're probably pushing too hard.

Let's say I gave you a week of running that looked like this:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - 6 miles mixed terrain @ tempo
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - 8 miles race pace w/ 6x 30 second hill repeats on a steep hill
Friday - 5 miles flat and fast
Saturday - Off
Sunday - 18 miles @ aerobic pace mixed terrain on rollers

You would be able to have a conversation on Tuesday, Thursday (race pace=marathon pace), and Sunday. I would expect Friday to be at an effort where having a conversation would be difficult.

It's not about having a conversation, it's about pacing correctly.
 
tsilcyc said:
It's not that you "would" have a conversation, it's that you "could" have a conversation. The point being that if you can have a conversation, you're probably at the correct pace. If you cannot have a conversation, you're probably pushing too hard.

Let's say I gave you a week of running that looked like this:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - 6 miles mixed terrain @ tempo
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - 8 miles race pace w/ 6x 30 second hill repeats on a steep hill
Friday - 5 miles flat and fast
Saturday - Off
Sunday - 18 miles @ aerobic pace mixed terrain on rollers

You would be able to have a conversation on Tuesday, Thursday (race pace=marathon pace), and Sunday. I would expect Friday to be at an effort where having a conversation would be difficult.

It's not about having a conversation, it's about pacing correctly.
Click to expand...

I see...I think thats cleared a few things up now.
 
hi

when i originally posted, i didnt mean it to sound that i WANTED to have a conversation.
Its just that i see people doing their gym exercise or cycle training at the park and they seem to hold conversations with other people during the exercise.
For me, when i am on the hard part of the workout, i could barely speak as i am in intense exercise, and i was wondering does this mean that i am pushing too hard, or am i too unfit, and it shows i need to keep up the exercise effort.

sorry if you picked up the wrong meaning from my post.

Cheers

Mackabee
 
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