Newbie to elliptical .. how fast to ramp up?

[skeezix]

Howdy everyone


Intro: I'm a newbie to fitness, but I'm determined to repair years of abuse! I'm a 40 year old coder, meaning I'm camping at my desk 9+ hours a day .. and now working at home (I used to park far from work and walk in.) With a couple kids in diapers I'm up at weird hours and spending even more time sitting at my desk between feedings, in the wee hours of the night. 6 foot tall and about 260 pounds.. eegad! Pick up an Everlast ev455 elliptical on a 75% off deal (sweet!), and here I am.


Not knowing where to begin, I fired up Program 1 (like a bell curve, or a hill .. start easy, get tough, a brief easier pop, and then hard again, and then easing on down) for 10 minutes first day, and then two days of 15 minutes. (At 11pm when babies sleeping for a touch.. just wonderful, doing exercise at night :/)


I've been rather thinking of increasing say 1 minute every week, or is that too little? much?


I'm a 'slightly asthmatic' person, meaning it doesnm't come up very often.. couple times a year; at the end of 15 minutes of Program 1, my heart is going pretty good (145 on the machines pulse meter, which seems pretty good for someone my age) and I'm a little winded, but not too bad; I feel like I coudl go more, but for sure I'm a little wobbly in the legs when I get off The hardest part is being bored while doing it, so I've got a TV going in front of me.. not sure if the distraction leads to a crummy workout, but at least it helps me stay on the workout. (I know, 3 days in, what a noob


Anyway, I feel like I can do more, but I don't want to over-do it.


I do have a good sweat sheen afterwards, and I imagine thats a good sign .. no sweat, no workout, right?


.. I've read you shoudl get 150min/week (30min/day 5 days a week), but thats a little challenging in my situation, but possible; is 15min a day in one shot, a good start? Or shoudl I do that for a week and go right for 20 minutes? 5 minms more per week until I hit 30 per shot?


Or try for 2 15-min shots? (may be very hard to pull off right now, with diapered babies being hungry and screamy


... goal is general fitness, with a aim of losing weight by being mroe fit and active.


Thanks for listening,


jeff

 

[PLB]

Originally Posted by skeezix


.. I've read you shoudl get 150min/week (30min/day 5 days a week), but thats a little challenging in my situation, but possible; is 15min a day in one shot, a good start? Or shoudl I do that for a week and go right for 20 minutes? 5 minms more per week until I hit 30 per shot?



Or try for 2 15-min shots? (may be very hard to pull off right now, with diapered babies being hungry and screamy

Hey Jeff, welcome to the forum!


Either of these options are good, so whatever works for you, do it! Research has found that even if you can only get exercise in 10 minute increments to add up to at least 30 mins per day, you will still be able to improve your fitness as well as increase your overall health. Obviously, 30 minutes in a row will give you greater health benefits, but a couple of 15 minute sessions will be very good for you as well.


As for watching TV while working out, yes, it might make your workout "crummy," but if you have to watch it for now in order to actually get your workout done, then that's better than not working out at all! Is listening to music while working out helpful?

 

[RedX]

When I started working out I started on treadmil first to get my body used to exercise. When I got to the elliptical I was going for 20 minutes at medium speed and light resistance, but that was including 20-30 minutes of fast walk on treadmil. Now I am doing 20 minutes of treadmil or arc and 25-30 minutes of elliptical. But now i am doing elliptical at a medium to fast pace with an incline and good resistance. When I am on the elliptical I am going at a fast enough pace to keep my heart rate up and sweat alot. When i am done, my shirt is half way covered in sweat.


Being bored you just need to find something to keep you entertained. I am at the gym listening to music on my phone and watching tv. I usually have the closed caption on so I can see what they are saying but still jamming to my music.


Good luck