I think I need calibration

[dixion]

A while back I posted and asked if Vodka made you fat. Based on what I read, and mostly what I want to look and feel like again, I have gone more days without drinking in the last three weeks than in the last twenty years. But that is not why I am posting. I am posting because I have been exercising for nine weeks now and, based on what I'm reading here, think I may be going in a wrong direction.

I bought a little home gym that I put in the garage. It's got 190 lbs of weight and has the pull down bar and a chest and leg feature. You can manipulate it to do other stuff as well. I have been usuing it three to five times a week doing light weight, with between 50 to 100 reps for each exercise. I end the workout sweaty and tired. Also my bad back, a problem for years, has almost dissapeared.(very good)

My wife has an exercise bike that I would use three or four days a week. I got up to 40 minutes on that befor my left knee went out. It would be really sore the next day after working out, and then it got to the point where it would lock up while walking across a parking lot. So I quit and just started lifting longer to try to lose weight and get my heart rate going.

Last week I joined the Y down the street from my house and now walk there three days a week and do the eliptical, which does not hurt my knees at all at this point. I am up to 25 minutes on that and plan to go 30 today. I am currently excercising 5-6 days a week for about an hour. I like my home gym better than lifting there, so I still use that.

Here are my questions:

-Is that too much exercise?
-I am seeing a change in my body shape, but not losing as much stomach as I would like. Should I continue with what I am doing and be patient?
-My left elbow pops a lot while lifting and is a little sore. At times it throbs all the way down to my little finger. I'm 43 years old. Is this because I'm doing too many reps? (In fact I hear crackling noises in my shoulder too sometimes when lifting)
-Last, what is the most times a week I should do the eliptical? Is four times too many, or can I do it more? Is it bad to mix cardio and weights on the same day?

Thank-You in advance If anyone replies. I have made a number of changes to my exercise goals based on what I have read here. Glad I stumbled onto this site when I did.

[shemp]

The bottom line up-front: I don't know. I can't help you.

1. Cracking and popping and hurting.

The only thing I ignore is muscle soreness-- and if it is long-term low grade persistent, I don't ignore it. If a movement hurts; I don't do it. Those things that stress on joints, tendons, ROM, etc., I progress slowly and carefully.

2. How long before my gut disappears?

How long did it take to create it?

3. How much is too much cardio?

A healthy human heart is pretty resilient. That doesn't mean that you don't do well to vary intensity and rest the rest of the body. Probably a subject for your doctor?

4. How much exercise is too much?

Varies. And I've never lifted 3-5x/week at low intensity. There's a nice expression I first encountered at crossfit: There's no such thing as over training, just under-recovery. Put the emphasis on the good things that you might not be doing enough of, not on reducing the good things that you are doing (even though you may very well need to).

If you are tired, (abnormally) cranky, depressed, having trouble sleeping, catch a cold or feeling vulnerable that way-- there are many signs. The problem is that they are often hard to self-diagnose as fatigue even while they scream fatigue. For me, I find that taking a few days off every few weeks, and a week off every few months, is pretty much in the sweet spot. It took me years to get to this point, and now it is obvious to me that over-resting is preferable to over-training.

Also, over training can manifest itself in simply losing interest in what you are doing. So it makes sense to ask yourself how well your routine integrates into the rest of your life-- how sustainable it seems, at what point it might become time to mix things up, etc. Developing specific goals and measuring your progress towards those goals can help here-- if you ain't keeping score, you're just practicing.


Good luck. Great job on the progress.

[dethgrind]

Cardio and weights on the same day is fine, though you should try to separate them by a few hours and a meal if you can. If you can't, do the cardio after the weights.

Stomach fat is typically the last to go, so be patient. Read the FAQ. Do squats and deadlifts and focus on your diet at least as much as your workouts. Read the links to Berardi's 7 habits and foods that make you look good naked.

[guids]

if you feel good, you are fine, a little aches and pains are just part of the game. People store fat differently, men (except me) store it in their stomach mainly and that is the last place for them to lose it, women (adn myself) store it in their hips/ass, and thats the last place they lose it. Your upperbody, unfortuently is one fo the first places you start losing fat so you look smaller in that area.

[kerowo]

You shouldn't feel any pain in your knees when cycling on the excercise bike so it was probably set up wrong.