Fit people- some straight talking please.

[Lukethe3]

I am 40 in 3 months time and have 2 DC's. I was quite sporty as a kid and still love the idea of sports and exercise but have become very unfit over the last 10 years. I'm 10kg overweight.

I want to get fit and healthy again. I know how to lose the weight and I'll be following a low carb/paleo WOE.

But I need advice about the exercise. I want to get to the level of being able to do an Olympic distance triathlon in a reasonable time. And I want my body shape to change- everything is a bit flabby and I carry my weight on my stomach.

How much time to I need to commit and what type of program would you recommend? Do I need to commit to exercise every day or will 3 times a week be sufficient? How long should a daily session be?
To see real changes do I need to do 3 or 5 or 20 hrs of exercise per week? What proportion should be cardio based/endurance/weights? Any thoughts on getting a personal trainer once a week?

Tia.

Congratulations on taking the first step to achieving your ambitions (by which I mean actually writing down your goals).

Is there a triathlon club nearby? Or a triathlon website providing specific advice? Otherwise, I would suggest a mixture of running, cycling, swimming, plus cardio and resistance in a gym. That gives five sessions a week, leaving a rest day and a "family day".

Maybe a mixture of organised sessions, and solo training would be good for a busy mum. Some stretching sessions (at home) will also be useful.

Good luck!

I agree with Ladymud, it's fantastic that you have identified a goal to aim for.

I know that lots of endurance athletes would say that you need to commit long hours to training to be able to complete races but I think many trainers now would say that using high intensity interval training for the majority of your sessions with maybe a longer cardio session once a week would yield the same results fitness wise, without the time commitment and risk of injury that repeated long sessions carry. A personal trainer with experience of triathlons would be a fantastic help and provide a programme for you but I think that once you have built up a decent level of fitness with regular steady state cardio and some resistance training you could introduce HIIT and then 3 45-60min sessions a week of weights and HIIT plus a long cardio session once a week would work well.

Using HIIT will give you time to include resistance training, which is particularly important as women age. This is because it maintains muscle mass, something which naturally reduces with changing hormone levels. by building and maintaining muscle you also stop your metabolism slowing, so you can eat more . Muscle may also be lost through long sessions of cardio, so another reason to weight train if you are doing triathlons. Loads of other benefits too. If you can fit in a yoga class here and there that would also be great.

Good luck!

Take a look at this website. I think his approach to diet and exercise makes a lot of sense, he has a few articles on a similar theme regarding endurance exercise.

Ah - this was the one I was looking for.

Please keep in mind the need to get a decent level of fitness before doing HIIT though, it is tough!

To do an olympic distance triathlon you will need to train more than three times per week. I think 6 sessions - i.e. 2 swim, 2 bike, 2 run - is the minimum you should be aiming for to comfortably complete a race. Maybe if you are already a strong swimmer you could cut the swimming down to one, and you might be able to build running or cycling into your day if you are commuting. But it is a time-consuming sport to take part in because you have to train in the three different disciplines. Joining a club (triathlon if there is one, but alternatively a masters swim club or running club) will make it easier to plan your training.

Doing that will certainly help you lose weight and gain muscle tone but in my experience it's not the most efficient way to improve the appearance of your body. A Jillian Michaels style workout will do that more quickly.

I'd agree that HIIT can compensate for a lack of time. I managed to run a 3.45 marathon on 1 long run ( built up week by week from 8 to 22 miles) and 2 hardcore personal training sessions a week ( but they were very hardcore- I would want to cry an throw up every time). Anyway, my point is that I managed to compress my training into 5 hrs max a week which most running program's wouldn't say was enough. I think the thing that will take the time is the open water swim training.

Thanks for the advice. So would it be fair to say that I can get as fit as I want to on 5hrs a week as long as I work very hard in those sessions?

5 hours might be tough.
But there's stuff you can do at home. Like 30 ds or body weight exercises to do the resistance things. Then the 5 hours for the three tri disciplines. The problem with a club is often the commuting and social stuff takes up time. You can cycle and run from home and its definitely worth doing brick at times (doing a training session including 2 disciplines). You can make that more time efficient by say cycling or running to your pool. Then I'd do hiit running or cycling intervals.
But I'm just a runner who does a bit of resistance. I'm sure others have better ideas.

If you want to change your body shape you need to do weights. I was a cardio junkie and was cv fit but skinny-fat with it. I changed my body shape by ditching most of the cardio and picking up heavy weights - there's a photo on my profile of what I achieved in four weeks doing this.

As for your olympic triathlon - do you have a time in your mind for "reasonable"? It's going to be a slightly longer term goal as it's nearing end of triathlon season so I assume you have until next summer to train for it. If I were you I'd spend my 3-5 hours per week (which is plenty btw) doing resistance training and some cardio interval training - I love spinning for this - and then come the early part of next year when you've got yourself in shape follow a specific triathlon plan, running, biking and swimming with one or two cross-training (weights) sessions a week if you can fit them in.

I don't have a triathlon time in mind, I'm just using that as an example of the kind of fitness level I want to achieve. I may not even do a triathlon but I want to be fit and I like the kind of 'fitness' and body shape that triathletes have. I mostly enjoy tennis, netball and walking and I will get more out of them if I am fit. I also want my children to have a good role model.
I think I will aim to train 5 times a week, probably 1 swim, 2 runs and the rest weights and shred.
Just need a start date now. Tomorrow seems like a good idea as I have a child free afternoon.

I'd second what Hotel says re weights (heavy, free weights). Definitely the best way to alter your body shape. Although some cardio is necessary, unless you really enjoy it, or want to enter races etc, lots of cardio training has little to recommend it. Beware too if you also store fat on your belly, lengthy cardio can stress your body and stress is closely linked to retention of belly fat.

Your plan sounds great, should build fitness very quickly. The Shred is essentially interval training and a good introduction to weights, this with running and swimming should show results pretty soon. Enjoy it! Don't forget to take photos/measurements to track your progress . Let us know how you get on.

The time consuming bit of triathlon training is the cycling.
I did a sprint tri a couple of years ago. You need to get out on your bike for about 4 hours a week (2x2hrs) to build your endurance.