How much exercise do you actually do?

[whimsicalname]

That's it really. I think I've got in with the wrong crowd at my running club who all seem to workout 2 or more hours a day. Please tell me I'm not the only one not doing that.

I try to run a couple of times a week but often don't manage that. Work FT (in shifts, which makes it difficult to commit to a class), long commute and DH and I alternate going in early (very early) and doing the school run. I could do weekends/evenings but I'd prefer to see my children.

It averages out at an hour a day - running, cycling, swimming. In the week I run at lunchtime or swim, plus can swim late night. I do an hours cycle at lunchtime or turbo in the evening. At weekends its longer rides as a family or I get to do a club ride, plus swimming with ds (who is old enough to do lengths with me or play while I do some)

My BMI is 27.45 Im a size 14/16 and a resting heart rate of 57 (apparently thats atheltic according to the chart linked earlier)

Im still looking to lose weight and gain fitness levels. I exercise 30-40 mins 5 times a week at the most by running, classes (kettlebells and Metafit) and general gym work (treadmill, weights).

I thought that you weren't supposed to exercise every day as you need time to recover? Perhaps I need to up my exercise more then?

Oh and before I moved I used to walk the 30 min journey to work/town each day, but now I live rurally its a bit more difficult. I have thought about getting a bike for commuting to/from work, but haven't got round to it yet. I miss walking to work.

crikey is this normal?

I walk DS2 to school 4 mornings a week (0.5 miles each way with a very steep hill on the way back).
I do a pilates class about once every two weeks and play tennis about the same.

I thought I was fairly active..........

What would the exercise experts recommend I change? The one thing I'd really like is more energy/being less tired/having more stamina in everyday life.

Am 44 and not overweight btw.

I walk about 3 miles on weekdays to work and back, do 1 pilates class a week, swim for 30 mins once a week.

Would love to do more swimming and some aerobics classes but I don't have the time as DH is never home early enough in the evenings.

wellinto I think it's a self selecting sample as most people who don't exercise won't have bothered responding.
You're doing the minimum recommendation which is at least 3 sessions a week of 30 mins. I do as little as I can get away with to maintain my weight .

I always cook from scratch!

I tried the Shred but started dreading it as so, so dull. I'm not a natural runner but all the women (with kids) I know who look slim and strong are runners. I now look forward to it, which amazes me. DH starts bath time, I run for 20 minutes or so, then get back to finish off getting 3 kiddies to bed.

If I couldn't just do it in the tiny time frame I have, then I'd never stick to it.

When I am going well, I manage to swim 3 times a week (between 20-40 lengths of the pool), and occasionally manage to get to the gym for about 40 minutes another day (I am in the gym but usually just swim there).

I managed a sunrise yoga class once a week for about 3 months, and enjoy both yoga and pilates but never seem to last longer than about 1 term as something in my life shifts so I can't keep going at that time.

I also have a 12 minute walk from my car to the office, and 12 back again, on a daily basis at a brisk pace. Or else I use public transport, which means a 12 minute brisk walk in the morning at one end and 4 minutes at the other; and about 20 minutes in the evening but slightly slower (collecting DD from school en route).

I generally find myself running late to collect her as well, so that's a good fast run of 500m across the yard to the afterschool club on a daily basis too - whether car or public transport to get there.

I'd really love to be able to run properly, and just head off from home when I have time in the evenings though. Crappy asthmaticcy lungs.....

I thought you were only supposed to do about half hour brisk walking exercise a day and no running or jogging over the age of 30 otherwise you bugger up your knees.

Swimming is meant to be good though.

Provided you aren't significantly overweight mademan your knees can stand a bit of running even for us geriatric over 30s.

However for weight loss and general health I'm not sure there is a great benefit in long distance training. I have trained for several half marathons and whilst my legs looked pretty good, my weight if anything stuck or increased whilst I was training without eating much more - and I should have been able to because of all the calories I was allegedly burning. Apparently it's something to do with the state your body goes into when you do aerobic exercise for too long a time.

Happy to be proved wrong by others though as it may just be my badly behaved body.

No running or jogging over the age of 30? Where on earth did you hear that mademan? Suits me fine as I hate running though! In terms of exercising every day, if you weight train then the specific muscles worked need recovery time, usually a day at least, and running on hard surfaces every day or long distance can be very hard on joints but of course it's great to exercise every day if you can fit it in or are so inclined!

Not just your body, rookie. I have run marathons while significantly overweight. It can be very hard to actually lose weight while doing high-intensity training.

rookiemere I agree re endurance training, great if you really enjoy it but there are better choices to make if general health and aesthetics are your goal.

Oh good I'm glad people agree re the endurance training. I shan't bother signing up for the 10 miler this year .

I thought you were only supposed to do about half hour brisk walking exercise a day

and this was decreed by whom?

or do you mean that half an hour of brisk walking is the minimum required to stave off the damage caused by a sedentary lifestyle?

I think weight training is supposed to be beneficial because apparently muscles burn up fat, so by increasing muscle mass you get rid of the fat. Only thing is muscle is supposed to be heavier than fat so people tend to assume they're putting on weight as they gain muscle mass when really they're actually losing the fat.

It has to be said though that I'm no Dr Christian Jessen or anything, so I might be talking out of my bum.

It can be very hard to actually lose weight while doing high-intensity training

I find exactly the opposite, body fat drops quickly if I increase running intensity & duration

I do one or two hiit classes a week.

One body conditioning class

Run 15 to 18 miles a week.

Am often carrying around a 3 year old child too.....

Have a bmi of 23/24. This time last year my BMI was 30 (weight loss a mixture of exercise and WW).

"and this was decreed by whom?"

It's like most things, every expert has a different opinion. Half hour a day is what I read somewhere, but they all seem to make it up as they go along to be honest.

Personal trainers will probably say to do loads of exercise because they make more money that way.

I guess it's just me and rookie then!

Though what do you mean by an increase, Suzanne? Recently I've upped my exercise from 3-4 1-hour sessions a week to 6-7 sessions, and with higher intensity so I'm losing weight faster. But I find that once I start serious marathon training, I stop losing weight.

Interesting feature on the difference between long distance and short intense running ( although I'd need to up the intensity on the short runs to get the full benefits) www.staysharpbestrong.com/2013/04/12/guest-post-sprinting-vs-long-distance

Annie, well by increase I just mean more time and/or higher intensity, so say going from 4 hours each of cycling and running per week to 4 hours cycling and six hours running.

If you increase energy expenditure and keep energy intake the same surely the fuel for the extra activity has to come from the fuel that you have in storage (ie muscle gylocgen & body fat)

It can be physiologically stressful train intensely whilst in calorie deficit, if I was training for something as grueling as a marathon I'd probably make sure I ate more than enough so as to feel strong enough to do the training and the event.
Could that be why weight loss stops once you start serious marathon training?
Or am I missing the point?