5:2 / IF Exercise & Fitness Thread Number 3: Advice and information for those following Intermittent Fasting .... and anyone else too

[BigChocFrenzy]

Why Exercise ?

Maintaining a normal bodyweight and taking regular exercise are 2 major areas of life which we can address to improve our health.

Regular exercise helps reduce the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, some cancers, osteoporosis, dementia, depression.

Increasing your % muscle and / or reducing your % body fat lowers the risk of death from all causes LowerRiskMuscle

Regular exercisers gain the greatest benefits over their lifetime and they can minimise biological aging, i.e. "Bend the Aging Curve BendAge

Recent Research showed that lack of exercise is twice as likely to lead to premature death as being obese (BMI 30 -35)

Body Fat, Exercise & Diet
People who maintain their weight through diet alone without exercise are likely to have major deposits of visceral fat (the more dangerous kind around organs), even if BMI is ok.

They are TOFIs (Thin Outside, Fat Inside)

A MRI study found that:
45 % of women and nearly 60% of men with “healthy” BMI, had excessive levels of visceral fat i.e. clinically overweight

A Can J Card study showed visceral fat can be burned off via exercise, even if weight is unchanged (increased lean mass)

Hormesis

Hormesis, see Mattson , BlackSwan and Stronger is cutting edge science for nutrition & fitness.

Its principles are that alternating between “extremes” - e.g. feast & fast (5:2 / IF) , intense training & rest (HIIT) - makes the body more resilient.

The intermittent stress of lifting an extreme weight or performing at high speed for a short period pushes the body to overcompensate and prepare for an even greater future challenge HormesisTrain , Hormesis-Edge , and AntiFragile
The following recovery period avoids damage from over-stressing.

Fasted training

i.e. training on FDs (Fast Days), seems to increase the benefits of both training and IF.
Most experienced exercisers soon manage fasted training without loss of performance for sessions of up to 90 mins.

TYPES of Exercise

Main types: Aerobic, anaerobic, flexibility.

All exercise will burn fat, the more intense the faster the fat burn

Anaerobic
e.g. HIIT (see below), sprints, strength training
. Shorter training period
. Increases the RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) for up to 48 hrs
. Soon increases fitness
. May help correct insulin metabolism issues & target abs fat.

Aerobic
e.g. walking, running, cycling, swimming
. Longer training period
. May burn more calories during exercise, if it is lasts much longer than HIIT, but burns fewer afterwards
. It is easier to do for the less fit

Flexibility, Stability, Relaxation
e.g. yoga, stretching

The best exercise routine is one you enjoy and is sustainable.

HIIT cardio and resistance training / weight lifting are especially recommended to boost the effect of 5:2/IF, to increase weight loss, reduce body fat, retain muscle and maintain TDEE / BMR.

HOW to Exercise

If you are a very overweight unfit beginner:
. Check with your GP before starting exercise
. Start by walking 5-10 mins twice per day, gradually increase
. Try walk intervals: alternating 1 min faster pace, 1 min normal
. Build up to a brisk 30 mins daily walk and you will significantly improve your health & fitness
. Swimming is also good, preferably crawl or back stroke for less strain on back & joints.

Everyone Else:
Whether you join a gym or train at home or in the park:

• Train as intensively as your time, health and fitness level allow.
• Do not remain in your comfort zone, or you will not improve. But stop immediately if you feel any sharp pain.
• You are supposed to drip sweat and pant heavily !

Efficiency / Intensity: This Study proved that at speeds of 5mph or faster, running will burn more calories per mile than walking

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

HIIT is an exercise strategy which alternates brief intervals of high intensity exercise with less intense recovery periods

. Very time-efficient, producing the greatest fitness benefit in the least time (the advantage of hormesis)

. Increases both aerobic and anaerobic endurance

. May improve insulin metabolism, very important for health and abs fat.

. Reduces risk of heart problems more than doing lower intensity SteadyState , pp. 31-34.

HIIT can be applied to cardio or to bodyweight exercises, at home or gym.
Most gyms offer HIIT classes, e.g. spinning, circuit training, CrossFit, Tabata, Fartlek (=HIIT with irregular intervals)

FAST Exercise

"No time" to exercise ?
Or want to boost fitness & fat-burning metabolism

Dr Mosely developed a FastExerciseProgram to complement his 5:2 WOE
His Fast HIIT and strength routines can significantly improve metabolism & fat-burning capability

Other scientists like Tabata have developed routines now wisely incorporated in training.

HIIT Fitness Blasts

A few mins per day, 3-5 days per week

START with 2 mins warmup then EITHER

Sprint or Rope-skipping intervals
. 1 minute sprinting / skipping @ max effort +90 secs jogging to recover
. Do 5 intervals

OR

Fast Blasts
Choose from:
Running, stationary bike @ low resistance, rope-skipping, burpees, jumping jacks, spotty dog, punching air or bag, step-ups, swimming, squats, lunges, pressups, tricep dips, situps ... or any combination you like.

Choose type of Blast:

4-minute Blast
. 4 mins @ 90% effort

OR "Tabata" = 8 x intervals of 20 secs @ 100% effort + 10 secs recovery @ rest or slow speed
( FreeTimerApp )

OR 2 x20-sec intervals=
. 20-sec @ 100% effort
. 2 mins walk to recover
. 20-sec @ 100% effort

END any HIIT or Fat Blast with a few mins cooldown walk / jog

RESISTANCE Training / LIFTING

Helps retain muscle mass during weight loss and hence to maintain TDEE.
Lift at home / in the gym weights area / in a pump class.

It is best not to train the same muscle groups 2 days in succession, so have rest days, or cardio, or train different muscle groups on different days.
Try to build up to weight training for 30-60 mins twice per week.

Reps = the number of repetitions in a set of lifts
Sets are separated by brief rests
E.g. 3 sets of 12 reps = 36 lifts
Breathing: Inhale before lifting, exhale while lifting. Don't hold your breath.

WARNING
Do not lift massively heavy barbells, more than bodyweight, unless you are really fit with good technique.
Women who have given birth and / or are aged 40+ have a higher risk of pelvic floor / prolapse injuries when lifting heavy than young non-mums.

Press ups
Video

• The best upper body exercise
• Keep attempting one full pressup rather than doing several dozen girlie ones with your knees on the floor
• Once you can do one pressup, you will soon be able to build up to 5, then 10 etc.
• Tip: keep the abs rigid, so strong abs are as important as strong shoulders & arms
• Hand Release Pressups are good to build up strength for full ones
• Also build up via inclined pressups IncPress , see bottom of wiki page
• To increase the number of pushups IncNum

ATG Arse To Grass bodyweight squat

• The best exercise for the large muscle group in bum and thighs
• Basic principle: It is like having a pee on a public loo - get your bum down low and pointing to the rear, but not actually touching the seat

-Lean back on your heels, so that weight is on them, not on your toes

• Bring your arms forward
• Keep your back straight, but angled slightly forward, not vertical
• Squat down as far as you can without knee pain or hunching your back
• Push up from your heels, exhaling.

Pullups

• Very few women can do full ones, but assisted ones build excellent muscle
• Work the same muscles with the much easier Australian pullup / InvertedRow

If you have access to dumbbells / barbells, then for maximum effect, work the large muscle groups:
Squat BentOverRow (press button "female")
BehindNeckPress (press button "female")
DeadLift

To increase Strength
Lift as heavy as you can, low reps, with 1 minute rest between sets e.g. 5 sets x 5 reps each, i.e. totalling 25 lifts

To Build Muscle
Lift lower weight, 3 sets x 8-20 reps, i.e. totalling 24-60 lifts

To Build Endurance
Lift lower (NOT Girlie) weight for 3-5 mins, preferably without pauses

BUM / GLUTES
Squats & lunges are excellent
Also this 2-min bodyweight workout especially for women, targeting the bum:
WorkYourBum

ABS
Choose the exercises & number of reps for your fitness level

The plank
. Start at 2 x 15 secs. Build up to 2 x 45 secs
. Advanced:

1. Use TRX slings, picture 2

Side plank + hip raises
. If you can, keep the side of 1 foot plus 1 forearm on the floor, free arm straight up in the air, picture 3
. Easier - free hand on your hip. Easier still - keep calf & knee on the floor, instead of bent at the knees
. Start at 3 sets of 3. Build up to 3 x 30

Leg raises
. Lie flat on your back, with legs bent to 90 degrees
. Lower the legs one at a time to 1" above the floor (straight leg if you can) then raise again
. Start at 3 sets of 3 each leg. Build up to 3 x 15
. Advanced:

1. Lower both legs at the same time

Situps
. Hands forward to really work abs & avoid pulling the neck
. Alternatively, cross your arms over your chest
. Start at 3 sets of 3. Build up to 3 x 30
. Advanced:

1. Raise legs to 90 degrees & bring them towards you when you situp (double crunch)
2. Legs nearly flat on the floor
3. One leg bent at 90 degrees, the other held straight 1" above the floor
4. Hold a weight disc / dumbbells / barbell above your head

Angled Situps
. Lie on your back and rest one ankle on the opposite knee
. Angled situp so your opposite elbow touches the knee
. Keep the other hand be in the air by your knee, or alternatively supporting your head - do NOT pull on the neck
. Build up to 3 sets of 20 each side
. Advanced:

1. with dumbell
2. Situps with legs rotated 90 degrees to the left, resting on floor. Then repeat set with legs rotated to the right, on floor
3. Lie on the floor, rotate legs 90 degrees to the left. Raise and lower legs like that, keeping back on the floor. Repeat set with legs on other side
4. Keep legs raised & rotated to the left and do situps (double side crunch) Repeat with legs raised & rotated to the right

AVOID OSTEOPOROSIS

To retain bone strength and avoid a painfully disabled old age, start now:
Ideally weight-bearing exercises that load the bone along its length of these types:

Impact exercise E.g. walking, running, jumping, skipping rope, step class, hitting a heavy punch bag

Lifting: squats, press-ups, bench press, overhead press etc

Squats are much better for osteoporosis than lunges, also for knees:
The weight in a squat is transmitted down along the spine, through the hip, and down along the bones of the leg, whereas in a lunge, it is transmitted across the shinbone and puts pressure on the knee joint

Cycling normally does NOT increase bone density, as it does not load bones along their length. Osteo

KETTLEBELLS Kettle
Beginners:
. Two-handed swing
. Sumo Deadlift
. Turkish Getup
. Swing
. Clean and Jerk
. Press

Improve GRIP STRENGTH GripStrength , GripBuild

RUNNERS

. Sprinting improves fitness
. Regular 5 - 10 km runs burn significant fat, especially fasted

Running illustrates the "J or S-curve" effect, where increasing exercise improves health, up to a certain point, after which health worsens e.g. MayoClinic , RiceUni , JMed :

. Running 20 mins improves immune system

. A run of 90+ mins may weaken the immune system for up to 3 days.
With insufficient recovery periods, the damage is cumulative.
Elite runners have immune systems that handle that strain

. Long races 20k+ may cause micro-tears to the heart muscle in some runners, hence a 2-week recovery period is recommended.

CALCULATORS:
Calories Burned for specific exercises: ExerciseCals
Fitness Calculators: 52FastExercise
Estimate fitness age: FitAge
Estimate Vo2Max iTunes App: Vo2APP
Running Calories burned: RunningCals
Running Standards: Age-RelatedRunCalculator
TDEE 24hr activity times & body fat TDEE-Detail

Hi, would someone be able to give me some advice? Having dropped half a stone using 5:2 and still going, I am now concentrating on fitness. I've started with the Davina 7 min vids as something quick and easy to fit in. I have plantar fascitis and find that any length of walking or impact aggravates it. I also have a history of knee problems. I'm doing the exercises suggested and wearing supportive shoes which is helping but struggling to know what exercises will help me in upping fitness and strength without giving me painful feet. Time is a problem, can really only manage 20-30 mins a day and no spare cash for classes. I do have a bike but don't especially enjoy cycling. I like the idea of skipping but fear it'll knacker my feet at the moment. Any suggestions welcomed. I have read the op but not too sure where to start...

Hi cheerful I suggest strengthening your upper body & core with sets of exercises, plus doing them as Tabata.

Also, since squats and lunges are low impact, these shouldn't hurt your feet, but be careful of your dodgy knees: do NOT go deep or do ATG. If the exercises are painful, then leave them out for now.
If you do squats, just point your bum rearwards, keep your weight on your heels and just go as far down as is comfortable for your knees.

So, I suggest these routines, spread out over the week:

Fast Fitness Blasts (5 mins on 5 days per week, vary the exercise)
. pressups, tricep dips on a step, punching the air / punching with light dumbbells, any non-static abs exercises, bodyweight squats or lunges (if ok for knees)

2-min Bum Glutes Routine (2 days per week)
. As in OP video

Bodyweight Strength Sets (check the relevant OP sections for details)
. pressups
. tricep dips on a step
. abs, e.g. situps, plank and leg raises
. squats

Hullo .

I'm doing 16:8 and have lost 21 and 1/2 pounds over the past 3 and 1/2 months. I'm just half a stone from a healthy bmi and am really getting into exercise......never thought I'd say those words!!

I do a clubbercise class once a week which I LOVE. Also 3 sessions into a block of 8 with a PT. Did weights today which was fab. Am inspired to hear about other people's lifting.

My aims are around building muscle and strength, as well as toning.

Oh I have a 1 year old, a 3 year old and a busy job .

< waves madly at Bus > Great to see you hear. Don't be shy

Congrats on your SV and enjoying regular exercise is an important lifestyle NSV.
I'm really glad to hear you lift weights. That will improve your shape and help your body look firm, smaller for its weight.
Retaining muscle mass is also important for health and maintaining TDEE.

I go to an advanced lifters' class, which is really tough. I do a lifting / cardio class and I lift quite heavy weights on my own. I also have a couple of less intense lifting / balance classes, which are for spine health.
So, deliberately a wide range of lifting.
My favourite class is boxing though and I crosstrain with a couple of weekly HIIT spin classes.

That's very interesting Big. My trainer reckons I'm stronger than I think I am and would suit lifting. Perhaps need to look into a gym membership after my sessions are over. I'm guessing lifting isn't really something you can do at home?

Some people lift & do cardio at home, but most usually improve more quickly among others, with professional instruction. I recommend you at least learn proper technique at the gym and I think you'd gain from membership.
Gyms provide access to professional equipment, classes and coaching.

Classes will provide lifting practice you need, so that good technique becomes automatic and the instructor should normally be checking form and correcting anyone as needed.

Induction will normally provide free basic instruction, where you can ask questions.
I would suggest they check your technique for the basic strength moves where people are most likely to go wrong: pressup, squat, plank.
Ask them if there is time to show you some additional lifts.

They'll try to steer you to the cardio machines, but don't let them: so many women waste hours on these hamster wheels without results, but gyms love them because they are a cheap way to keep clients busy. Best for cardio are martial arts or HIIT classes, or bike / run outside.

You're a Big! That's really useful, thank you.

A question to those who are familiar with the Jillian M work outs - how much floor space do you need to have to do them?

Thanks Big! Thats really helpful. It has reminded me than in pre-children days I had a personal trainer who got me to do lots of weights and it made a huge difference to the way I felt and I loved the feeling of strength. I will focus on your suggestions and see how I go. Would be good to start losing the bingo wings!

Oh and huge well done to Bus, I am in awe at your focus with young children and a job!

Go for it, Lady and bus You have the power !

Thank you .

Just saw your question, stripey, and went to measure my sitting room - the space I use is about 7ft by 6ft, I guess someone tall might need a bit more. Try the following - lie down with arms fully extended both lengthways and widthways; also do a 'pendulum lunge' (ie plant one foot in the middle of your space and then do a lunge forwards and backwards with the other leg. I think those are about the most space-consuming moves.

I've been off JM since my DD started her exams - today was good weather at last so I went for a run. .5 mile walk to the path, jogged out 1.5 miles then back doing 'sprint' tabata intervals. I find those quite hard, I did 3 sets but the middle set I did 30s, then 20sec off, 10 sec on as fast as possible (which ain't much) for the rest of it. I need to try to do this more often. Plan to do some weights tomorrow - I started doing that again last week using a size smaller for the various things than I'd been on before I hurt my shoulder as it still didn't feel right. Odd thing was it then felt fine the next day!

Thanks for measuring Errol

Amazon had the Jillian Collection DVD at a good price and it has The Shred, No More Trouble Zones, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and 6 Week Six-Pack. I'm hoping it will motivate me... diet is easy to stick to but still struggling with sticking to exercise.

How is everyone on the squat challenge doing ?
And the c25k ?
'Cmon, tell us. We're nosy !

stripey - sounds good - if you can aim at shred 5xper week to start with hopefully it'll get you in the habit. I've not tried BFBM myself but I know people on the shred thread like it, and I like NMTZ but it does take longer than shred. I've been off Jillian while DD has been doing her GCSEs - not sure whether I'll start any again over the summer but I'm sure I will come september.

For now, I did some weights and abs yesterday and another run this morning as before. Takes a ridiculously long time... wish I could run faster! Hoping the tabata intervals will help.

Errol To run faster, do sprint / jog intervals at least twice per week e.g. Tabata one day and 60 sec sprint / 20 sec jog intervals the other.
Best at the start of a run, or on their own.

I could do with an interval timer app that allowed something other than the strict 20:10 of tabata. Though I suppose just using the regular timer for the slightly faster run sprint and then just take however long it takes to recover might do.

To optimise fitness gains, the recovery jog times need to be shorter than the sprint interval times

My Jillian DVD has arrived. Need to buy some weights though, I only have kettlebells and can't imagine them working for this. I watched through level 1 of the Shred to see what's involved. Hoping to nip out to get weights tomorrow...

What sizes are you planning on? I found I needed different ones for different moves, so you might want to get a set rather than just one pair.

I was wondering about that. In the first place, whatever the huge Tesco near me has. No car so would need to order a set online really. Was thinking 1 or 1.5 kg maybe? My arms are quite strong even though I'm small and unfit - used to carrying things, see comment about no car!

stripy You need different weights for main and small muscle groups. Also, beginners can become stronger quite quickly, so also need more weights.
Argos have several sets, e.g. £20

I have seen a similar set on Amazon I'm going to order when I have a day at home to wait for delivery, don't want my elderly neighbour to have to take in a 12 kg package for me...

Tesco only had 1kg and 3kg ones so I got the 1kg. Have done the Shred for the first time today. Seemed ok, I was pleased I managed to do the whole 20 mins. Lots of room for improvement of course and made me realise how it's been way too long since I last did proper strenuous exercise.

You'll soon build up strength. Just takes regular practice.

I started on small weights too, when I was already middle-aged.
You can see in my profile pics the 40kg barbell, which I currently lift for 15 reps, then 10, then 8 as part of upper body routine.

I'm doing more reps rather than higher weights atm, to go easy on my joints in this hot weather - our gym is too cheapskate environmentally friendly for air conditioning !

Similarly, 133 kg for calf raises on leg press is also a limit, to guard my old knees (crikey, I sound decrepit !) So, I just do 50 reps, then 25, then 10.