Putting on weight for me is no easy task, and over the past 3 weeks I've seen that gaining healthy is harder for me as losing weight is for other people...

 

Glad to be of help, Dave. Just make sure that the heart rates feel right for you - those HRs were what I feel comfortable with, but may be too high or low for some.

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Another tip. Vitamic C supplements (500mg or 1000mg) can help greatly in one area - cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone that defends our fat stores from being burned when the body perceives a starving state. Cortisol begins to start working when it's been about 3 hours from the last time we ate.

Obviously we go 3 hours without eating many times. I'm sure some of you have seen the commercials for those "cortisol blocker" medicines that guarantees that you lose fat. Well, it turns out that Vitamin C is a natural cortisol blocker... no funky medicine necessary. So I take one in the morning, one at night, and essentially anytime I know I can't eat but am feeling hungry.

Cortisol is also released when under stress, which means that the Vit C also helps reduce stress. Read about it in these links:

Vitamin C Aids in Stress Control

New Research on Vitamin C

Cortisol, the "Stress Hormone"

Stress, Cortisol, and Weight Gain

Note that the levels of Vit C that need to be taken for this effect is largely above the recommended daily intake. In other words, it's hard to get these effects from Orange Juice, etc. You would need to go through like a gallon a day to get the effects that are mentioned above.

 

I would add that you stretch AFTER the treadmill, not before. Stretching "cold" muscles actually shortens them temporarily. As my chiropractor says, it's not what you do, it's what you do after you do it. (Which of course could be interpreted many ways, heh heh.)

I do an easy 5-10 min. warmup, then stretch, weight-train, ab work, then finish with cardio - either all incline walking or interval incline walking/jogging.

Speaking of which, need to head to the gym now!

Cheers,
Diane

 

[QUOTE=f1_fanz,Dec 9 2005, 11:00 AM]I would add that you stretch AFTER the treadmill, not before.

 

Actually I'm trying to increase both my endurance and my flexibility.

I had a serious back injury in 01 (trampled by a young horse), its only been this year that I've been able to start running again. Since the injury though, my flexibility has gone from fair to laughable!

I do cardio every other day, the weight-training is split upper/lower depending on the day, and abs are every day (I know they can take it).

One thing I've learned NOT to do is workout when I'm tired. I've "popped" both shoulders and strained my back being tired and sloppy.

I want to change things up a bit, take a spin class or hip hop class, looking for a fexibility class...

Cheers,
Diane