Answers and more questions in bold.
I know my instructor is not upto the level but I really can't afford the gyms nearby. BTW what made you say that ??
1) Only you know about your body well. Over-enthusiastic instructors can do more harm than you doing the exercises at your own pace. An instructor cannot tell you if the pain/soreness you experience is because of exercises you performed the right way or wrong.
2) And you wouldn't come here asking for opinions if your instructor was that good
. But you may continue to use his services as a spotter.
I obviously wouldn't want to have any long term damage. So I would just avoid HIIT till I am more comfortable with running. How does running on inclines help ??
1) I was stressing on doing any type of cardio the HIIT way only. You'll be done in less time and burn more calories.
2) Running on inclined surfaces (roads, treadmill) avoids 'stomping', which in turn protects your feet/shins/spine etc. And of course, you'll burn more calories. just try running on 10~15 degrees inclination and you'll notice how smoothly your feet lands on the surface.
Actually that's what I am doing Eat,Sleep,Surf and workout , hence I thought of spending more time at gym.
Yes, you can utilize this time to train 'harder'. Only you can judge your body, so I am unable to say if you can train 'longer' as well.
1) My idea is that the body/muscles breakdown during training and need time to recuperate.
2) By training harder (and not longer) you'll build more muscles. More the muscles, faster the fat loss.
3) If you can ensure equal attention to training:rest:nutrition, then go ahead with longer exercise periods.
4) Muscles build only during resting periods and not on the gym floor.
And shouldn't be the training time vary as per the needs of an individual ?
Yes, it should be but there's only a small amount of time for which you can engage your muscles to the fullest. Muscles tear/breakdown during exercise (and body builds more muscles during rest/sleep). If you continue to over-exert your muscles then they'll take much longer to get back in shape... and you'll loose momentum/feel sore/less energetic etc.
Try the double-shift routine and see how your body behaves. It may prove beneficial for you if you do it for a month or two.
For eg :A person who is maintaining his fitness would wrap it up sooner than 1 who is trying to build endurance or loose weight.
There are two ways to lose fat:
1) do long cardios and only-body weight exercises: Lose some fat and lose muscles as well.
2) do heavy weight exercises and few minutes of HIIT cardio: Build muscles as well as lose fat.
Can't comment on the endurance training as it could be very focussed on one particular aspect such as, marathons or holding breath underwater. Other aspects (such as body fat) is ignored while training for sumo wrestling. I've no further knowledge on endurance training.
I have not yet started any exercises with weights. So which direction are you pointing me to here ?
Sorry, you were talking in terms of reps and numbers, so I assumed you'd be doing weight training as well. BTW, why are you paying for gym (and instructor) when you are not touching weights? Just using cardio machines?
I meant to say that I will do this the strength training part 3 times. like 10 * 3 push ups etc. Does that sound overkill ??
Overkill? Not really. Maybe your body is taking this regimen quite well. My logic is that doing more reps (or working out too long) increases overall stress/cortisol levels and may affect joints. And one starts to lose muscle-size if one's over-exerted.
- I am very much interested to see your exercise log.
- All of my ideas/logic are not based off just websites/books only. I read a lot and tried numerous combinations (food/exercise) to understand how my body behaves; and it took me around 2 years to arrive at anything concrete (as it's hard to see the benefits of one exercise regimen before 3-months' trial).
- I am out of gym for the last 2.5 years but not out of shape. All of these years (in and out of gym) my waist size remained the same. I've lost muscle definition without weight training but I am still energetic. Good part is that I managed to retain 3 out of those 6 packs.
