vegas mma

thread jack, sphinx if you want i'll post a new thread with this.
ok i have a question. i figure it kinda goes with this so i'll post here.
i am about 50-60# overweight. i've started eating better (better then i used to) i'm going on a hike in 15 months. this hike is 2665 miles it takes 5-6 months to do. i've trained for this hike before but injured my knee. i know that i don't really need to be at my goal weight, but i really need to work on my cardio.
my plan was to do treadmill on the hilly setting for a few hours a day. i will be doing at least 2hours a day.
will this cause me to lose fat? i know i will be burning about 1k cals a day just by doing this.
i will be using weights 1-2 times a week, low weight high reps. to work out certain muscles where there is alot of fat (pecs, thighs).
would this be something i should do?
the hill setting goes from 2.5-8.5 incline and i'm walking @3mph
the last time i did it the machine said i burned 600cals....

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I'm thinking Arby's

sitnspin

Low weight, high reps resistance training is better for burning calories and developing endurance, while heavy weight, low reps is better for gaining strength and mass. Beyond that, I would recommend exercises that use multiple muscle groups in each lift, like the squat, the deadlift, the upright row, etc, over isolated exercises like single-arm dumbell curls. The reason being that you're engaging your whole body and working a lot of little muscles in between the big ones that would otherwise be ignored.

I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend 2-3 hours a day on the treadmill for anything other than cardio conditioning and endurance (as opposed to fat burning or strength gains, etc). But since you're training for a massive hike, go for it. Be careful to work your way up to that, because if you overdo it right off the bat you'll only wind up weak, exhausted, and you'll lose muscle because your body will be canibalizing itself. You can also wind up getting injured from that much sustained walking if you're not strong enough to handle it.

Lately in my treadmill training, I've been putting the incline up to six (out of ten, I believe, with zero being no incline at all), and staying on for a solid hour, alternating fast walking with moderate runs (ten to fifteen minute intervals) with the occasional minute-long sprint just to mix it up (maybe four of them in total). I'm finding it's rapidly improving my conditioning, because I'm getting a variety within the workout, but even my rests are still powerwalking uphill, so it never gets easy.

Google for the Men's Health newsletter, because it has links to a lot of great exercises, routines, and diet tips. A lot of the exercises are just what you're looking for -- low weight, high rep, compound lifts.

And as people have said in this thread (and many others), it's mainly about your diet. Reduce your caloric intake while still getting lots of protein, fruits and vegetables, and enough clean carbs to fuel your workouts.

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Crashsti

you have 15 months to lose 50-60lbs., with that much time i don't see any reason to be spending hours on end walking on the treadmill. you could just as easily accomplish your goals through less extreme training methods. a basic resistance program combined with a medium intensity cardio program will get you where you need to be without wearing yourself out by walking on a treadmill all day long. use the treadmill but don't go beyond an hour a day, over time increase your pace as you feel stronger. eventually you will be able to run for that hour. along with the cardio start a 3 day a week resistance program, it can be very basic using just dumbells. go with what Sitnspin said and look up mens health, they have some good stuff for everyone. you will be able to use a ready made program and eventually create your own. in 15 months all you have to do is lose 1lb. a week and you will make your goal weigh no problem.

sitnspin

He's going on a 2700 mile hike, though. His goal's aren't just weight loss, he wants to get himself conditioned to be able to walk for hours a day over rugged terrain without being too sore to move the next morning. That's why I advocated long-distance training on the treadmill at varying elevations. Conditioning for long distance. If you were training for a marathon, you wouldn't just lift weights and do sprints -- you'd want to work on your ability to cover long distances at an even pace.

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GSPALLTHEWAY

very true.... im actually taking an exercise phys class right now just for some additional info and they were talking about just that...

however the teacher who is very well respected, mentioned a rough stat that for every pound of fat you lose, you drop a second of your mile time per 1 minute for a run... i would imagine this would be true for this case in a hike\walk as well... have you heard about any of that sit?

sitnspin

I can't back that stat up exactly, but I have a friend who runs triathalons, and he said when he first got into serious running, the difference in how easy it was between when he started out and after he got serious about his diet and dropped 25 lbs was night and day. He was faster and had way more endurance, largely because you're not carrying the same amount of cargo.

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Daniel

If my only interest was to burn fat, I would look mostly into dieting and weight lifting.

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GSPALLTHEWAY

what about cardio? lol all 3 are very important

Daniel

Yeah, they're all important, but only the two I mentioned are necessary. You can easily burn enough fat if you just eat right and lift weights.

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Snow Patrol

I didn't have this problem until I came to university (oh, campus food!), but I'm trying to get rid of some belly fat that I've accumulated. I play squash once a week but I am thinking of starting up a skipping rope routine (about 5 times a week) for about 15 minutes or so to try to get rid of some belly fat. I'm not looking for ripped abs, just less belly fat. Would this be an effective exercise? I am also trying to watch my simple carb intake as well.

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sitnspin

More than anything it's about reducing your fat and sugar and overall caloric intake. If you want to do a short rope workout every day that burns calories, my advice is to get good at skipping fast, and do a series of intense intervals. 15 minutes a day at a gentle pace probably won't do enough.

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The-Iceman-Chuck-Liddell

i run either on the road but when its cold or i dont want to i run on VERY high incline on the tread mill like 25 incline and 6 speed

Goeth27

I am guessing the best Cardio is the one you want to do the least.

sitnspin

Amen to that. On another site that I read regularly, everyone's been throwing around a 100 Burpee challenge, with the understanding that if you can do it in 10 minutes or less you're in reasonable shape, and if you can do it in FIVE minutes or less, you're a stud.

I haven't done burpees in a long time, but I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. So yesterday I took a stab at it. I did a set of 20, rested for about 30 seconds, managed 10 more, and I was cooked. Never mind taking another rest and doing some more, I wanted to die.

So I went and lifted for half an hour, and then did a few miles on the treadmill (including 6 one-minute sprints). Knowing that burpees are twice as exhausting as my regular workouts means I know what I should be working on if I really want to improve my conditioning.

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