Understanding the exercising I'm doing/about to do.

Buceph

Hey! I'm a complete fat ass, but I'm trying to turn things around (I've been inspired by a friend who has already done so.) I've read the stickies and they're great, now I'm just looking for a book or website that has a bit more detail, the whys and wherefores, but aimed at someone who is coming from couch potato mode. I've tried looking for some information on what I should be doing and how things go, but anyone I ask just gives conflicting information in comparison to the previous person I ask and the next, etc.

I've been to the gym twice, and I find I'm the type of person who once I start to fall away from something it's hard for me to go back. That's why I'm looking for more information on all this to keep my interest and motivation up (I'm a total nerd.) I'm following the gym staff's advice and have no intention of straying from what they say. But I don't want to be bothering them with questions I could have answered by a website or book (I will of course ask them anything of material relevance to my working out.)

Basically, the stuff that I'm thinking about at the moment is what I've done these past two days. All cardio, 20 minutes on a bike, 20 minutes on a cross trainer, and very low resistances. The trainer said to keep my heart rate above 160 (I'm 26 btw) and I've managed to do the full forty minutes at about 170bpm. And that's about all I know. The kind of stuff I would like to know is what does the different heart rate levels imply, do the different machines have different effects, is my heart rate the be all and end all, what performance indicators are there, etc? Another thing: I actually pushed harder yesterday than today, and yesterday I was weak and jelly-legged after it. Today I paced myself better and got into a stride, but really there was only the difference of about 5-6bpm in my average heart rate (I'm guessing.) Now today was so much easier, and I'm wondering what exactly it is that made it so much easier. I can't have gotten fitter in a day (especially as I was exhausted from lack of sleep.) So I'm wondering what it was that had the effect of making things easier.

Really I'm looking for more information on how to chart my progress, and know about what I'm doing. So far the only thing I have to go on is my heart rate, and I was told that the machines are pretty terrible at reading that so I'm not even sure about the validity of that way of progressing.

So yeah, if there were any books that would go into the kind of thing I'm looking for, I'd appreciate it if you could mention them.

Hanley

Start by reading "training the obese beginner" by Lyle McDonald. Google it. It's free. 7 part series that is really one of the most comprehensive overview of the adaptations that occur for newbies, and how everything links together.

I'll weigh in on the other stuff to Ortiz if no one else has by then.

Buceph

Thanks Hanley. That was an interesting series.

The part that I was most interested in (apart from liking his general attitude to making the work manageable and rewarding) was this part:

But the big one for this first lecture was intensity. How hard does it need to be to be worthwhile and how hard did I want them working. This ties into the stuff I talked about in Training the Obese Beginner Part 4; since most were at least familiar with the concept, I’d first introduce them to the whole idea of heart rate and then basically throw it out, preferring to use the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale. It’s less of a hassle than using heart rate and, with practice, turns out to be just as accurate.

I used the 1-10 RPE scale (rather than the original 6-20, explaining the distinction will have to wait for another article) and would give them an idea of the ranges by describing 1 as sitting on the couch and 10 as an all-out effort (I used the example of getting to the airport late and having to sprint to the terminal and feeling like you’re going to die in the process since that was something most could relate to).

I want to make sure I'm actually pushing myself and not slacking off. So it was good to read this, and the part about "ventilatory thresholds" saying that I shouldn't be miserable and on the point of collapse after a session. That feeling worked out, a little out of breath and tired but still feeling good about what I was doing doesn't neccesarly mean I was taking it to easy or fooling myself.