Lol what? The footwork and finer skills you learn in boxing transfer into so many other things (even running). Sure, you're not learning a ton of crazy stuff but it's certainly the crem de la crem of punching. It also provides a brutal workout if you're training the right way. What kind of gym were you going to? If it was boxing classes you're not likely to get the best workout in, but if they have open gym hours I can direct you to my ol' Boxing Journey thread for some decent workouts or help you construct some workouts that will make you feel like you're going to die within 10 minutes. Not to mention sparring is by far the best calorie burner you could possibly do beyond tabata sessions followed by 10 mile runs. Overall I get how you feel though. With your goals, MA can be a method of reaching them but working out is going to be the bulk of the process. I've been injured pretty bad for a year now from Boxing, and when I get back into fitness goals MA is probably not going to be the method. I have a lot of weight to drop and a lot of strength I need to get back, so cardio and body weight exercises for 6 months are going to do me a lot better then starting MA back up. If you are interested in MA, stay around and lurk on MAP in some of the style sub-forms at least. You can learn about different MA and what you might have an interest in once you do reach your fitness goals.
You edited while I was replying! Your workouts don't need to be that long. One thing you need to realize is you've dropped 100 lbs already. Your body is not burning the same amount of calories per workout (or during daily activity) as it was 100lbs ago. Heavier people, and people who are in no shape at all, burn more calories for the same activity as a person at a regular weight. You are now both lighter and in better shape. You might have burned 500 calories for 1 hour on the cycle 100lbs ago, you might only be burning 300 now. I've mentioned this a few times before but you haven't commented on it, and I'm sure it's because it seems like a ridiculous or boring idea with what you think you could be doing. Walking. Transition your focus from working out to increasing normal physical activity every day. Take stairs instead of an elevator, park in the furthest parking spot to your destination, walk 3 bus stops down from your normal pick up station, get up and walk for 5 minutes every 30 minutes, etc.. Wake up and walk for an hour before you start your day, and walk an hour before bed. You burn the bulk of calories during your day during physical activity (being alive and moving about), not exercise. Look at basic nutrition needs that they place at 2000 kcal per day. They say that because that's how many calories you burn just being alive and going about your business! How much does a good workout in 2 hours burn? 1,000? If you focus on doing more during the day while maintaining your workouts, you'll burn more calories and lose weight faster. It's a sure fire way to boost yourself past a plateau. Also, don't focus so hard on your addiction to food! Make it work for you. Make a rule: "Every time I eat I'll walk for a certain amount of time (or bike) depending on how much I ate." You may not burn off all that you ate, but you'll keep yourself from eating over your limit by less calories so weight gain won't be as significant. If you develop a habit like this you'll be winning every time you do beat a food craving. I'll also mention a great method of tracking your physical activity is a pedometer that you can have on yourself at all times. The normal goal is 10,000 steps per day for health. See where you're at with that, and then adjust from there. When I dropped 50 or so lbs in 3 months time I had ended up walking 30,000 steps per day, plus 2 boxing workouts and 5 classes of school work and taking care of the normal household needs. I had a very busy schedule and I still was able to make time to do all this, and it works! I was also eating 6,000 calories a day and was still always hungry. The more you do, the more you get to eat!
You misunderstand, I said boxing was the onlything that gave a good work out. I don't think however it is usefull for self defense. It only addresses being punched, not anything else. The metabolism dosent just stop burning calories when you exercise for a while. Walking is pointless, why walk for a hour and only burn 300 calories when I can do that in 25 minutes on the bike... I know the solution, im just ****ed about it. I have to quit MA and go back to my 1.5hour bike sessions and restart the resistance work. I just don't have enough time in the day to deal with inefficient training methods, nor spending time on martial arts when I could be loosing weight.
I just need to figure out where my metabolism has changed and what modifications I need to make to get back in to the zone. Loads of cardio will raise the metabolism, however if I don't adjust the caloric intake it will stall my weight loss. I am going to spend time now tweaking my work outs, and my intake, so I can figure out where my metabolism moved. Ero I hear what your saying mate, but im sorry, that hour of walking can be better spent on other things. Its just not efficient. It just seams your whole premise is based around it. Walking would have been good 100lbs ago, when I had no metabolism. However I have long since surpassed the area were it would be efficient usage of my time.
You're wrong on both points about boxing and increasing physical activity levels. I won't comment on the boxing, you should start a thread on it and see the replies you get on why it's a good for the fighting aspect of self-defense. You're missing the point about walking. Think of it as 'physical activity' and not 'walking.' It's also something you don't have to prep for like a workout. You don't stop working out for walking, you add that as an 'easy to do' activity to supplement your workouts. 300 calories from walking is more then 0 calories from lurking online, watching tv, playing a video game, or just plain doing nothing isn't it? It's also easy to find time to do it, plenty of opportunities throughout the normal day that you can look for. I didn't drop 50 lbs in 3 months from my boxing workouts. I was doing 2-3 workouts per day prior to finding reasons for walking. It was adding in the extra steps during the day that did it, not working out. I would recommend taking the money you have for martial arts and consider finding a personal trainer who can walk you through the methods I'm describing to you here with all the math involved. The extra physical activity bit is something any personal trainer worth his salt would mention to somebody with a weight loss goal. If you don't want to take my word for it, take theirs. I know this because until my injury I was studying to be a personal trainer, there are huge sections on this in the text. That's along with my personal experience with the methods I'm telling you about.
Losing weight is about regular maintenance. Get lazy and get fat. Regular martial arts practice (or other exercise), a clean diet, good hydration and a regular sleep pattern are the keys to a healthy fit lifestyle. Pounding yourself for hours, especially if as you say you're under time constraints, isn't the way to go. In addition don't discount the walking. I recently drove past a group of elderly ramblers and not one of them was out of shape. I bet they walked regularly, kept hydrated, ate well and slept even better. I bet I could get a better workout in an 8 minute tabata bike workout than you could get in your 90 minutes. If you are as busy as you say then get in, get done and get out.
You never surpass the usefulness of increasing physical activity (walking, being my main example) during the day for weight loss goals, even if you weight 120 lbs and can run marathons. You don't hear what I'm saying at all man, but it's understandable. Frustration can make you scoff at almost anything, especially when you've had success by doing other things.
Mate I don't know how you think 8 mins on a tabata bike is equal to my 90min runs with Race day? Last time I did it, I had a cardio watch on, thing said I burned 1100 calories.. Not quite sure how your going to do that in 8mins. Ya im under time constraints. I have 2 hours a day to my self. That means for me it is a either/or situation. So far karate has not been a good work out, nor has escrima. I cant waste those two hours on something that's not helping me.. Ya they are good arts, ya they are good for self defense, im just not burning calories doing them.
I am going by the numbers Ero. Walking is inefficient. There is no way to add in more walking time in my day. IM A Friggin DELIVERY DRIVER. I drive all darn day. 8 hours aday, I drive and deliver semi truck brake parts and other good. That's it. So that means I have to beat ass on my work outs to make up for it.
What do you do during the rest of your day? What's your primary form of entertainment, and do you have a family you're obligated to give time to? What things do you think, beyond working out, are "better ways to spend your time." If you were going by the numbers then I think you overlooked the post explaining that dietary requirements for every day, normal life activity without working out are far beyond the amount of calories burned in a workout. You can increase your caloric use by more physical activity throughout the 16 hours you're awake then the 2 hours you have set aside for working out.
FWIW, diet is much more effective than exercise for the purpose of body recomposition, in that you already eat every day, and minimal permanent adjustments will add up a LOT over time, whereas you work out when you can, and you need a crapton of exercise or other activities to get an equivalent effect. note that by diet, i'm not referring to "dieting" in the usual sense of the word, meaning doing "a diet". by diet i mean the actual technical meaning of the term diet, meaning the sum total of everything you consume. controlling your diet is a long-term affair that doesn't mean that you do something super specific to lose a ton of weight and then go back to eating normally, but rather that you shift the parameters that define how you eat normally. it's inherently long-term, because your body basically still thinks you're a monkey out there just trying to eat, fornicate and not get eaten by a tiger or whatnot, so if you shift your diet, your body doesn't think "oh, he's trying to lose weight. better oblige". it thinks "oh crap, different stimulus. tiger? no. sultry she-monkey seductress? no. food change? check. better adapt until he can find the other food again". then when you switch back it goes "finally! business as usual!" and takes you back to where you were before (which is why people speak of crash diets and "yo-yo" diets). if you instead think long term (ideally permanently for some things), you force your body to sort of "reset" so that this stimulus that was originally new and different is now its baseline, sort of making it think "ok, he's not gonna snap out of it. might as well get used to this", which is basically the same thing that happens when one initially gets fat (one starts eating more/doing less/whatever, keeps it up for a long time until something causes one to want or need to lose weight, and by that time a high fat level is already your default state), but done in reverse. on the exercise angle, however, have you considered kettlebell swings? they don't take a lot of time, you can do a LOT of them, they're good for posture and grip strength/endurance, as well as as a cardio workout, and since KBs are pretty ergonomic for high rep work, you can do them pretty much forever (and being rep based, at least in my case, they keep me focused and engaged far more than traditional steady cardo)
Ero was that a serious question? Loosing weight and getting in shape are the only worth while things.. I thought I could kill 2 birds with one stone when I started martial arts. Not so apparently. I love martial arts, but there not helping me get my fitness goals so they gotta go. My primary form of entertainment? Besides the 2 hours a day I spent in MA, id say forum lurking. I don't watch tv. You do know that basal metabolic rate is only that low when your in bed not moving.. It goes up with daily life. I was at a nice 1k deficit for a long time. That is a nice 2lb a week loss. Id say a 1k deficit + 1k during work out should be enough to loose weight... Some were crap changed and its not coming off. I find this situation wholly unacceptable.
Yes those were serious questions. When people try to lose a large amount of weight, lifestyle changes have to be made for continued success. It's important to know what's important to you and what you do, because if I don't I'll just be suggesting things that work for me. Waking up at 4 am to get an hour walk in and going to bed at 8 am might not be your cup of tea. I'm going to have to go to my text books to explain why increased physical activity is more of a benefit for increasing your metabolism than working out, and better for fat loss than just a 2 hour workout. There's a lot of technical stuff involved, but the basics are that every 30 minutes of not moving around, your metabolism slows down. If you keep from being sedentary for over 30 minutes the majority of the day, you'll increase your metabolism which will have long lasting effects on your weight loss. I'm pretty busy with school work at the moment, so you might have to wait a while until I can post the material (if I ever get to it). This information is all available online as well, but you'll have to look for it. The forum lurking, how many hours a day do you do this? Forum lurking is basically being sedentary, which pretty much halts your metabolism to a standstill. This may be a lifestyle habit that could be changed for your goals and be instrumental in your success.
Ero, I understand what your saying bud, however I am a driver. I spend an hour at a time in my van delivering parts. Your 30minute goal is never going to happen.
Obviously you can't sort out 8 hours of your day due to your job. That still leaves another 8 hours of free time does it not? Assuming you sleep 8 hours every night.
8 hours a day, and you have no time. Get real. I work a 14 hour day, have 4 kids and wife to look after, so if I can do it... An 8 hour day is a standard day, so you work the same hours as every other person on this forum. I don't know your situation, but you need to be honest with yourself, as "I have no time" is all to easy an excuse. How bad do you want it? I know the score when it comes to working on the road, I did it myself for over 30 years. How clean is your diet? There is nothing wrong with dropping martial arts, you just need to be honest with yourself.
Then I exist in a time warp as I don't have 8 hours extra. I guess if I got up at 4am doubled my work outs till 6am. Lets see I get off work at 430, class at 5 till 7. then its maybe 3 hours till bedtime sometimes 2 hours. So ignoring me getting up earlier, I only have 5pm-10pm of free and awake time. A good chunk of that is spent with family.
Simon im glad your a better person then I am. I have a family im not going to hide away and workout and not spend any time with them. So no I don't have any more time. Why are you being condescending? The issue im having is finding time to work out and maintain martial arts. My free time is in the evening, and I don't see how it can be done with out having a horrid quality of life.
