I'm old, out of shape and have some knee issue. I'd like to trim body fat (lose about 10-15 pounds of fat), gain some muscle, improve cardiovascular health.

I've have two routines but not sure I'm doing things effectively and to meet objectives. I could use some recommendations.

1) I have a mountain bike that I'm using on a trail (loose gravel, sand, hard pack) that has some elevation gain. Distance is short (3 miles?) but takes about 30 minutes with considerable effort. I can feel the burn in my legs and breathing gets labored. I think this is building leg muscle and some CV benefits. But not sure this is helping stamina or fat loss.

2) I talk trail walks, also about 3 miles. I try to keep a pace that makes me sweat and breathe harder. Takes about 40 minutes. I'm not sure this is really building much muscle or CV health. But I think it is dropping some fat.

Problem is that I can't do #1 every day - I need about 2-3 days to recover. I can do #2 everyday but it takes a lot of time per week (including travel to/from the trail). And not sure if it's an effective / efficient use of the time for the objectives.

If / as I get healthier and stronger, perhaps I can do #1 faster and more often during the week (more exercise for less time than walking). This, I think, will take awhile though - several months?

What is the best, quickest, most effective/efficient way for me to trim body fat (lose about 10-15 pounds of fat), gain some muscle, improve cardiovascular health. #1 or #2? Or something else? Interleaving #1, #2, for now at least, extends recovery time for #1 and also makes #2 slower (legs are tired and so can't walk as fast).

Swimming, if you have access to a pool is the best overall exercise you can get, but you'll have the same time issue as you have now. It'is extremely low impact which is good for ageing joints.

As I don't have a nearby pool, I use a treadmill and a recumbent bike indoors which allows me to work out all year round and is excellent for leg muscles. I also walk outside when the weather cooperates. My treadmill is sprung so it's also minimal impact on the knees and back.

Rowing machine, you really work just about everything. Low impact.

The mountain biking will get easier. Now you need 3 days to recover, soon it will be 2 days, then one. Just keep at it, and try not to overeat after the ride. Have some food within 30-60 minutes after a ride.

Just exercise until your body says enough, and each time you will go farther and it will be easier.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Swimming, if you have access to a pool is the best overall exercise you can get
<snip>

For legs? I’m skeptical.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the suggestions; I should have mentioned that I don't really have the space or budget for equipment like treadmills or rowers.

Sounds like biking is the better bet - just try accelerate getting to longer and more frequent rides. Prioritize this over walking.

I think what you are doing is great for your goals. Just keep it up and increase difficulty/effort as it starts feeling easier.

A little more info? Age/height/weight?

Unless you seriously cut back calories, 30 min/day 2-3 days a week isn’t going to do it.


Definitely biking over walking. I lost 150 lbs mostly by exercise bike, 10-15 min daily at first and worked my way up to 60 min or more a day. Burning 2000+ exercise calories daily and eating 1000-1200 calories a day, I was losing 4-7 pounds a week.

In June I will be 2 years straight with NO “off” days. Some days have just been weights or stretching exercises, but at least one workout a day. My normal daily average is 10-15 miles on the exercise bike and one the real bike my “daily” type ride is 12miles, mostly flat paved terrain. During good weather I will do 1-2 outdoor rides of 15-25 miles and an occasional ride of 30-40 miles. It is all about building stamina.

Understand your concern about cost for equipment, but with weather concerns it is hard to rely on a real bicycle, depending on your area you may not have much opportunity to vary your ride distance or intensity. An exercise bike gives the option of changing resistance to vary workout intensity. No “off” day needed when you do a light “active recovery” ride.

I heartily recommend the NordicTrack bike available from Costco. $1000 delivered, you need to put it together but that isn’t hard. Not quite as nice as a Peloton, but much cheaper and I think the iFit app rides blow Peloton rides away for variety and interaction. I had the Peloton before switching to NT. Peloton is very “studio spin class” centric while NT is all about the outdoor interactive rides all over the world. Road, gravel, etc.

The NT bike doesn’t take up too much space, less than a real bike does.

It used to come with 1 year of iFit, now just 1 month BUT I would be happy to let you use one of my family spots that are going unused right now. I am currently prepaid for another 3 years due to equipment purchases.

https://www.costco.com/nordict...oduct.100794627.html

1) get up and walk around. Do the speed and distance you're comfortable with and strive to increase distance slowly.

2) Stationary bike is a good alternative. Less stress on the joints. Again just increase your time each week.

3) If you go to a gym, the sitting leg press machine is a good starting point. Start with the weight you can comfortably press and do maybe 3 sets of 15 and then move on from there (reps and weight) as you progress. Maybe set a goal like increasing the weight or number of reps each week. You'll be surprise at how fast you progress if you put your mind to it and are consistent.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I'm old, out of shape and have some knee issue. I'd like to trim body fat (lose about 10-15 pounds of fat), gain some muscle, improve cardiovascular health.

I've have two routines but not sure I'm doing things effectively and to meet objectives. I could use some recommendations.

1) I have a mountain bike that I'm using on a trail (loose gravel, sand, hard pack) that has some elevation gain. Distance is short (3 miles?) but takes about 30 minutes with considerable effort. I can feel the burn in my legs and breathing gets labored. I think this is building leg muscle and some CV benefits. But not sure this is helping stamina or fat loss.

2) I talk trail walks, also about 3 miles. I try to keep a pace that makes me sweat and breathe harder. Takes about 40 minutes. I'm not sure this is really building much muscle or CV health. But I think it is dropping some fat.

Problem is that I can't do #1 every day - I need about 2-3 days to recover. I can do #2 everyday but it takes a lot of time per week (including travel to/from the trail). And not sure if it's an effective / efficient use of the time for the objectives.

If / as I get healthier and stronger, perhaps I can do #1 faster and more often during the week (more exercise for less time than walking). This, I think, will take awhile though - several months?

What is the best, quickest, most effective/efficient way for me to trim body fat (lose about 10-15 pounds of fat), gain some muscle, improve cardiovascular health. #1 or #2? Or something else? Interleaving #1, #2, for now at least, extends recovery time for #1 and also makes #2 slower (legs are tired and so can't walk as fast).

Doesn't matter how hard you exercise or how long if you're not amending your diet and eliminating the consumption of unhealthy foods, reducing calories and limiting fat intake. Do you drink beer? If so you need to stop if you want to lose weight, avoid fast foods, avoid any pre-cooked foods, avoid any food that comes in a can, avoid eating sweets like candy or pastries. Eat fish, Salmon is especially good but make sure its wild caught and not farm raised. I eat a lot of poultry, brown rice and frozen veggies and the occasional steak. Visit a nutritionist and allow them to help you develop a healthy eating plan.

As far as exercise goes join a gym and start off with a personal trainer to get you going so you don't develop bad exercise habits. I like using the stationary bike for about an hour twice a week, you can also spend 30-60 minutes on the treadmill or other cardio machine to increase your heart rate. Swimming is a great exercise also if you have a decent pool in your area where you can swim laps.

quote:

Originally posted by fischtown7:
Rowing machine, you really work just about everything. Low impact.

This. a concept 2 rower is a great workout

quote:

Originally posted by fischtown7:
Rowing machine, you really work just about everything. Low impact.

I have to agree with the above...then I'll add that I hate rowing.

Our compromise for the best total workout has been an elliptical treadmill. We recently upgraded to a Sole E35 which is on sale for 40% off; don't try to save a few buck going with the E25...it is a false savings. https://www.soletreadmills.com/ellipticals.html

My daughter, who ran track (hurdles), played golf, crewed, runs and lifts, agrees that the elliptical is a great workout when the weather is too bad to get out

Fantastic. Thanks for the additional suggestions guys. I used to be athletic but really didn't pay attention to effective / efficient use of exercise; I would just do everything, anytime. As I age, I'm finding budgets and time to be constraining and would like to make the most of my efforts. It doesn't really say much but I'm 60, 5'8" and about 175lbs. My goal is to be 50, 5'10" and 160lbs. Kidding aside, I want to go from 175 to about 155-160 but lose 15-25 pounds of fat (I'm not sure how much extra fat I have but I can pinch more than an inch) and double my muscle mass. I'm very weak right now. Between knee issues (may be because of lack of muscles) and lack of muscle strength, I have some difficulty carrying loads up stairs (for example). Like a heavy suitcase.

911Boss - thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into it but these purchases will be hard. Maybe used on CL but even then, I don't really have space for it. But weather does make it tough to be consistent.

I've cut back on food and doing the intermittent fasting - no food between dinner and lunch the next day. I'm a little concerned with losing muscle mass though; cutting calories is good for fat loss but I'm worried that I'll lose muscle mass as well, especially if I can't keep up exercise to build it.

Joining a gym is expensive - $150-200 / month. Hard on my budget, especially these days.

Lunges. Lunge walk ten paces, turn and return. That will add some mass I think. Squats (sans weights, or with dumbells if you got a few modest ones.

Understand anytime you lose weight you are going to lose both fat and muscle mass. Depending on how you are losing the weight the ratio can vary.

As you gain muscle mass, it is denser than fat so weight goes up. Look at body fat percentage. At 175lbs I’m not sure if losing 20 pounds of fat is a realistic expectation.

Do you know what your current BF % is? Scales that will do BF measurements are pretty affordable via Amazon (under $30)

At 60 years old a “healthy” male would be expected to have 13-24% body fat while 40-59yo would be 11-21%≥ Assuming you are currently 30% BF, at 175lbs, that would be 52 lbs of fat. To lose 20~ lbs of fat and maintain current muscle mass you would be 155 lb and 20% BF (31 lb BF). 30-20% BF is a big drop for a loss of only 20 lbs weight.


What worked for me to target fat burning during my weight loss was SEVERELY restricting carbs, my goal was 75g net (total carbs grams minus fiber grams)

Carbs break down readily into sugar and is an easy fuel for your body. Your body will always prefer to burns available carb/sugar energy than dipping into stored fat. Need to reduce carb availability and exercise enough to get the stored fat reserves into play.

I’m a fan of simple walking, every day. Yes, a little speed helps, can mix in some elevation change.

There may be things better, but a good place to start.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

Do you know what your current BF % is? Scales that will do BF measurements are pretty affordable via Amazon (under $30)

At 60 years old a “healthy” male would be expected to have 13-24% body fat while 40-59yo would be 11-21%≥ Assuming you are currently 30% BF, at 175lbs, that would be 52 lbs of fat. To lose 20~ lbs of fat and maintain current muscle mass you would be 155 lb and 20% BF (31 lb BF). 30-20% BF is a big drop for a loss of only 20 lbs weight.

I don't really know but I'm gonna guess at least high 20's. I want to lose about 2-3" off the waist.

Cool - this sounds like 155lb, 20% and same muscle mass. If I wanted to add 10 lb of muscle, then I'm okay with 165lb, 20% BF. If this is a reasonable target, I'd be happy with these results a first pass. The tough part is whether my biking routine is enough to get me there (sounds like not; need to restrict calories more). But that being said, I try to exercise toward the end of fasting - exercise before lunch when I've burned as much serum sugar as possible. Not sure this makes a difference or not.


I'll look into doing proper lunges and squats. I've never really done them before. I tried just now and it kind of hurts my knees.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:\

Joining a gym is expensive - $150-200 / month. Hard on my budget, especially these days.

Is there a Planet Fitness location near you? It's ten bucks a month around here.

quote:

What is the best, quickest, most effective/efficient way for me to trim body fat (lose about 10-15 pounds of fat), gain some muscle, improve cardiovascular health. #1 or #2? Or something else? Interleaving #1, #2, for now at least, extends recovery time for #1 and also makes #2 slower (legs are tired and so can't walk as fast).

As soon as you get up, hydrate (electrolytes, not just water), then do your cardio. Eat after, not before. This is the most effective way to burn fat. That, and quit shoveling so much shit down your throat.

Walking and riding, repetitively, will build muscle over time. The more effective way to do this, is implement a full body muscular workout at a gym utilizing dumbbells, barbell, cables, Hammer Strength/Nautilus machines, etc. Work each muscle/group once per week that way it/they get 6 full days to recuperate. Cut out all the shit food. Fast food is awful and like eating shit. Cut out as much processed food as you possibly can. Stick to natural food that is grown or raised. You want to get 1 gr of protein per body lb per day. You want to eat smaller meals, more frequently. For some that is 4 meals a day. I eat 6 per day and each are about 500 calories. Each is approximately 40 gr of protein. 500 calorie meals is a good target. Liquids, outside of water and coffee in the morning, don’t drink it. Incorporate lots of fruit/veggies into your diet. Cut out bread. Food is 80% of this. If you don’t eat right, at your age, all the exercise in the world isn’t going to cut it. You must eat correctly.

Your best bet, if you don’t know lifting well. And by well I mean like stripping your favorite pistol. If you don’t know it like that, get a trainer. And if the trainer isn’t super fit don’t bother. Most of them are fat and idiots. Get the super fit trainer. You could always buy some home equipment, etc, but I don’t recommend that unless you are prepared to really get into it, have a dedicated room, and have the thousands you’ll need to create a solid setup. A yoga mat and some kettle bell bullshit ain’t going to cut it.

Weight training > cardio for general fitness & fat loss.

Free weights > machines for weight training.

Planet Fitness is to gyms what Bud Light is to beer