Advice On Choosing A Gym - Pattaya

[losworld]

The real key is diet... getting in shape is 70 percent diet and 30 percent exercise and remember you will lose weight simply through diet but not through exercise alone unless of course you are hiking twelve hours per day. It takes two hours of solid exercise to work off a McDonald's meal.

Stay away from sugar, artificial sweetners and simple carbs as they will spike your blood sugar, store fat and make you hungrier. If you can do it you will never get fat again once you've lost the weight.

[toenail]

Walking is ok if it is for an hour, but one must get the heart rate up; this is the reason for going to a good gym where there are bikes for spinning, elipticals, treadmills and other cardio machines that will get your heart rate up without worrying about traffic, falling into potholes, tripping over drunks and sleeping dogs, and bumping into people. I walk to my gym which helps to warm me up, but my calory burner is on the bike and eliptical. One must do cardio for 30-45 minutes to see the pounds go off...an hour can be your goal.

[TheWalkingMan]

If you are currently not exercising, get a pedometer and walk 10k steps per day. If you are carrying too many pounds and want to save your knees, hips and ankles, start with the 10k steps and go from there.

[londoedan]

Walking is ok if it is for an hour, but one must get the heart rate up;

This is so true. For example, light jogging at about 8 km/hr burns twice as many calories as walking at 6-6.5 km/hr.

Once you can get the speed up a bit and lengthen the runs to 30-40 mins, then you become a real calorie burning machine !

Simon

[londoedan]

I agree with those who say a gym is not necessary. All you need to do is to walk at the beginning--then move up to jogging/running eventually.

Walking is pleasant and fun--you can people watch as you do it: if you walk up and down Beach Road, for example. Gradually build up speed and distance. It's free!

I agree that walking outdoors is a good way to start a training / fitness regime, going further as the weeks go by and taking in Pratumnak Hill etc..

However I reckon a good, clean, AC equipped gym has a number of advantages once you start running for more than about 10-15 mins:

[1] Dehydration. You lose an awful lot of water running outside for an hr in the heat and humidty of Pattaya.

[2] Both the roads and pavements of Pattaya are pretty crap, the holes and uneven surfaces are a lot trickier to spot at speed.

[3] Treadmills do have a slight cushioning compared with running on the road and this can be easier on the various joints, particularly the knees.

[4] Opportunities for cross-training on the bike / Nordic trainers, plus some light upper body work when you fancy it.

Simon

Just a comment about treadmills. They are not that good for your joints as they don't allow you to run in your natural & correct position. It's better to keep away from high impact training at first and stick to walking, spinning, ellipse machines or swimming as mentioned earlier. You can do spinning classes in Pattaya and if you stick with it you will notice a heck of a difference. Most definitely start walking more or buy a push bike.

I used to love running but I have to be careful with my knees as they were abused during my military service. This was when a 'Harley Street' specialist told me to keep away from treadmills and run cross country where possible.

I guess we are all different but in about a year and a half of running on TR's, I have yet to have any serious joint issues.

This has really surprised me as I am pretty old (48) and do not have a runners physique !

One thing that might have helped is I did buy a decent pair of New Balance trainers with lots of support and cushioning.

I also did about 6-8 weeks of 2-3 hr walks to toughen-up the muscles / bones / tendons / ligaments before I started.

Simon

[Tolley]

Your diet is the first thing to address.

Exercise without a good diet is not going to do it.

At your age you also need to do resistance training. You burn more fat doing weights than you do with cardio.

Once you have lost a bit of wieght I would look for a sport to play one that interests you.

Sports are a great way to meet people and do execise without the grind of doing gym day in day out which is hard to maintain over a long period of time.

[mark131v]

The real key is diet... getting in shape is 70 percent diet and 30 percent exercise and remember you will lose weight simply through diet but not through exercise alone unless of course you are hiking twelve hours per day. It takes two hours of solid exercise to work off a McDonald's meal.

Stay away from sugar, artificial sweetners and simple carbs as they will spike your blood sugar, store fat and make you hungrier. If you can do it you will never get fat again once you've lost the weight.

Absolute cobblers!! exercise is the key not diet throughout history humans have pretty much eaten whatever they can without having an obesity problem it is only since we have moved to a sedentary lifestyle that the obesity thing has become an issue

If you are burning calories you can pretty much eat what you want without putting on weight, really simple more calories burned through work or exercise than calories taken in through what you eat and you will lose weight, eating a low fat diet but burning no calories through work or exercise and you will still gain flab

[mark131v]

Your diet is the first thing to address.

Exercise without a good diet is not going to do it.

At your age you also need to do resistance training. You burn more fat doing weights than you do with cardio.

Once you have lost a bit of wieght I would look for a sport to play one that interests you.

Sports are a great way to meet people and do execise without the grind of doing gym day in day out which is hard to maintain over a long period of time.

You do not burn more calories doing weights unless your heart rate is being pushed consistently which does not happen doing weights, put it to the test do 20 minutes pushing yourself on a rowing machine or 20 minutes doing weights see what gets you sweating more, by the way sweating more generally equals burning more calories

If you want the best of all worlds which is possibly something for a bit later for the OP then try circuit training CV interspersed with body weight exercise (press ups, sit ups, pull ups etc etc) and then throw in some low weight max repetition weights and you will burn calories no matter what you are eating. Don't get me wrong diet is crucially important but more from and health point of view as in salt intake cholesterol etc and less about the calories

[JSixpack]

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http://www.amazon.com/Stamina-InStride-Pro-Electronic-Stepper/dp/B001J8SLQW/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1317003987&sr=8-5

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[Tolley]

Your diet is the first thing to address.

Exercise without a good diet is not going to do it.

At your age you also need to do resistance training. You burn more fat doing weights than you do with cardio.

Once you have lost a bit of wieght I would look for a sport to play one that interests you.

Sports are a great way to meet people and do execise without the grind of doing gym day in day out which is hard to maintain over a long period of time.

You do not burn more calories doing weights unless your heart rate is being pushed consistently which does not happen doing weights, put it to the test do 20 minutes pushing yourself on a rowing machine or 20 minutes doing weights see what gets you sweating more, by the way sweating more generally equals burning more calories

If you want the best of all worlds which is possibly something for a bit later for the OP then try circuit training CV interspersed with body weight exercise (press ups, sit ups, pull ups etc etc) and then throw in some low weight max repetition weights and you will burn calories no matter what you are eating. Don't get me wrong diet is crucially important but more from and health point of view as in salt intake cholesterol etc and less about the calories

Weights aka resistance training will keep on burning calories for hours after you have finished exercising unlike cardio where you stop burning calories as soon as you stop exercising. So in reality you will boost your metabolism and burn more fat by doing weights than by doing cardio.

In addition if you only do cardio you will lose not only fat but you will lose muscle which is not desirable especially as you get older.

All things being equal resistance training is more important than cardio.

[mark131v]

Your diet is the first thing to address.

Exercise without a good diet is not going to do it.

At your age you also need to do resistance training. You burn more fat doing weights than you do with cardio.

Once you have lost a bit of wieght I would look for a sport to play one that interests you.

Sports are a great way to meet people and do execise without the grind of doing gym day in day out which is hard to maintain over a long period of time.

You do not burn more calories doing weights unless your heart rate is being pushed consistently which does not happen doing weights, put it to the test do 20 minutes pushing yourself on a rowing machine or 20 minutes doing weights see what gets you sweating more, by the way sweating more generally equals burning more calories

If you want the best of all worlds which is possibly something for a bit later for the OP then try circuit training CV interspersed with body weight exercise (press ups, sit ups, pull ups etc etc) and then throw in some low weight max repetition weights and you will burn calories no matter what you are eating. Don't get me wrong diet is crucially important but more from and health point of view as in salt intake cholesterol etc and less about the calories

Weights aka resistance training will keep on burning calories for hours after you have finished exercising unlike cardio where you stop burning calories as soon as you stop exercising. So in reality you will boost your metabolism and burn more fat by doing weights than by doing cardio.

In addition if you only do cardio you will lose not only fat but you will lose muscle which is not desirable especially as you get older.

All things being equal resistance training is more important than cardio.

I agree with some of your argument but not all.

Weights is seen by most people as lifting big weights to get a body beautiful, you seem to think that all cardio is running cycling etc have you tried rowing or cross training I can assure you that you or the OP will get a good all over workout and will quickly end up toned if you persevere (I say persevere because pushing yourself on a rowing machine when you are starting out is a special kind of misery!)and it is all about pushing it until it hurts and then push some more, no pain no gain and all that!!

Weights for me and I suspect a lot of people people conjures up a picture that may or may not be correct, for me resistance training is own body weight exercise such as press ups, sit ups etc and light weight high repetition high impact exercise, Rowing or cycling is also resistance training as is swimming all of which have very high Cardio Vascular output thus burning calories efficiently.

I have no idea where you get this information that weights is better for a 48 year old person than CV that is contrary to everything I have ever known but I am willing to be convinced, you need a strong heart and lungs to do all exercise and stay fit and healthy for life and CV works the heart and lungs so for me it is a no brainer I am already convinced by resistance training as I have spent a lifetime being thrashed doing circuit training so know this works

OP no matter what you choose to do you have taken the biggest step all you need to do now is stick with it,any exercise is good exercise and if you couple it with an healthy diet you will get were you want to be.... I wish you all the best

[JSixpack]

I have no idea where you get this information that weights is better for a 48 year old person than CV that is contrary to everything I have ever known

One should find a balance between cardio and lifting (body weight can work well). As a former marathon runner and true believer myself, I'm convinced now that the benefits of pure cardio have been vastly overstated by Ken Cooper et al.

You might read these articles and explore the site--lots of diet info that actually works (not so easy at first, tho'):

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-benefits-moderate-exercise/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/less-cardio-less-fat-more-muscle/

Mark himself is a remarkable physical specimen for his age (or any age). Now, we're not talking about bodybuilding.

For the last year I've stopped going to fitness centers of all stripes and have just been using a homemade suspension trainer and a stepper, along w/ a lower (not extremely low) carb diet (home cooked, as you must in Thailand if you're serious) and I'm quite satisfied w/ the results. Sure have saved time and gym fees.

Edited September 26, 2011 by JSixpack

[mark131v]

I have no idea where you get this information that weights is better for a 48 year old person than CV that is contrary to everything I have ever known

One should find a balance between cardio and lifting (body weight can work well). As a former marathon runner and true believer myself, I'm convinced now that the benefits of pure cardio have been vastly overstated by Ken Cooper et al.

You might read these articles and explore the site--lots of diet info that actually works (not so easy at first, tho'):

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-benefits-moderate-exercise/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/less-cardio-less-fat-more-muscle/

Mark himself is a remarkable physical specimen for his age (or any age). Now, we're not talking about bodybuilding.

For the last year I've stopped going to fitness centers of all stripes and have just been using a homemade suspension trainer and a stepper, along w/ a lower (not extremely low) carb diet (home cooked, as you must in Thailand if you're serious) and I'm quite satisfied w/ the results. Sure have saved time and gym fees.

Totally agree, finding a balance of resistance and CV is the key though I still have to be convinced that body building/weights is healthy as I have met too many muscle bosuns who were completely unfit and who would be out of breath walking up the stairs, cant see how that can be good for you and I struggle to understand how lifting weights and not pushing yourself CV wise can be better for you than say rowing

I don't know if there is anywhere in town that does circuit training but if there is then the OP could do a lot worse than to invest a bit of time and money there...it is always easier to start training with other people that way you can motivate each other and swap ideas and pick each other up when you are having a bad day

Jsixpack, I will have to have a look at the suspension training thing as I have had to stop running due to osteoarthritis, at present I am using the concept 2 rower as my main CV and mix in lots of press ups, pull ups and low weight high rep phys as well which I am finding very effective compared to running miles everyday as I did through most of my life prior to my knees packing up, I do agree with some of the stuff you posted and it is hard to argue that pure CV (running in my case) has not contributed to my knackered knees and thus knocked my health back for a while