Exercise questions

[cupcake_goth]

I need suggestions for cardio exercises, that AREN'T jogging or riding a bike*, and that can be done at home w/o fancy equipment. My current plan is to dance for at least half an hour (our house has a huge kitchen, perfect for me to gothercize in) at least 3 times a week. However, suggestions of Other Stuff To Try would be spiffy.

(Part of the reason I hate exercising? It eats up time I'd much rather spend with The Husband, the cats, reading, or sewing. Those are all nice things. Exercising is a chore, tedious, and I Don't Like It.)







* No jogging. No. I won't. I hate exercise as it is. Riding a bike is also out, as I never learned how in the first place. Yes, I'm a freak. You all knew this.

Comments

[bork.livejournal.com]

What about swimming? Does Greenwood have a pool somewhere?

Another option is to speedwalk carrying weights in your arms, or having weights on your arms and legs. There's weight wristbands for this. They can be spraypainted an appropriate goth colour.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I forgot about weights! There are weighted ankle-bands as well. One of the guys I train with uses them to work on kicking speed because he's a maniac.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Walking is good if you don't like to run. Go a little faster than you normally would, try for 3 miles a day.

Dancing is also good, and not as annoying as Tae-Bo or aerobics or any of those things (which I don't do either). May I suggest a jumprope? You can get a basic cheap one at a sporting goods store, and work up to weighted ones (Jesse has one that's filled with water; swinging it is a challenge).

Yoga isn't cardio, but it is good for you, and is good for a surprising amount of caloric burn.

It's not at home, but swimming is another good one, and arguably much better for you than jogging anyway. (I jog because I enjoy it. I realize that this makes me a weirdo.)

[ozitonaranjo.livejournal.com]

Belly Dancing, Pilates (some anyway... I'll let you know how the MTV Pilates is once I actually USE it. lol!) are two I can think of right off the top of my head.

Belly dancing would probably be the most fun. The neena and meena (sp?) are really fun. I have one of theirs.

[bluejay23.livejournal.com]

Walking is good. I walk almost everywhere (30 blocks or less unless the weather is crappy), and at least a quarter mile every day. It is also low impact and The Husband could join you so your time together isn't minimized and you have company.
Just walking somewhere that you might normally ride to is a good way to start. And don't forget to bring water, but i bet you knew that. ;)
Have you considered swimming? I'm the freak who never learned how to swim, but i hear it's good cardio exercise.
The kitchen gothercise sounds like a great idea!

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

Riding a bike is also out [...]

Well, of course. How the heck would you ride a bike wearing a hoop skirt, anyway?

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

*poke*

Hey you! Answer email! :)

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

Gee, I would, but I'm way too busy working on your website. :) Sit tight.

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

Well, okay then. ;-)

[mahariel.livejournal.com]

How about an exercise bike? Minus the hoopkirts, of course. You can read while using one. Get one with the straps that go across the feet so you can pull up as well as push down and exercise more muscles.

-Victoria

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

An exercise bike would be ideal, but we have *no* place to put one.

[oldhalloween.livejournal.com]

We have a recumbant exercise bike in the living room. It adjusts to different lengths for short moi and six foot two hubby. You can pull it apart in the middle and store it under the dining room table or in a closet if I had closet space. Mostly it just sits in the living room in front of the TV so we use it. I bike in the morning while watching TV or reading and hubby bikes at night while we watch TV. Its just too easy to ignore exercise equipment that has its own room or spot. :0 )

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

The space that could be used to store one of those is currently taken up by the Accursed Machine (otherwise known as a Bowflex). If I could just find a smidge more storage space in the house (that doesn't involve going up & down stairs, mind you), I'd be off pricing exercise bikes. :-)

[riani1.livejournal.com]

Yoga done right is a heck of a workout. And it makes you all bendy, though I don't know if that's something you're looking for or not. You don't have to leave the house and you don't need special--or any!--clothes.

[leenerella]

Definitely workout videos. There are so many pilates, yoga, aerobic, and toning videos out there - and once I get used to the routine, I turn down the sound and turn on my own music - it keeps me motivated.

I used the present tense here, which is a lie. I have done that in the past. I need to start doing it again. There are yoga and pilates videos for $10 at Sam's Club. (The Gaiam Series.) Also Neena and Veena (or whatever their names are - the bellydance twins) but I found their first video to be boring and had too much hopping around. I'd love to find a tribal bellydance video, but don't know if one exists.

[leenerella]

Also, don't underestimate walking. A half hour a day is enough for maintenance, or so I read last week in the Seattle Times. Would be the perfect low-key thing when you're not feeling up to something more vigorous - then at least you could feel like you did *something.*

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. I really should walk more. And once it starts staying lighter in the evenings after work, I probably will.

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

There *is* a tribal belly dance video, because I own one. I think I've tried it once. Maybe I'll dig it out and try it again next week.

runs off to Google

Ah-ha!
Fat Chance Belly Dance TRIBAL BASICS Vol.1 Dance Fundamentals (http://www.fcbd.com/html/video_fcbd.html#remake)

[leenerella]

Looks like they have a workout video, too, further down the page.

A beginner bellydance moves video would get boring after a while, I think, because it wouldn't move along fast enough after you've been doing it for a couple weeks, I'd think...

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

hmmm, so they do. I'll have to think about getting that.

[orthoepy.livejournal.com]

Does it *have* to be cardio? I hate cardio with a passion. I only run when I'm chased, my city is death to bicycles, and I got my step-aerobics jones out years ago.

If not, I second the yoga recs, and also suggest weightlifting.

Lately, since I have an electric toothbrush, I use the timer built into it and do squats while I'm brushing my teeth. Double the virtue in the same amount of time!

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hate cardio too. But I know that weight training isn't enough to get my sluggish metabolism going, and I *really* want to try and finally lose some of my pudginess.

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Everybody's got good suggestions.

Yoga is not cardio, but is recommended for the bendy and toning aspects.

I'd say dancing or walking are your best bets. How do you feel about videos? There's some decent ones out there with not TOO perky instructors that I could rec, if you'd like.

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

I'll chime in on the belly dancing idea. According to my teacher, belly dancing burns as many calories as jogging in a given time period. Plus, you have an excuse to buy sparkly things like hipscarves so you can hear if you're doing the shimmyies right. I'm not taking belly dance pt. 2 this spring because I want to do yoga and can't afford both (plus, I'm having an attack of the clutzes). But it's definitely a good exercise, and it does lovely things for the abs.

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

I've tried belly dancing before; I even have a couple of the Veena & Neena (or whatever their names are) videos. My problem is that it *isn't* the sort of dancing I normally do, so I feel all ungainly and ungraceful and generally get cranky with it. The times I've tried classes I've liked them, but I just don't have the time to take them; on a *good* day, the commute to/from work is half an hour, but it's usually more like 45-60 minutes. That, added to the time going to & from a class? Nope, I'd give up. That's what I've done in the past.

I may drag out the belly dance tapes again and see if I don't feel as klutzy this time around.

It almost won't seem like exercising...

[danaid-luv.livejournal.com]

I don't know when the limit has been hit for responding to one post... *s*

...but my vote is walking. My husband & I walk at night...less people out, and it brings closure to the end of the day. You can either go for distance, or speed, or both. It's not that hard to start huffing if you walk at a smart enough clip...and so much nicer on your joints than jogging. (...and it's an *awesome*, easy way to connect w/ your partner...captive audience, either way!)