Tips for getting back in shape

[Turtle]

I studied karate (first kempo, then when my school closed, goju ryu) for about six years in high school and college. Due to financial reasons, I had to quit taking classes about seven years ago.

While I kept up as much with drills and katas as I could at first, I was hit by a car while riding my bike a few years back, and used my injuries, especially damage to my left leg, as an excuse to get lazy.

I'll have time and hopefully a bit of extra cash starting after Easter, and I'd like to get back into karate, but, to put it bluntly, I'm fat and out of shape. I'm not really sure where to begin — I'm putting myself on a diet and I've been doing crunches, leg lifts and knee push-ups, but that's about it.

So, for those of you who have had to get into (or back into) shape after injury and/or gluttony, where's a good place to start? Any advice? I'd especially like suggestions for cardio — my left ankle is very weak and running puts more strain on it than I'd like, at the weight I am now. (I will be getting a doctor's opinion on the ankle before I actually start classes, but at the moment, I can do standard exercise as long as it doesn't cause actual pain.)

Thanks in advance.

[Lupin1]

I'm just restarting Karate, too, and I'm also out of shape (of course, I've been out of shape since 3rd grade). The thing I've been starting with the most is stretches. When I feel more flexible and loose I just have more energy and want to do more exercise and I feel better all around. Even before I start really working the strength training and the cardiovascular I already feel worlds better just by stretching for 20 minutes every morning and then again during the day when I have time and feel tight. It's great.

[KarateGeorge]

First off, for the ankle, you may consider putting an ankle brace on it when exercising if you don't already have one. It may give it the extra support it needs to help prevent injury or pain.

I would then do some strength exercises, such as calf extensions, to help build strength back up in your ankles again.

As far as cardio goes, there are several types of cardio exercises that you can do that should hopefully not aggrevate the ankle too much. Mainly just look for something lower impact. Depending on how much the ankle bothers you, an exercise bike or elliptical may perfect for your needs. If that causes too much strain, you may try doing some swimming or using a rowing machine, or even just doing some punching drills on a heavy bag can be quite the workout if you have access to one.

There are definitely cardio exercises out there that should hopefully not aggrevate the ankles too much. Best of luck!

[DWx]

Swimming is definitely good as its low impact. I also second the suggestion of an ankle brace, they can help loads.

Maybe cycling if you can manage it? Or even just going out for walks. Crunches, push-ups and all that are good for core strength but their not necessary a good cardio work out which is what you really want if you want to lose weight. Actually those fitness/workout dvds you can get can be quite good sometimes for a bit of a workout.

[Turtle]

I have a bike, and don't have problems riding it, so maybe I will do that. It definitely seems to just be a problem with the high-impact stuff. I do have a brace, so maybe I will dig that out and try jogging with that on and see. Thanks for the ideas! (I ride a bike for my main transportation; it never occurred to me, hey, people ride them for fun sometimes. )

I'm doing the other stuff 'cause I need the strength training, too. I'm kind of at a point where I need everything and I'm not sure what to focus on. I should start with the cardio, though, and go from there, I guess?

[KarateGeorge]

Yeah, if your main concern at the moment is trimming up, I'd focus mostly on cardio and a healthy diet. You'll want to mix some strength training in, as a pound of muscle burns more muscle than a pound of fat, so gaining muscle will help burn more calories throughout the day.

Ultimately it comes down to simple math. To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you're bringing in. So eating a healthy diet, and exercise will go a long ways.

For weight loss, when doing cardio, ideally you'll want to get your heart rate up for a good 30-40 minutes a day, about 4 or 5 days a week. You can break that up into a couple of sessions, and you may need to work your way up to it, but that should be your goal. As you start to lose weight and improve your cardio fitness, you may even find that to get the "same" workout, you need to increase the intensity of the workout.

Once you reach your ideal weight you can scale back some, as maintenance requires a little less work than actually getting there, but if you really put your mind to it, you'll be quite surprised how quickly you'll start to see results.

[DWx]

If you want to run even with a dodgy ankle its worth investing in some proper running trainers. They'll cushion the ride better and give you more support than just normal trainers so will be much better for you.

Riding a bike is great exercise. I use mine all the time when I'm at uni. If you can bike instead of getting the bus or driving all the exercise can really add up and it gets you a lot fitter.

[mr_obvious]

I'm doing the other stuff 'cause I need the strength training, too. I'm kind of at a point where I need everything and I'm not sure what to focus on. I should start with the cardio, though, and go from there, I guess?

It's all important. Doing only cardio....you're going to lose muscle, unless you follow a high-protein diet. Gots to do strength training, cardio and watch the diet.

[sperki]

Turtle - you've put a lot of faith in a bunch of folks on the internet with that appeal for advice! Talking to a doctor before starting any exercise program is a good idea. Of course most doctors will tell you to exercise, but definitely have the ankle looked at. My wife has weak ankles and the physical therapist gave her a long, rubber, band that she ties to a heavy piece of furniture and her ankle. Then she stands on the opposite leg and swings the leg that has the band tied to it. The same idea would work without the band - essentially improving balance will improve the stabilizing muscles in your ankle.

KarateGeorge is correct; putting one some muscle mass will increase your resting metabolism and help you burn more calories during the day. Push-ups and crunches are a great place to start.

As for cardiovascular exercise, the secret is to do something that you enjoy. If you only ride your bike to commute you may think that biking isn't particularly fun (my Japanese friend has that attitude about cycling) so you will be less likely to stick with it. If you don't like getting wet, don't swim! Go for a hike, walk the dog, try the elliptical, just make sure you like it enough to do the exercise again. If you're not opposed to swimming and you have access to a pool it would be a great way to lose some weight, develop some muscular strength, and improve your cardiovascular fitness (no, I'm not a regular swimmer) and it would help strengthen your ankles.

Good luck!

[todome]

I suggest that whatever you choose to do for cardio, and yes absolutely talk to your doctor and start doing cardio, you make a point of learning the basics of heart rate training. In a nutshell it involves sitting down and roughing out your target heart rate(s) and training to it(them). It takes the guesswork out of avoiding either over or under training.

Personally, I've been having good results with a stationary bike and a chest strap that lets me keep a close eye on my heart rate. Not exactly a laugh a minute or anything but its low-impact and easy to control. I've developed a 6 routine rotation of workouts ranging from 17 minutes at 151 bpm to 30 minutes of interval work between 124 and 155 bpm and a 40 minute endurance session at 141 bpm. The system is a bit more finely tuned than just roughing stuff in but for all the fuss its still just a fancy way of going at it hard enough to keep my heart going 145 (I'm 50 years old so oh yeah 145 is plenty) for a while. 145, btw, is smack dab in the middle of the standard anaerobic zone for my age, which makes it a recommended interval training target. I stick to the upper ranges when I'm on the bike since the karate training itself provides plenty of lower range/intensity exercise.

I think its 2 hours a week well spent. Its taken a lot of the worry out of having something in the tank for the end of class. I'll scale back on how much time I'm spending on cardio sooner or later but having quit smoking a few months back I'm making too much progress (eg. 2% improvement in VO2 max a week over the last four weeks) to not keep it up at least for now.

If you're interested, here's a decent reference to get you started.

http://walking.about.com/cs/fitnesswalking/a/hearttraining.htm