Denise Austin - Pilates

[AmberLepu]

Hey all, I bought this VHS tape a long time ago and just stumbled onto it while cleaning up.

I really used to love doing these workout routines, and I know that they offer a good workout, but I still can't help but second guess all the effort I put into doing thise thing three times a week.

Does Pilates REALLY help you to burn fat and tone muscle?

I'm only on the beginner course right now, and even that's fairly difficult...

Is it really worth it?  

[dangerousfish]

All activity is good (well, all activity with good body mechanics). Pilates challenges the muscles and brings the heart rate up. So it is (usually) mild cardio with dynamic strength training which will burn fat and build muscle. Pilates can be tricky in that if you do all the exercises wrong you can mess up your core but I think Denise Austin is good at explaining, if I remember correctly. I like the Windsor Pilates "Basic" video that comes packaged with a lot of her tapes if you could find that separate that would be cool, I think she explains the motions really well.

My roommate loves Denise Austin workouts and we have two pilates videos "Hit the Spot" and "Pilates for Everyone" plus a new "boot camp" video. My roommate mostly does only these workouts and she is really strong - she can hold a T-stand like no one's business. Her main cardio is jogging (she used to do cross-country in high school) so that takes care of the fat burning cardio so you can see all her nice lean muscles she made with her pilates videos.

I used to add pilates to my cardio rotation. So I would do Walk Away the Pounds most days of the week but would sub Pilates some of the days. I also lifted weights every other day to build my own lean muscle (muscle is fat burning, rawr!) and help prevent skin sagging. So I think pilates is a good workout, rock on. It doesn't matter if you're on the beginner course you lose fat by doing exercise that is challenging for _you_ no one should feel like they have to do the advanced to be fit and hurt themselves or burn out. crying  

[AmberLepu]

That really helps alot, although I'm still having a little trouble understanding all of this about cardio. What IS cardio precisely and why is it so important? I know that it would pertain to heart rate and the cardiovascular system - but how does that pertain to my weight, beside the obvious - higher heart rate = more energy thing?  

[dangerousfish]

Donna the Vixen

That really helps alot, although I'm still having a little trouble understanding all of this about cardio. What IS cardio precisely and why is it so important? I know that it would pertain to heart rate and the cardiovascular system - but how does that pertain to my weight, beside the obvious - higher heart rate = more energy thing?

All activity burns calories but doing cardiovascular exercise is what will rev up your bodies "motor" which is your muscles (not your lazy fat). Your muscles work hard and your body starts sending out calories to help them (with fuel) if you have a healthy diet your body will take these calories from stored fat. Your heart pumps faster to send more oxygen to the muscles when people talk about cardio intensity it means how fast your heart is beating per minute compared to your resting heart rate. So to lose weight we want to aim for 30-60 minutes of moderately intense cardio. This means (without numbers) that we can still talk while working out and aren't gasping for breath or feeling dizzy. A lot of beginners want to loss pounds fast (which is different from losing fat) and will throw themseleves into a program too advanced (or dangerous) for them then you get burnt out or injured, more often than not.

If you're on a low-calorie diet and not eating enough calories and nutrition (protein, carbs, good fats) your body will actually want to eat your muscles first because they are more tasty. If they have nutrition to eat the body will be happy and more content to burn (mostly) fat.

Remember a pound of fat takes 3500 (and 3500 calories to put on a pound of fat). To lose the healthy 1-2 pound weight lose burn week you need to eat less calories than you need to maintain and exercise more to burn fat and build muscle (3500 calories needs to get out of you to lose one pound of fat). There are 7 days in a week so 3500/7=500 calories a day to lose. Most people say you should eat 250 calories less and burn 250 calories more through exercise to lose one pound. Then we have to worry if the pound lose came from fat or muscle? It is very hard to only lose fat (maybe impossible) but we want to lose more fat than muscle and to build muscle. This is why BMI should only be a guide if it says I'm 5 pounds into "overweight" but that 5 pounds is muscle I really don't want to lose that 5 pounds. Bodybuilders always come out overweight on the BMI but they are very fit people (well, unless they build using drugs. xp ).

My BMR is around 1900 calories I burn just being me. So I should eat 250-500 calories less each day and burn 250-500 calories through exercise. EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention you need to also eat to replace the calories you use everyday just doing stuff - this isn't included in your BMR so you add how many calories you burn sleeping, resting, typing, etc to that baseline which puts me at around 2200. /EDIT Eating enough calories of "clean" food makes your body happier than worrying about eating under 1000 calories or number that would be crazy for me.

The aspects of cardiovascular exercise are:
warm-up (no static stretching when your muscles are cold)
cooling down (static stretching okay here)
Frequency (how many times do you do cardio per week?)
Duration (how long do you do your cardio? What intensity is your heart beating at?)

So not including warm up and cool down a good rule is 45 minutes of moderately intense cardio most days of the week. This is for fat loss - programs for muscle gain or just to maintain your current body have different rules. Once you get to where you want to be you can usually maintain with moderate/moderately intense cardio 30 minutes 3 days a week. Of course we still need to be "active" for at least 30 minutes most days of the week. Exercise really is addicting, totally not a lie. The "runner's high" and the moving the body starts to feel so good.

Keep in mind starting out slow, especially if your baseline fitness is low, is best. I started with 20 minutes everyday for 2 weeks before moving onto 30 minutes (usually) 6 days a week and then up to 45 at (usually) 6 days a week. Not including warm up and cool down. My warm up is usually some walking in place and some dynamic stretching - many times the routine I described here, in HIM_fan's thread. Cool down is more walking in place with stretches.

Target heart rate (cardio intensity):
Find your resting heart rate (right after really relaxing like when you wake up or from zoning on the couch is best), put your first two fingers on the inside of the wrist (never use your thumb) or your neck, when you feel your pulse the best start counting the beats for 10 seconds and then multiply that number by 6 (or just count the beats for a full minute (more accurate). Your beats per minute is now your baseline. Generally, a lower beat per minute means your heart is more fit and athletic (minus extremes or illness or other things).

A general probably not super accurate equation for maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220 and this will give you your maximum heart rate.

Using my numbers that would be: 12 x 6 = 72 BPM and 220-24 = 196 BPM

I take my MHR 196 BPM and multiple in my a percent. 196 x .65 = 127.4 BPM so if I wanted to work out at 65% of my MHR I would want to aim for 124 beats per minute when I take my pulse during exercise. An intense level would be 80% so that would be 196 x .80=156.8 so my target range is 124-157. Really really fit athletes might go up to 90% of their MHR but I don't think we don't want to do thatl. Light exercise (barely any effort) would be in the 30-40% range and we get up to mildly moderate in the 50's.

Mainly I work out in the 65-70 range but do intervals of 85% when for a minute or whatever I turn up my intensity and get my heart rate up before bringing it back down to my 65-70. You burn more calories at higher intensity but if you just throw yourself into something because "it burns more calories" you run the risk of getting tired of working out and killing yourself over it. Work yourself hard - challenge your body but don't think you have to fall over dead after a workout.

So me personally:
45 minutes moderately intense- intense cardio most days of the week
lifting challenging weights every other day (your muscles need the day off to repair themselves)
some pilates and some Turbo Jam to keep me from keeping bored
baseline workout person level: intermediate

I hoped this helped some, there are lots of resources out there to help as well.