for soccer, eh maybe 2x week 15min sprints, and once or twice doing 15 minutes compound lifting squats/get you a lot. not really any shortcut on boring-ass cardio if you want to be able to breath after runnign around for an hour.
sort of depends on who you are competing against, though doesn't it.
High intensity, short duration is awesome. Many crossfit workouts are under 15 minutes, and doing that four times a week would get you in very good shape, though you need some stretching and warmup time before then.
not really any shortcut on boring-ass cardio
What about boring ass-cardio? Any shortcuts there?
Hyphen-based humor is always a winner.
Four times a week is more than I seem to be able to fit in. I think the factor I'm most interested in minimizing is the frequency of workouts.
In the past I've been able to get away with playing soccer 2-3 times on the weekend, and then exercising maybe once during the week. I'm curious if there's reason to believe I could get away with even less, and still maintain fitness.
5: I'm curious if there's reason to believe I could get away with even less, and still maintain fitness.
Sure. I have friends who never exercise, though they heft large and/or heavy objects around on a regular basis -- building things, moving things -- and they're quite fit.
Also, in a related question to the OP, whats the minimum amount you need to exercise if, instead of going all out, you just sort of half-ass it and quit early? Is 2 or 3 times a month enough?
I have friends who never exercise, though they heft large and/or heavy objects around on a regular basis
I'm assuming this was posted to test if there is such as thing as fruit that hangs too low to pick.
Related: I just finished my fourteenth attempt (ninth successful) at Day 1, Week 4 of the six-week Hundred Pushups Challenge.
playing soccer 2-3 times on the weekend, and then exercising maybe once during the week. I'm curious if there's reason to believe I could get away with even less, and still maintain fitness.
I'm not a exercise physiologist, but I'm going to go with "no way."
8: I'm not seeing the low-hanging fruit myself.
11: Breasts.
Definitely not something worth making a joke about, of course.
wait, you want to stay in shape for your weekend games by doing less than once a week?
theres really not a lot you can do to make your 0xweek program more worthwhile.
Sure you can, Yoyo. Get a good night's sleep. Stand up instead of sitting, that sort of thing.
9: Is that the one where you try to eat 600 of those ice cream novelties that unavoidably make it look for all the world like you're giving head?
10, 14: I had a vague hope that this would be a topic where Unfogged was like "Conventional wisdom has got this topic ALL WRONG! Here's how to beat the system."
"Conventional wisdom has got this topic ALL WRONG! Here's how to beat the system."
Well, if its the system you want to beat, I would recommend a balanced combination of crystal meth and anabolic steroids.
well if you don't care about doing well the second hour of play, 30 minutes a week can keep you thin and "athletic" enough to impress most people. I really doubt most people doing the treadmill at the gym play much pickup sports. I think there is a lot more value added from "exercise hard" than to "work hard" or "play hard"
well, maybe a hypobaric sleeping chamber. those might be worth something, and you have to sleep anyway.
I found that windsprints and intervals really did a lot for my soccer. I was able to retain good touch and control deeper into the games.
Yeah i wouldn't say doing intervals is negotiable, if you are oging to do anything.
HIIT/Tabata type stuff can really cut down the amount of time you need to spend on cardio, apparently. It's the only cardio I do [laziness, rather than by design] and it keeps me at the sort of minimal base level I need to train. I don't even really do intervals often enough or intense enough to qualify as a Tabata type protocol, but even the minimal amount I do definitely takes the edge off of my usual sloth. I couldn't run for shit, but I can spar a couple of hard rounds without completely collapsing.
You could maintain good cardio fitness, I'd bet, with a Tabata type routine, which really isn't time intensive. It's 5 or 10 minute sessions, four times a week. I've no idea how much other conditioning work you'd need for soccer. I played a lot as a kid, but I didn't need any conditioning as a 12 year old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training
I played a lot as a kid, but I didn't need any conditioning as a 12 year old.
This is so true and so irritating.
3-4 times per week for real HIIT-type program. 4 is max, apparently, as you really need 24 hours between sessions. 30/60 at max/recovery intensity X up to about 12 is a good target.
This article seems relevant; apparently the short, high-intensity stuff works on college students as well as rats:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/
But all-out really means all-out. Like sprinting while carrying dumbells. This kind of exercise regime works very well for people like me, who hate moderate exercise every bit as much as intense exercise, but at least the intense exercise is over sooner.
Yeah, I do a 30/30 program, at max/recovery but usually only do 5 or 6 'sets'.* 'Max' for me is probably more slightly less than all out, but it's close. Sprinting with high knees on the spot while throwing punch combinations; or throwing repeated roundhouse kicks as fast as I can for 30 seconds; 'can-cans', that sort of thing.
* although to be fair it usually comes at the end of 90 minutes of other training which is itself quite interval based.
yeah the only real drawback is the benefits max out pretty quick i think a month or two gets you about 96% or something of the vo2 boost. whereas it takes like two years before you max out slow cardio lactate threshhold benefits (and somehting else i think)
of course, i guess that could be a benefit, too
re: 27
Yeah, it's noticeable that Tabata's original study included a single slow cardio session. I try to fit that in, with a 60 minute walk at a fast pace, but I rarely do it more than a couple of times a month [instead of weekly like I'd prefer].
5
In the past I've been able to get away with playing soccer 2-3 times on the weekend, and then exercising maybe once during the week. I'm curious if there's reason to believe I could get away with even less, and still maintain fitness.
I would have thought that playing soccer 2-3 times per weekend would be enough by itself to keep you in pretty good shape. How long is each game?
the tabata protocol is pretty long compared to most otehr interval studies.
I'm rather jealous of people with super low heart rates. mine is naturally quite rapid, which is about my only bad health indicator.
I think the "in shape" is relative to the other people in said games; heeber is eschewing good sportsbraodship for some healthy cheating
i mean, the intervals suggested. a lot of studies are more like "sprint for 10 seconds, rest for 20". tabata really want you to have a religious experience.
I've done interval training before - I should get back to that. It really is efficient. The part that is SO HARD maintaining some sort of reasonable jog between sprints. Ugh. Thanks for the Tabata links.
This kind of exercise regime works very well for people like me, who hate moderate exercise every bit as much as intense exercise, but at least the intense exercise is over sooner.
This is me, unless I'm playing sports. If I didn't like sports, I'd probably do very non-strenuous workouts.
I would have thought that playing soccer 2-3 times per weekend would be enough by itself to keep you in pretty good shape. How long is each game?
That's kind of what I'm hoping. The outdoor games are 90 minutes, and the indoor game is 40 minutes, but it's nearly straight sprinting when you're on the field.
(Three teams is too much right now, though, so I want to drop one of the teams.)
heeber is eschewing good sportsbraodship for some healthy cheating
I'm all for eschewing, but what?
The part that is SO HARD maintaining some sort of reasonable jog between sprints.
The stuff I've read suggests that you don't need to jog in between sprints; walking at a decent pace is good enough. Personally, I know that if I alternate 30 seconds of full-out sprinting with 2-3 minutes of walking, after 4 or 5 sets I'm completely spent.
30 seconds of sprinting is really long. I've just done sprints on a straight portion of my jogging path, so it's probably 8-10 seconds, max.
The best thing you can do for fitness for football is play football. Not (always) at full game tempo, but kicking the ball around, and so-on. So maybe try playing more casual pick up games? (Lunch times, or whatever.) This has the advantage that football is fun.
But all-out really means all-out. Like sprinting while carrying dumbells. And then you laze around eating greasy meat the rest of the week!
30 seconds of sprinting is really long.
Yep. Make sure you don't have to climb any stairs after doing one of those workouts.
(Didn't you say you're one of those people who responds well to being yelled at by a coach? I can call you names if that'll help!)
So maybe try playing more casual pick up games?
This semester is a little screwy because I'm only going in MWF. So I'm super pressed for time on work days, and have the baby with me on the other days.
At some point there will be a 3-4 week intramural season at school, and the faculty-staff usually form a team. That is a lot of fun.
My version of this has been to try to walk up the stairs at work and to parking garage (so 4 to 6 flights 2 or 3 times a day). It's also supposed to remind me what going up the 6th flight feels like when I'm reaching for yet another helping of food I don't need.
Can't the kids play yet? Honestly, children these days.
HIIT sounds somewhat similar to hockey. Now I have an excuse to not do any other exercise. Thanks, internet!
At Royal H our football coach (West Ham Gary) used to be keen on intervals. I remember it being absolute torture but not seeming to get any fitter as a result.
Although the linked method may well be better. Of course the temptation is to pile on the quantity and hang the intensity.
Also, we seem to have a spam issue.
So I'm super pressed for time on work days, and have the baby with me on the other days.
There is clearly a market for baby-based resistance training workouts.
1. Hold the baby at chest height with arms fully extended parallel to the floor. Lift the baby in a single slow steady movement to above your head. Hold in place for 10 seconds. Return the baby to starting position. Repeat 10 times.
2. Strap the baby to your left ankle. Lying on your back, slowly raise your left leg until the baby is clear of the floor. Return the baby to starting position. Switch the baby to the other ankle. If you have twins, attach one to each leg and alternate.
Pressups while baby resting on back? Crunches while holding baby? The possibilities are endless, and the baby would probably quite enjoy it.
Also, it's a progressive Milo-of-Crotona-style workout, because the baby will get steadily heavier.
re: 47
Pressups, etc. Years ago, when I did karate they used to make us do pressups in a 'stack'. Person gets into pressup position, other person climbs on top of 'em in pressup position [feet on their heels/ankles, arms on back of shoulders]. Bottom person lowers body to ground, then second person does same, then reverse. Stupidly difficult, and about as comically homoerotic as any exercise I've ever seen.
I found that interval training was *extremely* more effective at getting fit for basketball than standard cardio.
I wasn't fooling around at the cardio training--was doing 3-4 miles 4 times per week at ~6:45/mile, and I was still unable to hang with those bastard kids at the Y.
Then I switched to one day windsprints, one day intervals (like 80%/60% max speed for 45s/90s X 8 or so), one day cardio as before. The improvement was immediately notable and highly significant.
Heebie, what position do you play outdoors? Do you concentrate on one position indoor?
Depends on the team. Coed outdoor, usually midfield. Womens outdoor, stopper. Indoor, like a chicken with it's head cut off.
Indoor, like a chicken with it's head cut off.
Me too, but a chicken that concentrates on being approximately a defender.
In one of the indoor leagues I've played in in the DC area adults are not allowed to wear cleats (obviously this is not on a basketball surface); this periodically leads to people in athletic shoes wiping out spectacularly.