Right now, I cycle through a two day split of weight training (upper body or lower body), unstructured swiss ball exercises, running, walking, and taebo. Of all of them, running is probably the most energy intensive and most inconvenient but it's also my favorite with weight training a close second. I absolutely abhor walking.
It is my goal to slowly add more exercises and more exercise equiptment to my life. As I've already said, variety is the spice of life so the more options I have, the happier I am. My next purchase will likely be a jump rope and/or some resistance bands.
As I've already mentioned I do a 2 day split. My routine inspiration comes from Krista Scott's webpage . She offers a variety of routines as inspiration. I started out pretty blindly following her suggestions, but have since begun to do some of my own things. For instance on upperbody days, I do push ups first as they take the most muscles to do, thus by doing them first I get the most out of them. I've also added at least one exercise using a power band. I am a strong believer that the rectus abdominus (abs) is just another muscle and should only be trained once in the two day split, so I only do crunches one of the two days and I rarely do the stair/hill run on weight days. Needless to say, her page is a great place to start.
Anyone who knows anything about fitness at all knows that muscle burns more calories than fat. Therefore, the more lean muscle mass you have the more calories you burn even in your sleep. The more muscle you have, the more calories you can and should eat, in fact. Also, who wants to be a pussy?
Furthermore, it's important to note that endless repetitions of any exercise (including crunches!) is a waste of time. You might EVENTUALLY get the results you're going for but it's a lot quicker to just increase the weight (like holding something heavy across your chest when doing crunches). Once you get the "toned" look you're going for just stop increasing the weight and you won't get bigger muscles. And it saves a hell of a lot of time over the course of your training.
Hell yes. I've always loved being strong and I'd absolutely love to have the ability to push a greater percentage of men or women around should the situation warrent it. I feel it's VERY important to be able to defend myself and I love the freedom that being muscular gives a woman. I don't want 10% body fat, but I DO want to be closer to that 23% average. But strong. Think Lita of WWF. Wow.
Being a fat person, I say YES! I know it's exceptionally hard to get out and exercise in public (where running often takes place) but let me tell you, it's WELL worth it. I continue to do my best to avoid being seen running, but I've started to realise it doesn't matter anyway. People who see me running may well know "oh, she's trying to get fit" but since when is getting fit a BAD thing? Why would getting fit be something to be ashamed of? I'm more ashamed to have people think I'm oblivious to the things I've done to my body.
In fact, the other day a man (who was fit) saw me out running and you know what he said? "Hello." Oooh. Ouch. No, wait. "Hello"? That's a NICE thing. Well, I'll be.
I'm reminded of what Dr. Phil says: You wouldn't worry so often about what people think of you if you realised how seldom they do. Words of wisdom right there. Don't use other people as an excuse to stay unhealthy. Seriously.
If you're wondering if being fat makes running particularly dangerous, I have to admit, it probably is more dangerous. I recognise that in choosing to run I'm choosing to possibly hurt myself. Which is why I never run if my legs are sore or tired or even vaguely pained. I imagine that as I become more fit, I will be better able to run every day, should the idea appeal. You have to make your own choices, of course. If you don't feel comfortable running, then don't. But, walk faster, eh?
