Gym goers- how do I know I'm doing enough?

Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on your amazing health regime and hope you maintain it . You can do it...you can !

I wish I could advise you. I have a treadmill at home and that is all I use, BUT, I have managed to lose 5 stone ! and I did it too quickly because I would regularly feel dizzy too. Just brief moments but I found that I was overdoing it and at the same time dieting too much. So, I now have everything under control.

When I first started I would feel a bit sore in the legs and sometimes stiff too in the arms the following day, BUT..this was countertacted by what I can only describe as being like an adrenalin rush. I would often get a ' second wind' after 40 minutes and it would spur me on to continue going for a full 90 minutes, sometimes even more !

Now , I do just an hour but the feeling I have is one of mild euphoria . When you stop your heartbeat is still rushing and the adrenalin is flowing and after my shower I feel very very good

So, in my experience, I tend to lean towards the feeling of being uplifted and raring to go but I am sure everyone's physiology is different. I think you'll only really feel stiff if you do too much and strain. They used to say " no pain no gain" but I think this is not really the right thing.

I don't know if I have answered your question and hopefully some of the others here will come back with a better answer but I do wish you luck and keep at it !!...go for it girl !!

Hugs

Jools

xxx

When you're doing cardio, how hard you work depends on what you want to achieve.

Your long sessions should be at a gentle enough pace that you'd be able to hold a conversation.

Your hard sessions shouldn't leave you gasping for breath, but you shouldn't be able to talk during the fast bits.

Weights-wise, you should work to fatigue - ie by your last rep, you should definitely not be able to do another.

I do a Body Pump class twice a week and after this I usually feel nicely exercised but not shattered - I feel like I've worked and I ache slightly.

I also have two sessions a week with my Personal Trainer and after these, it's as much as I can manage to walk down the stairs to the shower and the thought of driving home! Obviously I'm fine once I've had my shower but once I get home, I hit the armchair and I rarely move. Absolutely shattered beyond belief.

Sophie's explanations of how you should feel during exercise are spot on. My PT asks me to rate how I feel on a scale of 1 to 10. We usually start around 6.5-7 and then by the time I get to 9 - well I can't actually speak - I sort of look at her as if to say "I'm dying here and you want me to talk?!" and then she knows I'm working at my optimum. ?

Brilliant, thank you.

I think I need to up the weights as I'm not quite at the fatigue point with all of them but the cardio seems to be spot on.

Superb, thanks again