Have any health or fitness questions? Please ask them below!
11 Comments on “Ask Us”
I am basically looking for the best way to make gains. I have heard it is harder to build muscle when you are older, but I want more strength and size, but I don’t want filler like creatine that just makes you bigger but doesn’t build your muscle. Also, what is the best way to find out what your caloric intake should be? I see on food that it says “based on a 2,500 calorie diet”. But if I am exercising is that too much or possibly not enough?
I think Becky is working on a post to answer your calorie intake questions more specifically!
Great site. What do you suggest for someone recovering from a broken ankle who can’t do any weight bearing exercises? I’ve been riding a stationary bike five time a week and swimming once a week, but this certainly is not the diversity of workouts that you’re talking about.
Thanks for checking out the site, Melissa! I think it’s fantastic that you are riding bike that often and swimming as well. Those are great! Keep it up!
Training around an injury can be really frustrating, but there are still plenty of things you can do. I haven’t studied much about how to alter workouts when there is an injury, but with some creativity I think we can think of some things.
I’d recommend taking some time to work on your upper body strength and some core exercises as well. It’s difficult to give a workout plan without knowing what you have to work with, but for sure you can be doing push-ups, planks, abdominal workouts as well. If the weight on your ankle is too much for a push-up simply drop to your knees. Create a goal of doing x number of pushups.
Do you have dumbbells or a stability ball? There are great options with that combo including shoulder and chest presses and some stability exercises. Don’t you have a pull-up bar? Put a chair under your pull-up bar and cross your feet while placing your good foot on the chair. You can use your good foot for leverage to assist with some pull-ups. (Maybe have Eric spot you if you haven’t already tried this, you don’t want to drop on your bad ankle.)
Thanks for asking the question, I’ll spend some more time thinking about this. If you had access to gym there would be a few more machines that could work on your legs without hurting your ankle. I’m curious if there are gyms in your area and what they are like…
Thanks Mark. Yea, I forgot to mention that I am doing push-ups and abdominal exercises as well. There is one gym in town, the place where I go swimming, but it is a 25 minute walk to get there and at this point I’m not able to walk that far more than once a week. I’ll try the pull up bar idea!
Some days I only have time to take a 20 minute walk. How can I make that walk more effective? Are there exercises like lunges or something that I can add to a walk to give my workout a little extra “oomph”?
Thanks for you question, Emily. As always, my recommendation would be based off of your current fitness level. If you are used to cardio exercises and do not have any medical issues preventing you from some moderate cardio training then I would suggest to try some interval running on some days when a walk doesn’t have enough “oomph” for you. Studies have shown you can burn as many calories in 20 minutes of interval training as you do in one hour of a slower, more steady pace of running. You can walk for 1 minute, then sprint all out for 30-60 seconds. Then you slow it back down to a walk for a minute and then do another sprint and so on. If you do this for 20 minutes, you’ll get a lot of extra oomph! If this is too intense, the same concept can apply for speed walking in place of sprinting.
Since you mentioned lunges, you could even try this interval training with doing walking lunges for 30 seconds instead of sprints.
Going for a walk is one of the best things that almost anyone can do for their health. Keep it up! As always, meeting with a certified personal trainer to give you a fitness assessment is recommended before beginning a new exercise routine.
Let me know if this is helpful or how this works for you!
Do you have any recommendation on how to maximize aerobic fitness preparation for a vacation at an altitude of 8000 feet , when you normally live at about 1300 feet?
This is a great question. When you go to a higher altitude there will be less oxygen in the air than you are used to. Doing some aerobic cardiovascular exercise before your trip will help. Go on long walks or hikes, pump some air into your bike tires and see how far you can go. If your cardio system is more efficient before you go, it will help make a difference when you get there. Also, I would recommend not doing anything overly ambitious (hiking, running, long long walks, etc) for the first couple days when you reach your destination to allow your body to get acclimated.
Register Today 
Register Today 
I am basically looking for the best way to make gains. I have heard it is harder to build muscle when you are older, but I want more strength and size, but I don’t want filler like creatine that just makes you bigger but doesn’t build your muscle. Also, what is the best way to find out what your caloric intake should be? I see on food that it says “based on a 2,500 calorie diet”. But if I am exercising is that too much or possibly not enough?
Great questions. Look for two separate answers this week. One about gaining muscle and one about your daily caloric intake.
Hope this helps. Be sure to ask any follow up questions!
https://fittwincities.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/3-tips-for-building-muscle/
I think Becky is working on a post to answer your calorie intake questions more specifically!
Great site. What do you suggest for someone recovering from a broken ankle who can’t do any weight bearing exercises? I’ve been riding a stationary bike five time a week and swimming once a week, but this certainly is not the diversity of workouts that you’re talking about.
Thanks for checking out the site, Melissa! I think it’s fantastic that you are riding bike that often and swimming as well. Those are great! Keep it up!
Training around an injury can be really frustrating, but there are still plenty of things you can do. I haven’t studied much about how to alter workouts when there is an injury, but with some creativity I think we can think of some things.
I’d recommend taking some time to work on your upper body strength and some core exercises as well. It’s difficult to give a workout plan without knowing what you have to work with, but for sure you can be doing push-ups, planks, abdominal workouts as well. If the weight on your ankle is too much for a push-up simply drop to your knees. Create a goal of doing x number of pushups.
Do you have dumbbells or a stability ball? There are great options with that combo including shoulder and chest presses and some stability exercises. Don’t you have a pull-up bar? Put a chair under your pull-up bar and cross your feet while placing your good foot on the chair. You can use your good foot for leverage to assist with some pull-ups. (Maybe have Eric spot you if you haven’t already tried this, you don’t want to drop on your bad ankle.)
Thanks for asking the question, I’ll spend some more time thinking about this. If you had access to gym there would be a few more machines that could work on your legs without hurting your ankle. I’m curious if there are gyms in your area and what they are like…
Thanks Mark. Yea, I forgot to mention that I am doing push-ups and abdominal exercises as well. There is one gym in town, the place where I go swimming, but it is a 25 minute walk to get there and at this point I’m not able to walk that far more than once a week. I’ll try the pull up bar idea!
Some days I only have time to take a 20 minute walk. How can I make that walk more effective? Are there exercises like lunges or something that I can add to a walk to give my workout a little extra “oomph”?
Thanks for you question, Emily. As always, my recommendation would be based off of your current fitness level. If you are used to cardio exercises and do not have any medical issues preventing you from some moderate cardio training then I would suggest to try some interval running on some days when a walk doesn’t have enough “oomph” for you. Studies have shown you can burn as many calories in 20 minutes of interval training as you do in one hour of a slower, more steady pace of running. You can walk for 1 minute, then sprint all out for 30-60 seconds. Then you slow it back down to a walk for a minute and then do another sprint and so on. If you do this for 20 minutes, you’ll get a lot of extra oomph! If this is too intense, the same concept can apply for speed walking in place of sprinting.
Since you mentioned lunges, you could even try this interval training with doing walking lunges for 30 seconds instead of sprints.
Going for a walk is one of the best things that almost anyone can do for their health. Keep it up! As always, meeting with a certified personal trainer to give you a fitness assessment is recommended before beginning a new exercise routine.
Let me know if this is helpful or how this works for you!
Do you have any recommendation on how to maximize aerobic fitness preparation for a vacation at an altitude of 8000 feet , when you normally live at about 1300 feet?
This is a great question. When you go to a higher altitude there will be less oxygen in the air than you are used to. Doing some aerobic cardiovascular exercise before your trip will help. Go on long walks or hikes, pump some air into your bike tires and see how far you can go. If your cardio system is more efficient before you go, it will help make a difference when you get there. Also, I would recommend not doing anything overly ambitious (hiking, running, long long walks, etc) for the first couple days when you reach your destination to allow your body to get acclimated.
I did some research on the web, and this was a good article I came across. Hope this helps!
http://www.livestrong.com/article/438685-high-elevation-training/
Thanks for the advice-very helpful article too!