Fitness

 Read Welcome to the Fitness Forum! Helpful Links Inside for my first pass at this.

 Comments? Links you feel should be included? Should I rearrange links in order of importance rather than in alphabetical order?

this looks great.  maybe you should put a bit of an intro about calorie counting and fitness.  like, "when determining you calorie goal, every body is different.  you should consider the type of activity you do, the intensity and the frequency w/which you engage in said activity.  you want to eat enough healthy food to support your fitness regime, but you also want to be careful not to overcompensate (you can't maintain a healthy weight eating 10 happy meals just after a 5 miles run!)."  you know?  something like that, something that ties together ppl's reason for coming to this site in general (or the forums in general) w/the fitness forum in particular. 

i think alphabetical is the best way i can think to organize things now.  but i also think beginners need more direction.  perhaps create a "beginners/return exercisers" category w/helpful thread links for them?

thanks for trying to organize things around here.  sometimes navigating for information is challenging.

That is great!  I would love to see one for the Weight Loss Forum.  You know, 1,200 minimum, a calorie is a calorie, etc.  It would save time for the new posters.

Great job, Melkor.  Thanks!

Original Post by vendicare:

That is great! I would love to see one for the Weight Loss Forum. You know, 1,200 minimum, a calorie is a calorie, etc. It would save time for the new posters.

One could argue such a post already exists. ;)

Having hk's new improved diet link on this forum as well as he linking back to the getting started thread for beginners would be helpful.

I see questions about recommendations of good heart rate monitors a lot maybe add some links from those threads in the Cardio topic.

Also maybe mention the "Exercise Challenge" that is always "playing" in the games and challenges board http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/10.html

each month it changes but no pre sign ups required anymore here is April's link

lhttp://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/895 55.html

 

You COULD say that, HK.  I have even read it.  That is probably where I got the great idea!  Thanks.  I am going to link to that for a few friends that want to know my "secret".

So...

Seeing as sucessful, long-term weight management is a matter of long term behaviour change rather than any specific exercise method, the first place to start would be with the revised and expanded Calorie Count "diet" - exercise is part of a sucessful weight loss strategy, but it's definitely the junior partner to dietary change.

That about sum it up?

I like the blurb that you made. I think that, rather than just alphabetizing, I would categorize then alphabetize within the groups. For example, you could have the following categories (just examples): Cardio, Weightlifting, Diet (protein links and other diet links could go here, as well as stuff that speaks to calculating bf%), Exercise groups/clubs (all the links could be here like running around the world etc.), Equipment. I think that it's reasonable to separate cardio exercises (swimming, running, cycling) and weightlifting into their own categories and expand from there. Before the Cardio category, or first up, you could include the discussions about HIIT and other cardio strategies, and then offer the different examples. I think that separating it out like this makes it easier to digest, and it makes it clearer how to build the categories themselves. If you were concerned about insinuating that some things are more important than others, you can always just add a note that explains it isn't so - the bit about mixing things up and doing a variety of exercises that is at the top of the post should cover it. I do think that the actual exercise stuff should come first, and things like purchasing ellipticals should be toward the bottom (there's could also be a link to the building a home gym" discussion I remember from not too long ago - if its there and I just missed it, sorry about that). This way, the biggies are at the top, and weightlifting isn't banished to the bottom of the list, just by being unfortunate enough to start with a 'W'.

Maybe also some of the yoga/pilates discussions.

Finnsal made what I think was a nice post (http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/914 20.html#7) summing up what you should and shouldn't expect from pilates. I'm guessing that there have been similar posts about yoga.

Especially since people often consider one or both of these as their entry into the world of exercise, it would be good to highlight the benefits and drawbacks (or limitations) of these, so that people don't go into them expecting that it's all they should/could be doing.

 As a start, I've separated out each major trainable fitness quality into separate topic replies- cardio, strength and flexibility training, and rewritten the intro blurb yet again to emphasise diet as the first priority in any fat loss training.

 There's a lot more variety to cardio than to strength training, so that's always going to be the larger topic - and there isn't a whole lot in the yoga/pilates/general flexibility yet.

 So - what existing threads do you feel belongs in the FAQ? Apart from everything Tgpish has ever written, I mean ;)

i think the revision is really good. 

some topics that maybe should be added:  1) workout music.  i know that's annoying, but i do feel like many people want music suggestions.

2) fitting a workout routine around kids/busy life/night shift/ etc.

3) other cardio, maybe just call it "other":  dance/ballet, hiking, horseback riding, team sports like football/soccer/baseball/basketball/hockey, triathlon training

4) exercising when sick/under the weather

5) exercising w/an injury.  i know what i should do is find threads and link them here.  if you ask me to, i probably will.  otherwise, i'm going to hope someone else has more energy than i...

The first P90 link is incorrect. It goes  the slim six thread.  I didn't see any Tae Bo or Kickboxing listed under the DVD section. Also the walking DVDs are very popular and a great entry point for those people who need more gentle activities. Just a suggestion. The new organization is great! thank you for doing this.

Hmm, I seem to have let this slide more than I had in mind. Okay, posting this to keep it recent, and unsticking the thread. I'll put some more stuff into the FAQ and fix up the links in ..umm, now, I guess. Anyone else got an idea?

How about a heading for all the studies linked to by you?

 Good idea - the science of weight management and fitness, perhaps? (And I'll say it again, for the record - from a health perspective only lifting stuff is as bad as only doing cardio, humans are made to move as well as pick stuff up. Do a variety of things, your body will thank you for it by not developing overuse injuries.)

Hello Melkor,

This is excellent work. May I suggest something to add?? I think many people on this website trying to get back on track but they find it hard to get back to their previous diet/workout routine. Actually,I am one of those people. I can't run as I used to.  so any tips, ideas, comments on that will be great.

Hey Melkor!

I was just thinking it might be good to have a link to info on how imporant recovery is, and info about overtraining.  It may already be there but I didn't go through all the articles to see =)

I just thought it might make a good main link

i agree w/the overtraining link that deflepfan16 suggests.  here's an article i like.  i know it's "ironman" specific, but i think its succeeds in making the simple point that you'll perform better if you don't overtrain.