What Exercise Should I Do? Aerobic or Strength

#1

Early 50s Female, medium build. Trying to maintain or increase strength, bone density as I lose weight and do IF and EF, lose the batwings on the arms, general fitness while avoiding any chance of A-fib. I am not a fan of the medical establishment so no plans to get tested for anything before I start. Breaking out of my current stall this month would be nice too as I have some big events this month and mid next and would like to look my best. Finally, I need stress reduction and I find exercise does that.

Lost 52 lbs over the last year, IF since March, Keto since April, previously on a moderate carb no grain diet (75-200 grams carb a day). About halfway to my goal. Weight loss has stalled since September although I am at my lowest weight in well over a decade. Clothes fit the same, tape measure says the same too. No real gains but no real loss either. Have a big event coming up in mid December and would like to look my best. Also, under stress with work and family and I find exercise is a good stress reliever.

My prior pattern was also to lose weight quickly and then stall out and lose very slowly if at all. In 2010 I lost about 60 lbs doing moderate carbs and exercise while undergoing a lot of self induced stress. I would do a total of 45 minutes of elliptical, bike and running on a treadmill (I hate running). Followed by 15 minutes of using the various weight machines, sometimes 10 minutes of floor exercises (ab exercises) and most of the time followed by a half mile or longer swim in the pool. When I came out I felt like all my stress was gone and I could relax. I would unintentionally skip meals because I was strictly gluten free and would refuse to eat if I thought it might have gluten. I lost about 45 lbs of it between January and April 2010. Most of the weight stayed off until about 2012 or 13 when I stopped being strict about gluten and my gym partner started working longer hours so I had less incentive to go to the gym until I eventually stopped going. I eventually regained all but 12 lbs that I had lost.

One thing I did notice was that when I exercised I used to have back and hip pain, since I stopped exercising I rarely get them.

Exercises I like doing:

Biking but I live in the Northeast so season will end sometime in December until March or April (I have a road bike, no interest in mountain biking). I would like to rejoin my old bike club (from 1996!) and would like to be in shape to do that by the season.

Elliptical

Exercise I do not mind doing:

Indoor biking but do not do it for more than 10-20 minutes at a time. I can use a regular bike, not a spin bike which I cannot get comfortable

Swimming - I like swimming but I hate that initial getting wet! Also it is not so much the swimming I enjoy as the feeling I have after I come out of the pool. I was on my very slow high school swim team many years ago and can swim at least 20 - 30 laps the first time I get back in the pool no matter how long a break I take without it being hard

Weight machines - I do not mind them but do not particularly enjoy them, I feel I should to maintain strength. Broad shoulders run in my family so I do worry about overly bulking but I am a long way away.

I do not mind walking but it is more a last resort if the gym is closed

Exercise I Hate - Running

I started exercising earlier this week, a mix of aerobic and weight machines. Tonight was the second time and the pool was not available so I did elliptical and weight machines for about 45 minutes before the gym closed. I was still antsy so took the dog for a 45 minute walk at a nice pace. To be honest I am still a little antsy. I cannot believe I need more exercise than this but I feel like I want to do some floor exercise or weights or something. I am asking in general, not specific to tonight

#2

It depends on your goals and what you want to develop longterm - and other factors too.

But I would always say Strength over Aerobic! 50 year old women who start strength training after established in LCHF will have the muscle mass of a 40 year old when they’re 70 - with all the incredible joint protection that provides. I am 51, and have thought about this a lot - plus love the body recomposition process of increasing muscle mass. FWIW, I also hate running and don’t like gym machines. But free weights at home are amazing - and there are also elite private gyms as well as womens gyms that aren’t so bad if one requires that.

Do aerobic “cardio” things for fun - dancing, chores, or even a jumping gym class or endurance sports - but for maximum enhancement of LCHF/keto health & body recomposition goals, it’s the strength training that will give you the most value for your time: a major boost in HGH and thermogenesis while also raising levels of endorphins and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and building muscle mass that protects the joints for the long haul. 99% of body recomposition is dietary - but the 1% boost of properly intense strength training is a potent orchestration - it sort of maximizes & expedites everything, including one’s post-training spirits!

But effective strength training in proper form is intense, and requires the right state of mind. With a LCHF dietary lifestyle, inflammation reduction is enhanced and you shouldn’t be having back or hip aches apart from the initial conditioning weeks. Unless perhaps you have some adhesions from past injuries or accidents from decades back.

For those that are not managing stress well enough and having raised cortisol levels, intense weight lifting is contraindicated. Also, for those that are morbidly obese, just getting up and down from a chair is exercise - and the lower bodies of morbidly obese folks are strong. Better to not risk injuries from too much stress or improper form due to upper body weakness until more weight has gone.

For those that take up strength training in the slow burn or the super slow style, you get a chance to engage muscle fibers that are usually not engaged by quick lifting or “cardio” exercises, the fibers that house mitochondria! When lifting in a slow form (3 counts to move the first inch/load the muscle, then 7 to full lift - brief pause - then reverse with same counts) you also focus the mind and develop incredible calm amidst the challenge. Not only that, the intensity and breathing focus are great actually do facilitate wonderful cardiovascular training and leave you with a glowing face and radiant eyes :flushed: whilst the mitochondrial engagement turns on lipolysis via thermogenesis throughout your non-lifting days. It’s quite amazing! More on this in the fascinating book Body by Science by Doug McGuff MD, who also advocates a LCHF lifestyle.

In terms of conserving your time and being most effective at training large muscles and stimulating the mitochondrial energy responses, nothing can beat Slow Burn style (developed by Fred Hahn, a master trainer in Super Slow with Dr. McGuff, who further improved the technique). What I love about the effectivenss is that you only train for 30 minutes every 5-7 days, that’s it! Plenty of time leftover in the week for family time, nature time, fun activities etc. It doesn’t require being a gym rat. In fact, the book Slow Burn Fitness Revolution has a wonderful home routine you can do in the comfort of your own home!

Strength training does involve some conditioning delayed-onset muscle soreness, and you’ll need to address your extra salt/potassium needs as well as increased protein levels leading up to and after the workout (undenatured grassfed whey protein powder is handy, and is one of the best sources of leucine, a branched-chain amino acid which is associated with the stimulation of muscle protein synthesis. Last but not least, strength-training involves hypertrophy/gain of muscle. This means that increased muscle mass will not present as reduced weight on the scale - though the body recomposition will be sped up and measurements will dramatically change.

The keto documentary films Cereal Killers I and II report on endurance athletes who use keto power, and there are many tidbits of info in these films (which both feature Dr. Phinney) in terms of the long-term benefits of whole body strength rather than partial body strength (such as the case of runners, whose legs are muscled but who tend to age badly and loose upper body muscle).

I also enjoy LCHF weightlifter and trainer Fred Hahn’s blog: http://slowburnpersonaltraining.com/blog/slowburn-exercise-and-a-low-carb-diet/

World record female bodybuilder Ernestine Shepherd, now 83, didn’t start strength training till she was an overweight, unhealthy 56 years old, and she’s still going strong (and she doesn’t even do a very slow style - it just took her longer to build her body in the conventional faster style). Her motto is “it’s never too late” and it’s true! There have been some short-term studies with very elderly people in the 70s that prove out how slow, controlled lifting of appropriate size weights just once a week improves a bunch of things and starts medication reductions (reported by Dr. McGuff in Body By Science).

Ms. Shepherd:

Ernestine-Shepherd-Its-Never-Too-Late2

#3

Thank you so much @SlowBurnMary I have been digesting everything you said over the last few days. I had never heard of slow burn. It is interesting and worth a try. I have been reading up on it and watching you tube. I do still need aerobic exercise for the stress relief, especially the pool but slow burn addresses my concern about strength training. I have never been morbidly obese (just obese and overweight!) and have always been able to exercise when I choose to. I have almost no injuries other than a tennis elbow I got from golf! about 6 years ago if you can imagine but it rarely bothers me.

My goals are, first to keep muscle mass and bone density as I age,

Then looking better in my clothes, especially if possible for a big event in Mid December

Then stress relief, the normal stresses of every day family life and children.

I already belong to a gym with the family so will continue with that. It is at our community center so it is ok but not very devoted to developing muscle but they have all the normal machines and free weights. Since I prefer exercising alone I am more comfortable with the machines than worrying about having to be spotted with weights. Plus I do not own hardly any home weights.

Over the weekend I did the weight machines in the style of slow burning as much as possible, about 20 minutes total then a swim. I felt better and had minimal soreness today. My back and hips were ok. I was surprised as I expected more soreness from lifting. I was energized in the morning but as the day wore on I did feel more tired today than usual not sure if it was from moving the clocks, the exercise or not enough sleep last night

(CharleyD) #4

Yes!
Do it all, and keep changing it up. Don’t let your body compensate.

#5

That’s my favorite way to exercise, I liked it so much that I bought my own elliptical machine to use at home and cancelled my gym membership.

#6

You’re very welcome!

That book Body By Science goes into lots of details about the importance of lifting to near fatigue, and the normalcy of DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness for most folks as part of the muscle building process. Dr… McGuff also show the science of how slow intensity weight training actually also works out the cardiovascular system - it’s aerobic as well as anaerobic - and creates a great endorphin release afterwards.

So, with the intense slow lifting technique we can have both aerobic and strength benefits.

It’s also normal to feel really tired afterwards until one is more conditioned to the lifting. The first few times I did the Slow Burn home routine correctly, I wanted to lay down and nap after my post workout meal! I also had significant DOMS after the first 4-6 workouts that made the muscles I’d worked quite sore and me quite tender (I took Ginger capsules for MSAID pain relief). But I reminded myself that such temporary inconveniences are way better than the typical broken hips that are afflicting so many 70+ year olds!

Happy moving, and here’s to strength! It’s the whole body muscle strengthening that protects the joints, and does so many other wonderful metabolic things when combined with a LCHF food lifestyle, as the McDuff and Hahn books go into at length. Typical gym “cardio” exercise machines and classes aren’t really effective (for building lean mass and expediting fat loss long term), though they sure can be fun!

(Deb) #7

Thanks for posting this! What an amazing woman, truly inspirational and a deciding factor for my question of what workouts to do now that I finally got my keto dialed in more. I can only hope to have HALF the body, beauty, talent, and motivation of that beautiful soul!

(Steve Stephenson) #8


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(Kath Galvin) #9

Hi, I’m plus size and over 55. I didn’t do much exercise for the first few keto months other than walking, swimming and stretching. Then I got a job working as a teacher’s aide where I was on my feet and up and down stairs, so again I waited on exercise. I did start adding in stretches using a soft foam roller and the Miracle Ball Method to release tightness in hips, legs and neck. This helped me so much.

Now that I’ve adjusted to my work routine, I am adding back in Nia Technique which is a barefoot combo of dance, martial and healing arts. It’s very easy on the joints and I go at my own pace using their app. I am doing the Nia 30 Day challenge for January and feel worked but never sore.

I realized we spend so much time talking about exercise and very little on relieving muscle tension and pain we hold. I think to get to the point where we want to exercise, we need to start with feeling relaxed and ready to move. This is especially true for those of us who carry extra pounds. We are already working harder just to move every day.

Keto has helped with this tremendously too. I can move easier, though I have no idea how much I’ve lost.

I just feel so much better.