Exercise Clarification?

[Sassy]

I've read plenty around the place about exercise when swaying pink and some of it seems conflicting and confusing! So I thought I'd see what everyone here was doing in general?

I know to stay away from weights as this can build muscle and therefore raise testosterone, but cardio would in some way be doing the same wouldn't it?

I like to swim, but am worried about my Ph. I like the cross trainer, but am worried that will raise my testosterone. I'd go for a walk but winter in the southern states of Aus is FREEZING! I feel like I can't win!!!

I think some exercise would be beneficial to my sway in terms of weight-loss, but I'm unsure what would be best.

So tell me.....what do you do???

[queen-of-harts]

Im at a loss for exercise also.I need to lose weight and would love to use my treadmill to help with that but then i feel it would bulk up my T.I wonder if i used the treadmill to lose my weight and then a few months before i plan to sway just stop exercising at all,what would that do?

[purplepoet20]

I found old 80's workout videos.... at a local store that buys and sells used stuff. They get you going but do not do the kickboxing, weights, or a lot of things that build muscle. It is mostly just getting you up and moving around. I have 3 of the 80's stuff and a yoga one. I do 30mins 2x's a day I try to do something different each time.

I am used to doing p90x, taebo, and I recently got zumba for after baby. I get bored easy so I do something different everyday most of what I got is for after baby. Also getting a new bike and what I need to tote kids so I can get back into cycling after baby.

[atomic sagebrush]

I've read plenty around the place about exercise when swaying pink and some of it seems conflicting and confusing! So I thought I'd see what everyone here was doing in general?

I know to stay away from weights as this can build muscle and therefore raise testosterone, but cardio would in some way be doing the same wouldn't it?

I like to swim, but am worried about my Ph. I like the cross trainer, but am worried that will raise my testosterone. I'd go for a walk but winter in the southern states of Aus is FREEZING! I feel like I can't win!!!

I think some exercise would be beneficial to my sway in terms of weight-loss, but I'm unsure what would be best.

So tell me.....what do you do???

You are absolutely correct that cardio can indeed raise muscle. The whole "cardio sways pink" was an unfortunate misinterpretation of my advice and even though I tried to get it undone it still survives to confuse people.

Rather than thinking that one type of exercise sways this way or that, think of it like this - "your muscles shrinking sways pink and your muscles growing sways blue." So when you diet and exercise in such a fashion that your muscles are growing smaller rather than bigger, you are swaying pink. It just happens to work out that cardio + diet is more likely to make your muscles shrink than weight training + diet does, but it is TOTALLY possible to do cardio and grow your muscles and also totally possible to do weight training and shrink your muscles. It all depends on the intensity and your diet.

Intense cardio exercise for a minimum of 60 minutes a day, 6-7 days a week, while losing weight on a low calorie, low protein, low fat diet, will shrink your muscle mass and sway pink. (even if a little weight training sneaks in there...such as if you are very fit and actually NEED to use weights to get your heartrate up.)

Moderate exercise for 45 minutes a day at most, 4-5 days a week, while gaining at least a little weight on a higher cal, high protein, higher fat, high nutrient diet, will grow muscle mass and sway blue (even if that exercise is partly or even JUST cardio.)

It's jsut that it's a little easier to shrink muscle doing just cardio (because weight training can encourage muscle to grow) and grow muscle doing weight training (for the same reason).

It's the testosterone rising or falling due to muscle mass shrinking or growing that you're after, not any mystical properties of the exercise itself. Hope this helps.

[atomic sagebrush]

Im at a loss for exercise also.I need to lose weight and would love to use my treadmill to help with that but then i feel it would bulk up my T.I wonder if i used the treadmill to lose my weight and then a few months before i plan to sway just stop exercising at all,what would that do?

That is just fine IF you are able to continue losing weight once you stop exercising (because otherwise you run the risk of your T levels staying higher than they should be), or you could continue exercising and increase intensity as your sway got nearer.

[Sassy]

Thanks so much for the replies! So knowing myself, I do need to do some exercise to help with the weight loss but cardio definitely seems to be the go and I'll probably start with some walking and maybe some wii fit exercises lol! Now heres' another question for the gurus.......

Would it be better for me to exercise in the morning if my attempt will be in the evening?

I'm figuring if my testosterone is raised even a little from my exercise then if may have the chance to go back down later the in the day?

[zanacal]

I exercised for the first week I was on the girl diet - I got up every weekday morning at 5am (!) and did an exercise DVD then went for a super long fast walk/run with DS3 in his pushchair at the weekend. The second week I decided not to exercise anymore because what I did nearly killed me and I didn't think it would be enough to lower the amount of muscle in my body and also that I wouldn't be able to keep it up for the 3 months or so before my attempt with working and having 3 little boys to look after too. The diet I can commit too - but not both.

Sassy - You have 9 weeks until your attempt and I think if you can exercise like a nutter every single day (or almost every single day - I think you're allowed 1 day off!) then it's great but it really has to be extreme exercise, to the point of obsession, for you to lose muscle mass and not to gain it. If you find you're not exercising hard enough or often enough then you're probably in boy territory and I know you don't want to be there!

If you're doing the low-everything diet you will lose weight fast even without exercising - I think I'm at about 25lb after 7 weeks!

Good luck :D

[rainbowflower]

if you're doing frequently release a BD session could count as exercise :P (but not too good, as you don't want your T hormone levels to go up too much lol)

[atomic sagebrush]

It really doesn't matter if you exercise in the morning or evening as a general rule. Exercise when it's easiest for you to stick to. The kinds of changes we are talking about in testosterone are slow becasue you're shrinking your muscle mass. We all have variations in T levels over the course of a day and those kinds of changes aren't what you need to worry about. Worry about the BIG changes in T that happen over time.

If you want to exercise in the morning on your attempt day, that's fine, but if you can't, I don't believe it to be a make or break thing.

[shouldihope?]

I found it hard when I tried to exercise in the morning because of skipping breakfast. It is much easier to do cardio for 60 minutes once you have some food. Just my personal experience.

[zanacal]

Yes, me too - exercising in the morning gives me a banging headache!

[Sassy]

Aarrrgggghhhh! Now I don't know what to do!!!!

So let me get this straight - I need to either do NO exercise or vigourous excercise to sway pink? Any moderate exercise ( like a walk/swim every few days) will sway blue? If my supps are taking care of my T levels then would this matter?

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, you ahve that right. You are trying to shrink muscle as opposed to growing it...that is what is doing the swaying, not the exercise in and of itself.

No need to go to extremes, a walk or swim every few days is not what we're really worrying about. We're talking about the kind of healthy exercise that builds up your muscle.

If you are losing weight on a low protein, low cal, low fat diet, you're not going to be giving yoru body enough raw materials to build muscle with anyway. So you can get away with more exercise than you would if you were eating a more muscle-friendly diet.

The reverse is also true though - if you're eating a diet that is higher in protein and calories and fat and gaining weight, even if you're not exercising or are exercising a lot, your muscles will still grow.

The recipe is, either no exercise or 60+ minutes of intense exercise 6-7 days a week WHILE losing weight on a low protein, low cal, low fat diet will eat away muscle and sway pink. Exercise (even fairly intense exercise) while gaining weight on a high protein, high cal, high fat diet will increase muscle and sway blue. You can't really divorce the weight loss/diet factors from the dietary factor unfortunately.

[Sassy]

Aha - that makes a lot of sense, thankyou! I've finally started losing weight although it is slow - but I suppose 2kgs in 3 weeks is ok, as long as its a loss. I don't think in our wintery conditions I'll bother with too much exercise and just focus on the diet.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yep! A loss is a loss, even losing weight as healthy and slow as you can, you'll still lose some muscle.

[Sassy]

Thanks Atomic! Can I also just clarify then, so long as we're losing weight we're swaying pink? Even if its not much weight loss? Is it any weight loss or only substantial weight loss? I'm reading so many things about women literally dropping the weight on the girl diet and for me its just not the case :(

[atomic sagebrush]

I think substantial weight loss is better, but it depends on what % of your body mass it is and how quickly you lose it. If you only weigh 85 lbs, obviously you shouldn't lose but maybe a pound, while if you weigh 185 you need to lose more.

When swaying you must keep in the back of your mind that it's not doing X,Y, or Z that sways in and of itself, it's the effect it has on your body. Losing weight is just a means to an end of lowering testosterone and blood sugar. So if a person loses weight while doing things to raise their testosterone (such as eating a lot of protein and doing muscle-building exercise) that won't work for them. Even though losing weight overall tends to sway pink.

Not sure if that clarified or confused???