On 05/02/2012 00:26, Darren New wrote:
> On 2/3/2012 1:58, Invisible wrote:
>> I always find that makes my shins hurt. (Which is odd, considering that
>> there's no muscle there...) Perhaps I'm doing it wrong. Or maybe my
>> office shoes just aren't very good for walking in.
>
> Don't walk in office shoes. Buy a pair of walking shoes.

OK. So what does one look for in walking shoes?

> Also, you probably have flat feet.

No, I *do* have flat feet. This is a fact.

My sister has flat feet too. As I recall, when she was a teenager, she 
did dancing, she was captin of the school netball team, she did hockey, 
she did everything. Her feet often hurt because they were so flat. She 
asked the doctor what she could do, he said "try doing exercise". Yeah, 
big help there. :-P

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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> This gets to the nub of what I'm talking about: Whether it's better to 
> have a short high-intensity burst, or a long lower-intensity slog.

  1 hour/day.

> That said, the picture I seem to be getting is that if I can just spend 
> more time per day in motion, hard enough to actually get my heart rate 
> up, and keep it there for as long as possible, that ought to do it. The 
> key now is to adjust my schedule so that I actually /do/ this for more 
> than three days...

  You don't want to execrise while doing other things, such as going to
work or to the grocery store. You should *dedicate* the hour to the cardio.

  (In theory you *could* do the cardio by walking to work. However, it's
unlikely that your situation would permit that. As said, you would have
to walk for an hour, on a softer terrain (not asphalt), and after that
you'll need a shower and clearn clothes.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 2/5/2012 3:36, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>> Don't walk in office shoes. Buy a pair of walking shoes.
> OK. So what does one look for in walking shoes?

Go to a store that sells waking shoes, and ask them what you should buy for 
walking with flat feet.

> doctor what she could do, he said "try doing exercise". Yeah, big help
> there. :-P

My problems were cured simply by getting inserts for my shoes that conformed 
them to the shape of my feet. You can probably get cheap ones for just $10 
or so to see if it helps at all.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   People tell me I am the counter-example.

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On Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:38:10 +0000, Invisible wrote:

> On 02/02/2012 10:14 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:14:02 +0000, Invisible wrote:
>>
>>> Given that my job necessarily involves remaining absolutely motionless
>>> for hours on end, and that I only have an hour or two of spare time
>>> per day, is there *anything* I can do with that time which will make
>>> the slightest shred of difference? Or is the situation just hopeless?
>>
>> Are you going to be willing to listen to the answers, or are you just
>> going to assert "no, that can't possibly be true" because you don't
>> believe it could possibly be true?
> 
> I'm no fitness expert. I'm just asking whether a few hours a week is
> enough to make a difference or not.

In my experience, it is.  You may recall that I went to the gym for a 
couple years and worked out on a treadmill and a stationary bike.

20 minutes of solid cardio every day is enough to improve things, but you 
have to get your heart rate up to a good rate - for me, the ideal zone at 
the time was in the 140-145 bpm range.  Sustaining that for 20-30 minutes 
to start with is a good place to start at (or was for me, it does vary 
from individual to individual).  I had been up to an hour.

It also is more effective if you change the workout up regularly.  Not 
*too* frequently, or your body gets used to the change.  I had been 
alternating daily between the bike and treadmill, and my trainer said 
that was changing things up too frequently.  Changing once a week was his 
recommendation.

Jim

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>
> The answer, presumably, is "anything that makes you feel tired". So how
> do I approach this?
>
> - Go flat out until you collapse. Rest until tomorrow.

Almost. Search Tabata. Takes four minutes. Try jump rope or star jumps. Work up
to Hindu squats.

>
> - Go gently, but for as long as possible.

Won't help your VO2 max (much), but will teach you to breath. People often go
from "can't make it around the block" to "running a marathon" in a few months.

>
> - Go until you're tired. Stop. Rest until you're not tired. Go again.
> Repeat.

Probably not optimal, but definitely helpful. Play some piano, take a lap, check
out p.o-t, take a lap, etcetera.

>
> - Go as hard as you can without needing to actually stop.

Combine this with the previous option.

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On 2/2/2012 6:14 AM, Invisible wrote:
> OK, so I have a problem. The obvious way to solve this problem is to ask
> the Internet, and then act on whatever advice the random strangers there
> offer me. :-)
>
> My problem is simple: I spend almost every waking hour sitting perfectly
> motionless in front of a computer screen. Except that once a week, I
> spend a hour leaping around a dance floor like a crazy thing. And you
> know what? It turns out that I do not have the necessary stamina.
> Socking, I know.
>
> So my question is: How do I increase my stamina?

Pick another two days a week.  Do not pick the day before or the day 
after dance day for either day, and make sure there two days are not 
consecutive.

On each day, one hour before your regular bedtime, find some stairs near 
your residence.  Go up and down these stairs for twenty to thirty minutes.

After the stair climbing, shower and go to bed.

That is all.

Regards,
John

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