Cardio...

[Pearl Jam]

Cardio-wise, you can't beat running. Important things to remember:

1. Stretch before and after.

2. Your cooldown period is almost as important as the actual run itself. Basically, if you're running a little over a mile each day be sure to walk briskly for a quarter mile (400 meters) or so after you finish. If you just crash and sit/lay down immediately after a good run your body won't reap the maximum benefits of the cardiovascular exercise.

3. END STRONG. If you know you still have gas left in your tank at the very end, you didn't maximize your cardio workout. Use the last 400 meters to haul as much ass as you can without dying or throwing up. You'll feel better that way in the end.

4. If you aren't doing cardio workouts AT LEAST 4 times a week you're wasting your time.

5. This sounds ridiculous, but run at a gym where there are hot to semi-hot girls on the track. Trust me, you won't want to disappoint them and you'll end up running harder in order to look like some kind of badass. Sure, in reality the ladies could really give two shits and/or a fuck, but you'll still try to look like a hardass even after this realization.

[Jeansi]

4 hard excersices a week is on the top side I'd say. If you have the time and will to do more than that you must at least have "hard days" and "easy days".

Too little resting is even worse for the body than too little running.

The holy 3 of all physical excersices: Training, rest, nutrition. If you're lacking in one it doesn't matter how much you do in the two other.

[Pearl Jam]

It's not really so much the topside as it is an effective way to exercise. Chances are (judging from the average age of the tw forum-goer) if a teenager only runs hard twice a week they'll offset that by sitting on their ass and eating like a dumbass the other 5 days.

[Jeansi]

Yeah well that's the problem. What I've seen to be a major problem with a lot of my friends is that they run fast as hell 3 times a week, for something like 30-40 minutes. Then they do nothing else for the rest of the week.

Instead I would say they should run hard 2 times, jog 2 times, walk 2 times or something like this.

Generally, if you go to the store, walk instead of taking the car. Instead of taking the elevator take the stairs etc.

[Subjugation]

5. This sounds ridiculous, but run at a gym where there are hot to semi-hot girls on the track. Trust me, you won't want to disappoint them and you'll end up running harder in order to look like some kind of badass. Sure, in reality the ladies could really give two shits and/or a fuck, but you'll still try to look like a hardass even after this realization.

Sad, but true. :noexpress

[Pearl Jam]

Generally, if you go to the store, walk instead of taking the car. Instead of taking the elevator take the stairs etc.

Good advice. If you stick to doing this on a regular basis, little things like these do add up.

[cundor]

Don't fuck
get fucked

[za gophar]

if you are bored with running then you will probably get bored of the same of anything. try doing different things different days.

try swimming. just be warned, though, it has a learning curve. if you know how to swim but dont do it regularly, chances are you are going to get dead tired between 50 and 100 yards, which is nothing. just keep trying and give yourself a few breaks. in a few days you'll be doing a lot better. another tip: there are three stages of energy: the first 30-45 seconds you have a ton of stored energy. for the next minute, the anaerobic storage kicks in and your muscles are going to feel tired as fuck. once you get past that stage, you get an aerobic workout that will last a whole lot longer.

there is also biking, go on a route with hills. it is easier to listen to music while you bike because you arent bouncing around.

be creative. if you live on a campus get up one morning and go to one of the taller buildings and start working the stairs.

also remember that the higher you get your heartrate, the less time you will have to spend doing it. if you have it around 110 bpm you will have to go at least 45 minute to an hour. if you get it around 180 bpm i doubt you would have to go much more than 15 minutes. im no expert on it. keep track of your resting heart rate, if it goes down you are doing the right thing.

dont forget sports. get your friends together for a game of ultimate frisbee. that is a great cardio game which is also a lot of fun and it is not hard to be good at it. you just have to hustle and catch. i avoid soccer because i never really learned to play it so all i know is kick the ball forward. a few people end up dominating in soccer while everyone else walks around waiting for the ball, unless you are all good at soccer.

jumping rope is also a good one. actually it is a geat one. you can do it indoors if your ceilings arent too low and you can watch tv while you do it.

[kites]

Just play DDR thats pretty much all you gotta do along with the occasional 30-60 push-up's.

[Kim]

It gets dumb for people who actually can't play DDR, which accounts for like 60%+ of people who have no coordination of their feet.

[Bob (SRB)]

I suggest going to a good gym for cardio workouts. I work at a gym with a great environment that almost wants to MAKE me do cardio, I can't really explain it. And if you actually take the effort to get into a gym, you can't really distract yourself from the task at hand like many often do at home (procrastinating, "I'll do it later" kind of thing). At a gym you'll have a wide range of different cardio workouts you can do, and there will probably be trainers there to show you how to do everything properly. There are these cool machines called ellipticals that can give you a great cardio workout, and everyone likes them so I suggest doing that. And make sure if you're at a gym that it's an environment you like. If you're a real self conscious fatass then go when it isn't busy, and ALWAYS bring music to listen to, preferably upbeat or fast or hard-rocking to get you in the workout mood.

[Bilbo]

It's not really so much the topside as it is an effective way to exercise. Chances are (judging from the average age of the tw forum-goer) if a teenager only runs hard twice a week they'll offset that by sitting on their ass and eating like a dumbass the other 5 days.

It's better than sitting on your ass and eating unhealthy 7 days.

[NaiLed]

i play football

[Pandagirl!]

I run up and down the stairs in my house. Quite a workout. Sometimes I go biking out in the woods, when it's not too muddy, unless I want a really hard workout and go when it's muddy. Hmm let's see, I think that's basically it. I'm limited on what I'm allowed to do.

[Pearl Jam]

It's better than sitting on your ass and eating unhealthy 7 days.

Just barely...which was the point of my post.