Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
Read the o.p. again to see where I got the 'magic' 20 mi. figure. Since you use a gym you 'get it'. That disqualifies you from criticising my advice. At least I am not a hypocrite. This "I'm o.k., you're o.k" only helps those who are really o.k. Averaging 12mph is not as easy as it sounds. My numbers are realistic. Of course it doesn't have to be a gym but ... dumbells? Is that what works for you? I keep asking you to put me on ignore. I might have to insist.
You're free to ignore me if you don't like being disagreed with. You can't insist I do squat.
My whole point in pretty much everything I post is that it has to be sustainable for the person doing it, and that's usually going to be something completely different from what I do. You probably couldn't do all the things I do, I'm pretty extreme. I'm doing 200+ solo miles per weekend or if the weather isn't permitting I'm doing 6+ very hard hours of workout at the gym, this in addition to 4 nights a week workouts or rides after work. And I'm a hell of a lot faster than 12 mph over those long distances.
Y'know what makes me qualified to criticize your post? I was in the position of the OP a few years ago, and I kept getting rigid advice like yours. I ignored it and figured out a program for myself, and you know what? I did it very gradually, first introducing cardio, then some months later, some weights. Biking for me reentered my life a few years later when I was burning out on the gym in the summer. I'm quite sure that if you saw my workouts at the beginning of the process, you would have been jumping in there telling me it wasn't "ok".
I don't know if dumbbells will work for OP or not. They work for a lot of people, and they're very adaptable. I use them a little bit myself, thanks for asking.
If you go to the gym, you know the New Years resolution phenomenon where a bunch of people who hate the gym sign up, go for a few weeks, and then you never see them again. OP just told us she hates the gym, where do you think she'll end up if she forces herself to go? This isn't rocket psychology.