I wonder if anyone is able to offer advice.

I have been swimming three times a week and going to the gym (half heartedly) for the last year, yet I do not seem to be improving my stamina or general fitness.

I smoked five to ten cigarettes a day for ten years, so I guess my lungs will be shot and this will take time to get over. I gave up completely fifteen months ago and would never touch one again.

I can't seem to lose weight, which I guess is leading to my high pulse rate after about ten minutes of gym work.

I really want to get fit and in shape but don't know what to do next.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

You need to aim for at least twenty minutes of aerobic exercise at 60-70% or your maximum heart rate,three times a week in order to see an improvement in your stamina and aerobic fitness, preferably longer and more frequently. If you can't manage twenty minutes at first, build up from ten minutes, but aim to work at that 60-70% max HR level.

A general indication that you're working at the appropriate level is when you get out of breath, but not so much that you can't carry on a conversation. I'd advise buying a basic heart rate monitor though, as it can be quite difficult to judge whether you're working at the right level (not much good for swimming though, unless you can find a waterproof one, of course).

I find swimming to be good for toning, but not so good for aerobic fitness as I don't have the ability to swim well enough to get my heart rate up sufficiently high. Running is the best method of improving your aerobic fitness. If you haven't done it before you can start off by brisk walking, then by running for a minute, walking for a minute, and then gradually increasing the length of time you spend running, and decreasing the length of the walking intervals.

What's your diet like? If I don't monitor what I eat, particularly the portion size, I always find that I eat many more calories than I think I do. Try writing down everything that you eat for a week, making a note of the calories and the weight (if you eat prepacked sandwiches etc). It could be that you're eating at a calorie level sufficient to maintain your weight, rather than to lose any, particularly if you need to increase your level of activity.

Cheers Hecate.

At the moment, I swim for twenty five minutes three mornings per week, I don't feel too tired after this.

I go gym work twice per week, five mintues fast pace walking, a few weights, five minutes cycling, ten minutes on the cross trainer; but i can barely manage the running in the last session for more than four minutes.

I don't feel tired or too breathless after this, don't even sweat, but my pulse is upt0 160pbm and I can feel it. I generally feel my lack of fitness in my daily life; running up the hill for a bus leaves me breathless or running up the three flights of stairs to work. Ithough I should be able to do this.

I guess it may be diet and portion size...I will start to right it down and do a calorie estimate; I think portion size might be the key.

Any advice on improving my fitness would be useful. Should I see th doctor about my high pulse rate.

Are you overweight/obese?

The fact that you're not tired after swimming does seem to indicate that you should either swim for longer or harder.

20 minutes of cardio is going to do precisely dick for your weight loss. Try the bike/crosstrainer/treadmill for 20 minutes EACH at a decent rate and you should start noticing improvements.

How many calories per day do you take in?

On the verge of overweight I guess, but not horrendously so. I can only fit 20-30 mins into my daily routine. I am trying to swim harder in that time scale; you are very right though, taking it easy isn't doing me any good.

Not calorie counted for years...probably too many. Not gained any real weight in the last year. Weight loss is important, but my main goal is increased fitness. Just read phphilz post on a new class, maybe an extra dimension to my exercise is what I need.

Exercise is only really a benefit when you can feel that you've done it and I agree with Carcass that you won't be achieving much with a few minutes at a time of exercise.

I assume that your goal is to increase aerobic fitness? If it is then you should be pushing yourself to get out of breath whilst swimming, for as much of the time as possible, and should also pace your aerobic workout so that you are working hard, but not so hard that you can't maintain the aerobic activity. If you can't maintain it then you are exercising in an anaerobic fashion and that is by definition not the sort of exercise that you need to be doing.

No matter what anybody says, just going through the motions of going to the gym won't get you fit. What gets you fit is putting yourself into it and pushing every session. Once it feels like you can't be bothered then you need to change something because it will no longer be doing the job for you.

Thanks. you have hit the nail on the head Medussa. Wish the gym instructor could have directed me earlier.

Tomorrow morning I will give it a real go on the cross trainer and have a real powerwalk.

I was always a bit afraid of getting out of breath, I thought this would be bad for me.

Thanks, appreciate the feedback.

Stick with it, Pippadoll. I was in a similar situation to you this time last year, having had 6 months off the cigarettes. I was doing some half-hearted road running (couple of miles a time) but not shifting the weight that I had started to accumulate. My joints did not particularly like the running and became painful. When I joined a gym, I felt I could safely start to exert myself much more (unlike road running, where you can find yourself knackered but still miles from home!). My favoured activity was walking, increasing the gradient and speed a little each week, until I was walking up a 25% gradient at 5km/h - that shifted a few pounds! Now I run the equivalent of 10km a week in two half-hour treadmill sessions, which is not so energetic but good for maintenance of weight loss. I also swim twice a week and have worked up to 2km in an hour. Having a few lessons would have helped here but as my kids have swimming lessons, I picked up the techniques by watching their instructors! This is fast enough to keep me breathing quite quickly but is no strain on the joints at all.

I find that setting myself little targets each week really helps to increase fitness. Nothing too ambitious, just steady progress.

Good luck!

I can seriously recommend spending a longer time walking up a decent gradient rather than running on the flat on a treadmill- I can't run because of a spinal problem, but I can burn up to 1000 kcal/hr if I set the treadmill at a high enough gradient, even if it's very slow.

Because of my back I can only keep going for a few minutes before my feet go dead and I have to stop to get the feeling back, but I keep going back until I've done at least half an hour bit by bit.

I've lost 22kg in the last year without dieting.

I have been swimming three times a week and going to the gym (half heartedly) for the last year.
I think you've said it all there pippa ie " half heartedly". You don't have to go at it hammer and tongs but you really need to either do it or don't. You seem to have the commitment so do your gym work etc and mean it, slowly build up. Good luck.

Hey Pippa which gym do you go to? I have a friend who is an instructor at Virgin and he is brilliant on advising clients on cardio and giving them the push they need if you know what I mean.