It must be done. Working full time, going to school full time, and studying has left me with NO time to work out. So, I've been trying to figure out a way to study while working out. 2 for the price of 1! I have desperately tried running and listening, but it just doesn't process very well. Too much bouncing and too many distractions.

Idea:
Wake up 1.5 hours earlier every day to do 1 hour of yoga in the garage. Open the garage door for some fresh air. Have a nice comfy, oversize mat laid down. So, what can I do while doing yoga? I can LISTEN. I have all of the JapanesePod101 lessons on mp3. I could listen to lessons each morning, following a pattern like this:
Morning 1: lesson 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Morning 2: lesson 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Morning 3: lesson 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Morning 4: lesson 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
(listen to each lesson 3 times)
While doing this, I could pull the vocab from the JP101 PDF files and unsuspend them in Core2k6k. With 2 new lessons per day, I think it'd only be ~5 new vocab/day. I would be doing this in addition to 15 core2k6k per day.

What else I'm doing:
* 15-20 avg. kanji per day on RTK1 (at ~1500) - when I'm done with this, I'll have more time for subs2srs and core2k6k
* Unsuspended all Genki 1-2 vocab in Core2k6k. I'm learning both Kanji and vocab, which is difficult when I haven't came across it on RTK1 yet - I can't drop everything to finish RTK because I have to test out of Japanese 3 in 5 weeks. I skipped Japanese 1, and am planning to skip Japanese 3 to go on to Japanese 4. So it will be Genki 1-2 covered in 2 semesters. I'm prioritizing Genki vocab so that I can do well in my classes.
* In addition to Genki 1-2 grammar, I'm working my way through Tae Kim's Essential now along with the cloze delete deck.
* 10 new Death Note Subs2SRS cards per day (just started this, focusing more on readings of kanji and vocab)
[QUESTION : Should I do KO2001 or Subs2srs right now?]

Would love to hear your suggestions!

Wouldn't you just be doing elaborate stretches if you were concentrating on listening to an mp3? Yoga is supposed to be a form of meditation.

What are your aims for exercising? Running for an hour straight isn't exactly great for your body; neither is doing 100 reps of a resistance exercise. You should save a lot of time and improve gains by using HIIT for the 有酸素運動 stuff.

Interval weight training is much more efficient too. For example, 10-12 hard reps followed by a 1-2 minute rest times four for each exercise. You can get through a whole workout in 30-minutes and only need to do it 4-5 times/week to improve.

Doing things like this, you can split your time between 30-minute workouts and 30-minutes of focused study. Exercise is supposed to be great for kick-starting your brain and improving focus/memory, so they'd work well in succession.

If you're getting 7.5 hours of sleep or more, you could consider trading off half an hour of aerobic exercise against sleep, three times a week. Do not skip aerobic workouts, in the long term it affects your ability to learn (meaning your brain) and is self-defeating both for learning Japanese and your studies (cf. John Medina, "Brain Rules").

Second Javizy regarding HIIT, but don't do that unless you still have some base fitness.

Yoga can be a form of meditation, but I tend to focus on strength building poses. I only use flexibility/relaxation poses as a rest between my power yoga poses.
I stole this off a website, but I think it accurately describes why I chose yoga:
It bolsters strength, stamina, and flexibility.
It improves one's ability to focus.
It's a great way to release tension and anxiety.
It helps a person maintain proper posture.
It tones your body well.
It's a good way to remove bodily toxins through sweat.
It serves as a great training for athletes.
(the only thing I need to "train" for, per se, is long distance hiking)

I'm fairly experienced when it comes to yoga, I built my own routines centered around cross training for jiu-jitsu and did them for about a year - an average of 45 mins a day.

Another reason for yoga: I can speak while doing it. I'm not out of breath, so I can repeat after the dialogs to work on my pronunciation and memorization.
The interval training stuff reminds me of the torture I was often put through in the military D:

I can also choose poses based upon which areas of my body need work. I think you can work just about any muscle with yoga. My level of fitness right now is, ummm.. Although I haven't ran in 3-4 weeks, I'm sure that I can still run 5 miles in under 35 minutes.

I guess my aim is to maintain some basic level of fitness, to wake myself up in the morning, increase my flexibility, to feel better and to have more energy in my day to day life.

i do anki reps while resting between sets of my bodyweight strength training routine

invidious Wrote:It must be done. Working full time, going to school full time, and studying has left me with NO time to work out. So, I've been trying to figure out a way to study while working out.

Disagree. This will lower the quality of your workout and your study. Did you completely miss the song by The Offspring? True fitness is obtained/maintained through cardiovascular exercise that makes you breath hard. But I'm guessing you already know that; maybe you just want to look good. On the other hand, at least you're not trying to study in your sleep.

invidious Wrote:It's a good way to remove bodily toxins through sweat.

The whole idea of 'toxins' and ways to remove them came about primarily by con artists--people like Kevin Trudeau--trying to make money by making people afraid. There's no such things as toxins, and it's a vague word that doesn't mean anything. A lot of people who fell victim to these con artists were interested in the new age movement (since that was the field the con artists were working in), so even practices with a long history, such as yoga, have sometimes adopted these theories.

So you might wanna drop this idea.

Some useful wikipedia articles:
Toxins:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxificat...edicine%29
As an example of a con-artist, Kevin Trudeau:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Trudeau
Just to show that it has nothing to do with toxins, Yoga:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

(Note that 'toxin' is a biological term that refers to a biologically produced poison, such as snake venom, but this is not how the term is being used here nor in the context of new age movements/alternative medicine/whatever)

Tzadeck Wrote:The whole idea of 'toxins' and ways to remove them came about primarily by con artists ... There's no such things as toxins, and it's a vague word that doesn't mean anything.
...
Some useful wikipedia articles:
Toxins:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxificat...edicine%29

You seem to be extrapolating what the Wikipedia article says for things that it isn't referring to; the article is about alternative medicine, and it doesn't follow that toxins don't exist in any form (the doctors mentioned in the article refer to the "alternate" meaning of toxins only) or that body's excretion doesn't get rid of them. Now, as a contrast, read this article by Mark Hyman, MD, for The Huffington Post (bold mine, related to what's being talked here):

Quote:Scientists recently uncovered a surprising and disturbing fact: Environmental toxins make you fat and can cause diabetes. (1) Inside the body, these chemicals monkey with our ability to balance blood sugar and metabolize cholesterol. Over time, the changes can lead to insulin resistance. This discovery should be headline news, but no one is talking about it. Why? Because there are no drugs to treat it. In the quest to conquer the two biggest epidemics of our time -- diabetes and obesity -- we've got to turn our attention to the heavy burden environmental toxins put on our bodies.

Until conventional medicine catches up, you've got to optimize your body's ability to rid itself of toxins. If your body's detoxification tools aren't up to snuff, waste will build up. Over time, the damage is similar to what happens when trash collectors go on strike and don't pick up the garbage off the streets. The waste piles high, making the neighborhood smell bad and creating a breeding ground for illness.

Don't let the word detoxification turn you off. You may think it sounds like a New Age idea or something from celebs in Hollywood on the heels of an alcohol or drug binge, but detoxification is a normal, everyday function. It's the body's way of breaking down and eliminating anything that doesn't belong. And, these days, there are a lot of things our bodies come into contact with that don't belong.
...
While it's true that we live in a toxic world, it's important to remember that there is a lot you can do to enhance your body's natural ability to detox. The body has four main exit routes for toxins: pee, poop, perspiration and pranayama (Sanskrit for breath). I call these the quadruple "P." Every moment of every day your body is relying on the quadruple "P" to mobilize, transform, and excrete toxins. Here is a quick primer on how to make the most of each strategy:
...
Perspiration: Your skin is your single largest organ of elimination. Make sure you're maximizing the detox potential of your pores by working up a sweat at least three times a week. Of course, heart-thumping exercise that gets the body sweating for 20 minutes, three times a week is ideal, since it confers other health benefits. But, if that is not an option, consider using a sauna, steam or detox bath to trigger the body's natural ability to detoxify itself through sweat.
...
Pranayama: The lungs are the unsung heroes of the body's detox squad. With each breath, they bring in fresh oxygen and help transport it throughout the body. Unfortunately, the air we breathe is not always clean. Every day the lungs filter out carcinogens in gas fumes, allergens from pets and plants, and spores of mold. Restricted or shallow breathing can diminish the power of the lungs by preventing oxygen from reaching all of your tissues. Breathing deeply and fully will oxygenate your brain, body, and spirit, transforming your health in the process.

See, toxins, perspiration and deep breathing!

Mark Hyman is a quack. The reason 'conventional medicine' hasn't caught up with Hyman's way of thinking is because what Hyman thinks is complete bullshit.

Tzadeck Wrote:Mark Hyman is a quack. The reason 'conventional medicine' hasn't caught up with Hyman's way of thinking is because what Hyman thinks is complete bullshit.

I see, but it doesn't mean that exercising and breathing well doesn't do any good for your health and well-being. So do that and forget about the toxins, then (it really doesn't matter that much for me, don't know about the OP.)

Exercise FIRST Thing in the morning.
By that, I mean as soon as you wake up, roll out of bed and exercise IMMEDIATELY.

It's actually more challenging than it sounds, since it's
so easy to be lazy and lie down there in bed doing nothing.

Whatever excuse you may have for "it's too early", just remember that the
workout will pump energy into your body continuously for the next 12-16 hours.

So it's a small sacrifice.

For the workout itself, try to do the Insanity Workout (from Beachbody).
It doesn't use any equipment and burns tons of fat. Even better, the workout
schedule is premade and all you have to do is pop in the correct DVD and follow it
that day.

Literally, takes no thinking. Pop in DVD. Push Play. Do Workout. Eject DVD.

If Day 1 is too difficult, stop as soon as you're too tired(even if it's 5 mins into the workout, it's ok). The next day do Day 1 again and try to get farther. Keep doing Day 1 every day until you can finish it without pausing the DVD (which is cheating IMHO).

Once you finish Day 1 without stopping, the rest becomes a lot easier.
Also, since it's a DVD, there's no BSing and taking breaks between exercises.
So it forces you to keep up and it'll lead to more efficient use of your time.

This guy was 400 pounds and made it through.
http://[video=youtube]http://www.youtube...8w[/video]

Overweight woman
http://[video=youtube]http://www.youtube...NE[/video]

gdaxeman Wrote:I see, but it doesn't mean that exercising and breathing well doesn't do any good for your health and well-being. So do that and forget about the toxins, then (it really doesn't matter that much for me, don't know about the OP.)

Yeah, exercising is certainly good for your health and you should do it. The reason you shouldn't mention the toxin thing is 1) It's not true, and 2) It continues to promote the ideas that give shitty con artists money. This is a group of people exploiting people worried about their health, or sometimes with serious health problems. That's about as douchey as you can get.

chamcham Wrote:Exercise FIRST Thing in the morning.
By that, I mean as soon as you wake up, roll out of bed and exercise IMMEDIATELY.

Eh, I wouldn't obsess about it. It's mostly a preference issue. It's not like it'll make you magically apt at Japanese, anyway. I'd say to do it when it fits into your schedule.

Quote:For the workout itself, try to do the Insanity Workout (from Beachbody).
It doesn't use any equipment and burns tons of fat.

Well, any workout (or level of activity) that pushes you into negative caloric balance makes you lose fat.

Quote:Once you finish Day 1 without stopping, the rest becomes a lot easier.
Also, since it's a DVD, there's no BSing and taking breaks between exercises.
So it forces you to keep up and it'll lead to more efficient use of your time.

A standard weight lifting routine wouldn't work without breaks, so it's not exactly BS.

Anyway, just throwing some general things in here. What is efficient depends entirely upon your goals. For example, if you want to lose fat quick, you need to eat less calories. To that end, I would recommend something like the RFL, if you can do it.

For fitness science in general, anything by Lyle McDonald (link) and Alan Aragon tends to be golden. There are other 'good guys' out there but none that I can really name off the top of my head. Rule of thumb, though, is to avoid nonsense marketing and very blanket recommendations.

Oh, and stay away from the detox stuff.

I'm not super interested in losing weight, getting "toned", building muscle, and so forth.
I just want to be healthy; feel better, be more focused, and have more energy. I am changing my diet as well. I'm already slender, and relatively fit. I have no athletic goals other than flexibility and improving my general well-being.
Ultimately, studying is more important to me than working out, so the only way I'd take time out of my day to work out is if I can study while doing it.
And about the whole "toxins" thing, I've been a consistent runner for the past 15 years. I know that when I work out and sweat, my skin looks and feels better (less blemishes, etc.).

Javizy Wrote:You should save a lot of time and improve gains by using HIIT for the 有酸素運動 stuff.

Thanks mate, I've never knew about that before. The time requirement is very manageable to fit in the morning before some studying before going to work!

There was an interesting BBC documentary this year about the (3-minute per week) HIIT - "The Truth About Exercise" (the whole show is also available on Youtube).

Insanity Workout uses "Max Interval Training"

This Youtube video (from a regular guy, not an Insanity promo video) compares Steady-State Cardio vs HIIT vs Max Interval Training

invidious Wrote:And about the whole "toxins" thing, I've been a consistent runner for the past 15 years. I know that when I work out and sweat, my skin looks and feels better (less blemishes, etc.).

It's true that working out seems to improves the appearance of one's skin, but doctors believe that it's mostly due to how exercise affects hormone levels (for example, reducing production of cortisol). Again, nothing to do with 'toxins', which is not a real term.