Goal: More stamina and better arms

[transemacabre]

My stats:

Female

27

5'7

120 lbs (varies about 1-3 lbs through the month, one way or the other)

Here's my deal: I have little stamina. Although I'm tall and slender and have a nice body, my cardio is nonexistent. I had a lipoma (benign tumor) removed from my right foot last August, which had caused me crippling pain for several years. I had gone to several podiatrists and gotten bogus diagnoses before finally booking exploratory surgery which revealed the lipoma. It made a WORLD of difference. Before, my foot would get so sore after sometimes just a few minutes of walking that I would be limping, or have to stop and remove my shoe so I could rub feeling back into the foot. Now, although I still get a little sore after being on my feet for many hours, I'm able to walk normally and without dread.

Due to my right foot, I had never participated in any running or anything that required putting major pressure on my foot (I danced, but dancing on bare feet or in ballet slippers didn't cause as much pain as quickly as running did). I have NO running ability. Nada. I wheeze and my legs feel like they weigh a hundred pounds after just a minute or two of running. I need some suggestions on getting started on building stamina. I don't even want to run a marathon one day, I just want to feel like if I need to get somewhere fast, my legs will carry me there.

My secondary goal is to develop nice, cut arms. My arms are long and willowy and not very strong. Suggestions, please?

[dragonlyre]

Do push ups and pull ups (or vertical rows). Stay in 5-8rep range to develop strength.

[tonic]

To get into running, you might want to look into C25K aka couch to 5K.

[Kristen]

If you want to run, just run. There are other activities you can do to increase your stamina--swimming, skating, hiking, biking. A lot of people on here, and a few of my friends have used the Couch to 5K program with rave reviews. Try it! If you don't like the structure of a program, just get out and run. Try to go a little longer or farther each day. Running burns a TON of calories though, and you're already pretty small, so make sure you're eating to account for that.

For those arms, do pushups and pullups. You don't need anything more than that. If you get bored with regular pushups and pullups, there are endless variations of each. If you want to lift weights, overhead press, bench press, and rows. There is really no substitute for pullups, though. They are awesome. Insanely difficult, but awesome.

I started about where you are--I'm 5'4" was 110 lbs. I used to ride my bike all the time, sometimes 100 miles a week. I ate 3,000 calories a day. But I never got stronger or faster. Now I'm up to 125 (probably more) with a flat stomach, well muscled limbs. I had to go up a size in skinny jeans, but otherwise all my clothes still fit. What did I do? Pushups. Some other stuff too, but mostly pushups.

[Elastigirl]

Do the bodyweight circuit from the resources section on this site. Time yourself and see if you can shorten the amount of time it takes to do all 3 circuits.

Get a sledgehammer and do the workouts from here for 14 minutes a day www.shovelglove.com That will build your arms and abs!

[Leimanu]

I agree, bodyweight and weight lifting. And a little sprinting instead of running a long ways all the time.

Personally, I've found that it helps with endurance. I do a lot of weight stuff, and every once in a great while I'll run or some kind of endurance thing, and I'm surprised how much more I can do than expected.

Also, I've run two 5ks with my wanna-be bodybuilder cousin. He NEVER trained for running, and stayed with me for every step, even being able to go a little faster and harder and take the hills more. I believe Steve or a friend did on article on running, sprinting, and whatnot, so check that out, too.

I'm so happy for you that you FINALLY got a proper diagnosis!