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Bicycling has been most important to me. Walking and cutting out foods with chemicals in them have also been very helpful. A long walk makes me want to eat less.
What has been the single most effective exercise for you? Be it for losing fat, gaining muscle, increasing stamina, etc.?
Hmmmm....you're asking for the "single most effective exercise" for several different things - "losing fat", "gaining muscle", "increasing stamina", etc. (whatever etc may be), so what I will list is what has been the most effective for me (and the majority of those I train) for each category:
FAT LOSS - Sprint intervals. Full speed, 50 to 100 yard sprints with 30 second intervals, or more specifically one of my favorites - 10 100 yard full speed sprints with 10 pushups and 10 situps at the end of each sprint. This is done for time. The second most effect for fat loss is early morning running on empty stomach for at least 5 times per week. Run is either 5k, 5 miles or 7 miles.
Gaining Muscle - Deadlifts and squats. Nothing beats deadlifts and squats. But they have to be HEAVY deadlifts and squats. That stupid "high rep/low weight" crap is useless and ineffective for gaining muscle. The second most effective for gaining muscle is whole body bodyweight routines like Tabata pushups, tabata pullups, tabata squats, tabata burpees, tabata mountain climbers, tabata situps.
Increasing Stamina - Double unders jump rope. 30 minutes of double unders is fantastic for stamina training. There is a reason boxers for the past century have used jumping rope to training their stamina - it WORKS. Distance running works as well.
Etc. - DIET!! Just as Hawaiiancoconut mentioned in his post in this thread, diet probably THE most important. Without a consistent, dedicated commitment to healthy eating, there will be great difficulty in achieving any health/fitness goals. The fatter/out of shape you are, the less flexibility there is on this. This means NO CHEATING if you are super fat.
Finally, there really isnt a "single best" overall anything when it comes to exercise, you need a mix of strength training, cardio, conditioning, fat loss, etc. to be really healthy.
For loosing fat and weight, interval training. Running as fast and hard as possible for 60 secs, then walking for 2 min. Repeat for 20 min. I did it on a treadmill.
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