Okay, so I try and work in an hour of elliptical 2-3 times a week. Normally I am able to go the entire hour without stopping, but today at around 35 minutes I felt shaky and weak, so I got off, cooled down, drank some water and ate something. After about 30 minutes, I was fine, and hopped back on to finish the remaining 25 minutes of my workout.

After doing that, I thought about how long I should exercise. Is it better to do it all at once? Is it better to spread it out over the course of the day? Does it really make a difference?

My fiance seems to think that an hour on the elliptical is excessive, and that anything more than 20 minutes is wasted effort. Then again, he also thinks he shouldn't have to change anything about his diet because he's going to the gym everyday, and whatever he eats will be counteracted by the workout. So I'm not quite sure what to believe

I don't think it matters, but I'm not sure. From what I understand as long as you get your time in it can be broken up. Having said that, I would never break up a workout if I can help it. Once I get in the zone I want to stay there lol


Wrong wrong wrong wrong, wrong wrong wrong wrong...lol check it out as per Dr. Cox from Scrubs
http://youtu.be/WrjwaqZfjIY

But I'll let someone else go into why.

from what I understand of exercise, you need your heart rate to be elevated and for me, it takes a few minutes to get my heart rate really up there...so i'd rather get my workout all at once so i'm not wasting time getting my HR back up

but I could be wrong about that....maybe someone else will chime in

There's nothing wrong with a longer workout. It helps improve your endurance/stamina and overall strength. I used to do shorter workouts when I weighed more but as I became more fit, longer workouts became easier and more effective. Also you need to tell your husband exercise does not counteract eating crap food. Healthy eating is the key to weight loss

I work out on the elliptical also--but for 30 minutes. I think most of the built in routines are for 30 minutes also. It really doesn't matter how you spread out your routine during the day--whatever works best for you. If you can incorporate another routine in--such as weights--treadmill too that would give you some cross-training benefit.