I'd like to hear people's experiences when it comes to cardio. For the past two months I've been working as hard as I can (eg on the ellpitcal I'd 'run' at 13km/h) so I'd be shaking, sweating and so on. Problem was, I could only do cardio for 20-30 min.
My Pilates instructor gave me a tip on Tuesday to take it down a notch and go longer. I did 45 min today (the elliptical is what usually wears me out, and I can only do 10min at the most on that. I did 15 today running at 10-11km/h)
You know I wondered the same thing. On the ellipticals, the heart rate monitor is supposed to tell you what range to stay in to optimize weight loss if you enter your weight, age, etc before starting. When you are going at full tilt, are you maxing out the heart rate?
I wondered if it's accurate - that you are working against yourself if your heart rate is maxing out (and staying on the machine a shorter time) vs. staying in a healthy cardio range (doing 45 mins or so).
I could be wrong about this, but from my experience it seems that it's probably best to try for a mixture of short, intense workouts, and longer, more comfortable ones. With running, it's best to do mostly long, easy runs with an occasional speed workout, so that's kind of become my philosophy on working out in general. I think it's good for your body to occasionally crank up the intensity to the point where you can't sustain it for a long period of time, but it's also good to do the longer sustained fat burning as well.
Working less hard burns more fat... but then again, working hard burns MORE calories. Of course, if you can't go as long, that affects things too.
A number of people try HIIT "high intensity interval training". Speed up heartrate for a couple of minutes, then go back down for a few, then back up, etc.
The best way is whatever burns the most calories. Yes, in theory going slower burns a higher PERCENTAGE of fat, but all that matters is total calorie burn. (sleeping burns nearly 100% calories from fat, but not that many calories overall)
If the intensity you were doing limits you to 15-20 minutes, then it is probably too hard. Picking an intensity that you can go 30-45 minutes is good, but sprinkle in some higher intensity intervals. Just make sure you are bumping it down just far enough to extend your workout, dont drop down to a pace that you could do all day. (There is a man at my gym who does the stationary bike so slowly he can barely keep the readout on) .
If you are gasping for air its too fast. From your description I would say you were going too hard. Sweating is good, shaking, not so good.
I don't really know what to tell you. I have noticed though that when I am in my cardio class...I work so hard, I have to stop and let my heart beat slow down for surely it will explode if I don't. I know my teacher is always telling us to keep our heart rates up to get the most out of our cardio, but i just can't seem to take it slow. I give it my all or nothing at all. So, i have to stop and take a drink, put my hands on my knees and wait a minute for my heart rate to drop a little and then I am back to it 100% with all I got. I was working out so intensly Monday, that i went to put my foot on my step and my step slipped out from under my foot and i feel to the floor on my butt!!! Embarressing but at least I didn't hurt myself. I just laughed it off, took a minute to breath and got right back at it!
Personally, I'm a big fan of long, less-intense workouts with 1 min bursts of very high intensity. I generally go three-minutes less intense, with 1 min all out. This actually burns more calories than working at a faster pace for the same amount of time, but somehow doesn't wear me out nearly as much.
The best for fat burning is the one that burns the most calories. Does the machine give you an estimate of how much you're burning? You could also look online and see if there's an estimate of how much you're burning on the machine at different speeds. My guess is the 45 minute session is probably better!
I've got two answers for you. First, I've read that you should do cardio at least 20 min. at a time,it has something to do with where your body looks for fuel, so your first move should be to do whatever alllows you to workout for at least 20 min. Second, I asked a trainer at my gym a similar question, and this is the answer he gave me:
1: Your body adapts to an activity very quickly, so you want to change if up pretty frequently.
2: First thing to change is the intensity of the activity.
3: Next, you change the frequency of the activity. If you're working out three days a week add another.
4: If you still need a change, change activities
5: If none of those works, lengthen each work out.
I agree with the suggestion of intervals-- 45 mins overall with short bursts of high intensity.
I remember reading somewhere on this board that interval training is the best for burning more calories all day long, as well. (I've forgotten what this is called...ETOC? EECO?)
Hi everyone, I am new to this site. I have only been posting for a couple of days, but you are all wonderful. I really like how helpful you all are.
I was wondering if any of you use a heart rate monitor strap. Without one I always went for the harder workout, but now that I started using one (about 1 month) I have really had to go for the longer less intense workout. It starts beeping at me if my hr gets above 171. I assume that as I condition my heart/body I will be able to do a higher intensity for a longer period of time. It should take more effort to get my hr up so naturally I will have to increase my intensity. Right?
I use a HRM and I love it. You definitely will have to work harder to get your heart rate up the fitter you get. There have been a couple of threads relating to HRMs recently: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...t+Rate+Monitor
Baffled, EPOC and it comes from HIIT, High-intensity Interval Training, and you can find a discussion from a proponent of it here
Wikipedia defines it as:
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an exercise strategy that is intended to improve performance with short training sessions.
A HIIT session involves a warmup period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cooldown period. The period of alternating effort and recovery intervals typically lasts a total of 15 minutes.
Studies . . . have shown this method to be more effective at burning fat and maintaining, or building, muscle mass than high-volume, lower intensity aerobic work-outs. According to a study . . ., HIIT increases the RMR (resting metabolic rate) for the following 24 hours due to EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), and may improve VO2 max. Traditionally, long aerobic workouts have been promoted as the best method to reduce fat, as fatty acid utilization usually occurs after at least 30 minutes of training. HIIT is somewhat counter intuitive in this regard, but has nonetheless been shown to burn fat more effectively. There may be a number of factors that contribute to this, including an increase in RMR, and possibly other physiological effects.
Just another viewpoint.... I like it because - frankly - it takes less time! I alternate between longer, less intense sessions (usually walking outdoors) and HIIT sessions on the elliptical. For the latter I like to use the podcasts of C25K here and increase the intensity for the running portions. My knees won't take the impact of running, but this works great on the elliptical.
Baffled, thank you so much! I read through the tread and another that was linked off it. There was some really good info on there. I need to explore this site some more because there is so much to learn. Thanks again.
Cardio : Harder or Longer?
I know my teacher is always telling us to keep our heart rates up to get the most out of our cardio, but i just can't seem to take it slow. I give it my all or nothing at all. So, i have to stop and take a drink, put my hands on my knees and wait a minute for my heart rate to drop a little and then I am back to it 100% with all I got. I was working out so intensly Monday, that i went to put my foot on my step and my step slipped out from under my foot and i feel to the floor on my butt!!! Embarressing but at least I didn't hurt myself. I just laughed it off, took a minute to breath and got right back at it!
I like it because - frankly - it takes less time! I alternate between longer, less intense sessions (usually walking outdoors) and HIIT sessions on the elliptical. For the latter I like to use the podcasts of C25K 