Measure of Cardiovascular Success

[blank]

I know that diet and cardio are two keys to building a better body. Luckily, for the most part, I have the diet thing down pat. I lift frequently (I try for four days a week) and swim for an hour two of those days. On the other two days, I have to rely on another source for a cardio workout, and I hate cardio. I hate running. I don't hate biking or the eliptical, but I know that it achieves fewer results.

Is there a measure of success on those machines? I.E. is burning 300 calories on the eliptical the same as burning 300 on the treadmill? The goal is to simply cut body fat, I guess.

 

[Gradstudent78]

Well if your going by the calories on the machine read out, then no their not equal. To get the most out of the ellitical you need to make sure your not using your legs and not momentum. Basically you need to make sure you have the resistance turned up to give your legs something to work against. You should also make sure you have the resistance up on the bike.

You could try one of these as an alternative day to your regular steady state cardio:

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle....4-046-training
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

You could also find a row machine for variation as well.

 

[swisloc]

the calorie burning calculator on those machine readouts is way off anyway. its just a mathematical computation done by the machine based on inputs YOU provide. i.e. not vary accurate. But, calories are calories; if you burn them, you burn them and if you can find a way to measure them against each other, it would be accurate. however, they all work different muscles, so unless you are just worried about working your cardiovascular threshold, you should take this into account as well.

 

[AdamG]

Originally Posted by blank

I know that diet and cardio are two keys to building a better body. Luckily, for the most part, I have the diet thing down pat. I lift frequently (I try for four days a week) and swim for an hour two of those days. On the other two days, I have to rely on another source for a cardio workout, and I hate cardio. I hate running. I don't hate biking or the eliptical, but I know that it achieves fewer results. Is there a measure of success on those machines? I.E. is burning 300 calories on the eliptical the same as burning 300 on the treadmill? The goal is to simply cut body fat, I guess.
Why are you working out everyday of the week? Have a rest one or two days. You get stronger and fitter outside the gym, not in it. As for your progress, it should be done by your performance.

 

[Renault78law]

Ignore the calorie counters. Get a heart rate monitor.

 

[blank]

Originally Posted by AdamG

Why are you working out everyday of the week?

Have a rest one or two days. You get stronger and fitter outside the gym, not in it.

As for your progress, it should be done by your performance.

Sorry, that reads strange. I work out four days a week, and swim on two of them, and fit in other cardio on the other two. Sometimes I swim on a fifth day, but not always.

 

[MetroStyles]

Dude, start skipping rope. It's the fastest form of cardio - you can get the same amount of cardiovascular activity done in 10 minutes of rope as 30 minutes of one of those machines. Also, it is the hardest. Many people can run for a long while but when they first start the rope they poop out after a minute!

Another plus is that it builds your agility - which is why boxers do it religiously.

Seriously, try it out, you'll like it and save yourself time.

 

[Eason]

The caloric counter on those machines is losely based off of a norm-referenced table based on weight, and it's been found that they over-estimate your expenditure by ~25%. Do not reley on them for an accurate analysis. Additionally, the machines are generally not comparable.

As someone who kickboxes and did submission wrestling, I will agree that straight cardio sucks a lot. If you just want to do cardio, then I think skipping rope is one of your best bets. I hate it more than anything. If you have the resources, I would highly recommend circuit training... I think it's a much better way to lose weight (and you'll get stronger/bigger). Are there any gyms near you which offer some pretty hardcore cardio/core conditioning classes?