i notice the elliptical is an easy way to burn a lot of calories. i see guys at the gym burning 400 calories in 25 minutes while hardly breaking a sweat. a lot of times after i train (especially legs, core) i can't do cardio at a high intensity. I think that the elliptical is the perfect tool for putting urself at a calorie deficiency...
im on a 4 day strength oriented split. my priority is to get stronger without gaining too much more body fat, while also building my endurance so i plan on doing about 20 - 30 minutes of cardio after i train, 2 days on the treadmill (upper body) and the other 2 on the ellipticial.
im just looking for opinions and perhaps guidance from those who were weak yet still possessed a high bodyfat.
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Thread: elliptical as cardio
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10-12-2009, 11:57 AM #1
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elliptical as cardio
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10-12-2009, 12:16 PM #2
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10-12-2009, 12:20 PM #3
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10-12-2009, 12:24 PM #4
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10-12-2009, 12:35 PM #5
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10-12-2009, 12:41 PM #6
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10-12-2009, 12:57 PM #7
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10-12-2009, 12:59 PM #8
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10-12-2009, 01:21 PM #9
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10-12-2009, 01:26 PM #10
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try setting it on a incline....i had the same issue before, now i set it to like 4-5% incline and no issues with knees. I belive 1% is about the same as pavement
I would also say that the calorie counter on most of them is bs....some garbage math formula, i all tell people that take about 2/3 or half of what it says....
i use both though and would say too, they work my legs differently and i think its good to switch it up
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10-12-2009, 01:53 PM #11
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10-12-2009, 01:56 PM #12
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I firmly believe "easy cardio" is an oxymoron. You see people burning 400 calories in 25minutes in the gym without looking sweaty or short of breath--well I guarantee the calorie counters for them is wayyyy off. Cardio is short for cardiovascular, if that heart ain't pumping, you aren't doing it right.
*United States Marine Corps*
LCpl Status achieved
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10-12-2009, 02:30 PM #13
Exactly. At best, those machines ask your age and weight - many don't even ask your gender. As far as I know, they never take your height into consideration.
So, you tell the machine "I'm 30 years old and 220 pounds"...
What the machine doesn't ask you:
220 pounds, huh? Are you 5'1 or 6'1"?
Male or female?
Is it 72 or 90 degrees in this room?
Are you built like Michael Phelps or Rosie O'Donnel?
Do you have any prosthetic legs?
Are you running barefoot, in sneakers, or mountaineering boots?
Are you using ankle weights?
Are you wearing a CamelBak or a back pack filled with 10 pound plates?
Are you running while holding a rifle above your head, Marines style?
Are you holding onto the goddamn railing the whole frickin' time?
Are you even ON THE MACHINE? (treadmill only)
All of those things affect your actual calorie burn substantially. Hell, a recent study found that swinging your arms and legs in unison requires 30% more energy than if you let your arms swing naturally. The machine couldn't possibly know that, or any of the things mentioned above. So, the number it displays on the screen is virtually useless. The ONLY thing it's good for is comparing it to previous or future workouts on the same machine at exactly the same level of effort. Or for the little games you play in your head ("I'll keep running until it reaches 500", etc.)
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10-12-2009, 03:00 PM #14
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10-12-2009, 03:32 PM #15
I'm never concerned with what the calorie counter says.
If I'm going for a 20 min. sesh I pace it so I'm trashed at 20, If I'm going for 30 min. I pace it so I'm trashed at 30, etc.
Works well for meIf you don't get what you want you didn't want it bad enough
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10-12-2009, 05:07 PM #16
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Cardio machines are notorious for ridiculously overestimating caloric expenditure. Of all the cardio machines, elliptical is probably the worst @ overestimating calories burned.
just saying.
That said, push yourself (it's very easy to fall into a easy stride thats comparable to light walking on an elliptical machine) and the calories will burn. I know i've done a good job on cardio when I can feel heat radiating out of my body when i'm done, especially off my head.
On a somewhat unrelated note lol after a swim session one day i went outside (it was early winter and fairly dry /cold) and my head was actually steaming. My friends were all joking how it looked like my head was seriously on fire lol.
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10-12-2009, 05:22 PM #17
I find the elliptical to be the best option for me...It is either that, or walking at a quick pace on the inclined treadmill.
HIIT (or similar interval) training on the elliptical really kicks my ass....i just hate the treadmill, bike or anything like that. I never pay attention to the calories it says though.315x4 (7/23/14) - Goal 365
330x6 (7/24/14) - Goal 435
485 (7/7/14) - Goal 505
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10-12-2009, 05:59 PM #18
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10-12-2009, 06:51 PM #19
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10-12-2009, 07:48 PM #20
The elliptical is my cardio machine of choice. I am an old-school Stair Master fan and the elliptical is one step better. With no impact to my knees or feet, I can get my heart moving and sweat it out doing an exercise that I can reproduce session after session to track changes in performance. Lately, I've been riding it for 20 minutes and increasing levels every minute until I reach a level that is the most I can do at which point I drop it back down four levels for a rest and start increasing the levels again. I can usually manage to sweat-up a shirt in 20 minutes.
"It doesn't matter what exercise you do, but man was made to move, to eat sparingly, to work hard and to screw as much as he can manage. Do all that, and you will look as good as your genes will let you, be content as the arseholes around you will allow, and maybe get a few screws. The particular virtues of weight training are in the discipline it brings to both mind and body, and, if you do it right, it will make you look good naked and do well what you got your clothes off to do." Georgeoz
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10-12-2009, 10:30 PM #21
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10-12-2009, 10:31 PM #22
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10-12-2009, 10:40 PM #23
I used to hate the elliptical... because I couldn't do more than 5 minutes on it.
Now I'm doing 30 and sweating up a storm.. my heart rate stays up.. when I use the treadmill I don't sweat as much and my heart rate doesn't stay up like it used to. I feel I get a better workout from the elliptical. I don't believe the calorie counter either...
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10-13-2009, 01:23 AM #24
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^
yeah I have an elliptical and I too recon the calorie counter is nonsense "even though it is nice to see 500cals burned". However I don't really worry about the calories that I burn anymore, the only thing that I concentrate on now is my heart rate and keeping it above 60%. Its strange that eventhough fatloss is my ultimate goal when I focused on the calories burned I lost nothing but when I started paying attention to improving my cardiovascular strength I lost.
So basically what I am saying is that you should probably be focusing on HIIT or just HIT also I would suggest trying different cardio equipment.
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10-13-2009, 01:28 AM #25
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10-13-2009, 01:39 AM #26
another perspective: bikes,rowers,kettlebells
Hi guys,
i'm sorry i can't site a whack of papers right now - i'll try to pull them together - and a lot of this is from work i know about in different labs that hasn't been published yet - BUT
both the eliptical and treadmills have particular issues with the CNS that rowers and stationary bikes don't. These have to do with both gait mechanics and the VVP - the visual vestibular and proprioceptive systems.
You know how you feel a bit dizzy reorienting after getting off a treadmill? that's an upset to the VVP system. One might say so what? we adjust, right? well, anything that screws with the nervous system produces a kind of low level threat that impacts strength.
In terms of startle response (this is part of what i research) when we startle, we start to shut down systems for protection. So if our body perceives a dissonance, it starts to pull back. An example of that can be seen in what's been called the arthrokinetic reflex. Here's an example vid of that if you're interested.(link)
Indeed, one of the folks our lab works with did an in house study where athletes were assigned to one of four groups: rower, bike, elliptical, treadmill. They were tested for strength and ROM (i believe ROM - have to check) before they did some time on the machine and then tested after. The testors did not know what machine the athletes had used. At the end the folks who did the eliptical and the treadmill all tested weaker than before they did their machines.
A second effect is that the mimicing of gait in the eliptical (which i used to love for all the reasons folks have posted above) and the treadmill is not natural. Folks looking at gait on the treadmill recently have seen some oddities in muscle performance using the treadmill - it seems it may be this overly regularlized gait patterning that's not quite how we were designed to move - plus this vvp effect.
Apparently stationary bikes and rowers don't induce this effect - they're machine made motions - though stuart mcgill - famous back guy - hates anything sitting because of how that may effect spine mechanics.
So you may ask, if we can't sit and the standing things mess with our brains, what's left for cardio? Well, i still row and bike, but for a full body break that can be done standing and does not enforce a gait, kettlebells can be a potent cardio or vo2max trainer.
here's a kettlebell hill workout (link).
here's some physiology of cardio - with kb's (link)
and here's an overview of a vo2max approach with kb's (link).
what can i say? those kb's are strangely compelling.
best
mc
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10-13-2009, 01:44 AM #27
I tried the elliptical when I first starting hitting the gym seriously 6 months ago because of all the raves they get. I felt more knee pain on that than I do running 10km.
I asked my chiro his thoughts about them and he said the knees don't track straight on those machines as it's an unnatural movement.
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10-13-2009, 05:58 AM #28
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I take any readout on any machine as just a suggested number. As has been said before, which I'm a firm believer of, if I'm not sweating or breathing heavily or have some sort of indicator that I worked hard I must not have done it right. This is true for my weight training as well. If it doesn't feel like I did the work, I must not have worked hard enough.
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10-13-2009, 06:34 AM #29
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10-13-2009, 06:43 AM #30
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