Easy elliptical excercise for 1hr vs hard elliptical excercise for 20 min

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: newb111

Originally posted by: Aharami
the only time i had a six pack was when i used to sprint in high school track. short sudden bursts of energy is the best for eating thru the fat.

purbeast0, how many miles do you end up running in those 20 mins? im just trying to understand what you mean when you say "running hard". what pace are you running those 20 mins?

I run 4 times a week. 2.5 miles in 25 mins. comes out to about 6min/mile average. I do the first mile at 6.0 mph, then starting at 1.1 miles, for every .1 miles, i go up .1 mph. so by 1.5 miles Im doing 6.5 mph. Then I keep up that pace for .7 miles. Run the last .3 miles at 7.0 mph. By the end of this, im dead tired. eventually I wanna get upto 3 miles in 25 mins

This is usually after working out for 2 hrs

2.5 miles in 25 minutes would be 10min/mile, not 6

Yep. That's a 10 minute mile pace. 6 minute miles would be 15 minutes for 2.5 miles.

8 minute miles are respectable for a casual runner. The jump from 10 minute miles to 8 minute miles comes pretty quick. Getting into the mid 7 minute miles for training purposes is getting pretty competive. If you are training at sub 7 minutes, that is getting into fairly elite range. The jump from an 8:30 mile to a 7:30 mile comes much much quicker than from 7:30 to 6:30. And then the jump from 6:30 to 5:30 is even exponentially harder than the previous one. You hit very dimished returns after a certain point.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: Amused
The key to cardio is to be progressive. No one routine works for long and you will plateau on the fat loss.

So with the long workout you need to progressively increase the resistance and with the short workout you need to progressively increase the time.

Either way will lose weight... but know that 20 minutes is not nearly as effective as 30 minutes. It take 15-20 minutes for your body to start burning fat if you start cold, 10-15 minutes if you've been lifting weight before you started.

A good bet? Mix it up. Have lower resistence longer workouts and higher resistence shorter workouts. Meanwhile remain progressive in both.

BTW, for maximum weight loss cardio twice a day, 4-5 days a week works best. If you do this, the shorter, higher resistence 30 minute workout is ideal.

Yah when I do cardio I always start out and increase my resistance/speed. I won't go down until i'm in my cooldown phase.

I'm also really REALLY struggling on getting up early and doing cardio before work lol. Next week I'm going to make it my goal to get up atleast 1 day early and do cardio in the morning, then I'll see how I feel at night. If I could do it twice a day I would definitely do it, bt I just don't know if it's feasable ATM.

Usually when I do cardio right now, even on the days I lift, it's at night after I've lifted. Usually a few hours after. No one is in the little fitness center around 10pm or 11pm, so that's when I like to go casue I know it'll be empty and I'll have a treadmill.

I mean be progressive over time. Say one week you work at level 6. One to two weeks later, bump it to level 7 and so forth. Same with the time. Bump it by 5 minutes every other week or so.

If you do the same thing week after week, your benefits will trail off and you'll just be maintaining.

 

[vi edit]

I'm also cutting back big time on the diet sodas because they make me feel bloated and won't help me get leaned up, and that's been tough to coming off of atleast 3 20oz sodas a day heh.

The carbonation in the pop also affects the oxygen levels in your blood. It can hamper your aerobic ability.

I can tell a noticable difference if I have a pop an hour or two before working vs. not having one. Not to mention that the acidic burps you get while working out aren't pleasant after having one.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

I'm also cutting back big time on the diet sodas because they make me feel bloated and won't help me get leaned up, and that's been tough to coming off of atleast 3 20oz sodas a day heh.

The carbonation in the pop also affects the oxygen levels in your blood. It can hamper your aerobic ability.

I can tell a noticable difference if I have a pop an hour or two before working vs. not having one. Not to mention that the acidic burps you get while working out aren't pleasant after having one.

Hah yah, I know that feeling.

Is there any factual proof that says drinking even diet sodas can hinder your ability to burn the fats on your body?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: Amused
The key to cardio is to be progressive. No one routine works for long and you will plateau on the fat loss.

So with the long workout you need to progressively increase the resistance and with the short workout you need to progressively increase the time.

Either way will lose weight... but know that 20 minutes is not nearly as effective as 30 minutes. It take 15-20 minutes for your body to start burning fat if you start cold, 10-15 minutes if you've been lifting weight before you started.

A good bet? Mix it up. Have lower resistence longer workouts and higher resistence shorter workouts. Meanwhile remain progressive in both.

BTW, for maximum weight loss cardio twice a day, 4-5 days a week works best. If you do this, the shorter, higher resistence 30 minute workout is ideal.

Yah when I do cardio I always start out and increase my resistance/speed. I won't go down until i'm in my cooldown phase.

I'm also really REALLY struggling on getting up early and doing cardio before work lol. Next week I'm going to make it my goal to get up atleast 1 day early and do cardio in the morning, then I'll see how I feel at night. If I could do it twice a day I would definitely do it, bt I just don't know if it's feasable ATM.

Usually when I do cardio right now, even on the days I lift, it's at night after I've lifted. Usually a few hours after. No one is in the little fitness center around 10pm or 11pm, so that's when I like to go casue I know it'll be empty and I'll have a treadmill.

Just depends on how bad you want it. I just recently moved...the gym, now instead of being 30 minutes away, is about 3 minutes away. I've been hitting the gym every morning at 6am. If you really want it, you'll find a way to get up.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: Aharami
the only time i had a six pack was when i used to sprint in high school track. short sudden bursts of energy is the best for eating thru the fat.

purbeast0, how many miles do you end up running in those 20 mins? im just trying to understand what you mean when you say "running hard". what pace are you running those 20 mins?

I run 4 times a week. 2.5 miles in 25 mins. comes out to about 6min/mile average. I do the first mile at 6.0 mph, then starting at 1.1 miles, for every .1 miles, i go up .1 mph. so by 1.5 miles Im doing 6.5 mph. Then I keep up that pace for .7 miles. Run the last .3 miles at 7.0 mph. By the end of this, im dead tired.

This is usually after working out for 2 hrs

Well when I was in college, I usually did this routine for 30 mins ...

2 mins - 5.0mph
2 mins - 5.5mph
2 mins - 6.0mph
14 mins - 6.5mph
5 mins - 7mph
3 mins - 7.5mph
2 mins - 8mph

It was about 3.75 miles I believe. By running "hard" i mean it's tough for me to physically do. Part of it is because I have asthma and usually my wind goes before my actual physical strength goes.

There was a year in college when I was jogging for like 20 mins ... which was like 5.5 or 6.0mph, and I didn't get nearly as cut as I did when I was running just slighly harder as I was above. Same goes for when I was doing the eliptical machine.

But yah, basically by running "hard" i mean it's just physically tough to finish what my goal is set to. When I was doing eliptical machine for 25 mins, it wasn't tough. I would finish and not even feel that tired, whereas when I'm done running for those 20 mins, I have to go sit down for a while and just sit on my ass cause I'm dead tired. I can feel the effects of a good run much longer on my body (as in a couple of hours) than I can when doing something that isn't as tough for my body to physically do.

I'm now up to running 22mins of that pattern I showed above that I was doing. Hopefully tonight or saturday when I run next, I can do 25 mins. I'm going to try and push myself to do it.

The toughest part for me now (I've been trying to be on my lean cycle for about 2 weeks now) is the e ating part. Early in the days it's easy. I wake up, get my protein shake, then I eat a turkey sandwich around noon (eating one right now) and eat a roast beef sandwich around 3:30 or 4, then if I go workout before I go home sometimes I'll get one of those energy bars at the gym, but if not I'll just go home. Either way when I get home, I take a protein shake.

That is where the hard part comes in. I'll usually eat a decent meal for dinner (tuna sandwich or some chicken w/brown rice) but then sometimes I get my sweet tooth back. But I have been eating some peanuts, raisin bran or this oatmeal type of cereal, and some beef jerky.

I'm also cutting back big time on the diet sodas because they make me feel bloated and won't help me get leaned up, and that's been tough to coming off of atleast 3 20oz sodas a day heh.

diet is definitely my weak point. i grew up on white rice and have to have that for dinner. I have a plate of white rice (w/ chicken curry or lentil soup) every night. I gotta stop having so much white rice

 

[jpeyton]

If you want to drop weight ----> longer less intense.

If you want to build muscle ----> shorter more intense.

 

[torpid]

I dunno that runners have it easy. I look at the people running on icy roads in 7 degree weather and think they must be crazy. Unless you mean indoor runners. In which case they aren't really any different than elliptical people, except that the machine seems to break less easily. Unless you mean indoor track runners, in which case they must be really bored.

 

[markgm]

I do an hour of cardio, get a shower, and then go to bed. I wish I could get up in the morning and do it, but I know that if I had an extra hour in the morning I'd want to use it for sleep!

 

[mrkun]

Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: mrkun
Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

hm.. eliptical on max level for 5 min FTW?

 

[CellarDoor]

Originally posted by: mrkun
Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

^^ what he said.

You might burn more calories during the exercise with the long duration stuff, but you'll burn more calories throughout the day by doing the most strenuous stuff.

 

[CellarDoor]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: mrkun
Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

hm.. eliptical on max level for 5 min FTW?

That's pretty hard to do. When I started HIIT I started by running as hard as I could on straightaways and jogging the curves on a track. I was dead tired after 5 minutes my first time.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: brandonb
Every book about weight loss I've read says longer easy workouts are better than short and strenuous workouts.

And they're right.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: CellarDoor

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: mrkun
Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

hm.. eliptical on max level for 5 min FTW?

That's pretty hard to do. When I started HIIT I started by running as hard as I could on straightaways and jogging the curves on a track. I was dead tired after 5 minutes my first time.

Yah HITT is MUCH harder than it seems like it would be. It just sucks because it's really hard to do it on a treadmill. You really need a track to do it in a more efficient and easier way.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: mrkun
Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

hm.. eliptical on max level for 5 min FTW?

With HIIT, the rest time is impotant also. You're not going to be able to go all out for 5 minutes anyway. That's like asking a 100m sprinter to keep up the pace for a mile. In between going all out, you need to slow it down and let your body recover.

Before I had ever heard of HIIT, I started a workout with my roommate where we would run 100yds down the sideline of the football field, walk to the other sideline taking our time, sprint back, and then repeat till we had run 10 times. To make sure we were going all out, we raced against each other and timed each run.

The pounds just fell off. It was definitely more effective than when i was training for a 5 mile charity run, and all I did was jogging for long periods of time.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: torpid
I dunno that runners have it easy. I look at the people running on icy roads in 7 degree weather and think they must be crazy. Unless you mean indoor runners. In which case they aren't really any different than elliptical people, except that the machine seems to break less easily. Unless you mean indoor track runners, in which case they must be really bored.

I meant easy in that their gym is everywhere they are and all the equipment they need to a pair a shoes.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: brandonb
Every book about weight loss I've read says longer easy workouts are better than short and strenuous workouts.

Chafing...

 

[Special K]

A shorter, higher intensity cardio session will burn more calories in the long run because it elevates your metabolism in the hours following the exercise.

Doing cardio does NOT directly build muscle, although it can cause you to lose fat, thereby gaining more definition.

Also if you want t3h abs, you would do well to start tracking your diet using Fitday

 

[TheNinja]

typically

slower rate = fat burn
faster rate = cardio

However slower rate tends to burn all sorts of stuff, fat and muscle. I want to keep as much muscle as possible. Therefore you are better off li

 

[ppdes]

>sub 7 minutes, that is getting into fairly elite range.

That's not even competitive at the distances being discussed. I used to run the 5 mile in 32 minutes on the cross country team in undergrad at a D3 school. It wasn't even enough to be in the top 7 on the team (the people who actually affect the scores).

>running on icy roads in 7 degree weather and think they must be crazy. Unless you mean indoor runners

I've gone running in sleet in shorts and not been cold. Running generates a lot of heat. Indoor tracks, for some reason, always have really dry air and it screws with my breathing. So I'd take outdoor over indoor any day.

 

[dbk]

I do the elliptical and my heart rate hovers around ~175.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: mrkun
Anyone that recommends long duration, low intensity aerobics/cardio for fat loss or cardiovascular conditioning is wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten.../wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

so since this post 4weeks ago, i've switched to HIIT on the elliptical 2x/week (on avg).

I do a minute of warmup (Lvl5), 30 sec of middle resistance (Lvl10), then full speed for 1min at Lvl15, then recover at lvl5 for 2min.

Rinse and repeat for 15 min, thus 4 of these cycles.

Today, i actually did Lvl15 for 2min. I guess i'm getting stronger and adapting to the resistance.

Anyway, i've noticed a smaller spare tire.

When i was doing the easy level, longer duration i didnt notice a difference. and i was doing that for 3months.

now to fairness for the easy longer excercising, the holidays (thanksgiving, xmas, new years) were during that time period and i was waaaay overeating.

 

[mrkun]

Originally posted by: JEDI
Anyway, i've noticed a smaller spare tire.

Grats.