Getting in shape

[AbAbber2k]

Originally posted by: jagec
Yeah, I thought I was all hardcore on the bike, but I just talked to my uncle about going riding next weekend. His suggestion? "Yeah, I've been off the bike for months, and I'm recovering from this nasty virus, so what say we take a nice, easy ride over to Kirkland...55 miles or so"🙁

Aerobic conditioning is all about increasing time/reps/endurance factors. Hence why I disagree with the HIIT concept. Don't get me wrong, HIIT is great, especially if you're into sports that are sort of in between pure aerobics or anaerobics (lots of short sprinting and such). Granted, if you did HIIT for 30+ minutes, THEN you'd be getting some aerobic conditioning, but it's still more of a hybrid system.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: AbAbber2k

Originally posted by: jagec
Yeah, I thought I was all hardcore on the bike, but I just talked to my uncle about going riding next weekend. His suggestion? "Yeah, I've been off the bike for months, and I'm recovering from this nasty virus, so what say we take a nice, easy ride over to Kirkland...55 miles or so"🙁

Aerobic conditioning is all about increasing time/reps/endurance factors. Hence why I disagree with the HIIT concept. Don't get me wrong, HIIT is great, especially if you're into sports that are sort of in between pure aerobics or anaerobics (lots of short sprinting and such). Granted, if you did HIIT for 30+ minutes, THEN you'd be getting some aerobic conditioning, but it's still more of a hybrid system.

My chief aerobic exercise these days is ~25 miles on the bike, hovering around 18mph on the flat sections, but dropping to a crawl on the LONG uphill that constitutes the last mile. The hill kicks my butt, but I make it up.

 

[Playmaker]

Originally posted by: AbAbber2k

Originally posted by: Playmaker
They are burning fat, but very inefficiently. High intensity interval training is MUCH more effective for burning fat than solid-state cardio.

Use a bike or treadmill, sprint for 15secs, jog for 45sec, repeat 8-10 times with a 2min warm-up and cool-down. That's less than 15min for a great workout. Follow it up with intense weight lifting and use supersets with little rest and I guarantee you'll drop that fat quicker than with any other strategy. If you throw up at first you know you're doing it right.

This is a more efficient fat-burning tool than jogging for 45min with respect to burning fat. And unless you're specifically training for a long distance sporting event, your cardiovascular health will be fine.

HIIT is ok, but it's more anaerobic in nature. The best thing to do to utilize fat stores as energy is to maintain an intensity level of roughly 65% of your VO2Max through aerobic exercise (jogging, biking, etc). A good estimate of this is to get your heartrate up, check your pulse and apply the following formula. (220-age)(.65). So for the OP, he wants to shoot for about 131bmp. The reason for this is that Beta Oxidation, the energy system which utilizes fat stores for energy, kicks in during moderate intensity exercise after about 20min. This is also why you should do a MINIMUM of 30min at such an intensity. At </= 20min you're using other systems which utilize other fuels (CP, glucose, etc).

I've always read that HIIT, when done properly, burns fat more efficiently and is especially superior in the post-exercise period. I've also read that it minimizes lean muscle loss in comparison to solid state cardio.

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That's one of the links that explains the benefits quite well. I've read some better/shorter ones, but I can't find them right now.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Playmaker

Originally posted by: jjyiz28

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: jjyiz28

i mean if you are in the army and a private after jogging 2 miles says to his sarge, hey sarge, like i am WAY above my target heart rate, i think i should be slowing down now. he will tell him tough cookie, STFU, and keep running if you don't want a azzwhupin. isnt' this how you want to improve your cardio?? pushing yourself, but not so hard that you puke of course, but not so little that you could discuss the politcal current events w/your buddy

i'm not sure. but here's my understanding: between a certain range of heartrates, say X and Y, so X < HR < Y, (75%-80% of max heart rate) you burn one type of energy and this is aerobics (as long as the activity is performed for a minimum of 12 minutes => using oxygen, which is what aerobics means). Let's say you go above Y, then you start burning another type of energy, anarobic (energy comes from => lactic acid, atp-pc systems ) which is used for a limited time, like sprinting. you sprint, you run out of this energy, and you rest and its restored to a certain level and you can do it again. you do enough of this, and your body can store this energy more efficiently so you have more of it available (ie longer sprints).

but as far as pushing yourself, i don't know. i guess if you do everything gradually eventually you will get to where you want to be.

i see isee. like i see woman on the bike, and they are reading a book. a book. while pedaling. are they really burning fat or improving their cardio by doing this?? is this any better than taking a slow walk around a neighborhood?

They are burning fat, but very inefficiently. High intensity interval training is MUCH more effective for burning fat than solid-state cardio.

Use a bike or treadmill, sprint for 15secs, jog for 45sec, repeat 8-10 times with a 2min warm-up and cool-down. That's less than 15min for a great workout. Follow it up with intense weight lifting and use supersets with little rest and I guarantee you'll drop that fat quicker than with any other strategy. If you throw up at first you know you're doing it right.

This is a more efficient fat-burning tool than jogging for 45min with respect to burning fat. And unless you're specifically training for a long distance sporting event, your cardiovascular health will be fine.

the cross-trainers i use have a built-in aerobics program that i do for 30 minutes... IIRC it goes 2 minute warmup, 1 min push with arms, 1 min pull with arms, 1 min speed up, 1 min slow down, 2 min go at own pace with lower body, 2 min reverse, 2 min forward, repeat all until the 28th minute when it goes into cool down.