Elliptical MPH for me?
beaverman445
Posts: 6 Member
Hi everyone,
never posted here before. I am wanting to get into better shape. Currently I am about 270lbs and 5ft8in. I am a male. I used to walk a lot at previous jobs but now I have a desk job so I have decided to start doing some regular cardio at the gym. I like the elliptical and have been using it this week in 30 min sessions. I want to make sure that I am not wasting potential in my workouts. The machine fat burn program asks for weight/age/time/and target heart rate. I set that to 160. However, speed is measured in MPH instead of strides. I have been sticking around 7mph throughout the workout. Since speed is the only variable that I can really alter myself, I'm wondering what I should aim for.
thanks for your help
never posted here before. I am wanting to get into better shape. Currently I am about 270lbs and 5ft8in. I am a male. I used to walk a lot at previous jobs but now I have a desk job so I have decided to start doing some regular cardio at the gym. I like the elliptical and have been using it this week in 30 min sessions. I want to make sure that I am not wasting potential in my workouts. The machine fat burn program asks for weight/age/time/and target heart rate. I set that to 160. However, speed is measured in MPH instead of strides. I have been sticking around 7mph throughout the workout. Since speed is the only variable that I can really alter myself, I'm wondering what I should aim for.
thanks for your help
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Replies
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Are you reaching your heart rate and maintaining it? how long does it take you to get there?0
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What specifically are you trying to accomplish?0
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yes i have been reaching my target heart rate before 10 mins. specifically my goal is to lose weight and tone my body. I am aware that I cannot do this on the elliptical alone. I am just using it as a starting point with eventual goals of lifting and running outdoors or on treadmills.0
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I've been doing the elliptical for about 2.5 years lost 40lbs and been able to maintain it. I go by my heart rate and use a heart rate monitor to adjust the levels, not the handles. I tried those in the beginning, heart rate was all over the place. I do 1hr and swap between the precor efx and lifefitness elliptical keeping my heart rate around 138 80% range0
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ya i have noticed the sensors mess up. i will be consistently around 160 and then it will start dropping to 150 and 140 even though I still feel like im working as hard. sometimes i wipe off my hands and put them back on and it jumps back up to like 165. so you would recommend a fitbit or something instead?0
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beaverman445 wrote: »yes i have been reaching my target heart rate before 10 mins. specifically my goal is to lose weight and tone my body. I am aware that I cannot do this on the elliptical alone. I am just using it as a starting point with eventual goals of lifting and running outdoors or on treadmills.
None of those things will get you there - how is your diet? Fix that first.
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As you get fitter, your heart rate may not be as high for the same work output. Unless your doctor has asked you to though, I don't believe you have to limit yourself to a certain heart rate. I'd rather be concerned about meeting goals like how long I want to be on the elliptical, and setting the difficulty level to what I can do in that time. I actually bought a mini elliptical to use at home and have found it helpful since I use it in as short of increments as I want
Get a Fitbit if you want it. Do any exercise you want. Just move! 0 -
Honestly you dont need a hrm, just go for 30 mins if thats what you cna manage and note down the distance you traveled. work a bit harder or at least as hard the following day so your heart rate is raised. Keep on pushing yourself reasonably hard, but not over the top. You should get further week on weak and your fitness will improve. If you wnat to lose weight start with food deficit, but moving more also contributes.0
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Darn I forgot to pimp my brand of HRM I use a polar V800 with H7 sensor, it links with most cardio equipment to control level/incline/resistance. You can also use the H7 sensor and the polar beat app to monitor and see your progress.
http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/
http://www.polar.com/us-en
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For this type of stuff, I like working off of perceived exertion. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/borg-scale/
It correlates well with heart rate training and can be used when you don't have a heat rate monitor or are following training programs that specify 80% max heart rate or working out in anaerobic zones. I would shoot for the 7-8 on this chart. http://www.phase5fitness.com/blog/rate-of-perceived-exertion/
Also, throw in some weight lifting if you can.0 -
None of those things will get you there - how is your diet? Fix that first.
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sorry, I should have mentioned that I am cutting back on calorie intake. 1200 daily, for simplicity i just eat a protein bar for breakfast and a light lunch with a sandwich/fruit/vegs. chicken or turkey based dinners with a veggie or small amount of carbs. i cut out pop and just drink water/coffee. Any suggestions on some simple meals that would fit into my calorie allowance, or low calorie satisfying snacks are welcome.0 -
You aren't going to be able to maintain any kind of meaningful exercise as a male on 1200 calories/day.
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beaverman445 wrote: »None of those things will get you there - how is your diet? Fix that first.
sorry, I should have mentioned that I am cutting back on calorie intake. 1200 daily, for simplicity i just eat a protein bar for breakfast and a light lunch with a sandwich/fruit/vegs. chicken or turkey based dinners with a veggie or small amount of carbs. i cut out pop and just drink water/coffee. Any suggestions on some simple meals that would fit into my calorie allowance, or low calorie satisfying snacks are welcome.[/quote]
I was willing to entertain the idea of losing weight with your eliptical efforts, but this just indicates you dont really know what you are doing. You really should fuel your exercises and in general in losing weight you should know what safe sustainable rates are. The Polar V800 will get you a fan if you bought a few.0 -
I definitely cannot afford a $500 watch. Obviously I would not be here if I "knew what I was doing." Maybe some suggestions of how I can improve my efforts instead of just telling me I will fail?0
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beaverman445 wrote: »None of those things will get you there - how is your diet? Fix that first.
sorry, I should have mentioned that I am cutting back on calorie intake. 1200 daily, for simplicity i just eat a protein bar for breakfast and a light lunch with a sandwich/fruit/vegs. chicken or turkey based dinners with a veggie or small amount of carbs. i cut out pop and just drink water/coffee. Any suggestions on some simple meals that would fit into my calorie allowance, or low calorie satisfying snacks are welcome.
I was willing to entertain the idea of losing weight with your eliptical efforts, but this just indicates you dont really know what you are doing. You really should fuel your exercises and in general in losing weight you should know what safe sustainable rates are. The Polar V800 will get you a fan if you bought a few.[/quote]
I unfriend you!!beaverman445 wrote: »I definitely cannot afford a $500 watch. Obviously I would not be here if I "knew what I was doing." Maybe some suggestions of how I can improve my efforts instead of just telling me I will fail?
I know most wouldn't spend that much, hell I didn't. but if you really wanted to try it, Amazon has the sensor for $50 I like polar because it can link up with the cardio, and since I use multiple gyms, and can't always get the same piece of equipment, I at least know my heart rate is the same no matter the calibration of the equipment.
You will find some just post to tell you what you're doing wrong, and how to spend your money.
for comparison, my calorie goal is 2600 a day. If I eat less than 1200 I get the I need to eat more message. I didn't really change anything with my diet, I'm not a heavy eater, and I had stopped drinking sodas long before trying to loose weight.
http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Sensor-BLE-BLK-M-XXL/dp/B007S088F4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1435435740&sr=8-2&keywords=H7
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The watch was a joke.
1. MFP works on the basis of a selected deficit and the safe sustainable rate of weight loss tends to be in the 1-2lb a week range.
2.It also sets a safe minimum of 1500 calories for a male just on nutritional grounds. You have suggested 1200, so you are 300 below even there. Eating too little is not the way to go.
3. If you are exercising, then use mfps estimated burns, but eat 50% of those calories back, which will give you extra calories with which you can fuel your workouts. If you run large deficits then that will be unhelathy and unsustainable. There are other methods, but 50% is used as a starting point due to many people feeling MFP overestimates burns. Judge by results, so 50% is merely a starting point.
4. Because you will be exercising a lot then it is wise to fuel your workouts to give your body the extra nutrution it needs to fuel the workout. the princuple benefit iof exercise is to get fit and losing weight is considered to be an importnat secondary benefit. Carbs before will give you energy and protein will assist with muscle repair.
In losing weight you should be looking for whats safe and sustainable to get you to target.0 -
Elliptical speed isn't the only factor that you can look at while hitting your target. Does your elliptical have resistance and/or incline as well? Does the machine show METS? When I was losing weight on an elliptical, I did just fine with a reasonably priced HRM.0
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Ok apologies if I was snappy.
1. Food consumption and accurate deficit are the big things for weight loss.
2. If you want to exercise the biggest benefit is fitness, but it will assist you in burning extra calories.
3. Estimates are just that estimates and you need to do a lot to burn the 3500 calories for the loss of 1lb of fat. It could easily be 5-8 hours of exercise. Its useful but bear in mind how much effort it takes.
4. If toy wnat to get fit using the eliptical, then its easy enough to go on perceived exertion, pish, try and keep going but dont overdo it. keep your times and distances and you cna see your improvement.
5. Be patient and good luck.0 -
beaverman445 wrote: »I definitely cannot afford a $500 watch. Obviously I would not be here if I "knew what I was doing." Maybe some suggestions of how I can improve my efforts instead of just telling me I will fail?
Eat at a reasonable caloric deficit.
Pick a setting on the elliptical that allows you to go for 30 minutes without dying. Do that 3 times a week. The next week, increase the setting to make it a little more difficult. Repeat until you're a beast on the elliptical.
Then go outside and start a c25k program...
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As you get fitter, your heart rate may not be as high for the same work output. Unless your doctor has asked you to though, I don't believe you have to limit yourself to a certain heart rate. I'd rather be concerned about meeting goals like how long I want to be on the elliptical, and setting the difficulty level to what I can do in that time. I actually bought a mini elliptical to use at home and have found it helpful since I use it in as short of increments as I want
Get a Fitbit if you want it. Do any exercise you want. Just move!
Question - have forgotten what I knew about this, and have seen different things on it here. Will a fit person doing the same workload they did when they were less fit, but the same weight, burn fewer calories?0 -
Lighter people burn less so if you lose weight = lower.
Fitter you become then you adapt as you becoem more efficient= burn less.
If you have more muscle its going to be more.
So its hard to say, what you should do is maximise by increaseing either or both duration or intensity to compensate the other way and keep your calorie burns higher. the fact you are fitter enables you to do this was my understanding.0 -
Lighter people burn less so if you lose weight = lower.
Fitter you become then you adapt as you becoem more efficient= burn less.
If you have more muscle its going to be more.
So its hard to say, what you should do is maximise by increaseing either or both duration or intensity to compensate the other way and keep your calorie burns higher. the fact you are fitter enables you to do this was my understanding.
I did think of those, couldn't put them together, though. And you're right that you should just go harder/longer if you can. But if you can't (eg are doing a recovery workout or are working around something), my thinking is you'd probably burn less overall than you did when you weren't as adapted or had as much muscle mass...0 -
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For the same perceived effort level and duration.
For same workload/duration, the burns will be the same (assuming no weight change). That should be clear, since that is the definition of "work". 0 -
For the same perceived effort level and duration.
For same workload/duration, the burns will be the same (assuming no weight change).
Ok, neat! Thanks!
(Should be part of a sticky.)0 -
For the same perceived effort level and duration.
For same workload/duration, the burns will be the same (assuming no weight change). That should be clear, since that is the definition of "work".
Well, the METs are based on some assumptions, aren't they. RMR might have been raised with a whatever % changed body composition (probably not tons, but hence my question) , and there's the point about efficiency. Workout X might be less "work" for a fitter body. I was thinking.0 -
Honestly you dont need a hrm, just go for 30 mins if thats what you cna manage and note down the distance you traveled. work a bit harder or at least as hard the following day so your heart rate is raised. Keep on pushing yourself reasonably hard, but not over the top. You should get further week on weak and your fitness will improve. If you wnat to lose weight start with food deficit, but moving more also contributes.
This is what I do, except on a treadmill. I push myself to go just a little bit farther each workout.
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For the same perceived effort level and duration.
For same workload/duration, the burns will be the same (assuming no weight change). That should be clear, since that is the definition of "work".
Well, the METs are based on some assumptions, aren't they. RMR might have been raised with a whatever % changed body composition (probably not tons, but hence my question) , and there's the point about efficiency.
If body composition has changed, then it's not an apples to apples comparison. Plus if anything the change should be a positive one, because of increased LBM, meaning increased, not decreased burns.
The only measurable "efficiency" is if the person starts out with really incorrect biomechanicals, in which case again it's not an apples to apples comparison.
Bottom line: a functional definition of fitness is "being able to burn more calories, faster".
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For the same perceived effort level and duration.
For same workload/duration, the burns will be the same (assuming no weight change). That should be clear, since that is the definition of "work".
Well, the METs are based on some assumptions, aren't they. RMR might have been raised with a whatever % changed body composition (probably not tons, but hence my question) , and there's the point about efficiency.
If body composition has changed, then it's not an apples to apples comparison. Plus if anything the change should be a positive one, because of increased LBM, meaning increased, not decreased burns.
The only measurable "efficiency" is if the person starts out with really incorrect biomechanicals, in which case again it's not an apples to apples comparison.
Bottom line: a functional definition of fitness is "being able to burn more calories, faster".
Ok, the thing about efficiency makes sense (and I can see how that would maybe be more relevant wrt something like swimming or idk gymnastics).
It's not an apples to apples comparison, you're right. It's like an apples to apple pie comparison. But it's a real-world phenomenon. That's why I was asking
Bottom line: a functional definition of fitness is "being able to burn more calories, faster".
Makes sense, except I think the implicit assumption is what @999tigger said (that as you get fitter, you continue to increase the challenge in some way). Here it's constant. Anyway, if a difference exists, it can't be a huge, I guess. (and would depend tremendously on the body comp etc details of the apple pie in question)0
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