What Was Your Work Out Today?

AnnPT77

(!)

drmwc wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Out of the rowing machine, elliptical, stairmachine and stationary bike, which do you think is the best for burning the calories, based on say 75% effort? Thanks

I'm going to throw a curve ball here. I'd never tell someone to pick an exercise based on its calorie burn. I think what we want is the exercise we personally enjoy the most, or at least tolerate doing the best and find practical to do. (For some people, that calculation will include whether they can do the activity while combining it with something distracting like watching TV/videos, listening to podcasts, reading books, or whatever.)

I think what we're really trying to achieve is lifelong fitness, including healthy weight. In that context, exercise we'll actually do because we enjoy it is 100% more beneficial than a theoretically perfect exercise that feels miserable when we do it, so we procrastinate, skip it, or drop it entirely at the slightest excuse. Weight loss isn't a project with an end date, after which we "go back to normal". It's an experimental process looking for a "new normal" set of healthier habits we can live with long term, in my opinion, habits that can continue almost on autopilot when other parts of life get challenging.

Therefore, I'd strongly encourage you to try different exercises, and do ones that you enjoy more, and want to get better at. I love rowing so much I'd do it even if it weren't good for me, but it is. That's been a great thing, for me. (Truth in advertising: I love rowing the shells on water in season; I do the rowing machine in Winter less enthusiastically but do it anyway to stay in shape so I'll be ready to row boats come Spring. )

I'd strongly agree with this. If (say) the stair machine burns 50 calories more than the elliptical, it is kind of irrelevant if you hate it. You want something you'll still do in 1, 5 or 10 years' time. Also, if one believes Ponzer's model of constrained calories, (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4803033/) those 50 extra calories have minimal impact on weight loss. (I'm not sure I fully subscribe to Ponzer's ideas.)

Anyway, yesterday was a rest day, so I walked 6 miles, swam a kilometre and had a long sauna.

@drmwc, I feel like Ponzer's model (and other research with similar conclusions) have quite a lot of power at the population generalities level, so may be useful for that reason for people driving policy . . . but aren't quite as obviously accurate/useful at the individual n=1 level. The magnitude of variability within the population (standard deviation and more complex measures of that variability) matter more when considering individuals.

I'd bet you in particular have quite high calorie needs, given things like your "rest day" of walking 6 miles and swimming a kilometre, and the above-average high activity on your active days. Elite endurance athletes have remarkably high calorie needs, too, because of their training schedules. Not everyone wants to or can structure their days in those ways, of course, so folks like that are likely outliers in the population data that supports models like Ponzer's.

It's up to us as individuals to determine whether we're in the mainstream stats about constrained energy, or an outlier in that sense, perhaps. 😉

four_bumblebees

I've been off lifting for ages due to medical issues but I was able to start again this week! I'm on an upper/lower split. Today I did deadlifts, zercher squats, 16" step ups, side squats, and calf raises.