cardio

tyismc
tyismc Posts: 75 Member
edited December 20 in Fitness and Exercise
My and my family members have an on going debate. Is a recumbent bike, as long as the resistance levels are within a cardio level, an adequate form of good cardio for weight loss? I have severe scoliosis and it is hard for me to walk for long periods of time so I change it up. Ill do 10 to 15 minutes on the treadmill, I may do 15 minutes on the recumbent bike, and then I may do 10 to 15 min on the stepper machine. I always will do 30-45 minutes of an accumulation of all machines. I just want to make sure my cardio is where it should be.

Replies

  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    edited April 2019
    Of course it is.

    But you are better served watching your food intake if your goal is weight loss.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Calorie deficit for weight loss
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Cardiovascular exercise may or may not help with weight loss...weight loss comes down to having a calorie deficit. There are a lot of people like myself who do a lot of cardio and maintain weight because we're eating maintenance calories. If exercise defaulted to weight loss, fitness junkies and people who otherwise exercise regularly would just wither away and die.

    A stationary bike is a fine form of cardiovascular exercise. Anything that gets your heart rate up is cardiovascular exercise.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I have to have the resistance cranked to get a good burn out of the recumbent bike, but it is what it is. You're growing your "calories out" number with any exercise you do.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited April 2019
    tyismc wrote: »
    , as long as the resistance levels are within a cardio level,

    The effort you put in is down to both resistance AND cadence not just one or the other.

    Yes a recumbent can be effective cardio but I also see people barely putting any effort into it far too frequently but on the other hand I've also seen people doing Century rides on recumbents.
    With exercise you only get out what you put in.

    Personally I'm not a fan of hopping from one cardio machine to another, seems a bit of a waste of valuable time. A different option would be alternating by workout rather than within the same workout. But if that's what you enjoy then go for it.

    Fitness and health would be better goals than "weight loss" IMHO as they continue long past the period of weight loss. It's the lesson that MyFitnessPal tries to teach by getting people to eat back their exercise calories rather than use them to boost weight loss.

  • pierinifitness
    pierinifitness Posts: 2,226 Member
    tyismc wrote: »
    My and my family members have an on going debate. Is a recumbent bike, as long as the resistance levels are within a cardio level, an adequate form of good cardio for weight loss? I have severe scoliosis and it is hard for me to walk for long periods of time so I change it up. Ill do 10 to 15 minutes on the treadmill, I may do 15 minutes on the recumbent bike, and then I may do 10 to 15 min on the stepper machine. I always will do 30-45 minutes of an accumulation of all machines. I just want to make sure my cardio is where it should be.

    Yes, without a doubt.
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