My fellow gym fatties

myfitnessnmhoy

Don't waste time trying to stay in some lower zone so you'll burn fat. Burn the calories and eat correctly and you will lose weight.

I agree with this, with one caveat. If you have plenty of time and low stamina, you'll be able to sustain longer workouts at lower heart rates, and burn more calories overall. But that means you have to have your own equipment or a pretty quiet gym, and you have to have lots of extra time on your hands.

Personally, when I hit the cardio machines, I hit them HARD, and leave no calories standing. I focus on using them to get my heart rate up to 80-85% with occasional intervals near 100%, and spend 5 minutes cleaning the sweat off the machine so the next person who uses it doesn't have to feel like they ended up in the pool by mistake. But I have an hour including shower time to work out daily, so I make the 45 minutes of actual machine time COUNT.

But I've also known someone who bought a treadmill, put it in front of the TV, and walked at 3MPH for 4 hours a day while watching the tube. Not my preferred form of exercise, but it's a 12-mile walk. She eventually ended up "trying out" slightly faster speeds and I believe she is up to 10K races now.

Me? I bought a treadmill and it ended up as a clothing rack within 3 months. I'm not the treadmill type.

my2kin04

I do 10 minutes on each one, which equals to 40 minutes of cardio. Then I lift weights for 10-15 minutes. It seems to be working pretty good.

TheFunBun

Warm up, lift weights, spend 30-60 minutes doing cardio (elliptical, lunger, or recumbent bike since I can't handle the other bikes in my big booty). Stretch for at least 20 minutes and done.

If your objective is strength gains, always lift before cardio!

cjjones007

How long do you workout on the machines at your gym, and which machines? Trying to get an idea for how much I should be pushing for.

My gym offers 4 types of machines, treadmill, bike, elliptical trainer and rower. I see some people doing like 40 minutes on the treadmill, but I'd get hella bored doing that. I can easily do an 120 minute walk outside, but the treadmill bores me to tears after 20 minutes.

At the moment I'm doing like:
5 mins on bike to warmup,
15 mins on elliptical trainer,
15-20 minutes on treadmill,
5-10 minutes on rower.

Not necessarily in that order, and sometimes it's 5 mins on the treadmill and 15 on the bike, but you get the idea.

Wondering if I'm doing it right. My brain tells me doing 40 minutes is doing 40 minutes, regardless of if you do it all on one machine or not, but surely spreading it out over different machines helps work out different areas?

I aim this topic at my fellow fatties because I'm sure some actually fit people manage an hour on each machine and I'm pretty sure my knees would explode if I tried that .

If you are really giving it a good push and doing some nice intensity - I'd say you've got a great HIIT setup there...
I started at over 430 pounds, currently at around 315-325 (steroids from a torn tendon really mess with you lol) - and I originally started doing kind of what you are only between a treadmill and an elliptical...

I now do the elliptical because I can get a better workout of my thighs and calves there...
I also through in squats, lunges, and other core workouts to build strength in the other large muscle areas to keep burning more calories all day...
But YES what you are doing will pay off especially if you are doing a lot of high intensity while on there - also - remember high intensity is about heart rate and not speed - I usually go for 4MPH on the elliptical, but raise the resistance/incline so that this is a hard push for me... too fast and you aren't keeping good form...

The fat burning zone is somewhat of a myth. It's really about burning calories vs. trying to stay in the "fat burning zone". You will burn more calories from fat in the low intensity zones, but you burn more calories total doing high intensity cardio. For example, let's say you stay in the fat burning zone for your whole workout. You may burn 12 or0 calories of fat, but burn a total of 300 calories. Whereas if you stay in a high intensity cardio set, you may burn 100 calories of fat, but burn 600 calories total. You can workout for less time in high intensity activities and burn more calories which will allow you to lose weight. You lose weight by having a deficit, not by staying in some "fat burning zone". This is a "fatty" who does nothing but high intensity cardio and I am losing weight in all the right areas. Don't waste time trying to stay in some lower zone so you'll burn fat. Burn the calories and eat correctly and you will lose weight.

As far as your routine, do what works for you. I try to stick to one cardio activity per session at the gym whether that's running, biking, rowing, swimming, etc. I typically spend 60 minutes on cardio and an additional 30 minutes on weights.

He's dead on there - The actual math is something like you burn 50% at the 60%-65% or fat burning range, and only 39% at the 80%+ range - HOWEVER; you actually burn 2.7-3 fat calories per minute at the 80% HR range and only 2.1-2.4 fat calories per minute at the lower heart rate range...

The other advantage to high intensity is the increased cardio gains - I found myself breathing easier and it harder to get my heart rate up after doing HIIT or high intensity workouts from when I originally shot for 60%-65% - my doctor concurred with me...

But by all means - please remember that while we are posting this in our best effort to help - we are not doctors and your doctor is ALWAYS a necessary part of your weight loss!!!

docktorfokse

Warm up, lift weights, spend 30-60 minutes doing cardio (elliptical, lunger, or recumbent bike since I can't handle the other bikes in my big booty). Stretch for at least 20 minutes and done.

If your objective is strength gains, always lift before cardio!

Always lift before cardio, period!

But in all seriousness, your muscles need glycogen to work at their best. Lift first and use up some of your stored glycogen, then when you get to your cardio, your body will have less glycogen to use and will have to take more energy from fat.

HauteP1nk

I don't go to a gym, but when I am at home I ride my bike for 15-30mins at a time.

KCoolBeanz

I either do the ARC trainer or the upright bike, and I go for about 40-45 minutes plus a cool down. I regularly increase the difficulty or change it up a bit so it doesn't become so habitual. After that is about 20-30 min of weights.

HURLEYX3RO

I get on the treadmill.

5 min brisk walk.

After that I set the incline up as high as it goes and walk at about 2.0-3.0 speed setting.

Making sure my heartrate stays up, it has to be up for at least 20 mins for it to be considered as "cardio"

and then I will get on the Arc trainer 5 incline, 60 / 100 resistance, and keep a steady 75-85 steps per minute stride.

try not to change machines too often.

saragato

The gym I go to only allows 30 minutes on cardio machines unless it's stated on the machine that it can go for 60 minutes.

I usually take between 20 and 30 minutes doing strength training and weights, then usually 30 minutes on the ergometer and 30 minutes on the treadmill or stationary bike. I can't do the elliptical because it hurts my knees. And yeah I agree with you that being too long on the treadmill gets boring but I like it because outside the gym I'm an artist and if I'm stuck on how to plan out a drawing or what to use as symbolism (I love visual symbolism, makes the viewer have to look longer to unravel a story) that gives me the time to work it out. I had been stuck on one concept for almost a month and after 30 minutes on the ergometer I had planned it all out and went home and got to work.

That aside, if you're taking a slower pace or a leisurely one, take longer. If you're doing intense stuff, do it in short intervals. Like say if you decide to run on the treadmill or lift very heavy weights, don't try to take 20 minutes or do 5 reps of 20. Shock your body but don't kill it.