Speed or Resistance for weight loss?

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repertoire
repertoire Posts: 53 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi there! I have A LOT to lose, over 100 lbs. I'm working with a trainer twice a week doing pretty heavy weights and loving it. The question I have revolves around cardio (which I do on my own 3 or so times a week). She has me working on a Cybex elliptical for 40 minutes at a very tough resistance interval setting. One minute on and off. It's so hard to push that my RPM's are quite low...but I sweat a ton and struggle to finish! Even the low part of the interval is tougher than I'm used to.

My friend told me I should do less resistance and try to pick up the speed more to lose weight.

Historically, that is how I always did it, but I'm trying to listen to my trainer too!

What are your thoughts/experiences on doing cardio? Are high RPMs and lower resistance better? or are Lower RPMs and higher resistance more effective?

Thanks for your replies in advance!

Replies

  • repertoire
    repertoire Posts: 53 Member
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    Bump!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    Listen to your trainer. Always push yourself to do your very best, to become the strongest you possible. People have all kinds of wrong ideas. You know in your heart which is better - Hard Work!!

    As far as weight loss, still, Hard Work!
  • repertoire
    repertoire Posts: 53 Member
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    Thanks for your response! I don't mind hard work at all...and am doing the hard setting. I just move pretty slow on it and wanted to make sure my slow speed wasn't hindering me! lol
  • Aperture_Science
    Aperture_Science Posts: 840 Member
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    You trainer is making you do interval training. This is a great weight loss technique. IMHO better than a lower resistance but higher speed for the same amount of time.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    You'll get faster! Keep it up, you'll be surprised how quickly your amazing body will rise to the challenge. But, it's about heavy weight resistance, not the high-rep-Barbie-weight. High rep/low weight will really do very little for you.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    I haven't used an elliptical myself but in the bike portion of my tri training we do "slow big gear" drills on the bikes to build strength / force and cadence drills to build speed so I'm going to hazard a guess that your trainer has you doing cardio that very closely compliments your strength training. Personally I'd probably mix them up, perhaps it's worth having a chat with your trainer so that you're clearer on what the objectives are.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Personally, I agree with your trainer.
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
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    Whichever burns the most calories in the time you feel like spending on it.

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