Exercise question - Elliptical/Treadmill

roxieindiana

I started my lifestyle change on Jan. 1st. I want to lose 75+ pounds and have not been used to active exercise for awhile due to a leg injury. I tried the elliptical and after a difficult 3 minutes my heart was jumping out of my chest.
So I switched to the treadmill for about 4 weeks, increasing my time and intensity. After just a few minutes I am way over my target heart rate and it stays above the whole time. I don't feel like I am overdoing it though. I usually go about 35 minutes. Today I tried the elliptical again and was able to go 15 minutes, with just a few short stops in between. Which was a big improvement from barely doing 3 minutes a month ago, having to stop in between. Of course my heart rate was above my target, I feel that I am getting a pretty good workout and not really overdoing it. On the elliptical I am going to work on increasing my time gradually to where I can work up to doing 30 minutes. When I do the treadmill, should I work on increasing time or intensity? And what is best, a 15 minute workout on the elliptical, or 30 minutes on the treadmill? Any help is appreciated.

rduhlir

One of my old coworkers used the treadmill when he first started working out. He would go for 30 minutes, put it at 3.0 and incline it. First he started at a lower incline, only 5%. With in a month he had it at 3.0 mph and max incline and was walking for 45 minutes.

He went gradually into it, but he lost a lot of weight doing that and eating right. You can try that. Inclines aren't only good at getting your heart rate up and moving but works your butt too.

As for your heart rate....it gets high because your body isn't used to working the way it is. Eventually it will go down. I am currently doing the C25K program. When I first started, my heart rate would get really high. But now my heart rate isn't really going out of my zone. It still gets on the high side, but it is getting better. Yours will too, you just have to keep at it.

Oh, one thing else....I usually judge my breath. If I can sing then I need to bump up the intensity. If I can talk to someone and able to finish a sentence but still breathing pretty hard then I know I am on target, and if I have to take a breath between every word then I know I am working too hard. Listen to your body, it will tell you if it can't handle it or if it can.

CristinaL1983

For me, I feel like I get a better workout on the treadmill when it is set to a pretty steep incline. I feel like the elliptical (even when resistance is set to max) doesn't actually work my muscles. I think that whatever you feel good doing that will get you to the gym is a good idea. When I do the elliptical machine I like to set the resistance high and go forward for several minutes and then backwards for several minutes. I think it does work different sets of muscles, gives me a little bit of a breather and breaks up the monotony. I tend to just do a brief warm up on either (maybe 20 minutes) and it is more difficult for me on the treadmill (old ankle injury that I've had a couple surgeries for) so I do the treadmill when my ankle is feeling pretty good and on days it is more sore, i just do the elliptical.

carolinalynn

First of all, congratulations on your improvement!
Now for your questions, it depends on what you're looking for. I'm not an expert, but from my personal experience, I'm happy to lend advice and hopefully it helps.
Are you aiming for muscular legs or slimmer, but toned legs? If you want more muscular legs, try upping the intensity on the treadmill (or elliptical, even). This should exhaust your muscles, which will force them to rebuild stronger and therefore become more muscular to support the strenuous activity. If your goal is to have leaner, toned legs then increase your time. However, long distance running can throw your body into a catabolic state, in which it will begin to use muscle as fuel when it runs out of carbs. If you don't want that, you can try to go halfway and just run at a slower pace, but a long distance, and therefore your body should use fat as it's main source of fuel after carbs. There are plenty of forums of information on this online if you wish to do your own digging.
As far as whether a 15 minute workout on the elliptical or a 30 minute workout on the tread is best, it depends on how many calories you want to burn. Most machines should tell you how many you are burning. If you find that you burn more in 15 minutes on an elliptical than you do in 30 minutes on the tread, or vice versa, then stick with that (if calories are what you are mainly concerned about).
Hope this helps! Best of luck to you.

lallaloopsy

Hi

Just a note...if you increase the incline on the treadmill you burn a lot more calories in the same time.
I know it sounds obvious but I was walking flat for a few months & then when i increased the incline to 12-15% I burned exactly double the calories per minute.
Also gives the the bottom muscles a great work out this way. Personally I prefer the treadmill.
Exercise should be fun though so just do what you enjoy most.
Good luck

jkestens63

This is what my trainer recommended:

Day1: steady (challenging pace) on chosen cardio machine for at leat 30 min

Day 2: roate to different machines every 15 minutes (30 to 60 minutes); ie treadmill, then elliptcal, then stair climber, then ARC)

Day 3: Interval training for 30 minutes. One minute a normal, slightly challenging pace; one minute up your speed by 20-25 strides per minute. Do this on the elliptcal, ARC, or crossramp -- not the treadmill.

Rotate through the three days.

Warm up for 10 min, cool down 2-5 min

If you shoose to pedal in reverse on any machine do so with out incline or resistance.. the wear & tear on your knees is not good.

If you do strength training/toning routine, do a 10 min warmup on a cardio machine, then do your routine, then your cardio.


I have been following this plan for a month and my intensity/stamina/strength have increased noticably. The intervals are particularly challenging.

jadedone

Try intervals now that you are getting your endurance up. It is a great way to make any workout more effective. Go 2 minutes at your normal pace, then go super fast for 30 seconds. Repeat this for 20-30 minutes. Over time you can shorten the rest periods.

CandaceHoweth91

It's really about how you feel not necessarily your heart rate. It will be high if you are not used to exercising.

Azdak

This is what my trainer recommended:

Day1: steady (challenging pace) on chosen cardio machine for at leat 30 min

Day 2: roate to different machines every 15 minutes (30 to 60 minutes); ie treadmill, then elliptcal, then stair climber, then ARC)

Day 3: Interval training for 30 minutes. One minute a normal, slightly challenging pace; one minute up your speed by 20-25 strides per minute. Do this on the elliptcal, ARC, or crossramp -- not the treadmill.

Rotate through the three days.

Warm up for 10 min, cool down 2-5 min

If you shoose to pedal in reverse on any machine do so with out incline or resistance.. the wear & tear on your knees is not good.

If you do strength training/toning routine, do a 10 min warmup on a cardio machine, then do your routine, then your cardio.


I have been following this plan for a month and my intensity/stamina/strength have increased noticably. The intervals are particularly challenging.

That's a pretty good, balanced cardio routine and refreshingly intelligent considering what most trainers are saying these days.