a lil confused about gym machines

Options
nerchk
nerchk Posts: 136 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello everyone. I have been using home workout dvds for a while now. Decided to join gym and today was my 1st day. My trainer advised me to do cardio for 45minutes and then alternate days with upper and lower body workouts. I don't have issues with that, but after sweating And huffing and puffing. I log in my workouts and I get 67 calories burnt. For 15min after all that work. Will I really lose weight burning such a small amout of calories on cardio ,machines? Shouldn't I b spending more time in circuit training since it burns more calories.

Replies

  • msteresao
    msteresao Posts: 114 Member
    Options
    bump
  • johloz
    johloz Posts: 176 Member
    Options
    I thought your trainer said 45 mins cardio? But then you said you did only 15 mins?

    The key to losing weight is eating fewer calories than you burn, regardless of how much you burn.
  • nerchk
    nerchk Posts: 136 Member
    Options
    no sorry 15 minutes per machine. So when I record them on mfp I put the different machines individually hence the 15 minutes.
  • Scoochie1
    Scoochie1 Posts: 121 Member
    Options
    I know the machines in my gym ask me for basic info (age for the HR and weight) and to be honest a 15 minute brisk walk would come in about 67 cals. So I'm guessing that is per machine? 200 cals in total for your 45mins?
    Doen't sound like a lot but I find MFP far more generous for the exercises than reality is...
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
    Options
    Hello everyone. I have been using home workout dvds for a while now. Decided to join gym and today was my 1st day. My trainer advised me to do cardio for 45minutes and then alternate days with upper and lower body workouts. I don't have issues with that, but after sweating And huffing and puffing. I log in my workouts and I get 67 calories burnt. For 15min after all that work. Will I really lose weight burning such a small amout of calories on cardio ,machines? Shouldn't I b spending more time in circuit training since it burns more calories.

    the calorie burns in the MFP database tend to be wonky. Is there an option on the cardio equipment to put in your weight, etc? The treadmill I use asks for weight, then gives you a burn based on HR. I wear a HRM chest strap so the machine gets a constant read of my heart rate and can be a little more accurate.

    Also, it may seem like you are working harder than the machine gives you credit for, but over time it WILL get easier. When I started with cardio 11 months ago, I was dripping with sweat, gasping and stumbling after 30 minutes at 2.5 mph. Now I can do the stairmaster for 5 minutes, then do 15-20 minutes on the treadmill ( at 3.0-3.2 mph) and not break a sweat until I start lifting weights.
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    Options
    Your not going to burn a lot of calories doing the weight training machines but you are going to build muscle which in turn will burn more calories at rest. For 45 minutes of cardio though, if you get your heart rate up there you should be burning between 300-400 (depending on your height, weight, and effort). Like was mentioned before, the cardio machines (treadmill, stairmaster, etc) with the option to enter your weight and such will give a pretty close to accurate burn record.
  • myjoy2012
    myjoy2012 Posts: 25 Member
    Options
    Hi there

    Depending on your budget, you could consider getting a Heart Rate Monitor. I find that the MFP calories burnt are not accurate, so I ended up buying one and I have not regretted my decision. If you can not afford one, then like previous posters advised, enter your age and height on the cardio machines and it should give you a fairly accurate amount of calories burnt.
  • notthatthis
    notthatthis Posts: 218
    Options
    To be frank, I was amazed that the difference between male and female calorie burn on cardio machines is so great and when you check it against all the various HR Calories burned calculators, VO2 MAX calorie burn calculators there is a huge difference, I can burn 500 calories more per hour than a similar sized female. Having said that 67 calories is low for 15 minutes, I burn 300 calories on an elliptical trainer Life Fitness level 15 cascades in 15 minutes.

    In answer to what was really your question, circuits (low intensity no rest or high intensity rest intervals) with some level of weight and with elevated heart rate will burn more calories in 45 minutes than steady state cardio. Most trainers know this but on a first visit they are unlikely to want to confuse the hell out of you or will assume you only want to use the cardio machines.

    nowloss.com has good videos for beginners to follow and almost all are HIIT circuits.

Categories