Bodyweight circuits vs machine cardio

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tomatoey
tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Which gives you (personally) a better workout?

I've been on the machines because a few joint issues have made it challenging to plan a circuit that's both safe and effective. I do individual exercises for resistance, but not with heart-rate elevating moves in between or at any speed, because I'm trying really hard to focus on form.

I miss the circuits, though. I think they make greater demands in terms of coordination, balance, proprioception - there's just more varied use of the body. And I suspect those workouts burn more calories than anything but all-out intervals on eg a stationary bike.

Do we adapt more quickly to repetitive endurance activities like stationary cycling / elliptical etc than we do to those bodyweight routines?

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  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    There are too many variables to answer that, like the resistance on the bike, and which bodyweight exercises you do. We adapt quicker to things that aren't challenging.

    By the way, if you value coordination & functional performance, i'd include plenty of freeweight exercises. Outside the gym, our skills are taxed by external resistance, not just our bodyweight.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    Cherimoose wrote: »
    There are too many variables to answer that, like the resistance on the bike, and which bodyweight exercises you do. We adapt quicker to things that aren't challenging.

    By the way, if you value coordination & functional performance, i'd include plenty of freeweight exercises. Outside the gym, our skills are taxed by external resistance, not just our bodyweight.

    Ah, there are more complications than I talked about. I'd love to do freeweights, and have in the past, but tendinopathy in multiple joints, plus arthritis and hypermobility, very much limit how much I can actually do (including things like pushups. Yoga's out, even.). I can use resistance bands and weight machines for selected exercises, that's about it.

    (I do try to increase resistance on the bike and do intervals whenever possible, but it's often a one-step-forward, two-steps-back thing, as one or another joint gets in the way.)
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited June 2015
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    But just in general, assuming someone doing bodyweight circuits is always striving for progression in some way, and someone else is also striving for progression with something like cycling or running, the bodyweight stuff would be more challenging, no? Because of the additional demands of coordination and variations in movement, I'm thinking.
  • wabmester
    wabmester Posts: 2,748 Member
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    I do both, but I can get a better HIIT workout on machines. I crank the resistance up HIGH on the bike and the eliptical. I prefer bodyweight exercises at home, machines and free weights at the gym, running and hiking outdoors.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    wabmester wrote: »
    I do both, but I can get a better HIIT workout on machines. I crank the resistance up HIGH on the bike and the eliptical. I prefer bodyweight exercises at home, machines and free weights at the gym, running and hiking outdoors.

    Interesting. Probably safer than wrecking your body with endless plyo...

    Sounds like a great balance of activity to me :)
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    You are not going to be able to get equal cardio and strength gains from the same movement, if that's what you are asking. The greater the "strength" effect of an exercise, the lower the "cardio" effect, and vice versa. Depending on ones goals and ability, it may be possible that some "tweener" body weight exercises will be sufficient, but they will not be the the equivalent of dedicated strength or cardio workouts. (Again, that's not a criticism).
  • DesertGunR
    DesertGunR Posts: 187 Member
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    tomatoey wrote: »
    Which gives you (personally) a better workout?

    I've been on the machines because a few joint issues have made it challenging to plan a circuit that's both safe and effective. I do individual exercises for resistance, but not with heart-rate elevating moves in between or at any speed, because I'm trying really hard to focus on form.

    I miss the circuits, though. I think they make greater demands in terms of coordination, balance, proprioception - there's just more varied use of the body. And I suspect those workouts burn more calories than anything but all-out intervals on eg a stationary bike.

    Do we adapt more quickly to repetitive endurance activities like stationary cycling / elliptical etc than we do to those bodyweight routines?

    That is your main concern at the moment. Not knowing and not asking what those limitations are since they do not need to be public information. Talk with your Physical Therapist to develop a program that can strengthen the main muscle groups and more likely the stabilizers that are weak. Once you have those areas taken care of then you can look to returning to a full free weight circuit program. I understand having limitations put upon you and not wanting them, for me it is a daily struggle.

    As for cardio, just my experience I find that I can make quicker gains while doing my biking. It is sometimes hard to tell since I have a ton of hill to climb. I set segments up on certain areas of my routes and can compare them overtime. Some of my hills feel like I am climbing straight up, other last for more than a mile. I wish I had more than a hundred yards of flat some where here on most days.

    Good Luck

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