what type of cardio if i already have really muscular legs?
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tukrainets
Posts: 119
i have an issue with my calves... they are already VERY muscular and bulky. when i do the treadmill i notice an increase in my calves right away and if i do elliptical i feel likei 'm not getting a workout whatsoever. my trainer told me to stay away from the bike as cardio because it doesnt do much.. what else can i do in terms of cardio that wont increase my calf size? (even my brother told me i have man calves :-(
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Replies
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Rowing machines would work your arms more, and using the elliptical with the moveable arms will work both your upper and lower body. Dance classes or Zumba might be more of an allover workout, and swimming, too.0
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You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
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I also have huge calves... Have you ever measured yours? Mine are 17 inches and I hate them. They are my most unfavorite part of my body! I think I read somewhere that stretching can lengthen the calf muscle and at least make it look less bulky by stretching it out. I don't know if that is true or not. I run, and I don't want anymore muscle in my calves, but I love running too much to give it up.0
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I'm so with you in the huge calf dept, and am curious to hear what people say. One thing I've heard (but not tried) is doing yoga to lengthen them?0
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I'd say your trainer is up in the night if he says a bike won't do much for your cardio. Has he met any cyclists? They're usually skinny guys that eat a LOT. Now, if you're just sitting there lightly spinning the pedals as you thumb through "Womens Day" magazine, you're right, it won't do much. But the bike, like the treadmill and the eliptical and virtually everything else, will give back what you put into it. Go for it!0
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You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.0 -
I have very muscular calves as well.. and I found that when I started running, I lost 2 inches on them.0
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I have big calves as well, and I do the elliptical with the arm things. I set the crossramp so that all of the other leg muscle groups are working, just not the calves, and I pull the arm things the whole time. I like the crossramp set at 9 or 10, same with the resistance. The higher the resistance, the more of a workout I can feel, and it really ups the heartrate!0
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they are shear muscle..defined and very bulky... i love running and thats maybe why they're like that.... i LOVE rollerblading and biking as well and as soon as it gets warm here i should give it a shot
- what about hot yoga? will that do anything?0 -
Rowing machines would work your arms more, and using the elliptical with the moveable arms will work both your upper and lower body. Dance classes or Zumba might be more of an allover workout, and swimming, too.
actually...from a former rower...the erg works the lower body more than the upper
I am with you on the calves...I actually do spinning classes and it is a great workout (better than elliptical for sure!) - I use HRM with chest strap so I can safely say that but yes the regular big stationary bikes don't do much.
Try the stairmaster as well. I do interval training on it0 -
I have very muscular calves as well.. and I found that when I started running, I lost 2 inches on them.
wow! thats great!! i need to measure them.. my upper thighs shrink with running but my calves seem to expand... :-/ 0 -
You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?0 -
Okay-if you do not get a workout on elliptical then you must not be doing it right. I am a very athletic person and train with a hard core trainer. I have been training with him for a few months-so my body takes a lot longer to warm up if I do cardio, because I am use to so much more. However, I got on the elliptical last night and still managed to work up a sweat. So what resistance are you using-you can up that. Plus every elliptical I have used has different programs on them. I use the cross training mode. It goes through every part of your body with pushing, pulling, only legs, backwards.
That being said, calves will get more muscular, however with endurance they usually won't increase in size. Most body builders don't do much cardio-maybe 10 mins, because endurance cardio (elliptical, running) will take away from muscle. You actually store more fat with endurance, for energy store.
I work with a personal trainer, but I am a trainer myself. I have taken classes on this-so I promise I know what I am talking about. I have huge calves. I did swim, but honestly it is a genetic thing.0 -
First of all, fire your trainer. If they aren't getting anything out of a bike, then they aren't using it right. No matter what piece of equipment you use, you get out of it what you put into it. If you just peddle lightly, then you won't feel much from a bike, but if it sit up on it and push yourself, it can be a much more intense workout. The same can be said for the treadmill or elliptical or any other piece of equipment. If your trainer doesn't know how to increase or decrease the intensity on any of them, they aren't a well educated trainer.
Second, you can do anything you like for cardio. If you like the treadmill, use it. If you are finding that you are building bulk in your calves from it, lower the incline. You can increase your speed to increase the intensity without increasing the resistance. If you want to try the other machines, again, I'd recommend increasing the speed before increasing the resistance because it will increase the intensity without focusing on the "bulky" muscle fibers.0 -
Also-as baldzach said-your trainer needs to get out some if he is discouraging you from bike. Spin classes are some AMAZING cardio. Most trainers steer their clients toward that. It is a great cardio kick and a super cal burner for an hour. I introduced one of my fellow trainers to it so he could let his clients know about it. Some have just never tried it. Also cycling outside is amazing also. Again as zach said-if you are sitting there flipping through a magazine then your trainer is right, but if you do it right-it is amazing!0
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SPINNNNNN!!!!! its low impact and its insanely good cardio!!! i avoid the elliptical becasue i feel like if ihave any resistance at all my leg muslces are going to start looking like they're from the hulk but i go to spin usually twice a week and don't see any increase in my calves. If you have a good instructor the class will be a lot of fun and be an insane cardio workout. a decent spin class will easily burn 1000 calories in just an hour and not leave your muscles feeling all sore and torn up the next day.
Also with spin (at least where i go) you control your resistance so if you dont feel like you're working hard enough you have the control to either pedal faster or increase the resistance on the bike so you are able to control your work out.
I'm not a road bike person and spin did not sound like much fun to me but i was pleasantly surprised, so give it a try! just be prepared to sweat!0 -
Rowing machines would work your arms more
Sorry, as a former college rower, this isn't true....The real drive in each stroke is primarily with your legs and you "finish" with your back and arms. If you are primarily using your arms to row, you're doing it wrong and you'll end up injured. Okay...stepping off my soapbox now...0 -
Okay-if you do not get a workout on elliptical then you must not be doing it right. I am a very athletic person and train with a hard core trainer. I have been training with him for a few months-so my body takes a lot longer to warm up if I do cardio, because I am use to so much more. However, I got on the elliptical last night and still managed to work up a sweat. So what resistance are you using-you can up that. Plus every elliptical I have used has different programs on them. I use the cross training mode. It goes through every part of your body with pushing, pulling, only legs, backwards.
That being said, calves will get more muscular, however with endurance they usually won't increase in size. Most body builders don't do much cardio-maybe 10 mins, because endurance cardio (elliptical, running) will take away from muscle. You actually store more fat with endurance, for energy store.
I work with a personal trainer, but I am a trainer myself. I have taken classes on this-so I promise I know what I am talking about. I have huge calves. I did swim, but honestly it is a genetic thing.
what i meant by not getting a workout is that i notice weight loss being MUCH slower on the elliptical than the treadmill. i work up a sweat on the elliptical but feel more sore from speed walking on the treadmill..0 -
You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?
So on my HRM setting that's zone 3 = which is athletic conditioning and the highest intensity. I think the highest HR i hit was 180 while sprinting
If your HR easily gets into that range, it may actually signal you're not "athletically" conditioned yet, which is strange if you run as much as you do? Are you using an HRM?
So on the elliptical, it's harder for me to do HIIT, b/c it's harder to raise my HR high( it takes a long time), whereas with running/stairmaster/spinning, it's easier to do HIIT. With elliptical, I'm mostly in zone 2 - 145-150HR and resistance is usually 13-15 out of 250 -
Rowing machines would work your arms more
Sorry, as a former college rower, this isn't true....The real drive in each stroke is primarily with your legs and you "finish" with your back and arms. If you are primarily using your arms to row, you're doing it wrong and you'll end up injured. Okay...stepping off my soapbox now...
yes yes yes thank you very much - same thing former college rower
people need to 1. learn proper form on the erg and 2. stop thinking it's an upper body workout0 -
I think we need pictures of all these muscular calves to make educated recommendations. How bout it, ladies? 0
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You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?
So on my HRM setting that's zone 3 = which is athletic conditioning and the highest intensity. I think the highest HR i hit was 180 while sprinting
If your HR easily gets into that range, it may actually signal you're not "athletically" conditioned yet, which is strange if you run as much as you do? Are you using an HRM?
So on the elliptical, it's harder for me to do HIIT, b/c it's harder to raise my HR high( it takes a long time), whereas with running/stairmaster/spinning, it's easier to do HIIT. With elliptical, I'm mostly in zone 2 - 145-150HR and resistance is usually 13-15 out of 25
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...0 -
I'd say your trainer is up in the night if he says a bike won't do much for your cardio. Has he met any cyclists? They're usually skinny guys that eat a LOT. Now, if you're just sitting there lightly spinning the pedals as you thumb through "Womens Day" magazine, you're right, it won't do much. But the bike, like the treadmill and the eliptical and virtually everything else, will give back what you put into it. Go for it!
What baldzach said. My trainers have always applauded my cycling, be it stationary or "real," and I lost over a hundred pounds doing so. And since I don't use my calves for pedaling, they're still flabby. There are some genetics at play here for sure. FWIW, I burn far more calories on a bike in an hour than I do jogging or on an elliptical. Give it a go. I doubt that your calves will get bigger.0 -
Rowing machines would work your arms more
Sorry, as a former college rower, this isn't true....The real drive in each stroke is primarily with your legs and you "finish" with your back and arms. If you are primarily using your arms to row, you're doing it wrong and you'll end up injured. Okay...stepping off my soapbox now...
yes yes yes thank you very much - same thing former college rower
people need to 1. learn proper form on the erg and 2. stop thinking it's an upper body workout
Sorry - I was just going by what I see when the men's rowing team on my campus works out on the rowing machines. Though I admit I might have been distracted by the arms...0 -
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...
Do you consume caffeine within 12 hours of your workout? What about allergy or asthma medications? Those will all increase heart rate artificially and throw off HRM's and any of the "fat burning zone charts" for estimating how hard you are working. Blood pressure medications will throw them off too, in the opposite way. Some other meds will effect HR too. So, just relax and don't worry so much about the zones if you are on anything, drink soda (even diet), or eat chocolate, or ...........
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You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?
So on my HRM setting that's zone 3 = which is athletic conditioning and the highest intensity. I think the highest HR i hit was 180 while sprinting
If your HR easily gets into that range, it may actually signal you're not "athletically" conditioned yet, which is strange if you run as much as you do? Are you using an HRM?
So on the elliptical, it's harder for me to do HIIT, b/c it's harder to raise my HR high( it takes a long time), whereas with running/stairmaster/spinning, it's easier to do HIIT. With elliptical, I'm mostly in zone 2 - 145-150HR and resistance is usually 13-15 out of 25
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...
fat burning zone ? That's very antiquated advice. Doing interval training (making your HR go high and then slow down to let it dip/recover) - "doing intervals" burns the most calories. Along with strength trainin. Fat burning zone is Zone 1 - lower HR rate so you will burn the least...never worked for me0 -
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...
Do you consume caffeine within 12 hours of your workout? What about allergy or asthma medications? Those will all increase heart rate artificially and throw off HRM's and any of the "fat burning zone charts" for estimating how hard you are working. Blood pressure medications will throw them off too, in the opposite way. Some other meds will effect HR too. So, just relax and don't worry so much about the zones if you are on anything, drink soda (even diet), or eat chocolate, or ...........
none of that my trainer said IF i do go on the treadmill for cardio to keep my heart rate at 135 thats VERY low.. i can barely get it that low if i'm even pushing a little! 0 -
You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?
So on my HRM setting that's zone 3 = which is athletic conditioning and the highest intensity. I think the highest HR i hit was 180 while sprinting
If your HR easily gets into that range, it may actually signal you're not "athletically" conditioned yet, which is strange if you run as much as you do? Are you using an HRM?
So on the elliptical, it's harder for me to do HIIT, b/c it's harder to raise my HR high( it takes a long time), whereas with running/stairmaster/spinning, it's easier to do HIIT. With elliptical, I'm mostly in zone 2 - 145-150HR and resistance is usually 13-15 out of 25
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...
fat burning zone ? That's very antiquated advice. Doing interval training (making your HR go high and then slow down to let it dip/recover) - "doing intervals" burns the most calories. Along with strength trainin. Fat burning zone is Zone 1 - lower HR rate so you will burn the least...never worked for me
so you recommend just ignoring the chart and doing intervalls? and another strange question, how much time do i need to let my heart rate go down? if i get it up to 180 on the elliptical it would take me a good 10 mintues to have my HR drop down to 165..0 -
You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?
So on my HRM setting that's zone 3 = which is athletic conditioning and the highest intensity. I think the highest HR i hit was 180 while sprinting
If your HR easily gets into that range, it may actually signal you're not "athletically" conditioned yet, which is strange if you run as much as you do? Are you using an HRM?
So on the elliptical, it's harder for me to do HIIT, b/c it's harder to raise my HR high( it takes a long time), whereas with running/stairmaster/spinning, it's easier to do HIIT. With elliptical, I'm mostly in zone 2 - 145-150HR and resistance is usually 13-15 out of 25
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...
fat burning zone ? That's very antiquated advice. Doing interval training (making your HR go high and then slow down to let it dip/recover) - "doing intervals" burns the most calories. Along with strength trainin. Fat burning zone is Zone 1 - lower HR rate so you will burn the least...never worked for me
so you recommend just ignoring the chart and doing intervalls? and another strange question, how much time do i need to let my heart rate go down? if i get it up to 180 on the elliptical it would take me a good 10 mintues to have my HR drop down to 165..
Hmm this sounds like a machine HR tracking issue...when i look at my HRM and i'm spinning, it takes me 1-2 minutes AT MOST to drop from 165 to 145 but if it's as high as 175, it takes 10-20 seconds of slowing down to drop to 150's
I usually do my intervals to music so I don't have a set period of time but if I see it get up high, i hold it for a part of the song and hten slow down to let it drop.
Witht that said, it takes a bit longer for me to drop/raise HR onthe elliptical even with high resistance. maybe that's just me. The best thing for me is spinning (position 2 and 3) or on treadmill (running on 7.5-8.5 vs walking at 3.3mph)0 -
You should be proud of your body, regardless of what it looks like! If you have 'man calves' then I say you should embrace them for what they are! A benefit to your running ability! Cardio doesn't specifically burn calories from muscle, so if your calves are shear muscle, then you're kinda SOL... I wouldn't worry too much about the size of them though because strong calves have a lot of benefit for running. However, if they're 'fat' calves, then the more cardio you do (i.e. running) you will see more of that weight come off over time!
Actually, very intense cardio with an elevated HR at longer periods will burn calories from muscle... That's why you see endurance runners for Olympic marathons with extremely lean bodies. They burn so many calories from long periods of constant cardio training, that it breaks down a lot of those muscles.
what do you mean by intense cardio? when i do the elliptical with a high set resistance my HR is between 170-185 isnt that in the "cardo" range?
So on my HRM setting that's zone 3 = which is athletic conditioning and the highest intensity. I think the highest HR i hit was 180 while sprinting
If your HR easily gets into that range, it may actually signal you're not "athletically" conditioned yet, which is strange if you run as much as you do? Are you using an HRM?
So on the elliptical, it's harder for me to do HIIT, b/c it's harder to raise my HR high( it takes a long time), whereas with running/stairmaster/spinning, it's easier to do HIIT. With elliptical, I'm mostly in zone 2 - 145-150HR and resistance is usually 13-15 out of 25
i dont have an HRM, i use the one attached to the machine that asks for my age, weight, gender. After my warm up on level 1 i go up to level 10-12 and my HR shoots way up to 175-ish... i havent really paid attention to my HR before until people started saying that its way to high and i need to slow down to get into "fat burning" zone...
fat burning zone ? That's very antiquated advice. Doing interval training (making your HR go high and then slow down to let it dip/recover) - "doing intervals" burns the most calories. Along with strength trainin. Fat burning zone is Zone 1 - lower HR rate so you will burn the least...never worked for me
so you recommend just ignoring the chart and doing intervalls? and another strange question, how much time do i need to let my heart rate go down? if i get it up to 180 on the elliptical it would take me a good 10 mintues to have my HR drop down to 165..
Hmm this sounds like a machine HR tracking issue...when i look at my HRM and i'm spinning, it takes me 1-2 minutes AT MOST to drop from 165 to 145 but if it's as high as 175, it takes 10-20 seconds of slowing down to drop to 150's
I usually do my intervals to music so I don't have a set period of time but if I see it get up high, i hold it for a part of the song and hten slow down to let it drop.
Witht that said, it takes a bit longer for me to drop/raise HR onthe elliptical even with high resistance. maybe that's just me. The best thing for me is spinning (position 2 and 3) or on treadmill (running on 7.5-8.5 vs walking at 3.3mph)
i'll need to pay more attention i just have my attention set on burning the most calories and losing weight faster... not really paying attention to HR and intervals but after reading about intervals on treadmill seems like i would have to try that! 0
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