Do you need a "leg day" if you do high resistance elliptical?

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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    benchismybff wrote: »
    Remember, squats are THE BEST exercise for burning calories. Always squat.

    best for burning calories? how so?
  • benchismybff
    benchismybff Posts: 310 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    benchismybff wrote: »
    Remember, squats are THE BEST exercise for burning calories. Always squat.

    best for burning calories? how so?

    Short term, cardio will burn more calories than squats. And HIIT will far exceed anything else, but HIIT has some carryover into lifting, so it's better than basic cardio. Cardio will burn calories while you workout, then you're done. Weight lifting will burn calories during rest periods, and for hours after the workout. So, if you want higher counts during workout, yes, Cardio/HIIT is the way to go, but Squats/Lifting in general are going to be better than standard cardio for long term caloric burn.

    HIIT is going to be the best, if we're getting technical though, which is why something like crossfit can have a short workout and burn so much. Because you're hitting both, basically.

    Squats are generally viewed as the exercise that uses more of the full body engagement than any other standard lift, so it works the body more. Your heart rate is up more, ect.

    So, maybe I misspoke on just saying burning calories, but meant more long term burn.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    benchismybff wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    benchismybff wrote: »
    Remember, squats are THE BEST exercise for burning calories. Always squat.

    best for burning calories? how so?

    Short term, cardio will burn more calories than squats. And HIIT will far exceed anything else, but HIIT has some carryover into lifting, so it's better than basic cardio. Cardio will burn calories while you workout, then you're done. Weight lifting will burn calories during rest periods, and for hours after the workout. So, if you want higher counts during workout, yes, Cardio/HIIT is the way to go, but Squats/Lifting in general are going to be better than standard cardio for long term caloric burn.

    HIIT is going to be the best, if we're getting technical though, which is why something like crossfit can have a short workout and burn so much. Because you're hitting both, basically.

    Squats are generally viewed as the exercise that uses more of the full body engagement than any other standard lift, so it works the body more. Your heart rate is up more, ect.

    So, maybe I misspoke on just saying burning calories, but meant more long term burn.

    i thought the 'afterburn' effect of lifting was about 3 extra calories an hour... hardly worth the hype?
  • benchismybff
    benchismybff Posts: 310 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    benchismybff wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    benchismybff wrote: »
    Remember, squats are THE BEST exercise for burning calories. Always squat.

    best for burning calories? how so?

    Short term, cardio will burn more calories than squats. And HIIT will far exceed anything else, but HIIT has some carryover into lifting, so it's better than basic cardio. Cardio will burn calories while you workout, then you're done. Weight lifting will burn calories during rest periods, and for hours after the workout. So, if you want higher counts during workout, yes, Cardio/HIIT is the way to go, but Squats/Lifting in general are going to be better than standard cardio for long term caloric burn.

    HIIT is going to be the best, if we're getting technical though, which is why something like crossfit can have a short workout and burn so much. Because you're hitting both, basically.

    Squats are generally viewed as the exercise that uses more of the full body engagement than any other standard lift, so it works the body more. Your heart rate is up more, ect.

    So, maybe I misspoke on just saying burning calories, but meant more long term burn.

    i thought the 'afterburn' effect of lifting was about 3 extra calories an hour... hardly worth the hype?

    Haven't heard that number. Generally it's stated that the EPOC for high intensity workouts (which, the higher intensity, the better, which is why HIIT and lifting will be far higher than straight cardio) can add between 8-15% of the total energy cost. So, if you burn 1000 calories in an hour, you'd add on roughly 80-150 calories more during the rest period after you're done working out.

    So, take a happy low medium and say you workout 4 times per week. That's 400 extra calories during that time. Is it a lot? No. But it's not a small number either.

    Heavy resistance training will have the greater EPOC affect over circuit training and/or general aerobic training. Not to knock them, any exercise is better than no exercise, but leg workouts are great, because you get better calorie burn, that extra 'afterburn'.
  • joelrivard
    joelrivard Posts: 13 Member
    You don't need a leg day. There are no strict rules here.
    However you mentioned athletic look as a motivation, there isn't anything more athletic looking than having well built legs. I'm not talking about huge bodybuilder legs either.

    Guys in the gym who look in shape but have skinny legs do not look remotely close to as athletic to say an Olympic sprinter type physique where you get a nice sweep in the thighs and strong shapely calves.

    There is always one guy in the gym who has really shapely legs (and wears spandex cuz he knows...) and even if his upper body is less developed than other guys I think he looks way better. More athletic. So with looks being a motivation I would say - there is nothing wrong with skinny legs - but if you're walking around thinking you look "good" because your upper body is nice and toned up but you got those "never trained" legs going on, you might not be looking as good as you hope.

    The bigger you get the more the skinny legs stand out. It's almost better to be skinny all over.

    I have skinny calves and I train them ever time I lift. Super-high reps, long descending sets. That's the only way they grow (fast twitch fiber can handle it) and the only way they started looking bigger.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    benchismybff wrote: »
    Remember, squats are THE BEST exercise for burning calories. Always squat.
    What is it about squats that makes people say such daft things about them? They are an exercise (a good one) not a religion!

    Pretty sure cycling beats squats for calorie burns....
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    Rough estimate 144,500 cals burned cycling so far this year (289 hours).

    Strength training is a hard to estimate but low calorie burn activity and no EPOC isn't going to elevate it anywhere near close to even moderate intensity cardio.
    Not that either strength training or cardio should be all about calories anyway but please keep it real.

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