Best Fat Burning Exercise?

I read the other day on an MSN article, that the eliptical is not an effective fat burner. This is a surprise to me since that is what I use farily regularly for my workout. If this isn't effective for Fat Burn (maybe for cardio) what do you guys find is the most effective fat burning exercise? I also like swimming, though I am no Michael Phelps! :laugh: Any Ideas would be much appreciated, as this may explain my 3 month plateau! thanks!
Karen

Martial Arts
((Kids are adorable!!))

Well, I don't know what the hey they're talking about, because as you can see, I've lost plenty of weight using elliptical, as have hundreds of others on MFP, and you for that matter. IF it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I imagine they are talking about compared to other cardio activities. See it's generally harder to get up into the mid to high 70% Max Heartrate range with an elliptical. That doesn't mean it's not an effective calorie burner, but recent studies have proven that activities that periodically push your heart rate up into the high 70s and even into the 80's for short periods are more effective at burning fat as opposed to just using food energy.

If anyone wants to read them (man, they're buried) I can probably dig up a few of the articles, but you should be able to find them just by Googling Interval training or fat burning exercise. Just, take into account the source when you Google this type of thing, if the website is sketchy, or if you can only find one source for a type of information, I would disregard it as rumor until you can corroborate.

They were probably talking about the intensity at which you work out. Have you tried HIIT? High Intensity Interval Training? I'm sure someone can explain it better than I'm going to, but what I understand it to be is that you work at a lower level to get warmed up, then up the intensity for a given amount of time, then bring the intensity down, up, down, up, which causes your heart rate to go up and then down and help you burn more calories in a shorter amount of time.

I've read that it's better to do 1/2 hour of HIIT than an hour of traditional cardio (i.e. working out at the same rate for 45 - 60 min) for burning fat.

If you want to build endurance, than you use the cardio machines for longer periods of time.

I also read that MSN article. They stated that most people don't use enough resistance to make it a good workout. I do notice that a lot of people at my gym don't use much resistance and don't seem to be sweating. I put a lot of resistance on, and I feel as though I get a really good workout.

As far as the best fat burning workout, I always say that a person should do what they enjoy. Otherwise, they won't stick with it. For me that means mixing it up a lot so that I don't get bored.

Get your shoes and hit the pavement - for me it's running....

Running is a good fat burning exercise....especially if you are constantly striving to improve on your time and distance.

I do both - the elliptical and running. I almost always burn more calories running than I do on the elliptical because I find that it's easier to get my heart rate up. It takes me awhile to get my heart rate up on the elliptical. I do both because they use different muscles and I'm addicted to the calorie burn.

Good luck!

I read that article and thought it was a sweeping generalization.
People at my gym work up an incredible sweat on the ellipticals.
I mostly use it as an excuse to watch "Cash Cab" on TV! :laugh: :laugh:

My best weight loss came while doing weight training 3x week.
Turbo Kick Boxing & other cardio on between days.

My new Fave is ZUMBA! What a fun class & great workout!
Here's the definition from Wikipedia:

"A Zumba workout mixes body sculpting movements with dance steps derived from cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggaeton, hip hop, mambo, rumba, flamenco, and calypso and Salsaton. The routines feature aerobic interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms. It targets areas such as the glutes, legs, arms, abdominals, and the heart. A Zumba class is typically not formulaic in that instructors often add on their own music choices and choreographies to make their class presentation locally unique."