Workout question (I swear it has nothing to do with JDV)

I got an eliptical for graduation this summer, but I think the targer heart rate thingy is broken.

Oh well.

Elipticals kick ass though. I got it so I didn't have to run outside during the winter months. Don't cheat, work your arms too. It's a great workout.

 

That actually wasn't a joke, Moddy. I figured "Workout question" as a thread title (especially coming from me) would immediately turn into a rehash of the JDV thread (which I thoroughly enjoyed, but apparently, some people hated it enough to keep clicking on it, which I don't understand. When I grow tired of a thread, I stop clicking on it instead of telling everyone who's enjoying that it has jumped the shark).

And, as I stated in my first post on this one, this is a spot where, if JDV decided to stick around on the board, his expertise would come in handy. For real. Whatever.

 

Hoooo boy. Where to begin?

 

Can't you guys just tell me?

 

At the beginning

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/35969/

I'm thinking of changing my ID to "Special Guest"

 

As Ragu mentioned, the machine's giving you an estimate, but it's not a bad target. A long work out at the slightly lower target rate will burn more calories than a short workout at the higher target rate.
Once you get into the groove of how to use it, you'll probably just customize what you want to do. Try the reverse setting. I couldn't believe how tough it was the first time I did it.

 

Pern,
Don't go by the heart rate monitor (or the calories burned monitor, for that matter) on the machines. Take your heart rate yourself ... count out your beats for 10 seconds, multiply by 6 and that will give you the only reading by which you should rate your cardio work.

 

That's about where I was at today.

Good advice everyone, thanks.

And as far as the elliptical goes, I was amazed how few times I actually looked to see how long I've been on. I had a gym in the basement of the house I used to live at and it had a rinky old stationary bike that I used to ride while watching college hoops. I always tried to ride it for the first half of a game (which is usually roughly an hour) and I hated every second of it. This feels like a more rigorous workout, but somehow it's not as difficult to keep going.

 

BigPern--You will make yourself nuts trying to explain yourself to the elliptical computer. If you feel you can go harder, do it....but as Ragu said, you should be able complete a sentence (I know a trainer who uses the 'supercalifragilistickexpialidocious' test...if you can't say the whole word, you need to slow down).

The main reason to stay in the suggested target range is this: you burn fat when you stay in the aerobic zone--when your blood is still rich with oxygen. When you're working too hard, and your oxygen levels decrease, your exercise becomes anaerobic, and you burn up sugars, not fat. You should be able to tell the difference without testing your heart rate...if you feel lightheaded, winded, gasping, cold sweating, or weak, you're pushing it too hard.

Interval training is the best way to go--high intensity for a short burst, followed by a lower intensity to recover. The variation really challenges you without depleting all your energy, and burns fat like crazy.