[lilian]

I've been hearing two seemingly contradictory things about how you should do cardio training. Some people have told me it is best to accelerate at a healthy pace towards your THR and then maintain it for the remainder of your work out, while other people have told me its best to work out in intervals of varying difficulty (i.e. start easy for two minutes, then switch to very difficult for the next 2 minutes, then medium, then medium hard, etc. for the remainder of the workout). I'm thinking the second option would obviously mean that you are not always maintaining your THR, since you are sometimes over and sometimes under. Am I right? and if so, which is the best way to be doing your cardio?

[Swanky Mama Of Three]

what are you trying to achieve?
For me personally, I burn more calories and notice a better difference in my tone when I do bursts of high intensity training.
SO I alternate different levels of inclines and speeds to "shock" my muscles while I do cardio, and I almsot always do at least 2 different activitives, like bike and then elliptical.

[lilian]

hmm good to know. Do you measure heart rate at all during your workout?

Oh, and my goals would probably be weight loss and tone. Thanks for the help!

[Swanky Mama Of Three]

no, I just check once in a while and make sure it's up high enough.. For me. . . I'm 31 and in pretty good shape, I like mine to be over 125.
I also exercise to tone and lose/maintain my weight.

I think hitting a target HR and maintaining it is great for cardio training, aka heart training, not necassarily the best for burning up the calories.

[BagLuver]

If looking to lose weight/tone, you want to do interval training. It helps burn fat.

If just looking to stay heart-healthy, then you would shoot for the THR maintenance.

[crowgal]

I do interval....& my heart rate keeps at a steady 150 range. Great for calorie burning & those bursts of extra intensity helps me build up my endurance.

[D & G rockstar]

hmm, that's interesting... i usually do sometype of hill program so the difficulty progresses as time goes on at intervals... plus when you do a really hard level for 1 minute, and then it goes back to an easy level, for 3 minutes, the easy level isn't easy anymore because your body has been totally working out at a high intensity.

I don't measure my heart rate, but i always want my workout to be difficult every step of the way. To guarantee this, i do 45 minutes. Then onto weight training for another 45 mins

Cardio is just 1/2 of the battle though. Cardio loses the calories you ate today... weight training on top of that burns the fat.

You can probably take a total body conditioning class 2-3 times a week on top of the cardio to see results. Also, eating healthy is key.

[Munchkyn]

Interesting info, I should change my cardio routine.

[lilian]

Originally Posted by D & G rockstar

Cardio is just 1/2 of the battle though. Cardio loses the calories you ate today... weight training on top of that burns the fat.

I do a fair bit of weight training and I've noticed major changes because of it in the past few months. I usually alternate upper and lower body every other day. Is this enough or should I be doing more?

[BalenciagaLove]

lilian - here's a great website for weight-training routines. I do both every other day, but you really need to do cardio for balance, especially for your heart.

http://www.thetrainingstationinc.com/

On the left hand side of this website lists beginner, intermediate and advanced workouts. I really like this place a lot. So basically, what I do is weights 3 days a week, cardio 3 days a week. Weight training is great for developping muscle mass, so you're burning calories all the time even when you're sleeping unlike cardio.

Good luck!

[sratsey]

Originally Posted by D & G rockstar

I don't measure my heart rate, but i always want my workout to be difficult every step of the way. To guarantee this, i do 45 minutes. Then onto weight training for another 45 mins

Cardio is just 1/2 of the battle though. Cardio loses the calories you ate today... weight training on top of that burns the fat.

You can probably take a total body conditioning class 2-3 times a week on top of the cardio to see results. Also, eating healthy is key.

The more muscles you have, the higher your metabolism so it's CRUCIAL to build muscle and incorporate some sort of strength training into your routine.
I do the same kind of workout but I do 45 minutes of cardio on the days I do strength trainiing and then an hour on the days I don't.

Interval training
The point is to bring your heart rate up as fast as you can, recover to the point where you're still in fat burning mode and then bring it up again quickly to an aerobic level.
You're not really supposed to bring yourself all the way back down to a resting heart rate.
Interval training is proven to be the best at burning calories and Long duration/medium intensity is good for overall aerobic conditioning.
I think it's good to mix it up.
On the days I strength train I do a hills workout but on days where I'm concentrating on cardio, I'll interval train for the entire hour.

I think the key is to always mix it up and to PUSH your body to WORK.

[aarti]

its interval training.

[caitlin1214]

Ideally, I like to do the elliptical cross trainer for 40 min. to an hour four times a day, followed by weight training. I only work on my arms and upper half of my body, because the cross trainer takes care of my butt and thighs.