Jump Rope as Cardio

Running gets the reputation for being "the" cardio exercise pretty much because it is easy to figure out how much you are losing and how fit you are getting. But then a lot of people end up not working out because they hate to run and they think that's the only way to do it. Why not diversify? Try the jump rope!

You Can't Out-Train a Bad Diet

So we talk about exercise. A LOT. And the fittest folks are usually looked at as the folks who exercise all the time. But to get your body healthy, burning the right amount of calories and losing weight or staying toned, diet plays such a huge role. And that is where most people face problems. People don't seem to understand that exercise is not magic; it does not erase a bad diet.

It sometimes seems like because eating right takes willpower, we slack off big time. Exercise takes willpower too. But slacking off on exercise does not feel good. Whereas eating bad food? Well, I don't need to say more. Plus as you sweat and hurt all over from exercise, you literally feel the calories going away.

But let me ask you this? Do you realize that you would achieve more eating healthier than exercising? Think about it. For example, you slave for an hour and burn 500 calories (depending on your body weight and what you do), and so if you eat a 1,000 calorie meal, that would be about 2 hours worth of exercise to burn off. How many times a day would you be able to keep it up?

Now, if you eat a 500 calorie meal instead of 1,000 by controlling your portions and picking better options, that would save a lot of time, and would melt off weight faster. So when you do work out for an hour, you're reaching your goal much quicker.

Additionally, food affects your mood and could be the difference between being sluggish or energized. Eating loads of burgers and high-fat foods usually slows you down and makes you less likely to work out. Or if you do work out, you're pushing yourself too hard for too long because you are determined to burn it off. And then you could hurt yourself.

Usually, people tend to overestimate how much they burn, and underestimate how much they eat. It's human nature.  I have read a few studies where Americans were polled and the result was that most Americans think they eat healthy. Yet, Americans are among the most obese in the world. This shows that people really do underestimate how much they eat. Thus, if you are eating wrong, and then you think you're burning more than you actually are, you see how that can be a problem for your weight loss goals? This is probably one of the reasons why people don't see results.

So what should you do? Starve yourself? Heck no. But you should be putting just as much effort into your nutrition as you are putting into your exercise regimen. Inform yourself about better food choices, and know what you are actually putting into your body. And you should start to see the results you my not have been seeing.

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Forbes.com

The Battle of the Elliptical vs. the Treadmill

The question always comes up: Which form of cardio is the best? The two forms of cardio that have people riled up the most are the elliptical and the treadmill. They are probably the two most common cardio machines you would find in any gym, and they are thought to be somewhat similar in the type of motion required.

Because everyone is different, what exercise works for each person is also different. So it is key to understand what is most important to you as you determine what works. Here are a few key differences between the elliptical and the treadmill to help you decide:

Calories burned

Well, I had to start with this one! When we talk about cardio, we are usually looking for what burns the most calories in the least time, and with the least effort! Ummm... you're seeing things. I did not say that last part. 

Okay, so how does the elliptical compare to the treadmill? Of course it depends on your weight and your speed. But on average, a 150 pound person usually burns about 600 to 700 calories on the treadmill if they run for about an hour. The elliptical is also about 600 to 700 calories an hour, unless you're pushing harder and putting in more effort one way or the other. 

Effort required

Which leads to the next point. How much effort is required to burn the same number of calories on the treadmill vs. the elliptical? It looks like the elliptical takes this one. Again, unless you are pushing harder, the elliptical usually requires less effort than the treadmill to go at the same speed. Why? With the treadmill, you are lifting and dropping your whole body and so it feels harder. With the elliptical, you are pushing and pulling rather than lifting and dropping.

Impact on your joints

If you lift and drop any object consistently, there is bound to be some damage. Your body operates in the same manner. Whenever you drop your legs as you run, you put a lot of impact on your knees and ankles. And so the surface on which you run is pretty important. Treadmills and race tracks were created with materials to minimize the impact on your joints. However, there is still some impact. The elliptical on the other hand does not involve lifting and dropping and so the impact to your joints is very minimal.

Flexibility of the exercise

If you were raised by humans, you probably know how to run. It is naturally built into our genes. Thus, perfecting your run, and introducing different types of training to your runs would be more natural than trying to figure out how to mix up your training on the elliptical. On the treadmill, you can do interval training (speeding up for a short interval, and slowing down for a short interval) to burn more calories, or do power exercises like side shuffles. The treadmill is a more flexible machine if you get bored easily.

Volume of muscles reached

Running is a great overall body workout. It is difficult to compare it to anything else. If you look at any runner, their leg muscles and core muscles are usually toned. However, with the elliptical (depending on the type of elliptical), because you are using your arms as well, you end up building both your upper and lower body muscles. Can someone say "Hello upper back"? Plus, the elliptical allows you to do reverse spins, or squat as you push, which means you'd be working different muscle groups that you wouldn't ordinarily reach in a forward upright motion.

Endorphin rush

Maybe this is just me, but when I finish time on the treadmill, I feel an amazing endorphin rush that I don't get from the elliptical. That is not to say I don't get an endorphin rush from the elliptical. I do, but it's not comparable. Could it be because I sweat more? Maybe. Or because it feels like more of an accomplishment? Maybe. It may be a different feeling for you.

Given all of that, I would still pick the treadmill over the elliptical. However, there are tremendous benefits of choosing the elliptical over the treadmill, especially if you are older, have been injured before, or if you are concerned about your joints.

Which would you choose?

Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Treadmilltips.com, ThatsFit.com

 

Back to Basics Part Two: How Exercise Fits In

Last week, we talked about how your nutrition affects your weight. There are websites where you can automatically calculate these numbers, but sometimes it’s important to understand the basics. In summary, this is where we were:

Exercise
So remember how last week, I gave a breakdown of how calories are processed? How does exercise fit in? Your body simply uses more of that energy you consumed from food to do more intense activities that just digesting food or talking. And of course, continuous exercise raises the metabolic rate you get from activity. So while the 5 basic steps I listed last week are still valid, the amount of energy your body would use to function regularly would go up too. So it’s a win-win all around.

Basic BMR
Now back to our example from last week, we are using a male with the following stats:
Age – 30
Weight – 192 pounds
Height – 6ft (72 inches)

Our basic BMR with no exercise came down to 2000 calories.

2000

General Activity
With only basic low intensity once-in-a-while exercise, metabolic rate increases by BMR x 20% (see the diagram at the top of this post). So his metabolic rate would come down to 2000 + (2000 x 20%) = 2400 calories, meaning his body is burning about 2400 calories a day.

Now consider this: If he amped up his exercise, and starts exercising most days a week, he could increase his metabolic rate by BMR x 40%. This brings his metabolic rate to 2000 + (2000 x 40%) = 2800. That’s a considerable difference! He just burned an additional 800 calories a day by exercising most days! I guess that crazy Michael Phelps diet doesn’t seem so crazy to you now…

Heart Rate
Granted, this is just an approximation, and it varies based on what “most days” and “intensity” mean to you. So the most accurate way to see how much you are actually losing is to calculate it for the types of exercises you do. Yes, there’s a formula for that too.

What the machines at the gym seem not to mention is that the number of calories you burn during exercise heavily depends on your heart rate. The good part is that most machines do have heart rate monitors. What I would advise is to calculate your heart rate during a few different workouts at the gym, and just note the average so you can use it to calculate the amount of calories you burn doing non-machine exercises.

The average resting heart rate is somewhere between 60 and 80bpm. However, if you are very fit or an athlete, your resting heart rate would usually be somewhere between 40 and 60bpm (usually 50 to 60bpm for women). This is just because the more you exercise, the more efficient your body’s circulation becomes.

During exercise, the average heart rate should increase. It would go higher based on the intensity of the exercise. The higher your heart rate, the more calories you should be burning. However, take care not to get above your maximum heart rate.

How do you calculate your maximum heart rate? Here is where I’ll introduce a little caveat. So far, experts have said there is no perfect way to calculate your maximum heart rate. However, the generally accepted estimate is:

Women: Maximum Heart Rate = 226 – Age

Men: Maximum Heart Rate = 220 – Age

This is not particularly scientific, but just what is generally accepted. It assumes that the older you get, the less intense you should be with your heart. Generally, when you exercise, your heart rate can go anywhere from 50% to 100% of this rate above. Fairly intense exercise is usually about 80% of this number. So back to our example, his maximum heart rate would be 220 – 30 = 190.

Maximum Heart Rate = 190

One last point I will make with the heart rate is that when machines spell out a “Fat Burning Zone”, it does not necessarily mean anything. Strive to go as high as you can below your maximum, rather than aiming to be within some phantom fat burning zone.

Actual Calories Burned
So we have the maximum heart rate. Now, we can calculate the number of calories burned during exercise. Here is the formula:

Women: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) + (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) – 20.4022] x Time / 4.184

Men: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) + (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) – 55.0969] x Time / 4.184

My question is: Why does it always have to be different for men and women. Well, I guess only God can answer that one…

Back to our example, if our chosen man was doing average intensity cardio for 30 minutes, and had his heart rate at 70% of the maximum, he would have burned the following:

Heart Rate = 70% x 190 = 133bpm
Calories Burned = [(30 x 0.2017) + (192 x 0.09036) + (133 x 0.6309) – 55.0969] x 30 / 4.184 = 374 calories

That sounds like what you see on the treadmill, right? Now you know how they calculated it. We now have a more accurate calculation of how many calories he is burning based on the intensity of his physical activity.

In summary, our 192 pound, 6 foot, 30 year old man with a BMR of about 2000 calories working out moderately for an hour a day would actually be surviving on approximately 2000 + (374 x 2) = 2748 calories per day. You see that this is pretty close to the 2800 number we had calculated before.

We like our diagrams on Eights & Weights, so here’s one for today:

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Cheers Eights & Weights!

Photo credit: Weightloss-Systems.us