Okay, here’s a quick question for the fitness club peeps: What is your favourite form of cardio & why? What is your least favorite?
Is it a machine, and if so what kind of routine or routines to you like most or like least?
Is it a class (Xer, you’re our resident spin-king)?
Is it hitting the road or trail?
Also, feel free to share cardio mishaps (as long as no Alpaca’s were harmed in the making of the stories) or more unusual forms of cardio that you’ve enjoyed. 
I do all my high-intensity cardio on machines because I am not allowed to put as much stress on my right foot as is required to do those things on the ground.
Favorite machines are:
[ul]
[li]Arc Trainer. This is a machine that is showing up in more gyms and I highly recommend it. It more closely mimics the natural gait than the elliptical machine, so people who end up hurting themselves on the elliptical (hi!) often find it better. It’s also purposely designed to be less efficient at moving you “forward,” and be more efficient at helping you burn calories. You literally have to work harder to make it work. I enjoy the ability to modulate the steepness of the stride separately from the level of resistance, which is not the case with most ellipticals. I usually warm up at the default settings, which include 25 pounds of resistance, and often do hill climbs of very steep strides with 55 pounds of resistance.
[/li][li]Treadmill. I use this exclusively for running. Warm ups are done on the Arc Trainer or the bike. I am working on primarily endurance right now–working toward 5k without a slowdown, but also challenging myself to pick up the pace a little.
[/li][li]Bike. Boring as hell but great for my butt.
[/li][li]Rope pull. For strength training I use the highest resistance level but it also provides some great cardio when I set it at a medium resistance and do it for 5 minutes at a time
[/li][li]Rowing machine. I’m new to this and not very good at it yet, but it’s in the mix.
[/li][/ul]
I get a lot of low-intensity cardio, too, to supplement the hard-core workouts and help me destress. Since I live in a city and don’t have a car, I walk a mile a day on average. Favorite on-the-ground activities:
[ul]
[li]Hiking. Don’t get to do it all that often because of my location/lack of car, but Rock Creek Park has some nice little trails to explore (during daylight)
[/li][li]Exploring D.C. on foot. This is a beautiful city and has a lot more to it than I would see if I just took the Metro and bus everywhere
[/li][li]Swimming. Ok, neither on the ground nor something I do frequently, so this one’s a bit of a cheat. I love swimming and wish I had access to a pool. I’m not a strong enough swimmer anymore to really get to high-intensity cardio but this has potential for people who swim often
[/li][li]Yoga. When I’m too tired/hurt/busy to get in my regular cardio, I will substitute with 45 minutes of yoga. I’m considering working with an instructor when my contract runs out with my trainer. But I might also just do another contract with her…
[/li][/ul]
As documented in the other thread, I have found myself as an elliptical man. I used to try to do the treadmill but would find that my legs and knees would hurt in a way above and beyond working out pain. As a substitute to let me heal I tried the elliptical which prior I had hated. What I found was that the elliptical is zero impact to you. In fact, it almost feels like cheating. You get a great workout and you aren’t in dire pain after. I go 60 minutes now, about 7 miles on intervals burning approx 800 calories. Love it.
That’s awesome Solai!
I’m also an elliptical guy - easier on the knees. I usually go for 35-40 minutes at a pace/difficulty that puts me at ~1200 cal/hr, which usually works out to be aprox 75% difficulty at a pace of ~80 rpm (160 steps/min). I wear 1lb weighted gloves and 1lb writs weights to make it more challenging, and start doing intervals of jabs, uppercuts, elbow strikes, twists etc about half-way though to hit the arms a bit more and activate the core.
Once a week I’ll try hopping on the step mill, and it’s a hell of a workout. The whole ‘lifting your feet up off the machine’ is kinda brutal. Sorta like running but for masochists.
I’ll hit the treadmill and run when our company plans on entering a 5km or 10km run, and I don’t want to embarrass myself, & sometimes if my legs are fried I’ll spin at high rpm on a spinning style bike.
Yaay for Cardio!
It’s interesting to hear you guys talk about the elliptical - S had a revelation about it earlier this week.
Me, I prefer walking briskly outside, or as the best kind of cardio, dancing. Unfortunately, I don’t get to dance much anymore. So walking, and elliptical, and kick-my-ass yoga it is.
Great ideas! I was doing the elliptical, but I got to the point where I couldn’t increase the resistance any higher (or go faster) without killing my knees. So, I did the opposite of you guys, I went to the treadmill. Lately though I have switched over to Crossfit, and man does that kill me.
I will recommend CardioCoach guided workouts (not affiliated, just a fan - cardiocoach.com). Sean’s workouts really helped me up the intensity on the machines, and I really improved quickly.
anyway back to lurking…I am not a big commenter but you pulled me out there for a second.
Heya Clicker! Glad to seduce you into posting! Guys in our office are crazy about crossift right now, and I think that there are a few alpacas in the general fitness forum that are CrossFit advocates!
I’ll definitely check out cardiocoach - feel free to post about it in the Fitness Apps thread, or even start a new thread for GWC CrossFit!
Thanks for contributing and being part of the community!
Stepmill, you have been PWN3d.
However, I think I need to get on the treadmill soon as people in the office are starting to plan for the the 2012 Sun Run. This year I ran it in 49:16, but I’m pretty sure I was doing more running in my cardio, and I wasn’t carrying as much muscle. Given that there were 60k people running, and I was in the middle of the pack, I’m pretty sure I can do a lot better this year by starting closer to the front, but not if I don’t start running more.
Stay sweaty folks!
Do we count sports in this too?? If we do then it’s ice hockey no doubt
If we’re not I need to wait a few weeks to answer this because my brother-in-law’s gym is opening soon which means I get to mess around on all the machines, though I do like that I can crank out a thousand calories an hour speedwalking on a treadmill still too…
I used to live vicariously through my exercise bike, but the damndest thing in the last year I can’t catch my breath or get started on it, and I’m down to under 230, and I used to be able to bike at 270 or even when I was near 280 (oi)…it doesn’t compute…
Heya smck40 - sorts totally count in this! Being a canuck, and having played more than my share of shifts as a kid, I cotta say hockey is the ultimate high intensity interval training, with a bit of full contact thrown it!
RE the bike, not sure what’s going on, but congrats on the transformation and dropping from 270/280!!! I would actually chat with a physician and a trainer at this point to try and figure out what’s causing it. They may want to get you set up with a VO2-Max study and a treadmill stress-test.
Thanks for contributing to the Cardio discussion!!
I caught the running bug about five years ago. I hadn’t run more than a few miles at a time before then. Mostly to get in shape for other sports. But I always wanted to run a marathon. I found a training plan and slowly over 6 months built up to my first marathon. Well, to make a long story kinda short, I’m still running 4-5 times a week, 20-30 miles per week. I run road or trail races once a month or so for fun. My oldest son joined in and then ran cross county in high school. Now it is a highlight for me to run 4 or 5 half marathons with him each year.
If you haven’t run in a big community run, I recommend trying it at least once. So much positive energy!
55 minutes of ice time in open hockey last night left me more exhausted then ANY treadmill, exercise bike or other device did…and the beauty of playing a sport it pushes you to ignore your exhaustion and “stop button”…now we’ll see after two hours in net of open floor hockey…
Anyone else notice, the better shape they get in…the more tired they get?? I think it’s because the more in shape I am, the harder I play the more I exert, the more tired I end up…
For me, swimming is my main cardio right now. Hub and I have been going a few times a week, an hour at a time. The workouts vary, meaning sometimes the coaches have us work on a specific stroke, or flip turns, etc. Sometimes they have us focus on breathing- for example you breathe every 3, then every 5, then every 7 strokes. By the time I get to 7 I want to die, haha!
But the other day it was all about endurance, and the goal was
not to stop more than 20 seconds between each set, so as to keep your heart rate up. It was a bitch. The workout was 2700 yards total, but I think we only did about 2200. It’s funny, but Hub and I have noticed some differences in how we work out- he is a much better sprinter, while I hate to sprint and am better at the long distances. But it is by far the best cardiac workout I have done in a long time. I’ve always wanted to pick up running, but was never disciplined enough to keep at it. Swimming is good for me, because I have a coach on deck giving me direction. If left to my own devices I just goof off and don’t complete a work out.
If you haven’t run in a big community run, I recommend trying it at least once. So much positive energy!
Jonesy
I’m going to try and run a marathon at least once in my life but it’s not going to be anytime soon, there are a couple other fitness goals I’d like to meet before doing it. It’s only fairly recently that I even started to believe that it was possible for me get through something like that without, you know, dying.
Start with something easier like a 5k. Maybe like a St Patrick’s Day run–great costumes, beer afterwards, etc. You still get the fun festive crowds but without, you know, dying.
Also, I suggest that those new to running should not be afraid to mix in walk breaks. The run/walk method is pretty popular now and is aimed at avoiding the whole “dying” thing during the half or full marathon. Jeff Galloway is the big proponent of it (http://www.jeffgalloway.com/).
Wait a minute, here. Jonesy, you live in Lee’s Summit, Missouri? You’re the 4th person I know from that tiny town–the first two being my grandparents. Haven’t been out there in years since they only spend half the year there now but I spent many a childhood summer swimming its lakes and many a teenage summer running its streets to escape the family and keep up with fall sports conditioning.
I do not enjoy treadmills (the dreadmill), elliptical or lifecycles. However I really enjoy walking, running and cycling. I would much prefer to run or walk on pavement and ride my own bicycle around my neighborhood or even better go to a local greenway and ride. The treadmill messes up my footing and pace. I think it’s because the treadmill is propelling me forward and I prefer propelling myself forward. Does that make sense? I also like dancing around my living room, basement and kitchen. I put on my mp3 and go to town. I really wanted to add swim as a regular cardio for myself but I can’t do it. I get really motion sick swimming laps. I get motion sick in water aerobics classes too so I decided to just let the pool thing go.
There is a local 5K coming up in the end of May that my teen daughter and I have decided to train for. I am kind of excited about it.