Look at the picture, it gives you an idea of the size of the machine. You can get smaller but they won't be solid. And you shouldn't go under 20 kilos to really have a good workout.
We saw a machine you could fold. Our machine has wheels so you can easily move it to an other room.
I lost around 15kgs a year ago without changing my diet, simply by working out. It took close to a year and the weight has stayed off. Most of the excercises were done on this machine.
I started with 30 minute workouts 2 times a week and worked my way to 60 minute workouts 3-4 times a week. I'm now focusing on weight training so am only doing 30 minutes cardio 2 times a week along with weights.
To be honest, I do find cardio very boring. I would suggest you have a telly visible from where the machine is placed along with good thumping music. At my local gym they have a couple of tellys constantly showing sports channels and that keeps me interested, unless of course it's curling! It helps alleviate the boredom.
Best of luck!
Also, interval trainig is really helpful, and more often than not, the best way to burn fat and keep your lungs and heart healthy.
Start with a warm up of a few minutes, with your heart rate at about 110 (doesn't matter what age you are).
Then use music to dictate how quick you push your arms and legs. For example, in the choruses, REALLY go quickly, and get your heart rate up to a point that it's difficult to speak, but not hard to breathe. In the verses, slow it down, and concentrate on the heart rate going back down to 110 or so.
You need to keep altering your workout, or your body will get used to it. Like your body doesn't react to walking to the shops, or around the house... it's "conditioned".
Don't go over your max - you'll go "anaerobic" and that's not the purpose of your workout.
Also, add lunges and squats to your routine, some easy push ups, and of course core strengthening. A good posture, diet and rest adds to the fat burning process.
Rest days: you can safely do cardio everyday. 30 mins every day is healthy. Rest days are recommended between strength workouts, and abdominal workouts.
You do whatever feels best for you, there's no right or wrong answer here.
Good luck!
Here are my new questions:
If my Target Heart Rate is 158 whaqt does it mean for my minimum and maximun THR? When I go over 158 the number is blinking and it means I have to slow down. But if I keep it at 166 or 154 (ex.) I am still in my THR, right?
So today I did 25 minutes, burned 240 kal. ''run'' 6 kilo.
Is it better to do 50 minutes in one shot and target an average of burning 500 kal. Or is it better to do it twice a day (morning, evening) for the same goal?
Nil
If you can do 25 minutes twice a day, that is probably better. Your metabolism is elevated for a short time after each work out (this effect is bigger with weight training than cardio, but still applicable) so two workouts should evelate your metabolism for a greater portion of the day.
Along the same lines, a very effective technique is to eat 5 or 6 small meals a day, rather than 3 large ones. I found this impractical, so I just tried to eat smaller meals, and have a mid morning, and a mid afternoon snack. Try having a handful of almonds in the the afternoon. They are surprisingly filling, and are packed with protien and the healthy kind of fats. They aren't called a "superfood" for nothing.
Be careful with all this though. HIIT is an advanced technique, and isn't recommended for complete beginners. Depending on where you are starting, it would be better to start with sustained effort workout of moderate intensity. Starting out, even this will be a shock to your body, and thus will be effective. It will also prepare your cardiovascular system, and your muscles for more advanced (and strenuous techniques) such as HIIT. As I said before, the most important thing is just to pay attention to how you feel, and if you feel like you need a day off, take it. You will definitely make progress with even 4 or 5 days a week.
Burnrate starts at 16 cals per minute - upto 24cals
That is a tad mental I admit - but boy do you know you work out. In my view if your breathing isn't noticablly elevated - and you're not sweating - you're not working hard enough.
And in case you needed to know - I will often be out running first thing in the morning - folllowed by Elliptical in the evening
Then "play" with workouts - do a mixed one - 10mins hard, 10mins easy - hills (increased resistance to climb a hill, decreased on the way down) - fast tempo (look at your stride rate - target 150-160 per min). Try short intervals (3mins hard, 1 min rest * 5). Try long steady sessions - 60mins.
The thing to do is have a plan and stick to it. Nailing a faster stride rate is the key to a good work out (IMHO).
Whoa - 158 bpm!
Are you an ex athlete?
'cause that number seems awfully high.
Took a Conconi test earlier this year and my anaerobic treshold is 155 bpm (260W on the ergo-bike), which the specialist said was "pretty good" for my age (48).
Just to contextualise the whole thing of HR levels, a friend of mine, a triathlete, works out at very low cardio regimes (i.e. 120-130 bpm) and longer times (> 2hrs) in order to get the body in that fat-burning regime.
Going all-out, all the time in his training is a definite no-no (muscle stress, body tires out too much and does not recuperate, etc, etc)
HIIT will definitely help you increase your methabolism and your oxigen intake (Vo2Max).
You'll probably reach 158-160 bpms, but just for a handful of seconds (HIIT, also known as Tabata protocol, usually goes in bursts of 20 second max power followed by 40 seconds rest, for 4 times, with one full minute rest after the 4 burs/rests. Then the painfest starts again. In total repeat the whole for a total of 4x i.e. 20 minutes total workout). My same sport specialist told me not to do HIIT more than 2x week, because of the aforementioned stresses.
I'd look to begin at the low and midrange regimes - don't forget to integrate some "reverse" too (i.e. pedalling backward). Improves coordination and apparently burns more fat because more and different muscle groups are involved.
Ciao
Paul
Big PS and caveat: if you're a (pro) athlete all the above obviously doesn't apply as you probably have a custom training regime planned out for your season
Second, I am certainly not an athlete. I used to be in very good shape but def not now. Someone on this thread told me to take 200 minus my age (34) and it gives me my THR: 166.
The machine told me 158 is my target heart rate.
My heart at rest is 65.
The machines "tell" us a lot of things, some useful, some stupid, and therefore some may even be dangerous, who knows?
A Conconi test would be very useful to establish just "how well" your cardiocirculatory system performs under a controlled, increasing load (ergo: stress).
For what it's worth, it may be well to remember that there are no magic Formulas, especially "200-age" (it's actually something like 220-age multiplied by some factor depending on age and gender), sooo...
.....to sum it up - enjoy your elliptical machine : lower heart rates will help you drop weight, while higher rates (say 130-140, but do derive those numbers from an accurate test) will help you condition.
And build up slowly - don't stress your heart muscle unneccessarily
The NY Times has some very nice articles on health, fitness and nutrition (yummy!):
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/health/...ion/index.html
Ciao!!
Paul
To be more accurate for your own body you can go out for a run, warm-up for 10 minutes or longer if you can and then start to run faster for a short time, end with running up an ascent as fast as you can until you really can't anymore. That heart rate is then close to your body's 'maximum'. You would need to borrow a heart rate monitor though if you don't have one. (BTW heart rate monitors with straps around the chest are also far more accurate than hand sensor ones). It's a useful thing to do once to get an idea for what is normal for you.
My maximum heart rate is about 200 and I often run at a heart rate of 180 to 190 so I wouldn't panic about the 158.
I think the fat-burning zone is the optimal zone for the body to burn fat as it's kilojoule source, as going faster tends to burn more carbohydrate kilojoule sources. I find this pretty useless though because I feel the fat-burning zone is normally too light a workout and the body's weight is determined more by kilojoules burned versus ingested as opposed to if it is a fat or carbohydrate kilojoule.
Hope this helps
I have a chest monitor so it seems pretty accurate. I could just focus to do a good workout and how much calories are spend? Because I am still not sure how to understand my THR. when I reach 158, I am able to keep it for the whole 25 minutes but I am sweating a LOT. I am not able to hold a conversation. I am not in shape at all, so for sure it is hard work.
As long as I take care of what I eat, if I know hoe much approx. it is, I can burn a 500 cal. per day and I am going to lose. I guess I am eating between 1300-1500 per day. I am hoping to lose the water with this workout since it is the most annoying part..
Please keep teaching me stuff, it doesn't fall in a deaf ear.
Nil