What is the best cardio exercise I can do at a gym?
I am trying to lose some lbs. and want to maximize results. Treadmill? Elliptical? Boxing?
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Personally, I use the elliptical for this and the procedure is fairly simple. Start with a 3-5 minute warm up. Now you begin the intervals. For 30 seconds, sprint as hard as you can on the machine. The next 30 seconds slow down to a near walking speed. This is one interval. Repeat five times (or more if you can take it!) and then take a 3 minute recovery. Repeat this whole process for 30-45 minutes.
Not only will you be exhausted, but there has been research done that this type of exercise produces an “after-burn” effect, where your body will continue to burn calories hours after your workout is done. This, along with diet and exercise, has helped me lose 40 pounds. It works!
17 Answers
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a good suggestion as Andrew noted previously. My first suggesstion is to identify your goals with cardio (endurance or weight loss) and then also identify at least 4-5 cardio activities can/like to perform (running, eliptical, stairs, whatever). You should change up the machine or type of cardio you do regularly for two reasons: So you don't get bored and so your body doesn't get used to just one exercise (cross training). Lastly and most important as far as what has been effective for me is to DO CARDIO AFTER WEIGHTS! It gets your blood pumping to all those muscles you worked out and for me at least was one of the best tricks I found to a satisfying work out. Your muscles get the bloodflow they need to build and recover and your metabolism will be kicking long after you leave the Gym.
I prefer a method referred to by my trainer as "loaded cardio." Its a variation of weight training that uses lighter weights and higher reps to keep your heart rate up during the routine and help you to maintain muscle mass throughout the training process.
You start with a 10 minute warm-up of traditional cardio; elliptical, treadmill, bike, etc... From there, based on the training routine you're using, you can do a multi-day schedule focusing on individual muscle groups each day or do compatible muscle groups on a single day. A traditional two day routine would let you do chest, back and legs on the first day, bicips, triceps and shoulders on day two.
To keep your heart rate up, you do the exercises in groups rather than doing a single exercise and resting. So you'd start with a chest exercise, immediately move to back, then legs and by the time you're done with that group for your first set, your chest muscles are ready to do the next set and you haven't lost pace. Remembering to do high reps, so focus on lower weights you can handle for 15 lifts a set, in a slow and controlled manner. You can also include ab routines for each set as well and if you break it down between lower abs, upper abs and obliques, its easy to spread core exercises throughout your routine. Ab work is a great way to keep your heart rate up.
So without doing more than 10 minutes of "cardio" per day, you can gain strength, improve your overall stamina and get a full body workout in. I've been doing this type of routine since the fall and dropped 35 lbs as well as increased my strength in the process. The two key items I've found doing this sort of routine are 1) some weeks you won't have as much weight loss as you will build and strengthen your muscles as you switch to new exercises (keep it fresh or your muscles learn!) and 2) nothing matter more than diet!
If you don't adjust your eating habits, all the exercise in the world won't help.
Swimming is generally the best cardio workout you can do in a gym that offers a pool. It is a full body, low impact, workout.
In the absence of a pool, several other exercises will get you similar results. Rowing & Elliptical Trainer are two that offer a more full body workout.
It also comes down to how you use them. Just because an exercise is "the best" doesn't mean you will see the benefits if you are not using it correctly. A single season with a personal trainer at your gym (if available) is another good idea to get multiple ideas on what machines to use and how to effectively use them.
Sources: I'm a competitive indoor & open water swimmer, & About.com
Two words: Spin.class. Did this twice a week for two months and lost 24 lbs (eating normally). Now in each class, I burn on average 650 calories per class. Thats huge.
Sean has it right at the end. 80% of your weight loss is going to come from diet. If you're eating too many bad calories you can work out all day with no progress. Personally I like the "Cave Man" style diets where you just ask yourself "Would a cave man have eaten this?" Doesn't require any calorie counting. Makes it heavy on meats, fruits, veggies and good fats (ex: avocados, coconut) and very light on grains, starches, legumes, etc. Cut out all processed foods and don't drink any calories.
High intensity interval training as Andrew said, but with the rowing machine. Rowing is the most efficient form of cardio exercise aside from swimming as it works your entire body instead of just your legs like running or biking.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Personally, I use the elliptical for this and the procedure is fairly simple. Start with a 3-5 minute warm up. Now you begin the intervals. For 30 seconds, sprint as hard as you can on the machine. The next 30 seconds slow down to a near walking speed. This is one interval. Repeat five times (or more if you can take it!) and then take a 3 minute recovery. Repeat this whole process for 30-45 minutes.
Not only will you be exhausted, but there has been research done that this type of exercise produces an “after-burn” effect, where your body will continue to burn calories hours after your workout is done. This, along with diet and exercise, has helped me lose 40 pounds. It works!