Need help with my workout - any pointers?

[misskitty100]

I have been been alternating between 30 minutes of the eliptical + weights concentrating on my legs and then the next day 45 minutes on the eliptical with weights for my arms. I usually have the eliptical set to around an 8 for resistence. Friday I did the eliptical for 60 minutes and although I was sweaty, I didn't really feel like I had worked that hard. My legs weren't really tired either.

I know there is a theory on working faster vs. harder and probably a theory the other way around too.

How should I go about increasing the difficulty of my workout? Should I increase the resistence, try to just move faster or go for longer period of time?

[avariell]

I would probably try mixing in a different type of cardio... maybe running or power walking (or if you are at the gym, any variety of cardio they offer). In my experience, your body gets used to the same work out pattern, and it is good to confuse it and mix it up regularly. FWIW, my personal trainer swears by this as well...

[misskitty100]

Josie,

That sounds like a good idea. I could do power walking on the treadmill although according to the machines at the gym, I burn waaay more calories on the eliptical. How often do you think would be enough to mix it up? Every other day, once a week??? And unfortunately, I have never been nor will I ever be a runner....:o

[ellery]

Interval training is another option. You can alternate different intensities - for example, 4 minutes of medium intensity and 1 minute of very high intensity. Or you can pyramid it (my personal favorite) - upping the intensity after 60 seconds, in 5 minute (total) intervals. (As in, one minute at level 2, one minute at level 3, and so on). You can do intensity intervals with any type of cardio.

On your elliptical, can you go backwards? You can always alternate going forwards with backwards, using different heights, etc.

[avariell]

Josie,

That sounds like a good idea. I could do power walking on the treadmill although according to the machines at the gym, I burn waaay more calories on the eliptical. How often do you think would be enough to mix it up? Every other day, once a week??? And unfortunately, I have never been nor will I ever be a runner....:o

I personally never do the same work out two days in a row- it is partially to keep me interested and partially to keep my muscles unsuspecting :) Does your gym have different types of ellipticals? A stair mill? I do something like elliptical 1 (AMT) on Monday, ballet class on Tuesday, elliptical 2 (EFX) on Wednesday, Stair Mill/Stair Climber on Thursday, etc.
I change the order all the time based on my mood/energy level. I think the key for me is just not getting stuck in a routine.

[misskitty100]

Ellery: I like the idea of interval training. Yes, they go backwards although I haven't felt coordinated enough to do that for more than 5 seconds.:o

Josie: The gym I go to has all of the machines you mentioned. I haven't tried out the stair climber yet because it looks so tough!:D I will give it a try along with some power walking and see how it goes.

[avariell]

the stair mill totally intimidated me for a long time. Eventually my trainer suggested I get on it for 10 minutes and then do 30 mins of power walking. I did that and worked my way up to 20/20 on each. Now I do about 40 minutes on the stair mill and read a book! (It is actually one of my favorite pieces of cardio now) I never thought I would be able to do that. :)

[misskitty100]

I am so excited I just wanted to report back!

After getting suggestions here, I spoke with my girlfriend who is a workout fanatic plus her DH used to be an engineer for Precor. I asked her what I could do differently to get more from my workout. The first thing she asked me was how many strides per minute I was doing on the elliptical. She said she thought that 150 was about the average goal. I went and checked myself out today and I am super comfortable at about 120! So I set the machine on an interval pre-programed set and tried to get to 150. Honestly, anything above 130 was a challenge - in a good way! I am so excited that I now can work towards getting up to 150! Yay!!

[TKay]

I just saw your post, so I know my reply is late. I wanted to tell you that the elliptical used to be my favorite piece of cardio equipment ever (I have since dropped my gym membership). I was going to mention the pre-programmed intervals the machine offers as an option for you. I also found that periodically changing the incline helped a lot. I didn't like a lot of resistance because I have a pretty big booty and thigh area and tend to build muscle there easily. So I tried to keep high cadence, low resistance.

Good luck. I'm so glad you found a new challenge.