eliptical vs. treadmill workout

[Gail Angellis]

I use Cathe's videos frequently and also enjoy my new eliptical machine. I had to taper off my treadmill because I developed severe bunions and can no longer run for great lengths of time. My eliptical machine tells me I'm burning about 1100 calories in about 52 minutes. Does that seem right? I sweat like a a pig and it feels intense, but 1100 seems awfully high. I keep the tension at about 5-6 and the incline at about 30%, so it's more like a stair climber. The odd thing is, I've been doing this workout about 5 times a week, (usually for only about 40 minutes)and have noticed that I seem to be GAINING weight. And it ain't muscle. I'm 42, and recently sold my Jazzercise Center, where I was teaching about 7 classes a week. I'm beginning to wonder if the caloric information is accurate on the machine (NordicTrac) and also wondering if I should go back to working out twice a day to keep the weight off. Anyone have any input?

 

[futurefitnessdyanmo]

Unfortunately, I think your elliptical trainer is way off - if it wasn't, and people could really burn that many calories in an hour, it would be the hottest fitness trend around! I have read in several places about the problem of fitness equipment grossly overestimating the amount of calories burned in an hour - I have never read of anything that could burn close to 1100, even the most intense forms of exercise are between 600-700 calories an hour. And I have had the same personal experience you did, in that I used to rely a lot on gym equipment estimates of caloric burn, and ended up gaining a bit because I tailored my eating around this misinformation. I'll be curious what others say, but I'd definitely assume you're burning about half of what your machine says...

 

[tvan_horn]

Gail,

I agree that your elliptical trainer is not accurate. According to fitsource.com, an average 150 lb person will burn approximately 648 calories per hour on an elliptical trainer.

My treadmill has a calorie counter on it and no matter how much I would like to think it is accurate, I know in the back of my mind that it overestimates.

I usually try to compare various workouts to running to try to deterime how many calories I might have burned. To burn 1100 calories, I would have to run 10 - 11 MILES at 7 MPH. That would take me nearly 90 minutes! I certainly couldn't do this hard of a workout on multiple days of the week.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

TV

 

[desertbriez]

my heart rate monitor.. which is set to my height, weight, age.. shows about 1/4 of what the elliptical shows.. i was told mine (nodictrack 990) was set to a male.. either 150 or 180 pounds.. forget which..


i wish they would just leave them off the machines since they are so inaccurate!

 

[SheRa329]

This is off the subject of calorie burning, but I also have bunions on my feet, which I inherited from my mother's side of the family. They are getting worse as I get older(I'm 24 now) and they really ache at night while I'm trying to sleep, especially after cardio workouts. My mom had a surgery to correct hers a few years ago, and I was thinking about having it done as well. Have you or any others had this surgery? If so, did it really help?

 

[Gail Angellis]

Bunions are horrible, aren't they? I, too, got them from my mother's side but they became worse when I took up ballet at 39 and continued running. That's why I bought the eliptical. No pressure on my joints in my feet. I can't walk for long distances and can't wear heels at all. My doc says surgery is the only way to go for me but I'll be out for 6-8 weeks, which I can't seem to find time to do. I'm an actor on top of everything else and the thought of not being able to move or dance scares the &^%* out of me. Anyone else had this trouble? Any solutions?

 

[rmrmr]

Yep, I had a bunion. Actually had 2 bunionectomies on the same foot, 13 years apart. The second time they actually put a few pins so i should not have this problem again, at least on my right foot anyway. Now I am having pain on my left foot but my Doctor said it does not require surgery at this point, but will sometime in the future. From the surgery, I was out 1 week from work, and about 4 weeks from stepping, aerobics etcc. I still did upper body wt training every other day and started back with floor cardio only. I remember using kp&c and cardio kicks alot, with lower intensity of course. I have no pain and full flexibility on my right foot so i would recommend the surgery.