by Jason Karp
Date Released : 17 Jun 2010
Click here to comment on this article

Introduction

Being a lifelong runner and coach, people think I’m biased when I say that running is the best aerobic exercise.  Well, they’re right.  I am biased.  But that’s only because running is the best aerobic exercise.  So, I’m going to write the conclusion of this article first.  If your clients were to choose one aerobic exercise to do or choose one piece of cardio equipment to use for the rest of their lives, that exercise should be running and that piece of cardio equipment should be the treadmill.  As I write this, I can hear the comebacks: “My client doesn’t like running.”  “Running is boring.”  “Running is too stressful for my joints.”  Acknowledging these issues and accepting that the best exercise or piece of cardio equipment may ultimately be the one that is enjoyable enough that your clients come back to do it over and over again, running is the single best exercise your clients can do.  Now let’s take a step back and see why.

Caloric Expenditure and Physiological Markers of Intensity

The first consideration when choosing cardio equipment that will allow your clients to maximize caloric expenditure is the amount of muscle mass that the equipment uses.  Typically, the more muscle engaged in the activity, the more calories your clients will burn, unless the activity is complex or uses both arms and legs, in which case people may choose a lower intensity owing to the increased perception of effort.⁵  Your clients burn approximately five calories for every liter of oxygen consumed (which varies slightly depending on how much fat and carbohydrates are used).  Using more muscle mass during exercise also increases energy expenditure after exercise, as the post-exercise metabolic rate (as measured by the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) has been found to be significantly greater and take longer to return to resting values following lower body exercise (stationary cycling) than following upper body exercise (arm cranking) performed at the same relative intensity.⁶
 
Weight Bearing Activities

Weight-bearing activities are associated with a significantly greater caloric expenditure than non-weight-bearing activities,⁵ even when the two types of exercise are performed at the same level of intensity.¹  Among weight-bearing activities, running burns more calories than most everything else, being equaled only by cross-country skiing and sports that require a lot of running, like soccer, squash, handball, and racquetball.^2,9  However, while these other activities use lots of muscles and burn a high level of calories, they also require a high degree of skill, which limits your clients’ abilities to perform the activities for long enough or at a high enough intensity to fully realize the aerobic development or energy expenditure benefits.  By contrast, running requires little skill, so people are limited only by their fitness level.
      
Elliptical Trainers

A few studies have compared energy expenditure between different modes of exercise.  Mier and Feito⁷ compared energy expenditure on the elliptical trainer between combined arm and leg exercise (using arm poles) and leg-only exercise (not using arm poles).  They also measured the effects of stride rate and resistance on energy expenditure at two stride rates (110 and 134 strides per minute) and three resistance settings (2, 5, and 8).  When using the arm poles, oxygen consumption, ventilation, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were all significantly greater than during leg-only exercise.  Only heart rate (HR) was similar between combined arm and leg exercise and leg-only exercise.  As expected, increases in both stride rate and resistance increased oxygen consumption, ventilation, RPE, and HR, with the greatest effect on ventilation and HR occurring as resistance increased from level 5 to 8.

Stationary Bikes vs. The Rowing Machine

Hagerman et al.⁴ compared metabolic and cardiorespiratory responses in 60 men and 47 women aged 20 to 74 years at similar incremental power outputs during exercise on a rowing machine and stationary bike.  Both men and women were able to produce a higher average maximal power output during cycling than during rowing (207 vs. 195 Watts for men and 135 vs. 126 Watts for women).  However, despite these higher cycling power outputs, ventilation, oxygen consumption, and HR were all significantly higher during rowing than during cycling at all similar power outputs including maximum power output.
 
Treadmill Compared

Comparing the rates of energy expenditure at RPE values of 11 (fairly light), 13 (somewhat hard), and 15 (hard) on the Borg scale of 6 to 20 between six indoor exercise machines—Airdyne, cross-country skiing simulator, stationary bike, rowing machine, stair stepper, and treadmill—Zeni et al.¹¹ found that the treadmill induced a significantly higher rate of energy expenditure at each RPE compared to all of the other exercise equipment.  Among the other equipment, the cross-country skiing simulator, rowing machine, and stair stepper induced significantly higher rates of energy expenditure than the Airdyne and stationary bike.  The highest HR occurred on the treadmill and the stair stepper, and blood lactate concentration (another marker of exercise intensity) was highest on the stair stepper and rowing machine.  The authors concluded that the treadmill is the optimal indoor exercise machine for enhancing energy expenditure when perceived exertion is used to establish exercise intensity.  A second study by the same researchers¹² using the same six pieces of exercise equipment also showed that, for a given RPE, the treadmill induces significantly higher HRs compared to exercise on the stationary bike and rowing machine, while cycling induces the lowest HR.  The relationships of blood lactate concentration with RPE were similar among exercise modes except for the cross-country skiing simulator, which induced a lower blood lactate concentration for a given RPE, probably due to the high degree of skill of this exercise, which makes it feel more difficult than what physiological markers would suggest.  Using the same RPEs of 11, 13, and 15, Moyna et al.⁸ found that men had the highest energy expenditure at each RPE on the treadmill and cross-country skiing simulator and women had the highest energy expenditure on the treadmill, skiing simulator, and rowing machine.  For both men and women, energy expenditure at all RPEs was lowest on the aerobic rider and stationary bike.  Using an RPE of 14, Thomas et al.¹⁰ also found that oxygen consumption was significantly higher during treadmill running than during stationary skiing, shuffle skiing, stair stepping, stationary cycling, and stationary rowing.

Greatest Oxygen Consumption and Caloric Expenditure

Allowing subjects to select their own exercise intensity, as people normally do in the gym, Kravitz et al.⁵ compared oxygen consumption during treadmill running, stationary cycling, cross-country skiing on a NordicTrack, and aerobic riding on a HealthRider.  Treadmill running produced the greatest total oxygen consumption and caloric expenditure, followed by cross-country skiing, stationary cycling, and aerobic riding, despite similar RPEs between exercise modes.  Heart rate was similar during treadmill running and cross-country skiing, but was lower during cycling and aerobic riding.  The authors suggest that individuals who can perform weight-bearing exercise will self-select a higher exercise intensity on the treadmill, thus providing themselves with a greater cardiovascular training stimulus and expending more calories compared to other exercise equipment.  Given the well-known fact that treadmill running elicits a higher maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) than cycling in non-specifically-trained people,¹⁰ exercising at the same relative intensity (% VO2max) for the two modes of exercise represents a greater oxygen consumption on the treadmill than on the bike and therefore is a greater calorie-burning workout.
  
Weight-Bearing Builds Bones

Weight-bearing exercise is also good for bones.  Athletes who participate in sports involving running and jumping—soccer, running, basketball, and volleyball—have greater bone mineral density compared to non-active people and even compared to athletes in non-impact sports, such as swimming, cycling, cross-country skiing, and rowing.  However, along with the benefit to bones comes the greater risk of injury to them, as weight-bearing exercise is more likely to incur bone injuries, such as shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome) and stress fractures.  The major benefit of non-weight-bearing exercises like cycling and swimming is less trauma to the muscles and joints, which allows participants to exercise for longer periods of time and at higher levels of intensity.  However, while many people complain that running is hard on their knees, running does not increase the risk of joint injury or osteoarthritis for healthy people, as there is no greater incidence of joint degeneration in people who run compared to people who don’t run.  Indeed, running may even have a protective effect against joint degeneration.³  That there was an evolutionary advantage for humans to be good runners makes the activity’s risk to knee health seem unlikely.

Conclusion

Taking together the research on caloric expenditure and the amount of skill needed to acquire a cardiovascular and caloric-burning benefit, the treadmill would have to be considered the best piece of cardio equipment, followed by the cross-country skiing machine (e.g., NordicTrack), rowing machine, stair stepper, and stationary bike.  So, next time one of your clients asks which piece of cardio equipment is best, tell him or her to choose equipment that uses a lot of muscle mass, is weight-bearing, and has a low skill level so he or she can get more out of the activity.  And, if they choose the treadmill, they'll not only lose weight and become fit, they may even become as biased as I am.

References

1. American College of Sports Medicine. Current comments: Report on energy expenditure in different modes of exercise.
2. Brooks, G.A., T.D. Fahey, T.P. White, and K.M Baldwin. Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Applications. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 2000.
3. Cymet, T.C. and V. Sinkov. Does long-distance running cause osteoarthritis? Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 106(6): 342-345, 2006.
4. Hagerman, F.C., R.A. Lawrence, and M.C. Mansfield. A comparison of energy expenditure during rowing and cycling ergometry. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 20(5): 479-488, 1988.
5. Kravitz, L., R.A. Robergs, V.H. Heyward, D.R. Wagner, and K. Powers. Exercise mode and gender comparisons of energy expenditure at self-selected intensities. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 29(8): 1028-1035, 1997.
6. Lyons, S., M. Richardson, P. Bishop, J. Smith, H. Heath, and J. Giesen. Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption in untrained men following exercise of equal energy expenditure: comparisons of upper and lower body exercise. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 9(6): 889-894, 2007.
7. Mier, C.M. and Y. Feito. Metabolic cost of stride rate, resistance, and combined use of arms and legs on the elliptical trainer. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 77(4): 507-513, 2006.
8. Moyna, N.M., R.J. Robertson, C.L. Meckes, J.A. Peoples, N.B. Millich, and P.D. Thompson. Intermodal comparison of energy expenditure at exercise intensities corresponding to the perceptual preference range. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 33(8): 1404-410, 2001.
9. Plowman, S.A. and D.L. Smith. Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness, and Performance. San Francisco, CA: Benjamin Cummings, 2003.
10. Robergs, R.A. and S.O. Roberts. Exercise Physiology: Exercise, Performance, and Clinical Applications. Boston, MA: Mosby, 1997.
11. Thomas, T.R., G. Ziogas, T. Smith, Q. Zhang, and B.R. Londeree. Physiological and perceived exertion responses to six modes of submaximal exercise. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 66(33): 239-246, 1995.
12. Zeni, A.I., M.D. Hoffman, and P.S. Clifford. Energy expenditure with indoor exercise machines. Journal of the American Medical Association 275(18): 1424-1427, 1996a.
13. Zeni, A.I., M.D. Hoffman, and P.S. Clifford. Relationships among heart rate, lactate concentration, and perceived effort for different types of rhythmic exercise in women. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 77(3): 237-241, 1996b.

#1
Not all fructose are alike.  Free fructose in the form of syrup or crystalline may be the same thing as the fructose in fruit, but the fructose in fruit must be released from the fruit in order to be metabolized. Syrup and crystalline fructose enters the bloodstream immediately, forcing bloodsugar to rise

#2
Clear sodas are not calorie free and diet sodas do not "burn fat". This subconscious assumption about sodas is pure wishful thinking.

#3
Just because it's "healthy" or "organic" or "natural" does not mean it will cause you lose weight. Fat or overall body weight has nothing to do with the quality of the food you eat. You can still get fat on these types of foods if you consume too many calories of it.  Olive oil is healthy.... but if you downed a whole bottle of it, do you honestly think it's going to make you lose weight?

The F. I. T. T.

Principle of Cardio

By Trainer Jo (Josephine Dalton cPT~ HFI)

www.TrainerJo.com 702-885-2812

Frequency          How often do you do it?

Intensity            How hard do you do it?

Time                  How long do you do it?

Type                  What type are you doing?

In order to maximize the efficiency of your

Cardio workout, these principles MUST be addressed.

Add an extra session per week !
Step up the intensity !

Increase your time an additional 10 minutes !

Change machine type !

These are very basic changes.
if you find this isn’t working for you,

Your cardio is not your problem
Could be your diet?  Could be your metabolism?

Could be you are not on an efficient training program.

Are you even on a program?

If not, consider a trainer!

GOAL SETTING FOR FITNESS & WEIGHT LOSS

One big mistake fitness inductees make is neglecting to set goals and design a strategy to meet that or those goals. You hear it every January when people make their New Years resolutions; "I want to lose weight" or "get back into shape". These goals are great and I applaud anyone and everyone who desires to take on exercise and a healthy lifestyle to better their bodies and healths.  But such a resolution is much too general and not one bit precise. What is one's definition of "in shape"?  How much weight are talking about? Why do you want to attain this goal?

I really enjoy being a personal trainer in Las Vegas, because when I do my consultations on new clients, they always tell me "I want to get down to a size 3", or I want to have a 6-pack. Unlike back in Iowa where they were too afraid to admit it nor give me a definite goal. It was always "awww, I just want to get back into shape so I can feel healthy again".  WTF?  No wonder Las Vegas women are so much better looking in little black dresses and why my job as a trainer is so much more fulfilling!.  Size 4? No problem... that looks like about 20 lbs of fat loos to me. I think we can do that in less than 6 months if you stick with me and do exactly what I tell you!

To sum it all up; successful weight loss can be achieved if you take 5 important factors into consideration when you layout your plan of action.

CHAPTER 1

First off, what is your goal precisely.
Second, determine "when" you want to reach this goal. Set a date!
Third, determine if this goal is achievable within your time frame.
Fourth; ask yourself if this goal is really what you want and for the reasons you have determined.

If so, procede to Chapter 2

CHAPTER 1

DIET
I know the term "diet" has a negative connotation. So for the sake of this blog entry, please think of diet a shortened name for your eating strategy.

It is pertinent that you determine your caloric needs in order to successfully lose weight or gain muscle. If you eat too many, you will gain fat. If you eat too few, you risk lowering your metabolism which will slow or prevent you from progressing. And for many, eating too few calories can still cause you to gain weight ! ! !

EXERCISE
For most people, changing your diet is enough to achieve some significant fat loss. But for most people, it is not enough to reach their actual goals. The reason why is because diet can only take you so far.  After a while, your body weight will drop and you will have to lower your caloric intake to keep losing weight, or you will "plateau". In order to break your plateau, you must again change your caloric intake unless you are way too low.

Your best bet is to let exercise pick up the slack, so you don't have to go too low in calories. Also, proper resitence training can build muscle whch i return raises your metabolism so you burn more calories overall.

If you start a program with both exercise and diet, by the time you hit a major plateau, all you might have to do is change exercise modes.

Design your workout programs to include both resistance, cardio and flexibility training. You want your resistance training program to hit every major body part at least once a week, with at least 1 day of rest before you hit it again.  Include at least 3 days of cardio  a week. You can opt for 1 hour sessions at a moderate intensity, or even 20 minutes of high intensity. Both  work well against fat.

Add flexibility training to your program to counteract the shortening effects of both resistance training and cardio training. It is also a  great way to cool down after an intense training session.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES
While incorporating exercise into your program is crucial, it only accounts for the time you are actually exercising. If that were only 1 hour a day, you still have 23 other hours in your day to take advantage of. There are countless ways to burn a few extra calories here and there. And it might seem those few calories are no big deal, but accumulated over a few month period, they add up.

You can make simple changes like taking the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator.  Consider a therapy ball as your chair instead of your regular office chair. The ball forces you to sit upright and not slouch, and that alone will improve your posture and burn a few extra calories. Get up and walk around as often as possible, park further from your destination. 

MINDSET

Most people forget that their heads are attached to their bodies, and in that head is a brain and its mind.  Without the mind, the person cannot exist. If your mind is not in the game, the body will follow.

- Always keep your goals in mind. Remind yourself of them often.
- Think positive thoughts.
- Find ways to distract you from anything that might hold you back from your goals.
- Do not think about the process of losing weight; think of the goal.
- Don't get down on yourself because of one mistake; get your mind straight, and back on track immediately. Not tomorrow. Not next week or next month. But immediately.

ENVIRONMENT
Know your envirnoment; your refridgerator, pantry, family members, etc. Anything and everything that will help you to your goal. As well as removing those things from your environment that will hinder you.

A big sabotager can very well be your friends. If they do not understand you and your goals, or respect them, they may try to subconsciously try to sabotage you. it's easy to spot. They say things like "but you don't need to lose weight, you look fine the way you are". Or they will eat McDonald's for lunch right in front of you, while you try to chow down a chicken salad with no dressing and a bottled water.   It is their natural drive to keep you 'just like them'.  Humans by nature, don't like things that are different. Thats why their are wars between races, cultures, religions, etc.  Your best bet is to let them know this is what you want and to not involve their opinions unless it is supportive of your goal ! !

I hope this helps you to understand how important planning is in successful fitness goal attainment!  Now get your butt moving and start planning your program ! !

HINTS TO LOSE FAT, TONE MUSCLES & INCREASE METABOLISM from your trainer

-  Focus on behavior change/Habits versus actual results. Results will come
Think of the process as a ball rolling uphill with the top of the hill being your goal.  once you start, the ball starts to roll upwards. If you quit, the ball comes to a stop, then starts to roll backwards.

-  strength train all body parts once a week. Cardio 5-6 times a week !

-  try different variations of sets, reps & intensities

o   Examples

§  3 sets     25 reps    intensities of 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 30 seconds rest.

§  3 sets     12 reps    Intensity of 4.5   with 90 seconds rest.

§  4 sets     20 rep       Intensity 3.5-4 with 45 seconds rest.

-  Double your cardio.  30 minutes of moderate Intensity cardio first thing in the morning & another more intense 30 minute cardio session later in the day.

o   moderate Intensity= a brisk walk, or any other mode where you can carry on a conversation without gasping for breath until the end of a sentence.

o   more intense = 75-85% of your heart rate reserve (see trainer for this number)

-  Shoot to eat 5 meals a day, with no more than 4 hours between meals

-  drink at least 1 gallon of water a day

-  never ever skip breakfast ! !

-  eat all the cruciferous or green vegetables you want. try to eat at least 3 servings a day.

-  plan & prepare meals ahead of time. Have shakes or bars at hand in case you can’t get to a meal in time or you are somewhere where you can’t make a meal (like in a car in traffic)

-  cheat meals are expected….. after all, you are a human; a normal person.  not a bodybuilder getting ready for a contest. DO NOT intend to eat mindlessly; this can lead to overeating and consuming calories you already burned. And you may end up feeling so guilty afterwards that you give up. instead, eat whatever foods you want but watch your proportions.  Try to adhere to your Macros. 

- avoid all saturated & trans-fats.  choose fat choices such as olive oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, nuts, avocados & non-animal fats. keep your fat intake 10-205 of your total caloric intake

-  1 lb of fat = 3500 calories yet expends only 1 calorie a day when body is at rest… BUT… 1lb of muscle expends 30-70 calories a day at rest and takes up 1/3 of the space.

-  Ladies, please don’t fear lifting heavy to build or harden your muscles. you will not bulk up like a bodybuilder. Bodybuilders spend hours and hours in the gym, eat a diet specifically for building muscle, and they also take a lot of substances (some illegal) to build muscle.  It’s a full time job.  If it were that easy to build muscle, they wouldn’t have to spend all day obssessed with it.

Proteins

• Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
• Tuna (Canned, water packed)
• Seafoods
• Extra Lean Ground Beef or Ground Round (92-96%)
• Protein Powder  (your trainer’s suggestion)
• Egg Whites or Eggs
• Eggwhites International
• Lean Steaks or Roast  (top round, top sirloin, London broil, stew meat, NY strip, Ribeye, flank, eye of round)
• Ground turkey, Turkey Breast Slices or cutlets (fresh meat, not deli cuts)

Complex Carbs

• Oatmeal (Old Fashioned)
• Irish/Steel cut oatmeal
• Beans (pinto, black, kidney)
• Oat Bran bread or Cereal
• Farina (Cream of Wheat or MaltOMeal)
• 9/Multigrain Hot Cereal or breast
• Rice (white, jasmine, basmati, Arborio, wild)
• Potatoes (red, baking, new)
• Pita bread
• Whole wheat English Muffins
• ______________________________
• ______________________________

Veggie Carbs

• Green Leafy Lettuce (Green Leaf, Red, Leaf, Romaine)
• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• String Beans
• Spinach
• Bell Peppers
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Green or Red Pepper
• Onions
• Garlic
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Squash
• Jicama
  Fruits

• Apples
• Pears
• Oranges
• Cherries
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Kiwi
• Blueberries
• Lemons or Limes
• Raisins

Healthy Fats

• Natural Peanut Butter
• Any natural nut butter
• Olive Oil
• Udo’s Oil
• Nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts)
• 1 almonds = 7 cal (1/2 g fat)
• ½ walnut =
• Flaxseed Oil

Dairy

• Non-fat cottage cheese
• Non-Fat Milk 
• Almond Breeze Milk
• Fat Free Greek yogurt

Condiments & Misc.

• Fat Free Mayonnaise
• Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce
• Reduced Sodium Teriyaki Sauce
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Salsa
• Chili powder
• Mrs. Dash
• Steak Sauce
• Sugar Free Maple Syrup
• Chili Paste
• Mustard
• Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc
• Low Sodium beef or chicken broth
• Plain or reduced sodium tomatoes sauce, puree, paste)

Test test