Bike, Rowing or Outdoor running?

[Chexxxy]

Hi,

Let me tell you my story before I ask my question.

I work in an office 8 hours a day, and the commute consists of 4, 12 minute walks. So I get about 50 minutes of exercise a day.
I used to have a flat stomach, with nearly an 8 pack to show for it, but now all I have is a wall of flab covering it all up.

However, this was when I was 18, doing all kinds of sports and going to the gym. I'm 22 now and it's becoming obvious I dont do much exercise anymore. I just hate leaning over my desk I feel so fat.

Anyway my question is this. Which would be best for me to burn calories and lose the fat from my stomach? I used to love rowing, but is that more an anaerobic exercise? Will it burn off fat?

I wouldn't mind using an indoor bike, but I heard they're not that effective?

Lastly is jogging around the block. This one I'm least keen on as it's not as simple as the other 2 in terms of doing it when I want - having the bike/rower in my bedroom etc.

I've totally changed my diet - I used to eat such junk but I cant get away with it anymore so mostly eat fruit, veg and meat. I occassionaly snack and treat myself but not that often.

Sorry for the huge post, I just wanted a clearer understanding of what would be best for me: Rowing, cycling or running. Please don't say swimming as that's never going to happen! I have dumbbells and press up bars so will probably include them in this workout.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[wil]

There is no one exercise that will specifically burn fat around the stomach. You want to burn fat all over and the way you do that is mostly through your diet AND exericise. The key is burning more calories than you take in.


I used to LOVE rowing when I belonged to a gym. I always felt I got my best aerobic workouts from rowing because you use your entire body. Now I workout at home, so I use a bike and do some heavy bag and jump rope work from time to time.

WHAT exercise you do is a matter of preference. The most important thing is that you DO SOMETHING. And... this is huge... don't forget to include weight training. You'll add muscle which will boost your metabolism and help to burn fat.

At 22 you are still young. Train hard and eat right and you should get your six-pack back.

[tooncesthecat]

Originally Posted by Chexxxy

I used to love rowing, but is that more an anaerobic exercise? Will it burn off fat?

Rowing is an aerobic activity. It will burn fat. In fact, if done properly, it will burn as many calories as running.

Bottom line, get your heart rate up to about 70% of you max HR and keep it there for >20 minutes and you'll burn fat. Here's a list of some activities and the associated cals per hour.

Calories Burned During Exercise

[torofuerte]

Originally Posted by tooncesthecat

Rowing is an aerobic activity. It will burn fat. In fact, if done properly, it will burn as many calories as running.

Bottom line, get your heart rate up to about 70% of you max HR and keep it there for >20 minutes and you'll burn fat. Here's a list of some activities and the associated cals per hour.

Calories Burned During Exercise

^^^ Word. Chexxy, listen to this person's post.

As some point, you will need more than just aerobics, specially if you lack a certain amount of muscle mass (the greater the % of lean mass in your body, the easier it is to burn body fat.) But for starters, high intensity cardio/interval training will serve you well. Get your heart rate up for 20 min+, eat and rest well, and you'll see results.

Do a search on youtube for tabata, HIIT and "high intensity interval training", and in the results, observe those videos where people use indoor bikes, rowers, sprinting, bodyweight exercises, or other forms of indoor cardio equipment.

[Chexxxy]

Cool thanks for the replies guys. I thought this forum was dead!

I've just found out my brother has an un-used rowing machine, so I'll probably give that a go. I'm probably gonna do sit ups, press ups, and arm curls on top of this.

My diets pretty good - although today for lunch I had fries, chicken with cheese and a pint of coke That was just a treat though... I can induldge occassionally... can't I?

So I should be rowing for about 30 mins? Flat out? How many times a week should I be doing it?

Thanks for the help guys - appreciated.

[torofuerte]

1) Indulge as little as possible.

2) Regarding frequency, and in the absence of weight training or illness that you could affect your recovery, I'd recommend you should plow away on the rower almost every day, in addition to push ups, pull ups, and walking lunges.

Regarding #2, I have a 2nd hand 'cardio cruiser' (from "Body By Jake") which I bought at $25 from craiglists (I've retroffitted somewhat with resistance bands to increase the difficulty) - I was looking for a rower or airdyne, but I settled with this.

Anyways, I use a boxing timer, configurable with 2 and 3-minute rounds with 30 and/or 60-second breaks in between. So what I do is I set my timer to 2-minute rounds, 30-second rest, and I set it to anything between 4 and 10 rounds (10 to 25 minutes). I plow away on the cardio cruiser in the 2-minute round, and when the timer rings for the 30 second break, I get off the machine and do either push ups, abdominals, side squats, whatever, non-stop for those 30 seconds. Once the timer rings the 30-second "break" is over, I hop back into the cardio cruiser, repeating the process for every programmed round.

You could do the same with your rower. Row intensely for 2 minutes. Stop, and immediately do something (push ups, pull ups, side lunges, bodyweight squats, ab crunches) for 30 seconds (as many reps as possible), then repeat the same for 10 to 25-30 minutes.

Do this often, and you'll see results

[Chexxxy]

Originally Posted by torofuerte

1) Indulge as little as possible.

2) Regarding frequency, and in the absence of weight training or illness that you could affect your recovery, I'd recommend you should plow away on the rower almost every day, in addition to push ups, pull ups, and walking lunges.

Regarding #2, I have a 2nd hand 'cardio cruiser' (from "Body By Jake") which I bought at $25 from craiglists (I've retroffitted somewhat with resistance bands to increase the difficulty) - I was looking for a rower or airdyne, but I settled with this.

Anyways, I use a boxing timer, configurable with 2 and 3-minute rounds with 30 and/or 60-second breaks in between. So what I do is I set my timer to 2-minute rounds, 30-second rest, and I set it to anything between 4 and 10 rounds (10 to 25 minutes). I plow away on the cardio cruiser in the 2-minute round, and when the timer rings for the 30 second break, I get off the machine and do either push ups, abdominals, side squats, whatever, non-stop for those 30 seconds. Once the timer rings the 30-second "break" is over, I hop back into the cardio cruiser, repeating the process for every programmed round.

You could do the same with your rower. Row intensely for 2 minutes. Stop, and immediately do something (push ups, pull ups, side lunges, bodyweight squats, ab crunches) for 30 seconds (as many reps as possible), then repeat the same for 10 to 25-30 minutes.

Do this often, and you'll see results

The last paragraph is something that I'd probably want to do. My arms would probably fall off at first but oh well. I'm not in bad shape at all - I still have a lot of definition from my teens, it's just covered by a bit of flab now! Not sure I could do this every day though but could probably do it 3 to 4 times a week.

I'm hopefully gonna get the rower in the room on Wednesday

[Chexxxy]

Well I finally got the rower in my room. Sounds bad that it’s taken my over 5 months to sort this out…

I got on it last night. Diabolical! I managed 3 minutes on the rower and could barely do any more. I never thought I was going to be this bad.

What’s worse is that the machine said I burnt a total of 40 calories in 10 minutes. That to me seems pointless. I mixed it up with some sit ups, press ups and bicep curls in between. I lasted about a total of 30 mins. I felt I had had a workout but I didn’t want to overdo it on my first time. I guess I’m just going to have to ease myself into this routine.

If I do this 5 times a week then should I start seeing results? My eating habits are going to improve also.

[Dance4Fun]

only 40 calories?

That seems wrong.....