What's everyone doing for Cardio

[gbbw]

Hey Everyone,
I'm just trying to get an idea of what everyone is doing for cardio, so if you want to share answer the following questions..
1. gender
2. age
3. height
4. weight
5. cardio levels/type of cardio
6. how often have you changed the levels
___________________
1. f
2. 26
3. between 5'4 and 5'5
4. 130.6 this morning
5. treadmill...levels 6-10 are 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5
6. i just started BFL June 2, but I'm looking to increase everything by .5 next week

Also...are people using the incline too? I sometimes do for the 10

[arcticmonkey]

I do my cardio outside - I would go bonkers on a treadmill!

[bluexj]

I'm male, 37 5'6'' 171 lbs.

Most of my cardio comes from playing ice hockey and riding a bike. Hockey is always at the rink. The bike is either on the road, off the road on the mountain bike or on the trainer in front of the TV. I occasionally will play raquetball or hit the elliptical. Last year I tried to get back into running(I used to run cross country) but I kept getting serious issues from shin splints.

On the bike, I am usually in a lower intensity fat burning mode, in hockey it's like and extended HIIT workout. I almost always hit close to a level 10 intensity in hockey a few times a game.

[Marc]

1. gender MALE
2. age 26
3. height 6"4
4. weight 233 lbs
5. type of cardio STEPPER or ELLIPTICAL
6. how often have you changed the levels NOT MUCH THE LAST 2 WEEKS (STARTED ON A VERY HIGH LEVEL!)

I try to run 4km once a week and a 3km if i dont have field hockey practise. Try and squeeze in at least 3 of these extra cardio sessions above BFL cardio (can surely not be a bad thing ) In the summer I also love mountain biking for kicks.

blue: shin splints are my achilles heel. All i wish for is to go for a 5k run pain free. I'm hoping that weight loss is the answer to take pressure off my shins! Also orthotic inner soles are helping at this stage.

[statona]

1. gender - Male
2. age - 36
3. height - 5'8
4. weight - 160
5. cardio levels/type of cardio - lots - 6 hours of cycling - 4 hours of running - 3 hours of swimming
6. how often have you changed the levels - levels of cardio - all the time... my training is pretty specific now... but my "challenge"- I changed it whenever I was comfortable... as soon as that occurred - it went up a notch.

[bigthunder]

1. m
2. 43
3. 6'6
4. 413.2 this morning
5. rumbar bike...levels 6-10 are 8-12. I have added a fifth set from 8-14. 26 minutes total.
6. i started BFL April 21st and I'm looking to increase one level every couple of weeks. Next challenge I intend to move to other machines and start using my own body weight.

[Chris]

1. M
2. 29
3. 5'11"
4. 170
5. runner
6. Changes often.. almost every session is different in some way.

[Robsgirl]

1. F
2. 27
3. 5'5.5
4. 225
5. elliptical and bike
6. I go from 5-10 on a scale of 1-20. I hope in 2 weeks to be able to start at 6, then 7 and so on until I'm hitting my high point at 20. Then I'll start using the incline.

[shick]

1. M
2. 34
3. 6'2"
4. 206
5. Treadmill
6. I start at 5.5MPH and go up .5 to 7.5MPH. For my HIIT I do 8MPH and 9MPH. I typically go up .2MPH after I can do the run two times in a row.

[Ziegmeister]

1. M
2. 44 (How did that happen?)
3. 5' 9"
4. 186
5. Elliptical/Airdyne
6. I'm new to the Elliptical, but the Aridyne I increase the workload over the fisrt twenty minutes (from about 2.5 to 4.0) and then do a 5 minute cool down.

Jon

[Rhone]

Male, 30, 5'10, 242.

I walk/jog/run for my cardio.

During intensity levels 5-8 I walk at an increasingly brisk pace, and then for my 9's and 10's I basically run at the hardest/fastest pace I feel like I can keep up for the minute. That gets adjusted as needed, of course... if I'm half-way through the minute and I don't feel like I'm starting to get winded yet, I turn on the afterburners and PUSH PUSH PUSH! My goal is to hit that high point huffing and puffing like crazy.

As I get more fit I'll gradually switch over from walking to jogging at the lower intensity levels... trying to take it gradually, though, as I've had issues with shin splints and pain in my ankles when I've tried a lot of jogging in the past. I definitely prefer the natural exercise over machines in a gym, though.

[jaypunkrawk]

1. Male
2. 26
3. 5'-10"
4. 171
5. Recumbent bike (level 7-12 on a 1-20 bike)
6. Twice

[Dulish]

1. Female
2. 42
3. 5' 3"
4. 142
5. I do HIIT on the step mill and other days I do the Expresso fit bike (where you can race against yourself or other people or the computer.. FUN!!)
6. On the step mill, I warm up for 5 mins at 4, then instead of BFL graduated intervals, I do traditional intervals one minute up at 10, two minutes down at 2 or 3 then back up to 10. This gets my hr up to 175+ which is about 95% and it takes that two mins to get back down to 75% (not for long!). On the bike (I've only done it twice now... my gym just opened a new facility and I'd never seen these bikes before!) I did two of the "beginner" courses for 30 mins each time. Without trying, my hr went up to 90% and stayed there while on the hill portions, and came down to 75 - 85% on the flats (depending on how hard I was trying to pass someone LOL).

My hope is to be able to do one minute intervals by week 6 on the step mill (meaning that my hr will recover within a minute or less) and at that point I will have to start ramping up the high end to get my hr up high enough. The bike I plan to just keep doing beginner courses until I can't get my hr up high enough, then I'll move up to the next level courses and so on.

[peacelilly]

I use the treadmill because I know when to increase the intensity and by how much. vs. swimming, it's hard to gage and if I have to do a level 10 intensity while swimming, I'd probably be drinking some pool water.

[FFNZ]

1. Male
2. 32
3. 6'2"
4. 99 kg
5. Treadmill
6. I'm following the program as strictly as I can - just so I know what can be achieved (and tweak if I decide to continue etc). I do my 20 mins - increasing every min as suggested. Start at 10km then increase by around 1km depending on how I'm feeling. My 10 started at 16km but lately I've been pushing it up to over 18km.

Originally Posted by peacelilly

I use the treadmill because I know when to increase the intensity and by how much.

I'm agree - love the treadmill as I know what I'm doing on it. The other thing I'd try (not yet) would be a spin bike. They're great.

I'd like to try road running/ mountain biking but it's hard keeping track of time.

I'm thinking about creating my own 20 min soundtrack with a beep every minutes and then laying it over the top of what ever I choose.

[winnie]

My cardio changes depending on how my joints are feeling. If they're great, then probably I hit the treadmill. If they're OK, then I hit the elliptical. If they're terrible (like they were today), then I hit the pool. For swimming, I recommend some sort of form that allows you to keep your head above water the whole time, as hitting a 10 swimming can make you want to breathe water.

Today I just treaded water for 20 minutes, altering how vigorously I worked to keep time with the workout schedule. I use a waterproof watch for this (One of the few times when I wear a watch).

[peacelilly]

Originally Posted by FFNZ

I'm thinking about creating my own 20 min soundtrack with a beep every minutes and then laying it over the top of what ever I choose.

That's a great idea! Now if I could figure out how to do that!

[peacelilly]

Originally Posted by winnie

For swimming, I recommend some sort of form that allows you to keep your head above water the whole time, as hitting a 10 swimming can make you want to breathe water.

That's true. I know if I reach my 10, there's no way I can do the freestyle.