elliptical training or jogging?

Originally Posted by AliceNWondrland

An eleptical trainer is WAY better. You get the exact same workout as jogging if you do it right, but there's no impact on your joints and you also work out your arms and abs at the same time. Jogging is free, though, and that definitely counts for something.

Alice is correct on all points. As well as in her later posts in this thread. Jogging and running is inherently good short-term, bad long-term. I know chiropractors and other "joint doctors" (as I like to call them) who kind of laugh and smile every time they see someone over the age of 30 running or jogging, and when I asked them why, invariably they would say "Well I feel bad for smiling about it, I just marvel at the stupidity of those people. And I'm also sort of smiling because if they keep it up, they're gonna be my patient in a few years." Just like girls who dance all their lives - invariably they develop hip and back problems. My three older sisters danced for years, and all have had problems.

Ellipticals reduce impact and therefore stress, ergo it goes easy on your joints but still works out the muscles in what is usually a more efficient manner.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Mm, Will has some good points here on weight. Carbs are the biggest problem when it comes to people getting fattened up. If you are going to eat carbs, make sure you've eaten them all before 12 noon, 2 PM at the very latest. As he said, limit it to breakfast and after workout. And eat often, because if you give your body what it needs and don't stuff it full of carbs that it doesn't know what to do with, it will have the fuel to burn off what you don't need.

But, that being said, cardio is good in a lot of ways - but not for muscle. It's cardio, it's not weight training. You want to increase your endurance and how far you can go on your next jog (or how much longer on ellipticals) that's fine, but don't expect to build a lot of muscle. You'll burn fat too, I'm sure, but most people seem to make the mistake of thinking that the harder their heart is pounding, the more fat they'll burn. Try going for a moderately fast but steady heart-rate while you work out. It keeps your blood flowing to where it needs to be but doesn't overwhelm your system.

There's nowhere I can't reach.