How hard is hard enough....

Last week I tried out the Elliptical for the first time in several years. The irony is we actually have an elliptical machine in our house that we purchased on a whim after our daughter requested one. I tried it one time right after we got it home, struggled to stay on it for ten minutes and then pretty much ignored it from that point on. But on this day the treadmills were filled at my gym and the recumbent bikes didn't have their own TVs attached, so it seemed like the right time to try it again. After all, I had regularly been working out for the past couple of weeks. I was bound to be able to last longer than ten minutes this time. I stepped on the machine, and began my work-out. Within five minutes, I was already thinking about getting off. How was it that I had increased my times on the treadmill, yet after five minutes on the elliptical, I was already struggling. Was I not working myself hard enough on the treadmill? Was I simply I really that out of shape?

I thought about my blog, and decided I had to at least try and stick it out five more minutes. It would be pretty embarrassing to admit that I could only make it five minutes on this machine, so I pushed myself to keep going. After ten minutes, I started getting into a better rhythm, and even though I was still struggling, I thought to myself, "I can probably go five more minutes." About this point I glanced down at the heart rate monitor. Wow, my heart rate was up to 158. On the treadmill my heart rate stayed in the 115-118 range. I definitely was working harder, but was working harder better ?  I managed to push myself another fifteen minutes, after slowing my pace a little and decreasing my heart rate to the 140 range. I stepped off feeling fairly triumphant, but pondering the question, how hard is hard enough?

On the right hand side of the treadmill machine there is a handy dandy little chart that posts the ideal heart rates for a person based on their sex, their age and the goal they are targeting. According to the chart, a woman my age who's goal is to target a cardiac workout should keep their heart rate at right around 117. If you were targeting fat burn, it recommended keeping your heart rate around 144. I was close enough to both of those targets that I figured I was probably OK, but I was curious now, should I be pushing myself more or was I right on track. I googled ideal heart rates for exercising.  After lots of clicking , skimming and reading, it seemed that the chart on the treadmill was a good guideline to prevent any problems, but in truth there were multiple ways to calculate your ideal heart rate targets and multiple approaches to heart monitor training, and just like my decisions about eating healthier, it was really up to me to decide which approach I felt I could be successful with.

The treadmill is my comfortable work-out. I always step off feeling strong and successful. The elliptical is uncomfortable. I have to push myself to get through thirty minutes. The first ten minutes leaves me feeling weak and uncertain, but when I step off after staying the course, I feel I've truly accomplished something. Last night I threw another  choice in the mix, Spinning. This was another exercise routine where I thought in the first five minutes that I should just give up, but after twenty minutes began to get in a rhythm and after thirty minutes was happy I had not walked away. In the end I guess it's just like everything else, I need to approach my Cardio training from a balanced perspective. So for now, I plan to alternate my walks with the routines I am less comfortable with. By pushing myself beyond my comfort zone once in awhile, I believe I can not only reach my fitness goals a little quicker, but I get the opportunity to challenge myself to be better than even I know I can be.