Bike vs Eliptical

[StoneGRMI]

I've always rode the bike only because I used to do my cardio at home and thats all I had. Recently I've been using the Eliptical machines at the gym and I'm sweating A LOT more and love it. I'm using the same heart monitor on my wrist and the heart rate is staying in the same zone so why am I sweating so much more? I'm not complaining, I love it like I said but it just seems strange to me...

[primetime1]

the elipt also works your arms focusing on a whole body cardio session and i would think burns more calories. ive done the cross trainer machine for a while and liked it. i also ride but since it doesnt involve moving your arms i dont think you will burn as many calories, riding the bike is great for buildin endurance for long mt bike rides though so i when i do cardio its eihter one of those two.. or hittin the jump rope for a lil while.

[biglouie250]

i dont think that heart rate neccesarily correlates to you sweating..... many things can affect how you sweat. especially the environment and humidity in the room. on a muggy NY summer morning if i look outside ill start to sweat lol. this morning i rode my mountain bike for 45 minutes pretty intensly and i barely broke a sweat because it wasnt humid and there was a nice breeze.

[Venum]

where on Long Island are you biglouie?

[ascendant]

I've always rode the bike only because I used to do my cardio at home and thats all I had. Recently I've been using the Eliptical machines at the gym and I'm sweating A LOT more and love it. I'm using the same heart monitor on my wrist and the heart rate is staying in the same zone so why am I sweating so much more? I'm not complaining, I love it like I said but it just seems strange to me...

like others have said, you may be taking for granted the gym is hotter than your home where you used to do cardio. another thing to take into account was that if your body was used to doing the bike all the time, it became more efficient at it. giving it a new stimulus will make you burn far more calories.

i used to do most my cardio by going for a jog outside, and every so often would do a stairclimber. now, though i would keep my hr the same while doing both, i would sweat far more on the stair-climber, despite the fact that outside here in FL it's far hotter than where the indoor climber was. it was just because my body wasn't used to the climber that made me sweat more, and i'm sure burn more calories as well.

just because your heart is beating at the same rate as before does not mean it's burning the same amount of calories. even though an excercise may be making you exert yourself more because you're not used to it (hence sweating more), you may still only need the same amount of blood to those muscles, so your hr will not reflect that extra excertion in some cases, but the amount of calories you burn will definitely go up.

[Undecided09]

I hate to calorie count, as a matter of fact its stupid and very misleading... but as long as I burn 300 calories in 30 min, 10 cals a min is the goal, I am happy, that is my measuring stick...P.S. I ride the bike to acheive that...

[juicepig]

do both man.. both are really good exercises