BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Exercise running vs. walking vs. cardio machines

Tell us what you think! Do you prefer running, walking, cardio machines or all the above.

I slaved away on cardio machines from the age of 20 all the way until I was 33 so I was pretty burned out on machine cardio a while back.

A friend got me into trail running, sprinting, hiking, and jumping rope and my cardio has really evolved since then.

I rarely use machines for any type of exercise and I try to make all my cardio workouts as fun as possible. Relay races or obstacles courses with my kids, walking and sprinting at the park, plyometric or jump rope or martial arts dvd's and am going to start hooping soon. Article on that coming up.

What's your favorite cardio activity or way to burn calories?

I bought myself an expensive elliptical several years ago. I really enjoy being able to watch tv and take my mind off my excercise. I live in a swampy/tropical climate where it is often either rainy or unbearably hot, so outdoor excercise is a rare luxury. Although I've mostly used the elliptical regularly, (3 or 4 days a week for 35min to 1hour)doing power yoga on alternating days, I fell off the excercise wagon for a few months recently. When I finally had my energy up again I tried to get back into my yoga and found myself too out of shape to do the routine! I decided to work smarter, not harder and got my spouse to do weight lifting with me in the evenings. Instead of losing weight I got HUGE! Although it was nice to be stronger, it is an extremely unflattering look. Desperate to lose muscle, I've begun jogging on my elliptical using the pre-programmed HIIT with the lowest amounts of resistance (it takes the resistance up less frequently and not quite so high as the other programs) for two hours a day mon-thurs and most saturdays. It is grueling, but I'm getting my money's worth out of my netflix account! Alas, the weight loss has been insubstantial...

I guess I'd have to chose all of the above! I love running however where I live is extremely hilly and I find walking is most suitable for the terrain. I also love Spinning classes and do 2 or 3 of these a week. Cardio equipment is great too and I use various machines when I'm travelling, depending on what the hotel gym has. I think I like the variety of different types of exercise too. Like vespertine I also love doing Power Yoga and try to do at least 2 sessions a week. BTW it sounds like you're really getting back into your exercising vespertine - good for you and I'm sure the weight loss will come soon with the amount you are doing :)