I've been using a Precor 5.33 elliptical for 14 months. I'm a 52yo male, and my 'routine' has been the Basic Heart Rate program, with 3 min warm-up, 27 min work-out and 3 min cool down.
The guidance seemed much too light, so I pushed it (a lot). I set the incline to 11% for the whole work-out. To keep the warm-up from stopping too soon, I tell it to get the heart rate up to 145. When it switches to the exercise, I keep raising the heart rate target so that I can keep the resistance up. That usually means finishing with a rate in the high 150s or low 160s. A good 'run' winds up using 470 calories, but the machine tells me I'm spending almost no time at the target heart rate.
The Fitness Test today told me I was only 'Moderately' fit. So I went to the Precor website, and checked out their routines. They're all much lighter than what I've been doing. Am I making a mistake by pushing this hard? If I am, am I losing fitness, or just risking personal injury?
The guidance seemed much too light, so I pushed it (a lot). I set the incline to 11% for the whole work-out. To keep the warm-up from stopping too soon, I tell it to get the heart rate up to 145. When it switches to the exercise, I keep raising the heart rate target so that I can keep the resistance up. That usually means finishing with a rate in the high 150s or low 160s. A good 'run' winds up using 470 calories, but the machine tells me I'm spending almost no time at the target heart rate.
The Fitness Test today told me I was only 'Moderately' fit. So I went to the Precor website, and checked out their routines. They're all much lighter than what I've been doing. Am I making a mistake by pushing this hard? If I am, am I losing fitness, or just risking personal injury?