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It's true that Phelps will have excellent economy of movement that a novice won't. But additionally, he will also have greater duration and intensity and muscle mass. Which is partially why he eats like a powerlifter.
I agree, 500 a day is attainable. 1000 a day is kind of nuts though.
You're right that Phelps has extraordinary fitness, which allowed him to train at unbelievable exertion levels for 4-5 hours per day. Elite swimmers like him often swim 70,000 meters per week. And it takes an extraordinary amount of fuel to power those workouts.
You said it yourself, bucko, that person will burn 2000 calories just living. They're not burning all that much more, relatively speaking, by working out and even if they keep increasing the resistance and/or the speed, you'll eventually hit some cap where the diminishing returns requires you to start working out longer. I mean, I'm just a normal human but maybe you're able to set the resistance level on the elliptical to 25 and maintain a stride rate of 500 per minute?
The typical gym cycle is person does cardio for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, quits gym because they look the same. Or people figure out that they have more important things to do will have to make do with other means that are far more efficient such as focusing on diet primarily and taking up a regimen of weight training coupled with cardio training
The article you quote so much of contains one big error. It suggests that the body will rob muscle tissue to fuel low intensity steady state exercise. Although the article was written by someone with MD after their name, that is counter to the very well understood concepts of energy pathways. The body is remarkably efficient at choosing where to get fuel to make muscles do their work. It saves the most valuable and limited sources (such as ATP and glycogen) for when it truly needs them. So it will use fat and carbohydrates if it those sources can supply energy fast enough to get the job done. The body won't use muscle tissue until there is no choice. That's what happens to endurance athletes when they run out of fuel.
No one using a fitness machine will ever reach a point where 10 hours of exercise burns 1000 calories unless they choose to just stand on the pedals.
I agree that food has enormous calorie content and it is ridiculously easy to erase the calories burned by exercise with eating. Sugar sodas, candy, lattes, etc. are silly ways to take in calories. You can get 500 calories it seems just by looking at food.
No, you won't burn a "boatload of calories" on the Elliptical unless you're relying on their ridiculously inflated calorie counter.
I use the elliptical as a low impact alternative to running on my "rest" days from running. I do an intense, very fast workout at the highest resistance level for 50 minutes. I am female, 5'9 and about 136 pounds. The machine allows me to input my age, gender and weight and still inanely inflates the calories to 810.
That's just insanely inflated!!! I always write down that I burn 400 calories in 50 minutes and believe me, I am not leaning on the handlebars and not slacking it. I run 60 miles a week and am in excellent shape, so I'm able to go hard and fast on the ET.
So no...nobody is burning a boatload of calories on the ET unless you weigh a lot or stay on it for 200 or more minutes.
Absolutely untrue. I am able to burn over 900 calories per hour on the elliptical, according to my polar hr monitor. I weigh 165 lbs. It's all about intensity. It is entirely possible to burn 'a boatload' of calories on an elliptical. -75 lbs. later, I am living proof.
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