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I'm seeking exercise guidance to both improve my health and reduce/eliminate my "spare tire". Sorry this is a long-ish post. And, if there are other websites you recommend I read, I'm open to all guidance.
Specifically, I'm confused about the so-called "fat burning" heart beat range versus "cardio" and "performance" heart beat ranges.
Unfortunately, walking/jogging/running/treadmill work is painful & hence not realistic for me because of surgical repair of a 4-part leg break in a bad skiing accident about 10 years ago (tibia x2 and fibula x2). I am now the proud owner of titanium rod that goes through the center of my tibia from knee to ankle. This substantially modified the geometry of my lower leg & stance. The end result is that walking/jogging/running/treadmill work is just not practical - these cause quite a bit of pain.
BUT -- several months ago I started on an elliptical machine (the brand in the clubhouse is True, I think) and I can do that successfully. I've built up from 10 mins to as much as 90 mins on the machine. The machine reports I burn from the 800 calorie range to the 1100 calorie range (the most I've achieved is 1300). I suspect the machine is inaccurate, and I've read it probably over-reports by as much as a third. Even so, it gives me a day-to-day comparison.
Me: I'm a 57 year old man, about 5'9.5" tall, and I weigh about 195. I carry my excess weight in my waist and have skinny legs (part of "metabolic syndrome"). When I graduated from high school, I was over 5'10" and weighed 140 (sigh), and 150 when I graduated from college, and 160 after grad school.
My resting heart rate in the morning before I get out of bed is about 70 to 72. On the elliptical machine, my max heart rate is about 176, which is of course higher than the max heart rate predicted by the various on-line calculators.
To support heart health, I want to work out in the cardio range on the elliptical. At the same time, I want to drop weight, which would indicate the so-called "fat burning" range. This notion that the "fat burning" is at a lower level of exertion bothers me -- shouldn't I focus on TOTAL calories burned? By pushing myself hard, I can be in the 130 to 150 BPM range for well over an hour, burning far more total calories. Even with a lower percentage of my total energy expended coming from fat, I would think the total quantity of fat burned would be higher.
Moreover, I can easily push myself beyond the cardio range into what the machine reports as "performance" range of the 150-160 bpm.
Should I really push myself less hard to keep in this "fat burning" range? Should I, for example, try to keep my heart rate down around 110 to 120 but exercise for 2 hrs/day instead of pushing hard for an hour?
Moreover, I've read that adding muscle bulk is a successful tactic in weight loss, as even while resting, muscle mass consumes more calories.
What is the best way to build more muscle mass at my age in light of my spending a lot of time on the elliptical? Should I switch to every-other-day elliptical work and use the non-elliptical days to focus on weight training?
"Specifically, I'm confused about the so-called "fat burning" heart beat range versus "cardio" and "performance" heart beat ranges."
All BS, do not worry about it.
"shouldn't I focus on TOTAL calories burned?"
No, you should focus on calories consumed; you can sit on the sofa and lose body fat.
"I've read that adding muscle bulk is a successful tactic in weight loss, as even while resting, muscle mass consumes more calories."
It is just good to do. More muscle equals a higher caloric maintenance requirement.
"What is the best way to build more muscle mass at my age"
Assuming you have no issues, I say look for a proven strength training routine. I would say starting strength.
The question you should ask is: "My body fat is (fill in the percent here), how do I get to (fill in percent here)"
Instead of looking at weight, you should look at body fat. The first thing to do would be get what your body fat percent is, then craft a diet program from there, as diet is the only thing that is going to cause you to drop body fat.
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