are cross trainers as effective as running?

[onceuponavino]

Hi everyone

So I have about 15-20lbs to shift. Since I was very young I have walked inwards (my feet sort of roll in.) It's something that should have been corrected as a child but I think my parents must have just not picked up on it! I am now 26 and in my late teens I got really into running but after about a year I suddenly started getting the most awful shin splints because of the way my feet roll in. A few months later I collapsed in the middle of a run with a stress fracture. Ever since then (and even with orthotics) I struggle to get through anything more than 20 minutes of running without feeling a little pain.

So are crosstrainers as effective for weightloss as running? For some reason I never really think they are but I'm not sure what exactly makes me think this! I suppose I don't feel like my heartrate goes up as much but perhaps I just need to put it on a harder setting.

Thanks in advance for any input :) oh and I would probably aim for 45mins-1hour about 4 times a week

IMO no. There is no way I could do 6 miles on a x trainer. Id die of boredom. As cardio for a while fair enough.

Thanks Lava. I have managed to keep going for n hour a few times (as long as I have decent music!) but I'm just wondering if in terms of fat loss its as effective?

There is a thread in chat at the moment about exercise not helping with weight loss, and news articles today saying the same thing, so weight loss is down to what you eat.
Exercise is very important though.
I used a cross trainer as running hurt my knees, it helped to up my fitness levels.
I used to watch tv whilst I did it though or as Lavazza said, I'd have died of boredom!

Silver I read articles like that often but part of me is still baffled by it.. I mean I know so many people who have lost weight just by taking up running or something, and have kept their diet pretty much the same. Nearly all of the runners/gym fanatitcs I know are slim! So it's a bit mind boggling.

if you burn more than you eat you will have to use up stored fat, so you can either eat less or burn more, or both.
Exercise means that you burn more, but you need to do a fair bit of it in order to burn much, eg an hours running is in the region of 600 - 800 calories, there is some post exercise increased calorie burn afaik.

But anyway, if I spent 30 mins on the cross trainer with an average heart rate of say 140 bpm, I would expect to use up the same amount of energy as I would if I ran for the same length of time with the same average heart rate

thanks suzannecanthecan :) I try and keep my heart rate at 165-170. I WISH I could run outside it jsut really isn't an option for me :( cross trainer, good tv and good music will have to suffice!

I am a runner, but also use the cross trainer at my gym on my non-running days as a form of low impact cardio.

I use a Percor Crossramp trainer, and it allows you to adjust the incline as well as the resistance.

I make sure I have resistance and incline set so it's sufficiently challenging, and after 45-60 minutes of intervals I am absolutely dripping and thoroughly worked out!

Also, using your arms as well as your legs increases the challenge.

It's like anything - work hard at it and you'll benefit, but if you just tootle along with minimal resistance (which results in the machine doing a lot of the work for you) then you probably won't get as much out of it as you could do.

Most of all, do what you enjoy and will stick to!

I like the cross trainer, esp the type where you can vary the stride, and the 'right' music is very helpful :)

It helped me a lot, along with swimming and walking. I can't run a lot due to mild hypwrmobility in my ankles and knees.

I dud self refer to the local hospital podiatrist who gave me orthotics and exercises which have helped. I still tey to only run up to 5k, and usually 3k, and not more than 2 days in a row. Not enough to lose much weight on its own.

Weight lifting/strength trainincoupled with cardio and a healthy diet can really work wonders! Recently I've been using Fitness Blender videas, using a mat and some 2kg weights at home and I am seeing a big difference after nearly 2 months.

When I exercise I naturally feel like eating healthily and don't overeat as often, but ime you do need to eat better to lose weight

You definitely need to address diet in order to lose weight but look back on any thread starting with the question 'if you lost a lot of weight and kept it off, how have you done it?' and by far the majority of respondents will say 'regular exercise' in some form or another.

I'm suffering from a stress fracture too at the minute so feel your pain! I've been doing low impact to build up towards running again. I use the step machine as a decent workout. It's one with 'falling' steps rather than a rolling step machine, I do around 100-150 floors which takes around 20-25 minutes and burns 250+ calories.