![Kymberly's walking feet]()
Which is a better cardio workout: stationary bike, treadmill, elliptical, rowing machine? Tina, Lubbock, Texas
I heard walking is much better for you than running, especially for women over 50. Is that true? If so, why? Noel, St Joseph, MO
Walk, or Run to the Best Cardio Exercise
Kymberly: Dear aerobic ladies: Since the same answer applies to both your questions, we are tackling them together. (Kind of like what guys said to us in our early dating lives, pre-hubbies. That “twin thing” again.) The bottom line is that the “best” activity is the one you will actually do. Log time and intensity. Which activity do you find most comfortable on your body? Which one will you stick with the longest? Which one keeps you injury free? The goal is to go as long as you can, as hard as you can, as often as you can. What do you actually LIKE doing? Yes, it’s that simple and accessible!
Bowling is great cardio – as long as you jump for joy when you don’t bowl a gutter ball
We could give you heart rate formulas and a discussion about involved joints and high impact versus medium or low impact, but why get caught up in all that? “Log time; be happy” is the best advice we can give you for cardio. Your body will tell you what you prefer doing. If not, Alexandra will.
Alexandra: First of all, no-one ever tackled me. It was more like throwing themselves at my feet. Or running away – I can’t remember which. But it involved some sort of aerobic workout. Which is my point entirely – you need some sort of cardio exercise. The exact “right” one kind of depends on you. Tina, which machine do you like better? Noel, do you prefer running or walking?
You have to do the one that you will actually do! What? That sounds like a skanky date proposal!
Which is Better: 6 of One or Half Dozen of the Other?
Alexandra:”Log time,” by the way, means writing down the amount of time you are doing your chosen activity. You don’t get to count the time spent “standing in the shade” or “checking my phone messages,” which is what Kymberly always does when we walk together on a gentle, uphill slope! Me personally, I hate to run. I want to exercise, not sweat! Walking is my favorite non-work-related exercise because it allows me ample time to play with my iPod (which I still don’t quite understand), with time left over for calling my teenager for iPod advice. I can’t make those kinds of calls if I’m running!
The best cardio workout is the one you will actually do.
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Who’s the best at getting down cardio hills?
Kymberly: Excuse me, but “gentle, uphill slope” my Cinnabuns! Alexandra took me on a forced death march up a cliff with no end, under the raging sun, dangling the water bottle from her “busting my butt” hand. What I would have given for a nice, programmable, non-taunting piece of cardio equipment at that moment. So the new and best cardio activity for me now is to work my way downhill. Like what’s-her-twinnie, I am not a runner. The knees do not take well to all that pounding. The last time I did a running program was from my house to Alexandra’s back in the day when we were ahem, …younger. She lived a mile from me then and made pancakes for brekkie if I showed up on time. Then she would drive me home. So you can see where a running program really was not the best workout for me. The pancakes were the best though!
Again the “best” cardio workout is the one or ones you will actually engage in. Even “better” is to change up the activity. If you always power walk, try a stair climber now and then. If you always run on a treadmill, get outdoors and walk. Check out this article that proves Alexandra and I are geniuses with great advice when we tell you to do Interval Training and enjoy the process.
Other “Bests”: Click, read, comment, be the best!
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