I am a total fresh-air lover; nothing makes me feel better than getting outside in the morning, before the traffic gets too heavy, and taking a good walk or run...rain or shine!
However, the drawback to jogging and walking, as well as to rebounding, kangoo jumping, skipping rope, and other forms of free-cardio, is that it's difficult to measure your fitness output.
My new favorite piece of gym equipment is the Precor CrossRamp. This is an elliptical machine, without the arm guides. I've always considered the arm guides a waste of time. First of all, being quite short, I never quite fit the machine properly. And I've noticed that using the arm guides reduces my calories burned per minute. And, since our biggest muscles are our legs, we burn more calories by focusing on increasing our leg work.
Hence my excitement about the CrossRamp. If you have one at your local gym, I highly recommend that you acquaint yourself with this great machine. In only 28 minutes, I burn just over 350 calories. That's only 8 songs on the i-Pod and I'm outta there.
So what about the fresh air? I still do an outdoor workout every other day, and I alternate days in the gym on the CrossRamp (and whatever else I like to do in the gym!).
Keeping in mind that my knee isn't ready for running yet, my outdoor workout includes:
- A 10-minute Power Walk
- High Knee Raises
- Squats (wide and narrow)
- Lunges (walking and stationary)
- Calf Raises
- Bus Bench Leg Lifts
I have no idea how many calories I burn on those days but I enjoy myself immensely, I love the fresh air and fresh dew on the grass, and the chirping of the birds! And that counts for a whole lot!
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