Hey does anyone know what kind of work out burns the most calories in the shotest time? My workout usually takes about 35-40 Min. Cardio but I only burn about 270 calories. Also is it bad to stay higher than your target heart rate?

I cant seem to keep in my target heart rate, always go over

I wouldn't worry about going over your target heart rate. I don't know for sure which cardio exercises burns more calories, but one thing you could do is purchase a weighted vest and wear that during your training. For ever 10 lbs of weight added, I think you burn something like 3 calories more per minute. Those vests go up to about 40 lbs.

Another suggestion would be to do some high rep circuit training using bull body type movements. An example of this, would be doing a dumbbell/kettlebell swing for reps of 10-20 with active rest periods, kept as short as possible, for up to 20 minutes at a time. Follow that up with your normal 30 minutes if cardio.

When my wife and I train, we'll set up as many as five stations and work them through 3-5 times in about a 30 minute period. One station is always a swing (kettlebell, dumbbell, medicine ball).

Expect you're getting that from the machine, or some chart? WAY too much variation to be really useful. Plus, exercise in general increases your metabolism, so you burn more calories after you work out, and if you're increasing the % of muscle in your body, you burn more, and if you lose enough weight, you burn fewer....

Do something you like that you'll sustain, do it hard enough to make it hard to talk (if you can't talk at all, you're working too hard but that's my take on heart rate), and watch what you eat--that's the biggest component of weight loss.

Don't get a weighted vest. You are carrying around 53 pounds of weight already (203-150). Adding more weight would just fatique you quicker.

I alternate really hard days with easy days and at least one rest day a week. I never worry about how many calories I burn, as I tend to eat more food on the days I have the harder workouts.

Yes it would fatigue you quicker, that's why you start with low weight and make small increments. On top of burning more calories, you gain better conditioning, especially in the core. How can you argue against that?

These things are especially beneficial to those that are already consuming as few a calories/day as they can handle. A vest would allow them to up their daily energy expenditure without having to drop more calories.

I agree with Dodger, to be
50 lbs overweight and add
a weighted vest would be
like adding INSULT to INJURY
to this kid.

It wouldn't appeal to me at all.

Frankly, I just set a Bench Post
in my maximum ability to ride
a bike in terms of length and
speed and just slowly picked
away at it until I got stronger
(and lighter) and could hold my
own on the open road.

I started out at 240 lbs only
being able to ride about a mile
without feeling like death was
imminent, and now I can do
30 miles in less than 2 hours
on some courses, EVEN with
some hill climbing involved.

As the GD once said, "Just pick
a place to go and keep on truck'n!"

Persistence in your exercise
program AND your abstinence
from CRAP FOOD will pay off.

Recovery is possible. And when
you get there it is sweet!

Running burns the most in the shortest amt. of time.
And if you are really serious about losing, incorporate some weight training with that cardio and it will literally melt the fat off of you.

Just checked your stats--you're at the other end of the height range from me. You look "grown," by which I mean, "old enough to need to concern yourself with cumulative damage to joints." Be careful about high-impact exercise if arthritis runs in your family, until the weight comes off; I don't go near additional weights during movement exercises. It's one thing to work with a stable weight stack, a whole 'nother to take on the random variation of weights in free motion. (Not talking about free weights here, either.)

Just move. I didn't get fat overnight and I'm going to have to learn to live into being thinner and that doesn't come overnight either. I could do things to my body when I was younger that simply have too many long-term consequences now.

Not at all. It's adjustable in one lb. increments. Start with as little a weight as your comfortable with.

http://www.thexvest.com/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/renegade8.htm
http://www.betterfitnessproducts.com/xvest.html

Is the Xvest dangerous, or will it hurt my back?
Not only is the Xvest safe to use, it will help support your back through a neurological response called "proprioception". In lay terms, your mechanoreceptors sense the vest against your body causing your muscles to fire in your core. This will help stabilize your spine and give you a core workout at the same time.

I'm already overweight... why would I need to put on a vest to help me lose weight?
Being overweight is a problem for most people and I can understand why you would think why would you want to add weight. And, the simple answer is to burn more calories. Your body acclimates to your weight and it burns calories to support numerous functions of your body. One of those functions is muscle fiber movement. So when you move your body muscles and soft tissue are being used and calories burned. By adding weight to your body more muscle fibers are recuited into use therefore more calories burned. And, if you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight.

Why can I burn more calories (you say up to 70%) using the Xvest?
Your body is acclimated to your weight and it burns calories based on weight, exercise, duration and intensity. When you add weight to you body more muscles are recruited to support the function of moving the weight so first more calories are burned to support the muscles. Secondly, your intensity will sky rocket by adding more weight, and it doesn't take a large amount of weight, either. Consider this, you are on stair stepper for thirty minutes let's say you climb 100 flights of stairs and each flight has 20 steps that equals 2000 steps and you add 6 pounds of weight to the vest. That means you moved an extra 12,000 pounds of weight during that 30 minutes. Now, you can see how adding weight to your body in a safe manner like the Xvest can improve efficiency of your exercise and burn
more calories.

Why is the Xvest different from ankle weights?
Weighting your extremities is very dangerous, because of the stress placed on a single joint and the stretching of the connective tissue. As for the Xvest, the added weight is distributed over a large area known as the "CORE" so there isn't stress to a single joint or stretching of connective tissue.

http://www.thexvest.com/faq.htm#n5

When you are doing any weight bearing exercise, such a walking or running, the extra weight is affecting the stress on the hip joints, the knee joints and the ankle joints. The less weight, the better for the joints.

I understand your point Dodger, but don't necessarily agree with it. I can see that being the case for some people, but not for the majority. I guess it's up to each individual person to decide for themselves. It may in fact, have the opposite effect on the joints. They might just get stronger and better conditioned.

thanks for all the advise I certainly appreciate it. The vest is pretty cool although I dont know how it would work with lower back pain. I am limited to certain exercises due to lower back pain (cant do alot of Push ups, abb work).
Thank Again

It's hard to say without knowning the extent and the cause of the back pain. Indoor treadmill set to an incline, or outside walks in a hilly area will give you some extra calories without having to add more time.

Thanks for the advice