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I did only cardio workout in the gym today:

10 mins incline walk at 5.8 kmph with incline 4 - 50 cals
8 min repeat of same incline walk - 50 cals
cross trainer at intensity 2 for 12 mins - 100 cals
bike at intensity 4 for 5 mins - 25 cals

The calories burned came out to be 225 cals. At the end of it I felt tired. However, I am not really satisfied with the amount of calories burned. Is it okay or lesser than what I should target?

I am working out since 5 years with 1.5 year break due to pregnancy. I regularly do strength training.

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    I would also caution you on treating the calories burned as absolute numbers. Many of these (Especially if you are getting them from the machines themselves) are based on generic formulae that may or may not be correct for you. For example, I get on the treadmill and run 8:00 minute miles for 30 minutes, and I weigh 175 lbs. Someone gets on the treadmill next to me and does the same thing, and they weigh 250 lbs. The treadmills will read the same amount of calories burned, when in actuality we will burn differing amounts of calories. – JohnP♦ Sep 17 '13 at 14:33
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    The number of calories burned is less important than "is your exercise regime taking you to your targets". EG Are you trying to get fitter or lose weight. If you are trying to lose weight, then you need to burn more calories than you consume. – rthsyjh Sep 17 '13 at 14:59
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Essentially you worked off a little less than a Snickers bar. If the goal is to burn calories, you need to pick up the pace. Even a light jog will burn more Calories than an incline walk. If you aren't accustomed to the higher intensity cardio work, your body will adapt pretty quickly--particularly if you employ intervals to do it. That said, higher intensity work does impact what you can do with the weights. It's still worthwhile to incorporate.

The best approach is to outline your goals and plan accordingly:

  • Active recovery: you're feeling beat up, so you just want to get blood flowing. Walk at a pace where your body temperature rises but it doesn't affect your ability to hold a conversation.
  • Alactic capacity (sport performance): usually involves sprints, prowler work, farmer's or yolk walks. These are high intensity for relatively short distances. The goal it to increase your alactic work capacity--which helps with many sports as well as lifting.
  • Aerobic capacity: usually involves distance runs with a light jog or fast walk--sometimes intervals.

If your goal is calorie burn, either Alactic capacity training or Aerobic training for 60 minutes will be what you want. Active recovery (which is where you spent most of your time) is not very useful for that.

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As has been said by other posters, the calorie estimates on machines tend to be only a very rough guess and are probably wildly inaccurate. The real question is: Do you feel you worked hard enough? Your ability to increase both intensity and duration will increase dramatically, possibly in a matter of weeks, and since the limiting factor is not how much you think you need but how much you can do, I think it's wiser to pay more attention to that. Work as hard as you can for as long as you can, and gauge how much difference it's making. If you're satisfied with progress after a few weeks or months, that's great news; otherwise, maybe ask further advice with additional knowledge of your own, or consider a personal trainer.

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I feel it is a good workout.

Try doing anaerobic workouts.

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    Can you expand on this answer, rather than providing a link? What benefit would an anaerobic workout give you? Also, the link you provide has outdated conceptions of what lactate in the blood actually is/does. – JohnP♦ Sep 17 '13 at 14:31
  • Why a downvote? – Prabhanjan Naib Sep 19 '13 at 9:48

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