What are your thoughts on the elliptical?

PerfesserR

posted: 1/10/2008 at 8:33 AM

Quote from Trent on 9/23/2007 at 7:06 PM:

Betsy S ran the day she delivered. 7 miles in PWP.

Before or after? Big grin

"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"

"The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.

"They just couldn't believe that somebody would do all that running for no reason."--Forrest Gump

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HStreet

In it for the long run..

posted: 1/10/2008 at 11:24 AM

I think the Cybex ARC and Precor AMT are a little better as far as simulating running. They take a little getting used to, but come closer to running than a straight elliptical. That said, I like elliptical better than bike for running training. Dreadmill is the best of all, but I hate it.

"It's not who wins the workout..." This Century PRs 5K 25:05 10K 52:34 1/2 M 1:53:58 Marathon 4:08:28

OddJob

posted: 1/18/2008 at 12:02 AM

I just had my first workout on the elliptical and loved it. I like being able to stay home (young kids at home) and exercise when I want to. Not when I have to. The elliptical gave a pretty good workout and I'm still just trying to figure it out. When my husband is home I love to get out for a run, but as far as working out at home -- today was pretty nice Yes

JakeKnight

posted: 1/18/2008 at 6:50 AM

What are your thoughts on the elliptical?

My thoughts? Well, I sort of go back and forth on it.

E-mail: JakeKnight2002@aol.com
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Kennyd

posted: 1/19/2008 at 12:45 PM

I love the elliptical. Well, I actually love running more, but I just can't run everyday. The thing is that you need to have a good one. Most of the affordable home models do not feel natural and are quite a chore to work out on. If you are at a gym any of the commercial models(especially precor) are very nice. I own a Sole E95 and love it. I find the elliptical to be one of the best cross training tools. I use it for recovery workouts( I think I recover faster than with a rest day). It is as close to a no impact workout as you can get out of the water. So I make my runs count. I run a hard tempo run, 1-2 easy runs and a long run every week, and recover and cross train on the elliptical or in-line skate when I can.

JillyBeans

Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.

posted: 1/21/2008 at 12:47 AM
modified: 1/21/2008 at 12:49 AM

A friend of my uses her elliptical every day and LOVES it. She runs some too, but mostly goes 'back and forth' Wink

Good luck with the baby! MTA: when are you due?

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

hoodlumofmercy

posted: 2/26/2008 at 8:34 PM
modified: 2/26/2008 at 8:35 PM

Personally I like having scenery go by, so standing in one place makes it rough for me. It does get your heart rate up which is what cardio is all about. I did it while recovering from stress fractures and it didn't give me any problems there. I just set the incline to where my calf muscles were not getting worked and upped the resistance.

gooddogtx

posted: 2/28/2008 at 7:12 PM

I use an elliptical daily. I'm just getting back into running. While I am building my volume slowly, to take it easy on the skeletal system while building bone strength, I use the ellipitical to keep the endurance building for cardiorespiratory. I can put in 4 to 5 miles on the treadmill and jump straight to the elliptical to keep heart rate in the zone. This adds an additional 30 to 60 minutes to my workout while reducing my my chances for injury. I agree with HStreet, the Precor AMT is pretty good for stride simulation.

"Rule of Too's: Too long, too hard, too much, too soon" Anonymous

noteye

posted: 2/28/2008 at 7:33 PM

As has already been said, the elliptical isn't a replacement for running, but I enjoy it. Cranking up the resistance gives a totally different, but complementary workout. I personally enjoy doing hard intervals on it, as it can be very tough cardiovascularly without beating the stew out of you. I've done Tabata style intervals on it before, and today I did intervals that were more like lactate threshold work, but done in 30/30 intervals.

Brandon

TammyinGP

HF3011

posted: 2/28/2008 at 7:36 PM

when you are 8 mos pg - any form of exercise is great and admirable! A co-worker is 6 mos pg and can't run anymore. She says it really bothers her hip joint area where the ligaments have become so elastic. So, she uses the elliptical to keep up with some form of low intensity cardio.

Tammy

lakerunr

posted: 4/2/2008 at 7:36 AM

After this last brutal winter, and two falls on the ice, multiple injuries, I wanted to get a treadmill. But my wife, who doesn't run, wanted an elliptical because the ones at the gym are always "busy". So, we got the elliptical. So far I've been using it on my Rest/Crosstrain days (Pfitz 18/55 marathon training for Grenn Bay 5/18), and I really like it. You can really get a workout using hills/repeats/etc. Ours also has a Polar belt and you can use it to for feedback and for HR Programs that change resistance to keep your HR within a specified range. But you need to get a good one, gym quality if possible. We got the Horizon E6, it's heavy duty, smooth, and has a 20-inch stride length. Good luck with the baby! Smile

NYrunner

posted: 4/12/2008 at 10:10 PM

I think that high rpm's are important too. I use a lower resistance level in order to keep my leg speed up while on the elliptical.

Purdey

posted: 7/15/2008 at 10:18 AM

I'm sidelined at the moment due to shin splints (possibly stress fracture) and now a pulled calf muscle. But.... I'm finding that I can still "elipt" (along with swimming). The problem I have is that the stride length seems to short and I can't see anyway of altering it. Definitely agree that intervals on the elliptical are the way to go - you can really get a good workout. Today I managed to max out at 95% of my max HR, with my recovery taking me down to 70%. A good session.

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andahuff

Non ducor, duco.