For the past 3 weeks i have been doing a half hour of jogging / walking on the treadmill. Tonight after i got done with the treadmill i decided to hop onto the elliptical machine to start the change up in my cardio work out.

So i get on this thing and from the moment i get going the muscle / joint area right above my knees starts to feel like its getting worked out, and so did the muscles right below the wrists. ( have no idea what these muscle groups are called) and it certainly felt A LOT different then the treadmill.

Any thing i should know about using one of these things if i have never used one before? I can definitely feel the difference in the work out you would get from one from only being on it for 5 minutes.

any points? tips? tricks? on how i should treat using the Elliptical differently then the treadmill?

When I used the elliptical I would do HIIT with it. I started out only doing six minutes, one minute 'sprinting,' followed by one 'jogging,' then repeat till you want to stop. I built up after a while to hour long sessions where I would sprint for 5 minutes and only jog for a minute and repeat that.

What I found after I started transitioning to actual road running and treadmills though is that the elliptical really doesn't prep you for any sort of impact, so I wouldn't recommend becoming dependent on it, still mix in treadmill and road running if you're in to that yet.

I'm not quite comfortable with jogging out on the side walk. one of the ways i've been pushing my self is ramping up the speed on tread longer, and longer every time i get on it. I'm on this machine and whether i want to or not its going to move and i need to keep up with it. Normal ground doesn't offer that kind of push. I like feel of the treadmill under my feet. But after a few minutes on the elliptical i can feel that its working muscle groups that don't get worked when i jog on the tread.

So i plan on alternating definitely. After i get good comfortable with the Elliptical i'm going to switch to the bike.

elypticals are definately nice. When I was around 300lbs, I would jump on that an hour a day and not be winded going at a decent pace. It will burn alot more calories than walking if you decide to go on the elyptical at the same duration....


good luck!

The elliptical is a great machine...once you get used to it try to go 10 minutes forwards then 10 backwards...

There isn't any negative effects it can have on you son don't worry! But here is something that I do for my clients.

I personally hate cardio and 99% of my clients do. We get bored, so I like to pick 4 different cardio machines....

rowing, tredmill, ellip, bike..

Do 5 minutes of rowing, then maybe a quick ad routine, then 5 minutes on the tread, abs....so on and so forth. This will keep your body guessing the whole time and help you lose some weight quicker.. You get a great ab workout plus 20 minutes of different cardio, and when your done you hardly feel like it lasted that long!

If you need any extra help let me know!

Your Fitness Coach

I use an elliptical, and the reason I did pick this over a treadmill is I have a very bad knee. Unstable / partial tear from years ago, bakers cyst that flairs up and NO cartlaige. I picked the elliptical because my feet stay stationary and there is less risk of jarring my knee of kilter or stepping wrong. Its working, I do it 30 min a day...I am almost 48 and really out of shape. I find my knee is getting stronger and I have no worries that it will swell up and flair up in pain so that I can't exercise the next day. On a treadmill, all I would have to do is step wrong just the littlest bit and my knee could be sore for days. So until I loose my weight and my knee is stronger I stick with elliptical

PS, I did add 1-1/2 pound wrist weights on my arms for a fuller workout, and the last couple miniutes I sprint the fastest I can go...but I keep my heart rate up the whole time...pretty much from the get go...get a real good sweat going and for me more exercise than I have had in years

Hi...I'm new to these boards but I can tell you the elliptical is the best machine in the world in my opinion! I have lost 85 lbs in 4 months, granted I have a lot to lose & some of it was due to stress from my divorce, but the elliptical has shrank my legs ( thunder thighs for life no matter what exercise I have tried) so much it amazes me. When I first started I was stop and go on no resistance for 5 minutes and thought I would pass out, I kept working my way up to 20 minutes on no resistance, I was trying to lose weight before I met with my personal trainer b/c my gym gives 6 free visits....when I finally met with my trainer he told me the best thing I could do is 20 minutes starting off at no resistance moving my level up to 9 or 10 for about 2 1/2 minutes lowering it down to no resistance for 2 1/2 min and bringing it back up the whole 20 minutes always making sure my speed never gets below 4.0...since I have been doing this it has increased my weight loss so much!

i started my journey running on the treadmill then doing the elliptical right afterward. i think it helped in the beginning. now i just run on the treadmill. they definitely focus on different muscle groups. they say that the elliptical is a lower impact exercise, but for me i had more pain from it than the treadmill. i have had knee surgery and the elliptical use to make my knee hurt. i know it doesn't make much sense but that's what i experienced. i think that when jogging you use a more natural motion and the elliptical is less natural. that's the only thing i can figure would cause that.