Eliminate Elliptical?

I do a run in the morning and elliptical in the afternoon.
This seems good b/c I cut down on wear and tear and the machine tells me I am burning a bazillion calories, but I feel a lot more tired and sweaty after the run. Is the eliptical lying to me and becoming a crutch? Should I eliminate it and just run every time?

Tue. Mar 18, 1:47pm

yes, your eliptical is lying to you. Every personal trainer I have talked to has said their calorie counters tend to be 10-20% too high - and other machines like the treadmill, bike and stair climber are about 5-10% too high. I still do the eliptical sometimes - I just factor the margin of error in for all machines I do (usually my workouts will "read" 500 cal burned and I count it as 350-400).

I definately agree a run is a better heart-rate raising/muscle using/cardiovascular workout, but I have bad knees so running 6 days a week just isnt an option for me. Since you are already running in the a.m. I think your workout is a great plan.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 1:52 PM

eliminate it. I'm not about to post my rant on the evils of ellipticals again, but if you search a few threads about ellipticals, you can read why I think they're unhealthy for your body.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 1:52 PM

I have heard multiple things when it come to the eliptical.

1)That you do burn WAY more calories than running

2)That most elipticals WAY overestimate the number of calories you are burning

Here is my thinking: I'm a runner too, I am more tired and sweaty after a run than after the eliptical. BUT there are benefits to cross training too. So I try to mix things up with running, biking and the eliptical throughout the week so I am constantly keeping my body guessing. You could always incorporate different programs on the eliptical and in your runs too. I wouldn't totally disregard it though.
Hope this helps!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 1:53 PM

I appreciate y'all's input even thought there are several threads on E vs. T, I just want to know when the eliptical says 2000 cal. burned in 45 mins today is it really like 500 and I would be better off running - I don't want to waste gym time.
I put the resistance on 16 out of 20 and go pretty fast and hard & this elliptical has the incorporated arms and the way it is designed seems to work the core, but I sometimes feel it is too good to be true...the false data factor, the psychological crutch factor, and some intangible of sweat and percieved effort have me perplexed...

-OP

Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 2:11 PM

The ellipticals report nearly DOUBLE the true calorie burn.
I have one of those expensive medical devices you wear 24/7 to tell you, amongst other things, how many calories you burn every minute of the day, and my experience is that if the machine claims that you use 900 calories an hour, in reality it's about 550. And those numbers align very well with my rate of weight loss.

Ditch the elliptical unless you're doing it for crosstraining purposes or need the low impact exercise option. It's the smartest move I've made in the gym since I joined 2 years ago.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 2:40 PM

I don't know now, I have read all the post and threads, but I think I will stick to it.
I have this thing maxed out (it is TRUE brand)
www.truefitness.com

- it is on resistance level 16 out of 16 and I am going very hard and it feels like it is really resisting me. On my lunch break I can burn over 1500 calories, and even if that is way off by 50% that is still better than a run since I am not pounding my knees after my morning run and that would be 750 which is more that I can burn running (plus there is an old TV VCR combo down there so I can watch the Bourne Identity or Run Lola Run or whatever)

Thanks to all, I really do value all of the PT input

-OP.

Thursday, March 20, 2008, 10:37 AM

I think the deciding factors are:

1) Do you like it?
2) Are you losing weight and gaining fitness?

As long as the answer to both is "yes," keep doing it. If you switch to doing something you don't like, then pretty soon you won't be doing it, and how counterproductive is that?

Thursday, March 20, 2008, 12:01 PM

Eliptical Machine

A lot of time, the machines add in the base number of calories you would burn just being alive, which inflates the number (among other factors). I don't pay that much attention to the calorie counter (probably b/c I also have one of the 24/7 calorie counters too), as I think monitoring your heart rate is a better indicator of your work out. BTW, the heart rate monitors on the machines can get totally out of caliber as well, so I wear my own on occasion, to make sure I am on track (and to keep it from going too high). Surprisingly, my heart rate is higher when I am at a higher resistance but much slower pace than if I am really going fast at a lower resistance.

Friday, March 21, 2008, 1:41 PM

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