Creating Endurance on Elliptical

hope516

This does not answer your specific question but I personally HATE exercising, so if I try working out on a machine or method I don't enjoy I wont stick to it. An elliptical is not the only form of exercising that will get you to your goals. I think it is more important to find something you like, so you can stick with it.

I find any machines in the gym are not as challenging or scenic (ie mind numbingly boring) as walking outside, which can turn into jogging, and possibly running...which allows for progression.

However, if you do enjoy the elliptical and just cant stay on long, I would say the only way to get better is to keep at it. I know when I started working out I couldn't do more than 5 minutes before giving up and I just add a bit as I go.

good luck

jdawson002

The elliptical was my chosen machine when I first started the gym a few months ago.
Like you, I could not stay on it for very long even with no resistance.
Just keep on at it and you will eventually reach that 5 minute, 10 minute etc goal. I now do 30 minutes on a high resistance.

alush08

I love elliptical training!! It's my favorite cardio. I was a lot like you when I first started after 5 minutes I felt like I was going to give out completely. I also have a bad right knee (dislocated 10 years ago)and a bad right ankle(broken twice sprained to many times to count). I use good supportive braces on both. I found that for me at least its mind over matter. When I feel weak I just tell myself 5 more minutes, I can do anything for 5 minutes. It was hard but it works for me. I got up to the 15 mark without feeling dead. Now I can do 45 minutes none stop, but at 20 or 25 minutes I'm still going 5 minutes at a time. Those smaller goals boost my confidence to continue. Good luck, listen to your body, but also realize that your mind is the most powerful tool you take to the gym.

Raptor2763

monohydrate creatine and beta alanine (sp?) are great for increasing endurance and improving recovery time. i see it when i do ellipticals

gothchiq

60 minutes is very ambitious for someone starting out. In fact 30 minutes is pushing it at that point. I would start with 15 minutes on lowest resistance and work up. The ones where I go I think are made by Cybex and are fairly easy to use. I worked up to 30 minutes and then I started turning up the resistance after I had my endurance.

CSARdiver

RhapsodyWinters wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

Okay, so unless you're job is really really sedentary, you don't HAVE to do 30 minutes of cardio starting out. I've written about this a few times, but the majority of trainers will have their clients do cardio to "burn fat" and the TRUTH is what you're doing is just burning calories. Some of it will be fat, but unless your glycogen stores are completely depleted, it's just a small percentage. And that small percentage isn't what's helping fat loss to happen. What helps fat loss to happen is a MODERATE and CONSISTENT calorie deficit.
If walking gets your heart rate up and you can sustain it for 15-30 minutes without gasping for air, then that's fine. Cardio is for fitness and health and will help to attribute to a calorie deficit, but it's not the magic maker to burn fat. You burn your stored fat at rest contrary to popular belief.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10346155/cardio-isnt-for-fat-burning/p1

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

When the hypothetical zombie apocalypse comes (New Walking Dead season is on Netflix.) , I want to be able to outrun them zombies! I'm not doing the exercising to lose weight. I want to get fit and lose weight. When I was a kid, I loved to run. Then that stopped after I started gaining weight. Annnd my job IS very very sedentary. I'm at a desk and don't really have a chance to move. Because, despite the office claiming a 'teamwork' atmosphere, they leave me to do ALL of the front desk work. I hardly even get a chance to eat lunch every day (while the other person in my position gets an hour lunch when it's only supposed to be 30 min).

Nothing hypothetical about this and these are really documentaries on human behavior when we get down to it

When I first started tracking on MFP and getting back into shape I did most of my cardio work on the elliptical. I had a bad knee injury and didn't want to risk running before getting back to a healthy weight. Just keep pushing your limits, but keep track of your heart rate so you're not overdoing it. You'll get there, but you need to have patience and have a marathon mindset. You're making these changes for the rest of your life, not just until you lose the weight.

I'm stuck jockeying a desk as well (most of us are now). Do what you can at your desk - do squats, lunges, pushups, etc. when you can. I did and many others at the office have followed suit.

Azdak

RhapsodyWinters wrote: »

Here's another update. I am now able to do the following elliptical workout without stopping (though sometimes I pause a moment to drink water)

3 min on resistance 1 - slow pace to warm up
30 min on resistance 3 - moderate pace (working up a sweat.)
3 min on resistance 1 - slow pace to cool down.

Well, that was a few days ago. Yesterday I was able to keep going an extra minute on the cooldown.

Thank you all for your very helpful advise! Sadly I feel like I'll be set back, as I won't be able to get to the gym again until Sunday. :<

So you have already learned that by breaking up the routine into smaller chunks, you can increase the duration.

It can be challenging for a "one-off" session for a trainer to give you a comprehensive progressive starting routine. There is so much information, it can be difficult to determine how much detail to give a beginner. Sounds like the trainer gave you some "goal" guidelines, but maybe wasn't super clear on how to build up to those levels (not a criticism of the trainer--again, there's only so much you can talk about at once).

So you can break up your total cardio duration into different intensities and even different exercises, rather than trying to continuously push to extend the time of a "continuous" cardio workout. Do the continuous workout once or twice a week, but on the other cardio days, do a little more variety.

One routine I like for beginners is to alternate 1 min "harder" intervals with 1 min "recovery" intervals. In the beginning, the "hard" minutes don't have to be that hard, just maybe 2-3 levels above your "cruising" speed, with the recovery interval 1 level below your current continuous level. Do a 5-8 min warm up, 20 min of the interval workout, and 5-8 min cool down.

Incline walking is fine as well (and you can do the same type of workout). There is no need to try running at this point.