Elliptical Confusion

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RitaPrior
RitaPrior Posts: 39 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
What is the speed a person should be on the elliptical? I can't understand how to calculate calories because if I do 30 minutes at speed 45, it cant be the same as 30 minutes at 55. Does anyone know where one should be as far as speed is concerned on the elliptical?

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  • skinnyjeanzbound
    skinnyjeanzbound Posts: 3,932 Member
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    The elliptical I use at the gym gives me the total calories burned, but not a speed. It does give me the distance, so I try to maintain at least a 12 minute mile which is 5 mph. It also shows me my "strides per minute" which I keep at about 175 to maintain the 5 mph. I'm not familiar with the settings you are describing--45 and 55??? Sorry.
  • soonergirl1289
    soonergirl1289 Posts: 6
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    I stay between 4 and 6 and usually end up burning my time x's 10. (45 min = 450 calories). at least that's what the machine has told me for the last few months. from what I've seen it's pretty accurate. I'd like to get a HRM so I could know what I'm actually doing though!
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    The ellipticals that I use have a resistance setting, not a speed setting and that number shows in the display. But each of the other displays has different options for what it will display. One can display the time elapsed, time remaining or calories burned. And the other can display the distance gone, strides per minute, or...I'm not sure of the last option because I never use it.

    I always have them set to show me time remaining and distance so I can make sure I'm staying on a good pace the entire time. For example, today I did the elliptical as my day off from running. I did 30 minutes at a 8min 30 sec mile pace, alternating between resistances of 3 and 9 and then a final go of five minutes at a steady state of resistance 6.

    So, unfortunately, I'm honestly not sure what yours is meaning by speed.

    And I never, ever, trust the elliptical readout on calories. Today it told me 424 and my HRM told me 304, and that's one of the closer ones I've seen for my HRM and the machine (usually the machine is even higher - and yes, I put in my age and weight).
  • lkkyer
    lkkyer Posts: 38 Member
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    The one I use at the gym does not have a speed setting, it just gives me a read out of how fast I'm moving. Mine varies between 4.6 and 5.8. I guess it depends on how high you set your resistance. The lower the resistance, the faster you should go to burn more calories.
  • RitaPrior
    RitaPrior Posts: 39 Member
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    Looks like I need a better machine! LOL. I will find the manual and try to figure out what the speed is. It also has a distance but it just say if its miles, km, etc. I know its not miles because I usually am up in the thousands. LOL

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