ellipticals? help!

I have an elliptical I bought for $350 on Amazon. Works great! I use it while the kids are in bed. Either at night or in the early mornings. I am also looking into a membership at a gym, so i can get a more well rounded workout, but for the winter this is great!

I have an Elliptical and wish I had a treadmill. I like them more and they are more versatile. Ellipticals are like riding bikes to me and they peddle the same as bikes too. A treadmill to me is more of a challenge. I workout 60 minutes a day on my Elliptical and feel like I haven't worked out that much so I add in 30 day shred. Anyway, that is my take on it. As far as a Gym versus home equipment, I like the versatility of a Gym but between gas and baby sitting fees I can never afford the Gym. Home equipment and DVDs are for me.

I think eventually you would want to incorporate weight lifting too....and/or you may get bored like Morebean said.

But gyms lead to getting ink and being a Broncos fan... (I keed! I keed!!!!)

Seriously though, I bought a very good quality elliptical off craigslist at a good price, rarely used it, ended up giving it away. On one hand I wish I had it now that I'm much more serious about losing weight and that it's getting colder outside, but on the other hand I wouldn't want to lug that heavy SOB to my upstairs apartment when in all likelihood I'd use it half a dozen times then it would become a hat rack. I'll stick with walking outside and using my free weights and exercise ball in the apartment.

I would only invest in an elliptical if you are also going to incorporate other kinds of workouts at home, most especially, as someone else said, weight/strength training. Depending on only an elliptical for all of your weight loss/fitness goals is pretty unvaried (high likelihood of getting bored); may help you burn calories but won't do a whole lot for strength, especially upper body; and especially over time, I think the body likes to have things mixed up with different kinds of workouts, including cardio. One can get very conditioned and used to doing just one thing and it doesn't challenge the body as much over time. Everyone is different and gets different results -- I'm sure there are folks who've been very successful using elliptical alone -- but I think most folks thrive on a program that incorporates different routines.

I have an elliptical-esque cybex arctrainer that I purchased about 10 years ago. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT and use it 3-5 times a week for 30 - 45 minutes. I have yet to tire of the unlimited programs ~ Lance Armstrong used to work out on one of these. It has 10 different settings of foot pedal elevations - 1 functions more like a treadmill, 5 like an elliptical and 10 like a stairclimber. It also has 100 levels of resistance. I've never been able to do over 50 yet....

I also have a landice treadmill (as I don't think I could just have an elliptical as my only cardio machine). It is way above your price point however I would highly recommend this machine. You get what you pay for. The other good thing of having your own gym - you can exercise anytime of the day or night - no excuses - my wonderful husband installed TV and a cable box so I record my favorite shows only on this cable box so I have to watch my shows out there.

I originally purchased one of those precor ellipticals for about $800 however it felt cheap and no matter how well we put it together it squeaked and felt wobbly; within 2 years I upgraded to this machine and never looked back.

We live out in the country so it's a 60 minute round trip drive to the gym.

I agree with the other folks - a gym membership at $50/mos - it would take 5 years payback for this machine. For me it was convenience.

Good luck!

well ellipticals burn way more calories

That's not really true. You burn the calories based on the intensity at which you're working- the same level of effort will burn the same calories on either machine.

The elliptical uses more muscles so it usually does burn more... unless the treadmill readings are inaccurate

Treadmill readings are the *most* accurate of any machine in the gym. That's not to say they're super accurate either- all of them are estimates, but running has been studied since the beginning of exercise physiology, and the mechanics and energy expenditure are pretty well understood and documented. Ellipticals, on the other hand, have unique motion patterns to each machine, and consequently a lot less data exists to support accurate numbers. If anything, elliptical machines are known to report artificially high calorie burns.

That said, running and using the elliptical uses all almost the exact same muscles (albeit with slightly different motion patterns). The arm components may look like you're using your arms more than running, but you have to remember that running uses your arms and abs with every step to keep you upright and balance your movement. Just because they're not part of the drive train of the machine doesn't mean you're not using them.