Eliptical Machine- resistance?

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feby28
feby28 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm not sure how to guarantee I get a good and hard workout on the eliptical. I'm not sure how to use the resistance levels...
Can someone help me out?

Replies

  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    What's the difficulty?

    Either do steady state cardio, eg 20 mins of constant speed
    or do high intensity interval training, eg 30 second sprint/high resistance and 1 minute slow for 20 mins
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
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    If it feels too easy and you want to go harder, but the resistance level. It will get harder to keep peddling the same same way you were at a lower resistance. I also like to play with the inline.
  • justkate88
    justkate88 Posts: 40
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    I do 5 minutes at the lowest resistance, then 3 minutes at level 4 resistance, then 2 minutes at level 6 resistance and repeat until I think I might die.
  • lilpoindexter
    lilpoindexter Posts: 1,122 Member
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    I have been using the elliptical for over a year, with good results. i do a program where it goes low for 2 minutes, than hard for two minutes. i usually have the hard setting on "10" which is a little difficult for me, and the light setting on "7" or " "8", and I repeat and repeat and repeat for 30-60 minutes until I burn the desired ammount of calories.
  • mrsg2006
    mrsg2006 Posts: 120 Member
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    I do 5 minutes at the lowest resistance, then 3 minutes at level 4 resistance, then 2 minutes at level 6 resistance and repeat until I think I might die.

    Do you also adjust the incline?
    Do you find that you burn more calories this way?
  • CAS317
    CAS317 Posts: 267 Member
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    bump
  • blancokitty
    blancokitty Posts: 30 Member
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    I personally get on it for 3 or so mins. level 5 at slow pace to raise heart rate, then leave it on level 5 and go as fast as you can tolerate for 10 mins, then I raise it to level 13 and continue at moderate pace for 20 mins.
  • justkate88
    justkate88 Posts: 40
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    I do 5 minutes at the lowest resistance, then 3 minutes at level 4 resistance, then 2 minutes at level 6 resistance and repeat until I think I might die.

    Do you also adjust the incline?
    Do you find that you burn more calories this way?

    The ellipticals at the gym I use don't have the option for an incline. I have an orientation at another local gym tomorrow, if those have the option I'll probably play around with it.

    When I first started going to the gym I would do an hour on the lowest resistance, I was a little bit sweaty at the end. I switched to the routine above on the advice of my brother (he is a gym instructor) and since I've been doing that I can manage between 40 and 50 minutes, I get very sweaty and sweat from places I didn't know I could sweat from! It is definitely working for me and works me much harder. For the last 20 or 30 seconds of each round at the highest resistance, I really push it and then recover back in low resistance.

    Edit: Seems that the machines I have differ from the ones people are mentioning. Level 6 is the highest resistance level on the machine. So probably the equivalent of 12 or 13 on others.
  • tracymat
    tracymat Posts: 296 Member
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    I prefer using the Precor Eliptical - which is resistance instead of incline. I get the best workout doing 2 minute intervals - level 8 and level 20. Level 20 is more of a "step" motion. Gets those muscles BURNING!
  • McKnightAM
    McKnightAM Posts: 125 Member
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    I use a Precor and it has the option to adjust resistance and incline. I love having the option to play with both to work exactly which part of the legs I want etc.

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