Elliptical, Is it worth it?

Elliptical is cardio. I lost a good amount of weight at the beginning using my elliptical at home and some bodyweight strength training. The elliptical definitely helped out at the beginning but as I progressed I had to progress my workouts. I got the body I have now thanks to heavy lifting and various HIIT cardio. I only use an elliptical sometimes for a warmup before strength training. Good luck!!

I think what is confusing is that what people are saying is that they aren't good for strength training. They're great for endurance and for cardio, but you won't build muscle doing it. Or even retain muscle. But if you got it purely for the cardio benefits of burning cals and conditioning (endurance), then you're good to go. Throw in some strength training (body weight and then actual weights) and you're getting it all. I like the elliptical, but my feet always went numb on them so I gave it up. But I always enjoyed them! Oh, just don't rely on their burn counters to be 100%, either.

Agreed, I think that it is good piece of exercise equipment to start, but as you get more fit, it is not going to be the piece of equipment to get you the burn that you will be wanting. It also lies, lies, lies about how many calories you will be burning. It is hard to increase your heart rate on the ellyptical when you become more fit. As a starter piece of equipment it works well.

I think the biggest problem with elliptical is that it doesn't translate directly to any useful activity. With a treadmill, as a counter example, at least it's something that more or less resembles running. Ditto with a stationary bike - it's a lot like cycling. So the endurance improvements from elliptical don't translate very well to physical activities because the physiological changes aren't the same.

But you can definitely burn calories with it, if you work it hard enough. If that's your primary goal, then there's no particular reason you should be unhappy with it.

In terms of weight loss, the elliptical works for me. I have a heart rate monitor and according to it I am getting my heart rate up to 155-165 which is the same as I achieve on the treadmill. For me, that translates into about 100 calories burned for every ten minutes of hard work. I like the treadmill too but unfortunately my knees do not.

Love my elliptical. I think that any exercise you do that gets you moving.....is worth it. I do two days a week for about 45 minutes. The other three days I do Les Mills body pump (not quite ready for heavy lifting!). I agree with the above posters that it's also much easier on the knees.

So, we got the elliptical, and I am quite religious about going on it every day. Except I have a small issue with registering the calories. I usually go on MFP and choose elliptical and put the minutes I worked out. Usually for 30 minutes it is over 300 calories and for 45 over 400. So far so good. Except the Schwinn 430 that we got has a different calorie count. I put in my weight and age and all that, and for the 45 minutes instead of 480 calories or whatever MFP tells me, the Schwinn counter is somewhere in the early hundreds (140?). That can't be right: considering how much I sweat, how good of a work out it is, how I keep dropping off pounds, there is no way on earth I am only burning 140 calories for that.
Apparently there was a bike mode and a hike mode or something, and we switched to the one where more calories are burnt, but still, it is way below what reality looks like.
Of course, I am absolutely content with the results, and I am in love with the elliptical: I started from only being able to stay 10 minutes and I am now at 45 minutes and loving it. But the calorie count leaves something to be desired...
Any ideas on what to do? Is the MFP calculator adequate?

I do it for my cardio and it's the exercise that gets my heartrate up the highest. I go by the caloric burn on my HRM, not the machine (yes, the machine is inaccurate and tells me about 100 calories higher). I set the level to 17 (out of 20) and I do bursts where I push it hard for 45 seconds, then back off, then 2 minutes later do it again.

I tried running and my HR was 20 beats lower; tried the stationary bike and again, about 20 beats lower. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that I was a power walker for 12 years and towards the end, I started to feel no burn and I wouldn't even get sweaty, but I LOVE a good sweaty workout and the elliptical does that for me.

NOW, I will say I do strength training 3 times a week and that is my favorite thing to do -- it gives me the visible results I wanted. Prior to adding more strength training in, I did not see the muscle definition I do now.

I think both are important, but I guess I don't agree with the notion that the elliptical is somehow bad. It is getting your heartrate going and as long as you are pushing yourself on it, it is an effective workout machine. It is zero impact on the joints, which can be a plus for people too.

I have had one for years and it was my primary exercise (daily) for many months when I started at MFP. I have drifted away from it because I started running when I got lighter and now race. The elliptical is a fantastic tool and built a strong cardio base for me but it doesn’t translate to running. Make sure to adjust it to fit your body. As a repetitive-motion machine, it can lead to repetitive motion injuries. In the end, you lose weight because you control your food. Exercise is just a support tool but will never replace smart food choices.

I think its great. I have bad ankles and need something low impact. I cant run on the treadmill my poor ankles turns black n blue and swells up. On the eliptical it doesnt. So thats what I use. I switch between that and the stationary bike for cardio. I say to each their own. But dont just do the elliptical you need to switch up your workouts every now and then. Add some weight training also.

The one I use has a monitor in the handle - so it sorta reads heart rate - I'm not going to claim its' perfect - but it says my HRM is around 130 and in 20 minutes it says I used about 190 cals. I wish I had a 'real' HRM to see how close that was - but if that information helps someone - more power to you

PS I'm 5'0" and about 137#

I hope it's worth it! I was on it for an hour on Saturday!

I like the elliptical because I feel like I'm burning more than just walking and I'm not in good enough shape to run yet so it's a good compromise. The ones in my gym are big fat liars though when it comes to calories burned, nowhere close to accurate. Plus my foot falls asleep after a while for some reason...

I like the elliptical because I feel like I'm burning more than just walking and I'm not in good enough shape to run yet so it's a good compromise. The ones in my gym are big fat liars though when it comes to calories burned, nowhere close to accurate. Plus my foot falls asleep after a while for some reason...

My foot falls asleep, too! So weird!

I've heard several people say that the machines at the gym (and in the MFP exercise log) are not accurate when it comes to calories burned... so how do you find out how much you REALLY did?

You can get your own HRM (heart rate monitor).

I also agree with a previous poster who said to keep the resistance high. Make sure you're sweating by the time you're done!

Of course the elliptical is good piece of kit! It's currently very in vogue to say that all you need to do is lift weights and do no cardio at all. A lot of people have blindly followed that principle and take it upon themselves to tell anyone who doesn't follow it they are wrong at every given opportunity. Which is arrogant at best and downright ignorant at worst.
Plenty of people have lost weight and kept it off and look good from incorporating the elliptical into their routine.

I think the most salient point that most people tend to forget about this place is the little disclaimer that's at the bottom of every thread.

Posts by members, moderators and admins should not be considered medical advice and no guarantee is made against accuracy.

Thank you for saying this!

I think we need to really distinguish better between body re-sculpting/weightloss and overall fitness gain!

You gain fitness by doing cardio exercises. You can lose more (!) weight by lifting heavy, but this does not (!) help your cardiovascular fitness. In terms of looks go with the lifting, in terms of overall health, cardio might be better.

I can't remember where I read this, but over-weight people can be fitter than slim people purely through cardio.

I find there is too much bashing of cardio going on in these forums without making a clear distinction of goals.

I also disagree with the statement that an elliptical is just for beginners and that one can't get the heart rate up beyond a certain fitness level. This entirely depends on the elliptical machine you are using! If you change your levels and incline then your heart rate will go up. This is the same as saying after a while running is useless. Run up a hill or faster and your heart rate will go up.

In my opinion a healthy balance between caloric intake, cardio and weightlifting is the key to overall (!) health.
Stef.