treadmill or elliptical?

SnackPack · December 2010

It is the elliptical for me. It is very easy on my bad knees.

Dlibo1013 · December 2010

think it is personal preference, i love my elliptical wouldnt trade it for anything but some like treadmills.

Vipecap · December 2010

Get the one that you think you would use more, that's probably the best advice you can get. At the same levels and speed and a treadmill will burn more since you have to carry your own weight and at greater speeds it is simply not feasible to hold on to the rails. That said, neither one will burn anything if you don't use it. You can also burn just as much as a treadmill with a tad bit more effort if you play with the resistance settings.

I personally use an elliptical almost daily, with an arc trainer mixed in occasionally. I find it easier to control my heart rate with an elliptical and for my current purposes, it's something I need to be able to easily due to the range I am in.

Happy hunting

margie_77 · December 2010

I just started running 5k's last month. The eliptical is great for cardio and really good if you have a sore anything. It also burns more calories per min.
I only use the treadmill to get an estimate on how much I'm improving my time.

Jena_72 · December 2010

My feet fall asleep when I use the elliptical so I would say treadmill, but I definitely think it is a personal preference.

Your feet fall asleep because you need to concentrate on keeping them flat at all times and push more with your legs. I know it happened to me at first too. Push down less with your toes and more with your legs, feet flat. At first you'll go slower, but you'll get a much better workout too. Hope this helps

It helps me Thanks!

godblessourhome · December 2010

elliptical!!!

the treadmill and i hate each other. we had a bad break-up. lol.

blumuse · December 2010

I prefer the elliptical because I don't run. You burn more calories on the elliptical than you do WALKING on a treadmill. Having said that, if you want to RUN inside and cannot get outside, then treadmill would be better for you. I do the elliptical inside and save the walking stuff for outside in the fresh air.

tolygal · December 2010

If I read correctly, you said you've never tried an elliptical. You need to try one before you decide.

I love the elliptical. It's something I can do every day where I can only run every once in a while because my knees get sore. With both of them, the number of calories you burn will depend on how hard you work (as with anything). I generally burn more with the elliptical (I usually get about 10 calories a minute on the elliptical but only 8 running on the treadmil). But today I did both at the gym. I was curious so I just synced up my bodybugg to compare my burn. Interesting that I burned right around 10 calories a minute on both. For what it's worth, I was going faster on the elliptical (I put on 6.75 miles in an hour) and on the treadmill I was running 5.5 miles an hour (but only for 20 mins). I don't run a lot cuz of my knees, so it felt to me like I was working at about the same intensity on both of them. You can absolutely get your HR up on an elliptical!! I get my best workouts there!

You should really give the elliptical a try for a while and see which you like better - that's going to let you find out which YOU would like best. In my opinion, if you are going to be walking - I'd go for the elliptical because you will burn more calories. If you are a runner, then you'll probably burn about the same (depending of course on how hard you work). But if you're a runner, you'd probably rather have a treadmill. If you do get an elliptical - I would suggest spending a little more on it - don't get the cheap one. The stride length is important, and I think the cheaper ones feel awkward. I was lucky to find a pretty decent used one for a good price. It's not gym quality, but it's a whole lot better than some of the other ones I tried.

treadmill or elliptical?

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