Fun on the elliptical

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Mavrick_RN
Mavrick_RN Posts: 439 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Time spent on the elliptical doesn't have to be a chore. I try to have fun and make up games to pass the time. Of course I have my tunes but here's the fun part. I watch steps per minute and keep pace with the tune. My stock rate seems to be 124 -130 bpm. Then I set the incline to 20 and adjust the resistance to keep my HR as close to the bpm as possible lately it's been a 9. Before I know it I'm at 27 minutes and almost done.

So for a HR of approx 130 I can step at an incline of 20 and a resistance of 9.

What do you do to make your elliptical routine more fun?

Replies

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    I listen to music and often think over things I've been putting off like " what to make for dinner this week" or I go over my weekly budget in my head. Not a ton of fun but it does pass the time. If all else fails I look at the TV .
  • 3AAnn3
    3AAnn3 Posts: 3,054 Member
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    Music. But I abhor cardio. Maybe because many moons ago I used to do 2 hrs a night of it. Now 5 minutes is too long!
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Speed intervals. 15 seconds all-out; 1:15 normal but not slow pace.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    I find all kinds of ways to mix it up on the elliptical. I used to hate cardio, and prefer working out outdoors. But we have a commercial quality elliptical, and you can get a killer workout on it. It's there, time efficient, and does the job.

    A month or two back I got a bug up my butt and researched the original Tabata protocols, crunched the numbers, and did it on the elliptical. Way different than I expected, and found the upper limit of power output the machine will display.

    I do pace work, some steady state endurance work, and at times just some crazy higher intensity sessions to mix it up.

    Almost messed myself up earlier today. Our machine has an interval setting where the ramp goes from low to medium high, and the resistance is user set. I kept upping pace over time, and towards the end way working fairly hard. I got distracted at the interval time, and when the machine went to ramp down, the sudden change in resistance caught me off guard. Going from a resistance of 14 to a resistance of 10 is huge when you are clicking away at a cadence of 180 strides per minute. :s I usually try to taper back when the change up is coming, but just missed it. Surprised I didn't bite it or pull something.
  • _runnerbean_
    _runnerbean_ Posts: 640 Member
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    I watch a quiz show on TV. I also do intervals on the elliptical (incline and difficulty) to mix it up a bit.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I don't. I make sure to do HIIT 20 min and get off. My feet always go sleep so 20 min is all this machine gets from me.
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    I DVR two of my favorite shows. I ONLY watch them when I'm on the elliptical. It gives me something to look forward to.
  • smcrimmon84
    smcrimmon84 Posts: 135 Member
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    I cue up Netflix and binge watch shows while doing cardio - elliptical, arc trainer, running (treadmill) and stairmaster. Time flies!

    Ps. Don't watch Greys Anatomy though. Crying while doing cardio isnt fun ;)
  • zenjen13
    zenjen13 Posts: 174 Member
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    smcrimmon84 wrote: »
    I cue up Netflix and binge watch shows while doing cardio - elliptical, arc trainer, running (treadmill) and stairmaster. Time flies!

    Ps. Don't watch Greys Anatomy though. Crying while doing cardio isnt fun ;)

    I do the same thing! I pick a new movie every week to watch, click on the subtitles (my machine squeaks) and get it done. I like to watch music documentaries bc then I get the music too. I limit my Netflix watching to only when I'm on my Elliptical - makes it easier to get on the next morning to continue my movie.

  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    I don't use an elliptical, but when I treadmill in the winter I like the Zombies, Run! app, my tablet to read ebooks on, and of course, music.

    My long run is usually in the 10-14 mile range so if I'm spending up to two hours on the thing, I do need some entertainment and reading is the most absorbing thing for me. I have to increase the font size a bit so I can read it while I'm running (I'm not super fast; my half-marathon pace is about 9:30 min/mile) but it works for me and it makes the time pass pretty comfortably.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,717 Member
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    robertw486 wrote: »
    I find all kinds of ways to mix it up on the elliptical. I used to hate cardio, and prefer working out outdoors. But we have a commercial quality elliptical, and you can get a killer workout on it. It's there, time efficient, and does the job.

    A month or two back I got a bug up my butt and researched the original Tabata protocols, crunched the numbers, and did it on the elliptical. Way different than I expected, and found the upper limit of power output the machine will display.

    I do pace work, some steady state endurance work, and at times just some crazy higher intensity sessions to mix it up.

    Almost messed myself up earlier today. Our machine has an interval setting where the ramp goes from low to medium high, and the resistance is user set. I kept upping pace over time, and towards the end way working fairly hard. I got distracted at the interval time, and when the machine went to ramp down, the sudden change in resistance caught me off guard. Going from a resistance of 14 to a resistance of 10 is huge when you are clicking away at a cadence of 180 strides per minute. :s I usually try to taper back when the change up is coming, but just missed it. Surprised I didn't bite it or pull something.

    Interesting! Care to share the numbers and/or exactly what you did?
  • taralove26
    taralove26 Posts: 4 Member
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    I prop up my iPad and watch the TV shows I would normally sit on the couch and watch. Makes the time go by fast and I get to keep a bit of my couch potatoness.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
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    Am really liking audio books lately.
  • CassidyScaglione
    CassidyScaglione Posts: 673 Member
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    When I had one at home, i used to push it infront of the tv and watch a movie...
    Or i would put it on high resistance and pretend i was wading through a swamp...
  • AshleyVilchis0813
    AshleyVilchis0813 Posts: 1 Member
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    This is the hardest thing for me. I absolutely hate cardio! Somedays I can do 20 minutes on the elliptical and then The next day I just want to die after 5 minutes. I'm not sure if it's because I am bored or what...
  • tiggeril
    tiggeril Posts: 5 Member
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    I like using the C25k app to time my elliptical intervals since I can't stand running.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
    edited January 2016
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    BZAH10 wrote: »
    robertw486 wrote: »
    I find all kinds of ways to mix it up on the elliptical. I used to hate cardio, and prefer working out outdoors. But we have a commercial quality elliptical, and you can get a killer workout on it. It's there, time efficient, and does the job.

    A month or two back I got a bug up my butt and researched the original Tabata protocols, crunched the numbers, and did it on the elliptical. Way different than I expected, and found the upper limit of power output the machine will display.

    I do pace work, some steady state endurance work, and at times just some crazy higher intensity sessions to mix it up.

    Almost messed myself up earlier today. Our machine has an interval setting where the ramp goes from low to medium high, and the resistance is user set. I kept upping pace over time, and towards the end way working fairly hard. I got distracted at the interval time, and when the machine went to ramp down, the sudden change in resistance caught me off guard. Going from a resistance of 14 to a resistance of 10 is huge when you are clicking away at a cadence of 180 strides per minute. :s I usually try to taper back when the change up is coming, but just missed it. Surprised I didn't bite it or pull something.

    Interesting! Care to share the numbers and/or exactly what you did?

    @BZAH10

    I had been doing intervals for some time, and just decided to find the details of the Tabata protocols out of curiosity. After doing so and crunching some numbers I realized I could do it on my elliptical.

    The Tabata protocols were some of the most known and now the name is widespread to other types of intevals and workouts that work in a different way. But the original experiments that he created sparked a lot of interest. There were two original protocols he tested, the IE1 and the IE2. The IE1 was considered the better option, as the high output time period was shorter, and the people were more likely to be able to perform it at the required output level. The experiments proved that doing the high intensity intervals added anaerobic (strength) capacity, as well as improving VO2max (oxygen uptake capacity).

    In a nutshell the IE1 protocol requires an output level of 170% of VO2max. So essentially you are essentially pushing beyond what the respiratory system can handle, forcing the anaerobic system to provide fuel through glycogen, as well as pushing at an intensity high enough to engage more muscle use rather than just steady state levels of conventional cardio. They were done on stationary bikes. But after some searching to confirm, I realized I could use my elliptical to do them. My elliptical outputs quite a few things, one of them being calories burned per minute. So I took my calories burned per minute at my estimated VO2max (you can find online test methods) and converted that number to the 170% required for the Tabata protocol.

    The intervals are short. 20 seconds at 170%, 10 seconds rest. Repeat for 7 or 8 intervals. So 4 minutes including the short rests.

    Below I've quoted my notes from another thread. **Note** I actually screwed up the warm up period. Per the original protocol the warm up should have been at 50% VO2max, and I did it at 70%. I had also done some other stuff prior, so didn't do this completely "fresh".
    robertw486 wrote: »
    So today I did a true Tabata out of curiosity, with outputs based on my calculations of my VO2max power outputs. Just out of curiosity to gauge difficulty.

    I actually did a slight variation in extended warm up. I had done some circuit style upper body muscle retention stuff to warm up, then thought the best of it and did 10 minutes on my legs per the protocol. My heart rate actually dropped from the circuit stuff while warming up my legs, but warming up my legs was the concern for me. So after my 10 minutes at 70%, my heart rate was at 99 BPM, having dropped from the 140s during the circuit stuff.

    Observations:

    Heart rate: Though likely skewed slightly by the extended warm up, my earlier predictions were WAY off. Heart rate rose much quicker than I expected, and the short break allowed almost nothing in the way of bringing it down. By the end of the 2nd 20 second interval, my low heart rate was in the mid 140s. The high had already peaked near 160. By the 4th and 5th intervals it was up near my calculated max. By the last two, I don't think my heart rate went below 170. The highest I noticed was 182. I had by then reached a point of knowing my doctor would have been shaking his head.

    Output pains: Again I was way off. The muscle output itself wasn't as bad as I had predicted, but not easy either. The cardio taxation was huge.

    Puke factor: Maybe a 4-5 at most. A couple more intervals would have added quickly. Enough to have some wobbly leg, but not to the point of stopping me from walking.

    Breathing: On a scale of 1-10, easily 12 or 13. By the end of the second interval, I was breathing harder than I've had to do in a while. I often do some interval stuff at 140-150% power output, and it's not nearly as taxing. By the last couple intervals (I did 7) I felt like I was 100 feet underwater, and had to make it to the surface.

    Sweat factor: Took my shirt off since I had a thick LS shirt on for warm up. The intervals happen so fast that really the sweat doesn't come into play until you are almost done. You can tell you are working hard enough to get it flowing by rep 2 or so.

    Recovery: I took a 12-20 minute break and got distracted with dinner prep. After the initial few minutes of getting my breathing under control and walking off the wobbly leg, HR recovered as quick as usual. After my break I got back on the machine for some more steady state stuff, but could notice that my breathing was still "off" from the HIIT. Likely still in EPOC mode and catching up from the intervals I guess.

    Not as hard on the muscles as I had expected. I rarely got DOMS even in my heavy lift days, so this might be hard to gauge as I don't expect to feel it tomorrow. When I did my after break cardio I knew I had worked before starting, but not to any extreme level.


    Overall: An eye opener, and killed some of my former predictions as to the delayed HR spike, muscle loads, etc. I'm in a fairly solid cardio state for my age, and think I could do it multiple days in a row without issue. It was taxing enough that watching data outputs on the machine was difficult, and the load was enough to make accounting for the time factor a hassle as well (my machine pauses and quits counting time). Might see if I can borrow a GoPro and flex arm mount from a photographer neighbor to get data to look at pertaining to HR and the ups and downs.


    I do think it might be slightly easier to do on a stationary bike. To reach the power output I needed I had to have the resistance level of the machine fairly high up, and the elliptical motion made it very taxing to accelerate to get to the intensity quickly. A bike might be safer too, if a person pushed too hard and got unstable or too out of breath. I decided before the fact that I would abort if needed, as dismounting my elliptical in the wrong way could be painful.

    And not noted above but further down in the original post, I would NOT suggest a person do this protocol unless you are confident in your heart rate max and have some solid cardio base. I was stress tested a couple years back and I think I still reached a heart rate level my doctor might not have been ok with. As a comparison, to reach even 160 BPM on my elliptical doing steady state stuff I have to get up to the 7 mph range, even if I'm putting in half an hour. The Tabata test had my heart rate at about 160 in a minute. It's no joke. :)


    I've got some links to the protocols and some of the data if anyone is interested in the specific details of the geekery involved.

  • KatEmmaMarie
    KatEmmaMarie Posts: 64 Member
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    I listen to music and read using my Kindle. If I'm into a good book the time flies by!
  • Mavrick_RN
    Mavrick_RN Posts: 439 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your comments. That was fun!

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