Elliptical exercise machine?? fitness people please!?

Question

Hi i just bought a elliptical machine. it isnt electronic,its just like a swinging type of thing.. Will this work? i dont want to lose weight, i would like to get a little bit toned up and healthy in 2 months.... any tips, different ways to use this machine? thanks everyone

Answer 1

I'm not sure what you mean by swinging thing? Sounds like a Infomercial product.  If you could send me a link or product name I can help more. but the best is to get a good Treadmill or Elliptical that is going to burn some calories period. In combination with cleaning up the diet and eating 5 small meals a day rather than 3 large meals or like most people 2 meals a day. Eating only 2-3 big meals a day slows down your metabolism. Eating 5 small meals a day with high protein, well lean you out and speed that metabolism up fast.  

I would also recommend taking CLA like Labrada EFA LEAN GOLD which has CLA for weight loss as well the fish oil. Very health and a trick of the trade for weight loss.

If you're looking for a good elliptical machine that burns calories and good quality I recommend

http://www.bodyconcept.com/ProForm-Epic-...

Answer 2

OK, ellipticals are pretty good but they still don't beat running, jogging, jog/walking, or walking-whatever your level is.  If you have a heard time jogging try warm up walking then jog for 1 min., walk for 2 min. and repeat that 5 times or so and then slowly over time increase the jogging amount and decrease the walking amount.  So in a few weeks you might be doing 2 min jogging and 1 min walking and then eventually you are just jogging.  If you need to you can start with even less jogging or more walking, like half a min jogging.  Also, if you're mostly sedentary now you should start for a few weeks just walking.  Start with something small like 10 or 15 min. and then just keep increasing it as you feel you are ready until you get to 30 or 35 min.  Then add the jogging intervals.

Ellipticals are still great for rainy days and if you start to get sore from the high contact that jogging entails.

The other thing to point out is that you want to "tone" and that comes from two things and two things only 1) building muscle and 2) cutting fat.  That is all.  Do not listen to people that tell you that one exercise is better at "toning" than another.  There is still a lot more to it than just that though.

If you want to get toned up without losing weight you should focus on having a good diet with proteins, good carbs (no white bread and that sort of thing), and good fats (stay away from saturated) and doing exercise that builds muscle to turn fat into muscle.  I'm not saying that you should lift weights or anything, your elliptical can add muscle to your legs also.  Of course, you can also get "toned" by just cutting fat but that is harder but still possible with diet alone but if there is no muscle there then "toned" is just skinny.

In fact, other than just personal preference and availability, picking an exercise should be a decision of where you want to add muscle mass and what other health benefits arise from the exercise.  For instance, you will want to do some cardio (like the elliptical) because that is very good for your heart, lungs, and a lot more.

Again though, if you want more muscle in your arms you'll want to pick an exercise to build muscle on your arms, like swimming, or if you to more muscle on your legs run or use your elliptical.

In my opinion, the best way to get in good shape and get healthy is to do a little of everything.  That is, run, swim in a pool or ocean depending on where you are (University pools are the best, they often have way cheaper fees than a gym for community use-if they allow it-and usually have way better equipment and facilities.), do some elliptical to lessen the burden from jogging on your knees/feet/shins or escape the rain, and do some weight training to build fast twitch muscles too.

Similarly, if you only want to use your elliptical than there are many ways to use it and the best way, in my opinion, is to do a little of everything.  Even if it doesn't have electronics you can still treat it like you were out jogging.

1) Go at a steady pace the whole time. (The body works less in the same amount of time but this can still be good.)

2) Do intervals of 30 sec. speed bursts and then back to going slowly.

3) Build momentum slowly to a peak and then come back down.  Repeat if desired.

4) Mix it up.  Go slow, go fast, go medium paced, the more random your pattern the more your body keeps guessing and the more it works.