[nelie]

I love my elliptical but don't use it all the time. I've been on ellipticals (usually cheap ones) that really feel funny. I believe it is the stride. When I was looking for guides on buying ellipticals, they advised never to buy an elliptical with less than an 18" stride. My elliptical is adjustable and goes from 18" to 24".

Also, there is a learning curve with ellipticals. When I first started, I could only do a few minutes. Within a few weeks, I reached the "forever" point which is when you can go on forever, 20, 40, 60 minutes, it doesn't matter.

Overall, they are great machines and supposedly the best thing to do if you have bad knees or knee issues.

[SlimmingDown]

Originally Posted by alisluv

THanks for the suggestions everyone!! Yes, I'm going to the gym for this -- and there appear to be 3 or 4 different "brands/types" of elliptical machines, but everyone looks about the same doing them. I haven't noticed the stride settings, so I'll check that out...and I will just keep pushing myself, because it does look like fun, and obviously, it works for you guys!! Thanks again for the help!

I have been an elliptical junkie for years. Used to do 90 minutes 6 days a week on them.

The Precor machines that you'll find in gyms are more of a running motion and still hurt my knees. However, I find that these are easier when you increase the incline because you get more momentum. I personally am in love with Life Fitness machines. They don't hurt my knees at all and they are more of a walking motion, much more fluid in my opinion.

I bought a nice machine a year ago but it is more like a Precor (bought it online ). I never use it and go to the gym for the Life Fitness.

[nelie]

Slimming,

Have you thought about selling your elliptical on craigs list or something? I have a LifeFitness and it is awesome. Maybe if you sold yours, you could get something different or at least get rid of a machine you don't use.