It has been forever since I posted. I have fibromyalgia, along with heel spurs, knee surgery for a torn meniscus (8 months ago), and two bulging discs in my lower back, I haven't been doing much lately other than maintaining the weight I was already down to. I recently got out my urban rebounder and started working with that again. It is the only thing I have that doesn't hurt me when I use it! LOL I also have an elliptical and a recumbent bike. Anyway, it has been awhile since I have done any "real" exercise. So, yesterday, I decided to start with the elliptical again. I was able to do 1 minute and 15 seconds. That is it! How pitiful is that? Last night I was feeling okay, but this morning I was incredibly sore all over, from head to toe. So, I got back on the horse, so to speak, and did another 1 minute and 15 seconds. It seemed a bit easier this morning though. I know all I have to do is add a bit here and there and work up to a longer time, but it almost seems hopeless! Anyway, after the elliptical, I got on the recumbant bike and did five minutes on that. That is another piece of equipment I haven't used in ages. I am trying to be careful of my knee, which feels ok right now. Also, if I overdo it, the fibro will put me in bed for a week. I really, really want to be able to exercise. Anything I do is more than I was doing. I have been using the urban rebounder 5 minutes at a time, several times a day. I am trying to work up to 1/2 hour a day. Right now I am at 15 minutes. Not much, is it? Uggh.
HA! I've worked myself up to 2.5 mi straight at a jog, but I STILL won't try the elliptical yet....when I was in college, it kicked MY butt!! Even when I was in good shape...
So, you're braver (and probably did it longer) than I! Maybe one day I'll try it again...
I am new to the site, just trying to kick my butt into gear. I am the complete opposite. I LOVE the elliptical. I can do anywhere from 4.5-5.5 miles in an hour on the elliptical, but put me on the treadmill and I am toast. I just can't do it. I have no idea!
I had the same problem with the elliptical...it would just wrench my heart rate up so high even with me using it as slowly as possible...it's taken me over a month of steadily exercising 6 days a week to work my way up to using it.
I also splurged and bought a Polar HR monitor so I'm not fumbling with the hand sensors on any of my gym's machines. It has helped...when I notice my HR getting too high (for me that's getting close to 170), I slow down a bit.
I am new to the site, just trying to kick my butt into gear. I am the complete opposite. I LOVE the elliptical. I can do anywhere from 4.5-5.5 miles in an hour on the elliptical, but put me on the treadmill and I am toast. I just can't do it. I have no idea!
I thought I was the only one treadmill challenged. I can do the elliptical for an hour. I can go fast, do all the inclines, intervals, and feel like I could go all day.
I cannot do the treadmill. Even at low speeds like 2-3 I feel like I have to hold on or im going to go flying off. I feel like its dragging my legs even though I feel like I'm moving them fast. I'm working on c25k now and doing it outside. I don't understand what I'm not getting about the treadmill.
To the original poster.. When I started the elliptical I could only do a couple of minutes. I progressed really fast though. In a week or two I could do twenty, then adding on extra time got easy.
One thing that helped me when I started that is counter-intuitive. It was a lot easier for me to do it on an incline of 7-8 (mine goes to 14) than on 1. So when I started I had to bump up the incline to make any progress at all. Now I can do all the inclines. If you are struggling, you might try raising the incline to see if its more comfortable.
Those of you that are challanged by the treadmill, but fine with the elliptical may have the same issues I have which is the pounding (impact) on the joints caused by the treadmill. I do about 4 miles over 50 minutes almost every day on the elliptical, but try and have me run that same 4 miles on a treadmill and I would just die. I have a bad knee and can't take the impact of "running" on a treadmill, so I "run" on my elliptical.
It's also a matter of your body having adjusted to the exercise you are doing. If you do the elliptical all the time, your body adjusts to it and it gets easier (so you keep upping your speed/resistance). But then when you switch to the treadmill, you're using a different motion and different muscles. So it feels a lot harder that what you were doing on the elliptical. But if you were to keep doing the treadmill every day, you'd adjust to that too (unless knee pain is your problem--if the treadmill makes your knees hurt, don't do it--sometimes there's no help for that).
I use five different kinds of cardio equipment at my gym--the treadmill, crossramp, elliptical, stepmill, and spin machines. I use the treadmill pretty regularly but I go through phases with the others. The one that kicks my butt the most is always the one that I've been using the least. For example, for a while I hated the crossramp because it seemed really hard compared to the elliptical. Then I got bored with the elliptical, sucked it up and switched to the crossramp. Now the crossramp seems easy compared to the elliptical.
kitkatbahr: The first time I did the elliptical, I thought I was going to die after a minute or so. But I built up stamina pretty quickly. Just keep at it and you'll get better.
Last edited by BlueToBlue; 06-25-2008 at 10:12 PM.
I agree with the incline on the elliptical-at least for me. I don't use it often because of my knee- but if I travel the hotels often have decent machines. If I start at a low incline it hurts my knees if I bump it up a bit I can go for 30 min. My theory is on an incline on the elliptical my alignment between my knee and my ankle is better. I have no problem on the treadmill. The stair climber is the killer for me- I just look at it and my HR goes up.
Hey all, thanks for the replies. Well, I have been doing the elliptical every day this week. Yesterday, I was up to 2 minutes 5 seconds. Better than the 1 minute from before! LOL This morning I was able to do 3 minutes 30 seconds, so I am getting there. My lungs were really burning though and my legs were shaky. I like the elliptical though. I feel it really gives me an all over workout. My goal is to get to 1/2 hour per day by the end of July. I should be able to do that. That is just over 30 days to work up to it.
Thanks for all the support!
Kathy
Last edited by kitkatbahr; 06-26-2008 at 08:03 AM.
You are so not the only Elliptichallenged one out there. I can totally rock the treadmill, jogging, hills, intervals, you name it, get me on the elliptical and I'm gonna die!
Yesterday, I went to the gym and saw my arch nemesis - The Elliptical. I said to myself, "I'm terrible at that. And so I should try to do it." I ended up doing an hour on the elliptical. Today, I am a wreck. I packed a gym bag so I could go to the gym after work. I didn't go. My calves and achilles tendons are so totally sore. I want to go to the gym tomorrow. I'm going to go regardless of how I feel, because I need to get into the habit of doing something rather than nothing. But my legs feel like **** right now. Before this, I'd been walking around the neighborhood from 3 to 7 miles a day. I was fine with that. But the elliptical just shut me down.
Hi, my name is Suzanne, and I'm elliptically challenged.
Seriously though, I also have a problem with the elliptical. Two things I've found that helped me and may be of assistance to the rest of you.
1. Try different ones out. My gym has 2 models of LifeFitness. One of them (the newer model!) puts my feet to sleep and is harder on my HR. I have to stop every 3-4 minutes on it to stretch my toes. The other one, I can use for 10 minutes (now) without having to stop. They both do about the same to my muscles - I think the older model just has a different angle for the footpads.
2. Work yourself up. Don't expect, just because you can run on the treadmill for 30 minutes, that you should be able to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm currently at 10 minutes on elliptical and hope to boost that to 15 next week. When I started I couldn't last 5.
I used the elliptical the first time yesterday..and my workout buddy said we'd do it for ten minutes. Ah..how foolish of me. I was fine up until 4 and a half minutes when I felt the burn in my legs. But I pulled through and made it through 10 minutes with a 3 minute cool down. My legs felt like goo at first but after a few minutes I was fine. I wonder how I'll fare on our next workout, but I feel it in my legs today and my sides surprisingly. So today, we're just going to swim and celebrate.
By the way, Happy Fourth of July!
pitiful...elliptical kicked my butt
