I just got an elliptical and I love it. I've been doing it everyday so far, but I'm not sure what I should set my goals as. Like, on resistance one, I could go for an hour, but I don't feel that worked out after, and I get a little bored even with the tv haha. But at resistance 4, I can feel it working my muscles but could prolly only keep that up for 15 minutes, maybe 20. So one setting has me working out longer with a H/R at about 150-160, and the other has me working out for a shorter period but using my muscles more and a H/R at about 180. I'm not very fit as you can see haha.

But which is better? I really wanna gain muscle so I'm leaning towards a harder workout and shorter time. But I've read going longer is better... I'm confused. And of course I wanna burn fat also. Which should I do?

I have an eliptical too and I vary the WO.

Sometimes I start at a really hard resistance and work my way down over an hour and leave the incline steady. Other times I varry the programs, my eliptical has 5 or 6.

I too love towatch TV but the commercial length KILLS me, So I have been watching a series on DVD. I 24 on DVD used and have been enjoing it..

Good luck and enjoy!

Intervals, intervals, intervals! I do a variety of intervals when I do my elliptical. Sometimes it is a structured interval program like HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), sometime it is just an interval program which is built into the elliptical.

I love my elliptical but if I had to be on it for an hour, I think I'd shoot myself. Luckily intervals help you burn more calories in a shorter amount of time.

I use an arc trainer at my gym which is similar to an elliptical. I feel better when I do a higher intensity for a shorter amount of time. Twenty minutes is good for starting out! After doing it for a few days in a row I have trouble moving my legs as quickly with the same resistance, but I'll still do 20 minutes while moving my legs slower. On those days I'll walk on the treadmill afterward and increase the incline every few minutes. You could also try doing HIIT, where you go at a medium pace for a minute and then high intensity for 30 seconds and repeat.

I agree that you should do intervals. I've also read that elliptical machines use a lot of momentum and that most people don't use enough resistance to get a good workout from it. So I would suggest using a higher resistance so you make sure you're using your muscles instead of momentum.

I believe a higher resistance is better if your goal is to gain muscle. Intervals are good for weight loss.

Thanks for the replies!

I decided to do the interval training and keep using a higher resistance. I learned how to make my own program so I set it as a weight loss interval program where it goes like, 1 resistance for 5 minutes, 4 for 2 minutes, 7 for 3 minutes and back down to 1 again. Then I'll do another 15 or 20 minute easy cardio. I think that should work. I can already feel myself getting better. When I first started I could barely do 15 minutes on resistance 1, now I can go higher resistance for longer! I like this cause it'll be easy to see progress when it gets easy. Thanks again! Now I just gotta work on my eating habits bah.