I always take aerobics-type classes for my fitness regimen, but last week, I went to the gym for a class, and found out it was canceled. I thought about going home, but decided to use one of the elliptical ski machines. I'm not sure that's what you call it, but it was an elliptical machine that also has arm movement bars. I'm very much against exercise on machines (I've always thought it's boring -- um...running and not getting anywhere--hamster wheel phenomenon), but I decided to try it anyway since I knew I probably wasn't going to be working out this week.
I did 35 minutes on the elliptical machine, and it said I burned a little over 300 calories. However, for the first 15 minutes, I felt like I wasn't even exercising! It seemed like I wasn't getting near the workout that I get in my cardio classes! After I finished 35 minutes, I did some cardio exercise in the gym on my own because I didn't feel like I'd done too much. It said I burned more calories than my average aerobics class (according to fitday), but I'm not sure I believed it since I really didn't feel like I'd worked out very hard afterwards. My hips were a little sore the next day, but that went away quickly.
Anyone think similarly about elliptical machines? Anyone had a similar experience? Is cardio aerobics more of a workout? Do you believe the calories?