Ellipticals - Your Experience/Suggestions

I'm planning to buy an elliptical very soon. If you've bought one recently and used it extensively (doesn't mean moving it from room to room in your house! ), please post your experience and recommendations!

I like the bally version at the gym. I think you're better off getting a used/refurbished gym-quality unit. The ones built for home use feel pretty flimsy.

Please do not put gym equipment in your home unless you actually have a gym and use it extensively. It's incredibly tacky.

Replacing a treadmill in home gym with elliptical.

No way to exercise outside?

The only people I ever see using ellipticals at my gym are pudgy girls, skinny fat middle aged men, and skinny girls who'd be skinny regardless of their diet or activity level.

I've noticed the women will stop once they've reached their target calorie count, not their time goal -- it's well known the calorie count on these machines is inflated.

id stick with the threadmill....

Home gyms end up being great repositories for dirty laundry.

lol @ "home gym"

Originally Posted by APK

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The only people I ever see using ellipticals at my gym are pudgy girls, skinny fat middle aged men, and skinny girls who'd be skinny regardless of their diet or activity level.

+1 Saw a guy yesterday on the elliptical. Middle-aged, lifting belt, lifting gloves and elbow wraps. He was prepared for all the stress that an elliptical puts on the body.

I don't understand all this hate.

I use one of these extensively.
http://www.arctrainer.com/
It really is awesome.

The problem with the typical "home" elliptical machines are that they are just not that good. Like everything else, you gotta pay to get quality.

Ellipticals are great.

LOL at Grayland.....

I think there's nothing wrong with ellipticals per se as a cardio exercise. It is a low impact exercise much like a stationary bicycle. The only problem I can think of is that training on elliptical does not necessarily translate to running. In other words, getting very good on the elliptical will not make you a better runner in my experience. So in that sense, elliptical training is perhaps not the best choice for functional fitness.

But that's hardly surprising. If you want to be a better runner, you need to run. If you want to be a better cyclist, you've got to get on the bike. These activities are different enough that other than helping you get to a certain level in cardiovascular fitness, they don't necessarily translate from one to the other.

Since the OP is replacing a treadmill with an elliptical, the question to him is whether he is targeting the elliptical to help him train to be a better runner. If so, bad idea. If he is simply after a reasonable cardiovascular exercise, then I don't see anything wrong with it.

Originally Posted by APK

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The only people I ever see using ellipticals at my gym are pudgy girls, skinny fat middle aged men, and skinny girls who'd be skinny regardless of their diet or activity level.
+1. And gay dudes. Seriously, I almost never see men on the elliptical.