I just recently joined a gym. I had a meeting with a personal trainer and told her my goal is to lose weight (60 pounds) and my bat wings. I want to do weight lifting. So our plan is for me to work out 5 days a week. Mon, Wed, Fri. I do warm up (rowing machine) then weight lifting and exercise bike. Then on tues and thurs is cardio. Well I finally got the guts to get on that ellipitical beast. My first time I was able to do 12 minutes. Today (my 2nd) I did 16 minutes. My question is how do you get your stamina up on that machine and what else do you do besides it? You must understand after my 16 minutes today I was totally drenched in sweat and my legs were pretty darn rubbery. I did do a recumbant bike after that for 15 minutes just because I thought 16 minutes is no work out at all. What kind of things would you suggest to go with the elliptical? Would you do the ellipitical first or after some other machine? And how do I go about getting stronger on it- I imagine I would have to get better sooner or later. I just feel like a wimp on that and want to get better at it. Any ideas would be helpful.

well with my post op the docs office provides a personal trainer, they really only want me to do 10-15 mins of cardio then weight training to the fullest.. 2-3 times a week for an hr, all weight training after those few mins of cardio to get the blood pumping. My doc says the problem is not that i have too much fat, but i have too LESS muscle.

I trained on an elliptical machine for quite a while before and just after my surgery due to a bad ankle. I could never stick it out, the boredom factor got me and I couldnt get the temp right, my thighs would ache from the unnatural motion.

I'm a person who loves the treadmill because running to me is "natural" motion (or walking for that matter). YOu dont think about it, you just do it. But I find the elliptical or bike difficult because it hurts in places you dont use, etc.

What I did was interval training on the elliptical. I used cardio coach (www.cardiocoach.com) on my MP3 and suddenly 40 minutes on the elliptical was no problem. It consists of bursts of high intensity activity - you find your own settings that work at the various levels - with recovery periods and the music its set to is good, and the trainer talks to you, tells you what to do and when to do it. It works well for the bike too, its harder for a treadmill unless you're just doing sprints - inclines take too long to adjust.

Anyhow, I did that for about 3 or 4 months 3 or 4 times a week, and by the time I'd lost 14kg I was ready to try going for a jog (my main aim and now my great love). From being fat and sedentary for several years, I just went out and ran 3kms, so this elliptical training really worked.

I'd highly recommend it. You probably want to aim for a longer period on the machine, more like 40 minutes, but by measuring your heartrate and the intensity you're working at, you can probably do that. If you can only do 16 minutes before you're totally shagged, you're probably working too hard.

J.S, I too started on the elliptical wondering how I would stick it out. Jachut is right, you should probably cut back on intensity if you are wobbly after 16 minutes. But for building endurance what I did was up the time each week and spend a week at that time. Now I do a 40 minute pre-programmed fat burning workout. I just input my weight and age and the machine chooses the intensity. I upped my time by 5 minutes each week, starting at 20 total the first week. The other thing, it is not so much (for me) that it is the elliptical machine as it is cardio fitness so if you do other challenging cardio workouts like biking, tread mill, hiking (I live in Montana so everything goes up:) ) you will build cardio endurance.

Good luck with those workouts:clap2: , it is the best thing I do for myself.

Terri

Thanks for the help guys! I am gearing up to take on the beast again tomorrow! I have been walking on my treadmill for well over a year now and I can do that at a pretty decent clip without any problem. It just amazed me at how much harder this seemed to be than that, but now I seem to have it stuck in me that I MUST master this machine!

j.s.

I have an intense relationship with my beloved elliptical machine. The first time I got on it, I could only do about 10 minutes and my feet fell asleep and I felt generally like I was going to keel over. This was pre-WLS for me -- I'd been working out for a while before surgery. Anyway, my stamina grew quickly and I was able to do about 40 minutes on level 3 within a month or so. I didn't really get much past that until I dropped some weight. Now I can do 60 minutes on level 10, though I usually only do 40, then switch it up with the treadmill or another cardio machine for 15-20 minutes. Or sometimes I just do the elliptical and go home. Point being, you'll build enough stamina to do a full cardio workout before you know it. Hang in there!

* I thought I should add that my machine goes to level 25. Some only go to 10 and I didn't want you get the wrong impression of my meager fitness!

hey js

I swear - I told the guy at the gym that he couldn't film my first attempt for America's Funniest Home Videos... I was sure the beast was going to throw me to the ground... and my first try, I could only do two minutes. The only thing to do is keep on going back. The trick is to keep your heartrate inside your target range...

The machines at my gym have the little sensors - so I keep my speed to whatever it takes to keep my heart-rate under the max for my age group. Once my heart rate exceeds the max - I get off the machine and move to the stationary bike.

Just keep your chin up. Your stamina will improve, I promise. I started at two minutes - about a year ago - and now I can go for 30-40 minutes on level 3.

Hugs!

I did one minute the first day at level one.

Then three minutes the next day.

Then 5,

Then...

Nobody has the right to judge your progress, so just try to do no less than the last time, unless you take off more than 4 days.

You should be able to increase the time gradually. When you get to about 30 minutes, increase the level to #2 and try to go as long as posssible. You will probably quit between 15 & 20. Next time, try to do at least 2 minutes more and keep trying to increase until you get to 30 and then increase the level to #3...

I have started back exercising and first I did an hour of water aerobics 2 or 3 times a week know I am switching it up to working out on the treadmill I do an hour for about 4 or 5 times a week with a little weight lifting to tone. So I decided to try the (ski monster) I planned on doing 10 min of the 60 but could only do 5 I will keep at it until I can build up to doing half of my cardio on it. Do it at your own pace.

Well today I went back at it. I kept it at level 1 and was able to do a full 20 minutes. I sweat like a pig on that thing tho, my shirt was just drenched. It must be doing something. It just amazes me to see these people up on there as calm and cool as a cucumber - reading of all things. Yes - one day that will be me! I figure I will keep it at level 1 until I am able to do that without dying... then will gradually increase. When I go to the gym I see it taunting me... I will beat the beast!

Tamiko- they also have this ski kinda thing it sorta pushes away to the sides of your body.... I just dont even look at that thing.... I know my limitations and I am quite sure that is one of them!

I too started out like you... the first day I tried it for 10 minutes, I couldn't walk all weekend! After a month, I was at 30 minutes doing 140 strides/minute. Now I can do 45 minutes for at 155 strides. I am doing interval training. The machine I use is a Precor EFX 546i.

So bottom line is give it time and don't give up.

I have become addicted to using the steam room after I exercise. I don't know what it does but eventhou I sweat a lot while I exercise I like to go into the steam room and sweat like a run down horse for about 20 min. I feel drained afterwards but once I go home have about 40 oz of water and fall into a deep coma for about 5 hours I wake up feeling so refreshed. The ellipitical trainer does the same thing.