I’m trying to get healthy again since I’ve gained a few (say 30-40 lbs) in the last couple of years.
Quit smoking, quit drinking since I have to smoke when I drink, watching the diet a bit and walking alot.
I also plan to buy some sort of machine for the house. Before anyone tells me it’s a waste of money, I will use a machine if I have access to it. I gave up the idea of gym memberships because the hours never coincide with when I can go and I just stop going after a month or so.
I have about $600 to spend and I found treadmills and ellipticals that I can afford. I just don’t know what will give me the best workout over a long period of time. The treadmill I would get would have an “incline” option and I own freeweights that I could use while walking (or running) on it.
But elliptical machines also offer a good upper body workout. They seem to combine walking, cross country skiing, and stair climbing in one machine.
But, again, the treadmill seems to require some serious work if you want to keep up with the speed that you set, it almost seems like the whole inertia of an elliptical can almost take some of the load of of you. Aw hell, I don’t know.
I’ve used both and I do find that an elliptical that has the moving arms (I’ve seen some that just have stationary handles) seems to give me a better overall workout than a treadmill.
I’ve used both at the fitness center and though I like using a treadmill better, it’s harder for me to burn as many calories on it as I’d like - I can’t run (can go for an hour or more walking at a really fast pace, but get winded and have to stop within a minute or two if I try to run).
I basically have to decide which parts of me I’m OK with being in pain afterward. Treadmill aggravates my plantar fasciitis. Elliptical bugs my bad wrist and/or my formerly-broken elbows. Exercise bike kills my knees.
If you have any access to a gym, even for a few days, it may be worth trying a couple of different styles of each to see what features you like and what attributes feel “right” to you.
600 may not buy you a very good instance of either machine, for what that’s worth.
Yeah, I can’t use an exercise bike at all because of my bum knee. Ellipticals and treadmills can aggravate the plantar’s fascitis but if I do my stretches I can keep it at bay.
I know 600 bucks won’t get me anything top of the line but that’s all I can really afford and I did see some Proform brand of both machines and they do carry them in my price range.
One thing I really like about ellipticals is that they are no impact. I can go forever without injury. But I have to limit my time on a treadmill because eventually the pounding will give me soreness in my ankles and knees.
It’s been about a year or so since I had a gym membership. Can anyone give me an idea of how many calories you burn say in 45 minutes on the elliptical compared to 45 mins on a treadmill? This would be assuming you are not panting or wheezing on either machine.
What do you mean by “bum knee”? I ask because treadmills are not easy on knees - my doctor told me that stationary bikes (with the pedal straps removed) are good, low shock exercise for my knee.
Anyway, elliptical over treadmill if you have knee problems.
By “bum knee” I mean old injury by dislocation. I usually do low impact exercising. I can run as long as it’s that sort of low impact weird looking run.
I can ride a regular bike but stationary bikes, especially the kind where you are almost supine, are murder on my knee so I can’t use them, even for a cool-down.
Yeah, I’m starting to rethink all of this and am leaning toward the elliptical. That way I can get a workout that works my upper and lower body then I can continue to go for walks in the great outdoors.
I would vote for the elliptical, if only because of the price range you’re looking at. I posted my experience with a ~$600 Nordic Track elliptical in that recent elliptical thread. What I found was, in the price range I was looking at ($500-700), the quality of the ellipticals were much better than the quality of the treadmills in the same range. Partly, it’s fewer moving parts, if I recall correctly, the treadmill has two motors, belts, rotary parts, etc. The elliptical has fewer moving parts, fewer things to fall apart, basically.
I’m happy enough with the elliptical. I do wish I’d had a few hundred extra bucks to plunk down, but it does give me a decent workout, and by the time it falls apart, hopefully I’ll have enough saved to buy a refurbished Precor
This is going to be really hard to compare. There’s so many ways to adjust the workout. Just on a treadmill you can probably vary between 200 - 1000 calories in a 45 minute workout depending on the what the incline and speed are set to.
That said, I’ve done 45 minute workouts on both treadmills and ellipticals, and I usually burn more calories on the elliptical. I think this is from two reasons.
One, my arms are pushing/pulling on the handles as they swing. This allows the upper body to contribute to the calorie burning so my calorie usage is done using more muscles. It’s not just isolated in my legs.
Two, I’m able to zone-out more on the elliptical. When I’m on a treadmill all I can think about is when I’ll be done. This makes me think more about how fast I’m going and how hard I’m pushing (encouraging me to quit early and make the machine go slower). But when I’m on the elliptical I almost forget I’m working out. I find it much easier mentally to do the elliptical workout than the treadmill workout.
When you’re looking for machines to buy, don’t forget the classifieds or craigslist.org. You can usually get good deals (50% off or more) on used equipment.
I have a really nice treadmill and it was close to $2 grand. It replaces the cheap one I got, which was a piece of crap.
I’m going with the elliptical machine for 5 reasons:
It’s easier to get a nice one in your budget
They’re easier on the knees
You can get a good all-body workout (arms and legs)
You can watch t.v./listen to music more easily because they don’t make a bunch of noise. The great thing about having machines at home is that you can distract yourself by popping in a Buffy (or what have you) dvd. I have to crank it up all the way in order to hear it over the treadmill.
It’s hard to kill yourself on the ellliptical machine. I can’t say the same thing about my treadmill. Yeah, yeah, I know all about the safety tether. Unfortunately, the safety tether tends to get pulled out right when you’re at the peak of your program.
Both machines will burn calories, But the best one for YOU is the one you are actually going to use on a truly regular basis.
Go to a gym and use one for 30 minutes and so how boring it is, then go back to the gym and try the other one. Choose the one you find least boring.
Its also very important to have some of your favorite music playing while you work out.
I love my treadmill. At the 4.2 (an easy walking pace) setting you burn 8 calories a minute or 360 during a 45 minute workout. If you crank it up to 5.0 (fast walking) , you burn 10 calories a minute or 450 calories per 45 minute workout.
After warming up at these walking rates, I set the treadmill at 8.6 (7 minute mile) and burn over 17 calories a minute, but I can do this for only 21 minutes (over 350 calories).
Thank you all for your replies. With all of this new information I think I’m going to go for the elliptical. It sounds like that is more compatible with what I need as I keep these points in mind:
A better machine for what I can afford.
One that is easy on my stupid ruined knee.
Elliptical is quieter so I can watch my stories,
A workout for both my upper and lower body.
I really want to focus on the amount of calories I burn a day especially since I just quit smoking and that decreases daily calories burned by about 170-220.
When I used to go to the gym I liked the ellipticals better but spent more time on the treadmills because they only had a few ellipticals and I could never procure one. The only time I can get to a gym is around 5:30 pm when everyone and their sister’s monkey are there.
