Is doing cardio on the elliptical pointless? page 5

[kap]

I love a T-Shirt I saw for sale on a Lifting website: "If Deadlifts were easy, they'd be called Ellipticals".

That being said, I sometimes jump on one after lifting.

[Kharnath]

I'm not sure what an elliptical is. Is it that thing with an individual platform for each foot? I see people on that thing and the movement they do with their legs is unlike anything you would do naturally so I can't see what value there is for it.

Yoga, rowing and cycling is also unlike anything you would do naturally. The Fosbury Flop and the Iron Cross? Not natural at all and yet most people agree that track & field and gymnastics is great for developing strength, balance, coordination and so on.

Seriously, who gives a rat's ass about what we do naturally? If it works, it works.

[arthurb999]

pointless... no.
sucks... yes.

[Kharnath]

pointless... no.
sucks... yes.

/thread

[Forever Young]

Exactly. "Cardio" is a made up slang term. Cardio means your heart is working. Your heart doesnt know the difference between running or lifting weights, all it knows is that it needs to pump faster. Unless your specifically training for a marathon ect.. and working on specialized skills, theres no difference between different excersizes.

Yes, the only difference is the intensity. If you walk for an hour your heart will be slightly elevated. If you jog it will be more elevated i.e. working harder. If you are doing a few very intense sets of resistance work it will be working much harder yet.

[paleo-bunny]

Ellips are largely known as cross-trainers in the UK.

That's because they're favoured by elite runners for cross-training.

The fact that the movement is different to any natural movement is a feature, not a bug. Especially for those who make use of the reverse-mode feature. How many runners do you see running backwards?

Ellips/cross-trainers are also beneficial for those with any kind of joint problem as long as they are wary of knackered old equipment.

There are a couple of top-of-the range machines at a gym I joined recently that have a dynamic range of motion varying from steps (feeling like jogging on the spot) to a gliding forwards (feeling like ice-skating) depending on how you use them. The overall sensation is amazing - they make me feel very buoyant - a cross between swimming and running, with no wear and tear on the joints. I can appreciate the serious amount of bioengineering that was invested in their research and development.

Had Grok been a luddite we wouldn't be here using the Grok metaphor today.

[Gorbag]

I sometimes use them as a warm-up for the warm-up...

[paleo-bunny]

I use them for a cool down.

[Owly]

I still have yet to find one that doesn't make me feel seasick. Give me a quick 500m or even 1000m on the rower for a warmup any day. Or even the treadmill--at least if I speed walk on there I won't feel like I'm going to hurl.

[paleo-bunny]

I have never heard of anyone getting seasickness from an elliptical before. I'm more sensitive than average to motion sickness but have never experienced the slightest sensation of that from an elliptical.

Rowing machines do provide a much better an all-body strength/cardio workout ... hence NASA's employment of them.