I just got an elliptical machine and have a few questions.

1) I have bad ankles and thought an elliptical might be nice because they are low impact. Is this true? my wife says they are low impact but put a lot of stress on your ankles so it might not be good for me. I can ride a bike for hours without any ankle problems. But if I jog/run i get problems within a few minutes.

2) can an ellipticals arms be used for anything else? i.e. when running on it even at the highest difficulty the arm workout just seems to be moving my arms, i feel the same amount of cardio exertion whether or not im pushing/pulling on the elliptical arms... but (don't laugh) i "straddled" the pedals and just used the elliptical with the arms for a few minutes on the hardest difficulty, and it felt pretty tough. anyone have any ideas on this?

3) when i use the machine for 15+ minutes my lower back starts to hurt pretty bad. I don't have any known back problems and am standing up straight when using the machine. is this pain normal due to the motion of the machine? the pain starts at about 15 minutes and i push myself to 20 - 25 minutes then stop and the pain goes away immediately.

I'm sure I'll have lots more questions but that's it for now. Thanks in advance for any advice!

I think 1 and 3 are questions for your doctor or fitness professional to answer. As for 2, I've found that for certain hard parts of programs I was able to use my arms to give my legs some help. They do have upper body ergometers though if you want to do cardio with the upper body.

Sorry for barging in on your thread, but I have a question about my elliptical.

When I'm on it, there are times when I feel as though it changes resisitance on me, although I can't hear it and didn't do it myself. I can be on level 4 and suddenly for a couple of strides, it gets really difficult and then it is ok, then it gets difficult again. I do not change pace when this occurs. Any ideas as to what is going on?

If you're not on a preset program I'd think there's something odd going on inside your elliptical - maybe a belt is off kilter or something.

mlh122
It really shouldn't bother your ankles or your back. I have a bad back (had one surgery already),replaced hip, and foot problems and have never had any problems with the elliptical. As for the arms, as stingo said, put the resistance up some, and concentrate on pulling and pushing with your arms while also using your feet.. I find I can get quite an arm workout as well as an intense cardio workout at high resistance when I focus on my arms. What brand of elliptical do you have?



2hott4u
I had that problem with a Diamondback stationary bike once. It was the electronics not the mechanical parts.

So I should have it looked at then, is what you are saying....thanks guys!

And to the OP, again sorry for barging in....hope you get your ?s answered. I agree with stingo, though.

Different strokes I guess. It is the only cardio equipment that I can use without generating pain to some part of my body.

cool thanks for the answers. and to 2hott4u my elliptical is a diamondback and does drastically change resistance on me for a few seconds every now and then. i just chalk it up to it being a sub-$600 elliptical ($699 marked down to $560). the more expensive ones i've tried don't do that. but as long as it only changes on me fairly rarely it doesn't bug me. if it did it all the time i'd take it apart and try to resolve it or get a new one.

As I stated earlier in this thread, I had that same problem with a diamondback bike. It is something in their electronics.

Did you ever get it fixed?

Nope, I had service out a few times and they said there was nothing they could do, that there was just some "slippage" (their word not mine) that the equipment had in it. I returned the bike to the store and got a refund. The owner of the store told me that "when you buy cheap you get cheap". Once again it shows that you get what you pay for in fitness equipment. That bike was about $450 on sale (normally $600), which to me seemed like a reasonable amount to pay for a recumbent bike. The ones I tried for $1500 were great, but no way was I going to spend that kind of money.

That certainly makes sense. I can't think of what mine is. It's not a diamondback, though. But at any rate, what you are saying makes sense.

well i tried like i was told and put the resistance up more and concentrated on my arms. i was able to start to get somewhat of a fluid movement with my arms helping my legs. i think it will take some practice to get good at it as im not very coordinated, but after 20 minutes my upper body was burning pretty good. still a strong pain in the lower back though.