How do you get your heart rate up using an elliptical?

Don't hold the handles or arm poles at all. I try to shoot for a combination of resistance and stride rate that lets me get the most wattage without wearing out my legs to fast. I don't do my arms in a running motion, though. I just kind of hang them at my sides with a little movement. Your stride rate should be higher on the elliptical because the stride is so short, so it feels weird to do anything with your arms. It is more like cycling than running.

I have been relegated to the elliptical mostly for months and can get my HR as high for as long as a normal run. By the end, I could work out daily at HRs on the elliptical that would wear me out running everyday.

Brian wrote:

Don't hold the handles or arm poles at all. I try to shoot for a combination of resistance and stride rate that lets me get the most wattage without wearing out my legs to fast. I don't do my arms in a running motion, though. I just kind of hang them at my sides with a little movement. Your stride rate should be higher on the elliptical because the stride is so short, so it feels weird to do anything with your arms. It is more like cycling than running.

I have been relegated to the elliptical mostly for months and can get my HR as high for as long as a normal run. By the end, I could work out daily at HRs on the elliptical that would wear me out running everyday.

Agree with this.

No way you can elevate the heartrate whiile holding on to the handles because they limit your stride rate to very low levels. I did try to hold on to the handles very low which matched the stride rate but it was so awkward it wouldn't have worked for long periods of time. I work out on a Lifefitness eliptical that is the best I have ever used. I hold on to the middle handles which is also a heartrate monitor. The problem with other models are that the footpedals are positioned to keep the body leaning backwards instead of the natural forward lean used to propel yourself forward if you were running or against the resistence on the eliptical. On inferior machines, I have put the back of my foot up on the side of the pedals to give myself a little more of this forward lean and that helped a lot.

I used the stairmaster for years and then transitioned to the eliptical the last 2-3 years. I run 2-3 times a week and eliptical 3-4 times a week. I can work out much harder on the eliptical with little chance of injury. I have to limit my running because at 48, any hard running requires 2-3 days before I can run again.

thanks. When you're using the eliptical are you getting a good workout in (are you drenching in sweat) or does it feel more like doing a easy recovery run? I ask because it always feels like doing a recovery run and I usually have to compensate for this by working out on it longer. I think this is partly because it feels like the machine is doing some of the work for you. For instance, when you push down on the foot pedal on one side it actually helps move the other foot pedal on the other side.

Does anyone know if the arc trainer is different in terms of making you harder? There's another gym that has them that I'm willing to drive to but not if it's not worth the extra drive time just to get a slightly better workout in.

hairy styles wrote:

thanks. When you're using the eliptical are you getting a good workout in (are you drenching in sweat) or does it feel more like doing a easy recovery run? I ask because it always feels like doing a recovery run and I usually have to compensate for this by working out on it longer. I think this is partly because it feels like the machine is doing some of the work for you. For instance, when you push down on the foot pedal on one side it actually helps move the other foot pedal on the other side.

Does anyone know if the arc trainer is different in terms of making you harder? There's another gym that has them that I'm willing to drive to but not if it's not worth the extra drive time just to get a slightly better workout in.

I don't understand what the problem is. If it feels like only a recovery run effort, then.... move faster. Is this not obvious?

..you get down from the machine and go for a run

I don't know about the arc trainer but the way to make the work out harder on the eliptical is the resistence. The Lefetime eliptical has a governor on it so you can't go below 4:00 pace which equates to around 210 strides per minute. I try to always workout on one machine because the calibrations on them are really poor. A resistence of 8 might be the same as 12 on another machine. I do a resistence that makes it very difficult to go fast enough to encounter the governor. I can easily max out my heartrate in 45 minutes on a very hard effort. I usually go an hour most days. I have to be doing at least a tempo effort run on the treadmill to match the intensity(heartrate) of my regular workout on the eliptical.

As for sweating, there is usually a puddle of sweat under the machine when I am done and I could wring out my clothes.

At which heart rate do you go for an hour?tx

Old thread, but most people tend to plod when they're on the elliptical. If you focus on keeping your cadence on the elliptical in the same ballpark as your running cadence, you'll get your heart rate up with no problem. Turn the resistance down and increase your turnover if it feels too easy.

Are you using a HRM or is it just the perceived effort? I've never had a problem getting my HR up on the ET. I do intervals i.e. 5 min on/2:30 off, 4 min on/2:00 etc.