reckonerElliptical
A standing machine where your feet sit on two pedals that travel in a long oval, with handles that move with them. Your feet never leave the pedals, so there is no landing and no impact, and it feels like a cross between walking and cycling. It is easy to use and easy to use lazily: the faults all come from leaning, slouching and letting the machine carry you.
- Measured
- Minutes
- Loading
- None
- Ways to use it
- Steady, intervals
- Counts toward
- No muscle's weekly sets
How to do it
Step on while it is still
Hold the fixed center handles, step onto the lower pedal first, then the other, and stand with your whole foot flat in the middle of each pedal.
Stand tall
Head up, chest up, hips under your shoulders, a soft bend in your knees. You should be standing on the machine, not hanging off it.
Start the stride with your legs
Push the pedals round in a smooth, even oval at a light resistance. Keep your heels down for as much of the stride as feels natural and your knees pointing the same way as your toes.
Add the arms if you like
Take the moving handles and push and pull them in time with your legs, or keep your hands on the fixed handles and let the legs do all of it. Either is fine. What matters is that your arms are moving the handles, not holding you up.
Raise the resistance a little at a time
Find a smooth stride first, then add resistance until your breathing says you are working. For a steady session you should be able to talk but not sing1.
The two ways
- Steady
- One even effort at a pace you could talk through. When Reckoner places an elliptical session, it is this one, as a warm-up or a finisher.
- Intervals
- Harder spells with easy spells between, for example a minute at a higher resistance and two easy. They are harder work, and a choice you make: the plan never places them.
How to start easy
Five to ten minutes at a light resistance and a stride you could keep for half an hour. Next time add a few minutes or a little resistance, not both. "Start low and go slow" is how the US physical activity guidelines put it1.
What goes wrong
Leaning on the handles
Resting your weight on the handles or the console takes the work off your legs and rounds your back. If you have to lean to keep going, lower the resistance.
Spinning fast with no resistance
A light setting and a fast stride lets momentum turn the pedals for you, and the session feels busy while asking little. Add enough resistance that you are pushing the pedals, not chasing them.
Up on your toes
Pushing through the toes all the way round tires the calves and makes the stride bouncy. Keep the whole foot in contact and let the heel lift only as much as it naturally does.
Looking down at your feet
Watching the pedals drops your head and rounds your upper back. Look forward and let the stride find its own rhythm.
Questions people ask
Should I use the moving handles?
If you like. They bring your arms and upper back into the work. If you keep your hands on the fixed handles instead, the session is all legs, which is fine too. Just do not use either set to hold your weight.
What about pedaling backwards?
Many ellipticals let you, and it changes how the stride feels. It is a matter of preference, not a better workout, so use it if you enjoy the variety.
Does Reckoner count this toward my lifting?
No. Reckoner counts cardio toward no muscle's weekly sets, and your lifts stay as planned. Your wrist measures no distance on an elliptical either.
Other machines
Sources
- Piercy, Troiano, Ballard and colleagues, JAMA, 2018. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans the talk test and "start low and go slow"