I have a confession: I use to be an Elliptical Queen.
Back in the day when I was making it to the gym once or twice a month, my workouts consisted of 30 minutes on the Elliptical on I think, level 2 and although I always broke a sweat (probably because I was so unfit), I never challenged myself.
But I do have the give my old friend, the Elliptical some credit for getting to where I am today. I hated running so you would never see me on a treadmill. Biking? Didn’t know much about it (gasp). Overtime, my workouts on the elliptical started to get more intense and I found myself never doing “steady-state.” I would always be doing hills, HIIT or something that made me hold on for dear life as my exhausted-self wanted to let go and fall off (which it almost did numerous times). That was also when I started to learn more about the importance of weightlifting and clean-eating and that was how I lost all those extra pounds I gained in my post-school and early career years. I don’t actually remember much of the weightlifting and clean-eating in those early years because it was nowhere near where I am with those today but all I remember was the pounding on my beloved Elliptical. I loved the elliptical. It made me feel strong, fast and empowered. I was THE Elliptical Queen.
So don’t be ashamed if you still own one of the cardio machines. Everyone has to start somewhere! The key is to never do steady-state and always do some kind of interval training where you are going hard for a certain amount of time, rest then repeat. I also started incorporating weight training into my routine so I’m sure that helped too as I was developing muscle and increasing my metabolism. Interval training is the best and most efficient way to burn fat!
These days when I feel like doing straight cardio, you will often see me on the bike at the gym simply because I love biking. Not only is it therapeutic but sometimes I’ll countdown the hours until I can leave my desk, put on my headphones and hop on the bike! I row and occasionally go on the Stairmaster on cardio days if I want something different but you won’t see me on the Elliptical anytime soon. Although we had good times together, I’ve had no motivation to get back on it. Good bye, old friend.
