Polish Wives Tales versusTreadmill

[polishillusion]

Well, I have been discussing how to spend my money once I get out of college with my mom, and I come up with a list of priorities, and my mom starts spinning these old Polish wives tales about how "Elliptical Machines" are more effective in training and weight loss/maintenance then running on the treadmill. Seeing that I can not stand Elliptical Machines, because they just seem idiotic to me. Then she starts telling me how running for more then 10 minutes will never make you lose weight, because of some weird reasons in the body.

Are their any websites or things like that that I can use to prove to my mom that a treadmill is more effective then a elliptical machine? to be honest, I just can not possibly ever see one being more effective or better then a Treadmill, so you guys yell at me if I am wrong about this.

[LI GUY 1]

I assume they are much better on the knees.

[RunningDog]

I assume they are much better on the knees.

That's why I use one. I like the ones with levers for your arms.

Treadmills are dumb because you might as well run instead, you get fresh air and a better view.



If someone has one-upmanship issues with their mom, that's more something for a psychoanalysis forum.

[Judah Maccabee]

I guess those marathon runners must be huge guys with bulging muscles because they run for 2 hours.

What the fuck, "10 mins or more of running = no weight loss." Running a mile burns 100 calories, roughly. If you ran at a 10 min mile pace for an hour, that's 600 calories; an entire meal.

[polishillusion]

Actually, lets discuss a good cheap treadmill for me to buy now. I don't trust the $400 dollar ones at Sears.

I do not want to buy something shitty now, I had a stationary bike that broke after like 40 times of use.

[Cullion]

I'd ask your mom if I were you.

[polishillusion]

MY MOM LOL! Idiots.

Common, lets be serious here.

[Liffguard]

Why do you want a treadmill specifically?. As RunningDog has already said, why not just run? Fresh air, better view and (apart from cost of shoes) completely free. If I had that kind of money to burn it would probably go on a full squat rack with olympic bar.

[Abusivemelon]

Why not get a gym membership instead? Access to many types of machines and if you break them its all good.

[Cullion]

MY MOM LOL! Idiots.

Common, lets be serious here.

Then stop ignoring intelligent advice and explain why you're so determined to buy a treadmill instead of using a cross-trainer, rather than just going running.

[Donkey_Fizzle]

Pocket the cash and run. See how that suits you. If your knees can take it then invest in a good set of shoes and take your mamma out for dinner. If you wind up with joint pain then look into an eliptical.

I much preffer the gym advice. Access to a ton of equipment you don't have to maintain. Then you varry your workout. I much preffer rowing vs a treadmill. And if I am going to run I'll go hit the trials. At least outside you have the randoms chance of jogging by some eyecandy.

[polishillusion]

I found the old elliptic machine in he garage today, and did it for 7 minutes, and it was awesome.

thanks mom!

[Teh El Macho]

I found the old elliptic machine in he garage today, and did it for 7 minutes, and it was awesome.

thanks mom!

Dude, what the fuck? Were you being serious to begin with???? :icon_conf

Anyways, I'm gonna assume you were so here it's the nitty gritty (a summary of what the other guys have already said, plus some more):

- eliptical machines are awesome, specially for your knees, and you can run them in reverse. Want a challenge? Run in an eliptical in reverse, from a crouched position, grabbing the handles for support as little as possible.

- threadmills are awesome when you have crappy weather. An eliptical can hit your quads with some imagination, threadmills do not. Yet threadmills IMO allow you to burn calories more, and you can increase the incline to help your knees and shins... and they are the best tool for shit like this (I'm doing this shit in about 2 hours at the office gym):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM-HkxsLRqw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM-HkxsLRqw

- outdoor running is perhaps the best, so long as you have strong shins and knees. Unless your knees are absolutely banged, pple can work around painful knees while jogging one way or another. Also, outdoor running is the only way to trully condition your shins to avoid shin splints (in addition to works towards avoiding/correcting dorsiflexion inflexibility)

People should try outdoor running, even if it has to be just 1 mile with a short stride and slow pace due to knees. Period.


PS. Take your mom to dinner, or make her a nice breakfast... and please don't give her food poisoning. :tongue6:

[polishillusion]

im gonna just use the elliptical and buy a treadmill to mix in with it.

[PirateJon]

Got $15k? Buy one of these. http://focalpointwellness.com/services/rom



Holy crap is it the most intense workout machine I've ever used. The "4 minute workout" is a bit optimistic but close (mine is like 12 minutes)


the real website is here - but it's horrible and annoying and is a midi file away from being "awesome" circa 1994.
http://www.fastexercise.com