Ellipti-what? Okay, I’ll admit I actually heard about the ElliptiGO awhile back when a friend of mine got to test out one of the prototypes. Basically it’s an elliptical that moves…pretty cool, though I’ve heard you probably shouldn’t be trying to hop any curbs on it. š
Image Source
The machine is getting a lot ore press as of late because Lauren Fleshman has come out to be one of their biggest supporters as she uses it regularly in her training. We don’t have to go into ALL of the reasons why cross-training is great, just a quickie recap:
* extra cardio without the pounding/high-impact of running = less chance for injuries
* easy way to ‘sneak’ in extra miles without upping your injury risk
* perfect for times when you ARE injured to stay in shape so the reality-slap back to running isn’t so painful š
The standard elliptical is my choice of cross-training (of cousre you could bike, aqua-jog, etc.) and so I think building a mobile one would then bust one of the biggest downfalls of cross-training in general: the boredom factor. Ummmm, slogging out hours on the elliptical is at time more of a mental workout than anything!
āI knew my body couldn’t tolerate running more than 80 miles per week, so I filled in gaps with the ElliptiGO,ā states Lauren. āInstead of going out and putting the additional volume on my legs and joints, I rode it for the equivalent amount of time that I would be running, replacing some of my key training and recovery workouts.ā
Easy days, double workouts…these are prime times to cross-training when you aren’t injured. You can easily do hard workouts on the elliptical too, and just take your running workouts and do intervals based off of time. What any hard workout ultimately comes down to is effort.
So, do you ElliptiGO? Couldn’t resist putting that in there, but I think it would be a really cool machine to test out if I had access to one; until then I guess it’s just strapping on the Ipod or using the TV to distract me on the stationary. š
1) What is your top pick for cross-training and how much of a role does it play in your routine?
2) Could you master some mad tricks on that ElliptiGO? Just kidding, but what do you think about it?
3) For hard workouts, what’s one of your favorite ones to do while cross-training?
I like longer intervals, last one I did I did repeat 10 minutes hard.