Elliptical Fitness Cross Trainer - Getting Started

Getting started on an elliptical fitness cross trainer can be a little overwhelming especially if you're not used to exercising. The secret is to take things slowly until you've built up your confidence. This may take just a few minutes, it may take a few sessions. Just go at your own pace and don't let anyone else's comments put you off.

Actually the first thing you should do is adjust the fitness cross trainer. Some but not all allow you to alter the height of the uprights and pedal step length. Such alterations will increase your comfort and improve your safety. Most people will fall into the 18 to 24 inch step length when they start. You may want to alter this once your fitness has improved and you want to workout a little harder.

Next find out how to change and use the settings on the monitor. Play round with it a bit until you feel you know what you're doing. Don't be afraid to keep referring to the manual.

You might want to check out how to increase the resistance on your elliptical fitness cross trainer even though you should always start out on the setting of least resistance until you are comfortable on your machine.

The next thing to do is practise getting on and off. Obviously if you're a fit young thing you can skip this bit. The more elderly need to ensure that they can manoeuvre themselves on and off in the safest way. Always make sure you hold on to something, and make sure it's something that doesn't move. When getting off the machine ensure it has completely stopped moving before you disembark.

Once you're on your machine get yourself into the right posture. You should maintain as upright a posture as possible. Don't lean forward as you grasp the handgrips, instead try and keep your body weight as centred as possible. And then off you go, remembering that you should keep your feet in contact with the footrest at all times.