anyone do taku's on the elliptical machine? is it a good machine to do these on?
I love it. It works me pretty hard and saves my knees from too much abuse.
I have done it and it did the job although you do suffer the scornful looks from other gym members, but then who really gives a shit anyway? lol.
I don't have access to a Versaclimber and so have to improvise:-)
Shinken4, I got the scornful looks as well. They were mostly from other dudes.
But I did get a lot of "wow he is so fit" looks from hot chicks, which boosted my ego tremendously.
Did it. But they got a versaclimber now so...
cool. .thanks for the replies guys... i am the same as stickyfoot and would like to make it as easy on my knees as i can.
do the looks come from people when you are hauling butt on the ellipse machine or just in general because you are on the ellipse machine.
I've done it on many different machines, pretty much everything except the Versaclimber. The hardest for me have been Burpees and the Heavy Bag (straight punches, power and speed). Elliptical was tough but not as hard as the other 2. Definitely better than nothing.
C
The looks come when you are running like a bat out of hell for 90 seconds; sweat pouring; machine squealing; and then suddenly the active rest. Most don;t understand what you are doing. In fact I had one of the instructors come to me and ask me to stop playing around on the machine.
I had to explain really slowly what I was doing. I did, however, lmao when I saw the same instructor trying his own version a few weeks later:-) I then gave him a copy of the workout and he seems to be enjoying it now.
lol...cool to have a new guy in the Interval Club...
RD- was this after not working out or not doing cardio for awhile, or had you already been training and just changed things up a bit?
Try a Concept2 Rower (or any other rower for that matter), it will kick your ass a la the Versaclimber.
What I have found most heart-exploding and hurl-intense
is a flat steel dragging sled with about 150-175 lbs.
on it, or a weight you can drag at a rapid walk and do your Tabatas with that, go for 10 cycles. BTW, this is
an awesome way to work your legs and glutes for those who have knee problems and cannot squat deeply and to boot, you'll get an intense cardio workout.
I haven't done a Taku program on an eliptical but I do 3 Tabata intervals after a 15 minute warm up with the goal of keeping the rpm's above 110 on the work cycle and above 50 rpm's on the rest cycle.
I've went as much as 130 rpm's on the early sets but I can't do that now since I haven't work out hard in weeks.
And like Shinken I get some crazy looks but I get the same looks when I'm doing weighted dips or working on my power snatch.
I've even had a jackass come up and sit down on the preacher curl bench while I was working on my snatch and when I got done smarted off that he was glad since I was making him nervous.
I told him he shouldn't have fucking come up and sat down on the preacher curl bench while I was working out.
He acted shocked.
hehe
ILVQLOS is correct, the only thing I've done that makes Takus Intervals harder than using burpees for them is to use a sled or weight and drag. Sprint running as fast as you can like this, it is insane.
I like the burpees because it's total body, but who's to say you can't change it up throughout the week. It's all work, and it's all good.
C
would it be a good idea to go through the 3phases using the elliptical machine... then start over at phase one doing burpees (or whatever) and go through the phases again.. etc.
EDIT
just got back from my first day of doing these... they are a great workout so far... curious to see how sore i'll be tomorrow... For those of you that do it on elliptical machine.. what do you have the resistance and elevation set to?
C-Hamzeh,
You know what I'm talking about.
Vary the weights you drag on different sessions, as the combinations you achieve of "power cardio" vs "respiratory cardio" are very different in how they make you feel and how deep into your total "body-feeling" you enter. I think that's what some people mean when they say you have to "dig deep inside".
More weight= slower drag but more power exerted thus testing your power exertion endurance.
Lighter weight= possibly sprinting but more respiratory endurance tested. Each has its own unique
qualities and results.
On the elliptical I would usually always reduce the resistance when it came time to sprint in order to up the reps significantly. It kind of depends on how you feel, sometimes I leave it high. Its more about monitoring the heart rate for me. This is also why I liked the elliptical - because I can easily monitor heart rate.
Elevation I'd set to a mid level that felt comfortable at a sprint, only sometimes modifying that.
I've done Taku's Intervals on an elliptical trainer. Worked great! My endurance improved rapidly and I dropped some flab.
When I got started, I asked Scrapper if I should gradually increase the resistance from week to week or what. He told me to start with no resistance and keep it that way. The point is to work on pure speed endurance, covering as much distance as possible over the course of a workout. When repeating the program, try to cover even more distance each time through.
thanks for the tips guys.