Does anyone else hate the elliptical? No okay so it’s just me then. Before I get to this situation let me tell you about the most amazing Chinese chicken salad I’ve ever had. No this salad wasn’t from some 5 star gourmet restaurant it was from Nordstrom cafe and it was out of this world good! The base of the salad was your standard mixed greens mix, the dressing was a sweet Asian balsamic vinaigrette, on top of the salad was baby mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, carrots slices and sliced red bell pepper and plenty of those crunchy things that come standard on Chinese chicken salad. AMAZING. Oh, and chicken of course! 
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I haven’t always hated the elliptical. This is a relatively new thing…well new as in the past year-ish. In highschool I was all about the elliptical, I’d get on that thing and go for an hour and I’d be content with the workout but lately any time I get on the elliptical I get bored within 3 minutes and end up switching to the treadmill. I’m not sure if it’s the runner in me, as this is also a new thing, but I just am not content with a elliptical workout? Do any of y’all have that problem? I’d really really love your suggestions!
Happy National Pancake Day! I didn’t celebrate with free pancakes at IHOP, actually I didn’t even have pancakes today so I hope you got to enjoy them for me 🙂
Be back tomorrow with a 2-parter Bachelor re-cap.
Reader Questions:
- How do you fight elliptical boredom?
- Do you know of any fantastic break a sweat elliptical workouts?
kelsey runs 
Omg I can’t stop watching the Bachelor this season! haha. Damnit…who’s your fave?
I really really like Leslee now! And I’ve always been a fan of Desiree (gotta love the hometowners) and last night Catherine grew on me…she’s adorable. What about you?
Haha I like all those 3 too!!! I started off just liking Desiree but the other 2 are growing on me! 😛
National Pancake Day!? I need to get on this!! The Bachelor this season is so amaze 🙂 And as far as the elliptical goes, I always have a magazine!!
Did you watch the two-parter?! Tierra is something else. She brings a whole new level of crazy to the table. Who are you rooting for?!
Oh girl, you know I watched it! I am still rooting for Lindsay, I love how genuine she is! But honestly, for the most part, I like the remainder of the girls. Tierra will defs go home soon.
I like Lindsay, too! Im a fan of all the girls at this point, but Tierra needs to go. I was sad to see Sarah go home, especially when she was saying her goodbye or whatever…I might have cried.
Gahh, me too, it was SO sad!! She was the absolute sweetest!!
I hate the elliptical, treadmill, and stationary bike… basically any thing that doesn’t move!
I can deal with the treadmill for short amounts of time but the stationary bike makes my head spin its so boring too!
I missed national pancake day 😦 I knew about it, but I forgot to have them. I’ll make up for it later this week, it’s fine. Anyways, I hate the elliptical too. HATE. IT. More than anything. It actually makes me miserable when I have to spend more than 1 minute on it, not to mention it’s really bad on my knees. Okay rant over 😉
I was feeling the same way about NPD but then I realized I’ll just have to have them on Saturday AND Sunday to make up for it 😉 I have knee problems and they always act up after the elliptical…makes more sense now. No wonder I hate that thing!
I LOVE Nordstrom cafe! I really, really miss it. I also get extremely bored on the elliptical and if I’m going to be on it for a while, I try to make sure I’m doing intervals or something that makes me pay attention and helps the time fly by. I did this workout from Bess the other day and not only did it keep me occupied, I was a total sweaty mess by the end and felt like I actually got in a good workout. Try it out!
http://www.bessbefit.com/elliptical-circuit-workout/
ah thanks girl, you’re the best! I’m loving treadmill interval workouts so maybe I’ll have the same success with this one!
The lobster bisque from Nordstrom is one of my all time favorite things! And I hate the elliptical so to avoid boredom, I avoid the elliptical lol
I could drink their tomato basil soup from the jar its that good haha!
always always hated the elliptical, I actually never use it. can’t even remember the last time I stepped on one of those things. bore me to death
I’m glad I’m not the only one! I just feel like your workout drags on and that isn’t how a workout is suppose to feel!
I actually have the opposite problem- I prefer the elliptical over the treadmill any day. I always think the elliptical is so much easier too. Maybe try going forward and backward alternating every 5 minutes. If that doesn’t work, just stick to the treadmill- it’s such a good workout!
I’m the opposite – the treadmill makes me incredibly bored, and I love the elliptical. On the treadmill I’m counting by minutes and never want to work very hard, whereas on the elliptical I’m more apt to push myself…
I recently got the Netflix app on my phone (the app is free, Netflix is $8/month) because my school’s gym only has four big tv’s that you have to like hook into via the radio to listen to? Having something other than the calories or minutes ticking makes it a LOT more enjoyable to me. Also, simply covering up the display screen helps – I’ve seen a bunch of people at the gym put towels over theirs.
I’d recommend checking out the setting when you start – I typically do intervals (so two minutes hard, two minutes lighter), or they have a gradual incline, or a bunch of other things, which makes it more enjoyable than having to switch around the intervals yourself or just doing the same speed the whole time.
I know self.com has posted different elliptical workouts on their site! I like going backwards when I’m bored.