Life Fitness X3 Advanced Elliptical Trainer Review

We have not yet had the opportunity to properly review the Life Fitness X3 Advanced, but hope to be able to very soon.

Please note:
We’ve reviewed the X3 Advanced trainer, the X3 Basic console is the same trainer but with a different console with fewer programmes. We believe if you’re going to pay well over a thousand pounds on a trainer, another £150 to £200 is well worth it for the extra functions and programmes you get.

Life Fitness X3 Advanced

Best price:
£2,195 with FREE delivery and installation from GymCompany.
Our view – A very similar trainer to the Life Fitness X1 elliptical trainer with extras, but it does cost an extra £370. For that you get better pedals with a more comfortable feel, hand pulse sensors in the stationery handles plus a mini control panel situation by the grips for use with their CoachZone Activity Zone, a programme that changes the motion of the handles and foot pedals to work either the glutes (your butt muscles) or the arms for extra toning.

Whilst it may seem a lot to pay for a few extras over the X1, this machine does have a better overall feel to it. The more ergonomically designed stationery handles allow you to really work the lower body in a better position. Plus if you find the chest strap heart monitor uncomfortable to wear the hand grips are an alternative although not quite so accurate – a feature the X1 doesn’t have.

Apart from the above the other features are the same as the X1, so we’ve repeated them below so you don’t have to keep clicking back and forth :0)

The Life Fitness x-series ellipticals are designed for what they call a ‘total-body workout’. The elliptical action of the pedals combined with the shape and positioning of the handles synchronise your upper and lower body movements to burn up more calories whilst not feeling such hard work. We intitially thought this was just a bit of marketing gobbledygook so we put it to the test. We compared it to another trainer on a calorie goal programme – and guess what? It did actually feel less effort to burn 500 calories on the X1! Obviously you’re doing the same amount of work but it feels easier.

The X-series elliptical trainers have a massive 20 inch stride length where most other trainers are either 16 or 18 inches. The longer the stride length the more ‘elliptical’ pattern you get which means the action is smoother, kinder to your joints and easier to use even when at full speed.

The advanced console has 5 heart rate controlled programmes that are ideal for burning off the calories and shedding the unwanted fat. The console alters the resistance level or sets a speed to keep your heart pumping at a set rate of 70%, 80% or 90% of your maximum rate depending on your age. The X3 comes with a chest strap that transmits your heart beat to the console. Life Fitness have probably the most accurate heart rate monitors on the market and these programmes ensure you get the most from each training session.

There are also goal workouts so you can set a specific target for a session such as a distance or total calories you want to burn. With the advanced console you can store two user profiles so you and your partner can keep a track of your progress. The console has a blue backlit LCD display with white characters to display everything you need to know about your training session. To select and change setting or training intensity is easy enough using the large buttons.

A few nice touches also make it a very practical trainer to use such as a reading rake for your book – although you won’t be needing that on the Extreme Heart Rate Programme – and space for two bottles. However, this are big machines so if you need to be moving them around it would take two people to do so.

It’s no surprise that Life Fitness have produced yet another gem of a machine. The X3 trainer is a real treat to use and with all the programmes you’ll never get bored of using it so you’ll soon achieve your fitness targets – and then some!