How to Move an Elliptical Without Destroying My House or Myself!

More than once we have received the question here at the elliptical department at Treadmill Doctor about the best way to move an elliptical. It usually starts out like this: “I was trying to move my elliptical with my brother-in-law and we were walking down the hall and the elliptical arm swung forward and punched a hole in the wall (or knocked a chunk out of his leg!) The point that I’m trying to make is that trying to move an elliptical for the first time can be a daunting proposition without the right knowledge or tools so we decided to do this blog post to help people who like to do it themselves.

  That’s what machine has transport elliptical wheels for. That being said, let me give you a big piece of advice for those of you who might think to just roll the machine over your nice hardwood floors on the transport wheels. I had to do that once when doing elliptical maintenance and moving an elliptical for a customer. I got paid $150 for the move and it cost me $3500 to replace the floor.

You will need some tools to do this properly. Depending on the size of your machine you will need a furniture dolly. It looks like a square of wood with four caster wheels, one on each corner, and you will need a tie down strap with a ratchet tie. You may also need a moving blanket if you are going through some tight places in your house where the walls can be easily damaged.

First use the tie down strap with the ratchet tie. Wrap the strap around the bottom base of the frame and the articulating legs of the elliptical where the foot pedals are attached. This will take care of the biggest problem when moving the elliptical: the tendency of the elliptical arms to swing back and forth when the machine is being moved around. The strap will lock the arms and foot pedals into place because they are connected with linkages inside the machine. Once that is done then you will need one person to pick up the light end of the machine into the air. The second person will need to place the furniture dolly under the machine where the center of gravity of the machine is. Then you will simple roll the machine to wherever it needs to go. We don’t recommend that you carry an elliptical the whole way. Due to their designs they tend to have awkward mass that can easily cause you to drop the machine. Stairs require the machine to be carried. Always make sure that the heavy end is down on the stairs. Having the heavy end up can cause big problems if you and/or your helper lose their balance.

Hopefully this blog post can prevent big damage to your home, and to yourself when attempting to move your elliptical. Just remember that if you are unsure it is always better to hire a professional if you are able.