As excited as I was to unpack my new purchase as soon as it arrived, that was all dispersed the first time I used my Nordictrack SE7i Cross Trainer. The resistance felt far too high, and I puffed and panted my way through 15 minutes despite being used to doing an hour on others.

I put this down to being a little unfit, or maybe I just needed to get used to this specific version. However, the shine was well and truly dulled by my first experience. Thankfully, for my sanity, I wasn’t alone. Several people were having the same issue on brand-new machines, some of which returned their purchases because of this. To say the Nordictrack customer service doesn’t have a great reputation is an understatement — not to worry, here’s the fix to the resistance being too high on your equipment.

After watching this video to see how things worked, it’s easy to see there is some adjustment to the tension management cable. Numerous people have done this and made walk through video of their version, but thankfully my Nordictrack SE7i or S700 wasn’t nearly as complicated.

You will need a screwdriver and small spanner. Remember, you do this at completely your own risk, and keep in mind this may void your warranty.

1 Remove the footplate

Four screws at the back of the machine will mean you can remove the foot that the machine will stand on if you fold it up.

2 Remove the Surround

Two more screws to remove on the top above the footplate.

Once removed, you can remove the curved surround from the back of the machine.

3 Find and adjust the cable

One removed, you will be able to see inside the read of the Nordictrack Cross Trainer. Look down on the machine’s right-hand side, you will see the silver cable join that you need to adjust.

Mine was finger tight, but you may need a small spanner to make adjust the resistance. To accomplish this, first loosen the smaller nut away from the longer piece. Then you can adjust the longer piece to your desired effect. Unscrewing makes the resistance decrease, tightening makes the resistance increase.

For more information, watch the below section of video.

The advantage of not taking lots of the machine apart is you can now test and readjust as required. Mine required lots of loosening. iFit recommends a starting point in their workouts of resistance level 7, but your ability will vary.