Why the Elliptical is My Favorite Machine at the Gym
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Why is the Elliptical My Favorite Machine at the Gym?
The elliptical has to be my favorite gym machine for several reasons – its efficiency, low impact, and simplicity of use are everything that you need to have for ideal fitness. Elliptical workout machines allow movement in opposing directions and at different resistance levels targeting various muscles, making it actually quite convenient to use it.
Can Improve Fat Burn
An elliptical machine will help you in weight loss to a great extent. It burns a minimum of 150 calories in half an hour, which goes up to 400, and sometimes 500 at the same time, depending on the elliptical speed and your current weight.
The exertion level you put in the exercise is much lesser than the exertion you put in an elliptical machine for cardio. Therefore, by the end of a half an hour elliptical workout, you will be able to store the energy for more exercises for fat burning.
Low Impact Workout
The elliptical workout has a low impact. It is quite gentle on the knees, which makes it suitable for people undergoing the recovery phase from an ankle injury, knee injury, osteoporosis, or knee arthritis. People who engage in high-impact exercises, for example, treadmills, might put themselves at risk of getting an injury, or they aggravate an old one. So, select this machine if you need to burn calories with minimal risk of getting injured.
Strengthens Lower Core
The stair climbing action or pedaling action of the elliptical machines hits the leg muscles. The machine acts well on the hamstrings, quadriceps, hip flexors, calves, and glutes. It is exactly the reason why different elliptical machine workouts work well for burning more fat from the lower body core, such as the thighs, hips, and lower belly area.
Toning of Body
The elliptical machine works well for a fully integrated body workout. Unlike the conventional running treadmills, these machines engage your upper body as well, making sure your whole body gets actively toned in the process. The trainers come with handle levers that are pulled and pushed in synchronization with the movements from the legs. This targets the triceps, biceps, lower belly, deltoids, thighs, and hips, offering a full-scale workout for the body.
Boosted Cardiovascular Health
Your blood vessels and heart health are important for longer life. Spending around half an hour on the elliptical machine will help boost the heart rate that will help in strengthening the heart muscles. This is typically important for people who are at risk of developing heart disease at some stage of their lives.
When done on a daily basis for at least ten days, there will be an improvement seen in your stamina. This will be typically possible by a high-intensity session of an elliptical workout that goes for at least 15 minutes a day.
It will help build endurance and protect your body against developing insulin resistance
Stability in Blood Pressure
Spending around 5 minutes on the machine will help you feel less stressed. It is because exercising will release serotonin which is the feel-good hormone. Serotonin has a lot of beneficial antihypertensive benefits for the body.
Doing moderate-intensity or a lower intensity elliptical workout every day will come with a positive effect on your hypertension. However, you need to consult your healthcare professional when you take medicines for blood pressure, or you have undergone surgery.
Improvement in Mobility and Balance
Mobility and balance are highly important to prevent injuries and improve agility and flexibility. Elliptical machines are great for conditioning the body for better mobility and balance. The simultaneous movement and the high-rise platform of the arms and legs help better the coordination between the brain and the limbs.
Reduction in Chronic Inflammation
Chronic inflammation might be caused because of poor dietary choices and a sedentary lifestyle that can cause you to gain some extra weight. The elliptical machine will help burn calories and reduce stress levels, lowering the inflammation in the body. It is the reason you lose body weight, and the mood gets better after a half an hour session of an elliptical session.
Why is Elliptical Better than Other Machines?
Jogging on a treadmill or running might put more pressure on the bones and the joints in comparison to working on the elliptical machine. Ultimately, they can lead to injuries. These include knee injuries, shin splints, and stress fractures.
Although a treadmill will help you get more strength in the hip flexors, leg muscles, and glutes, it will not target the muscle groups as an elliptical machine would do.
Through the help of an elliptical, you will be able to work on the muscles of your arms, back, and shoulders, as well as your lower body muscles. Through direction reversal, the elliptical will help you isolate specific body muscles that is tougher to do with using a treadmill.
In addition, the elliptical is a considerably low-impact machine. If your body finds it hard to tolerate the ever-jarring movement of running, doing an elliptical will be a great alternative.
Low impact exercise will put less pressure on the joints as compared to high impact exercise. It will make the elliptical a safer alternative, especially when you are diagnosed with a musculoskeletal condition like low-back pain, hip pain, or knee pain.
Even though it is a low-impact workout regime, it provides you with the opportunity to have a high intensity workout. It will be especially helpful when you are getting healed from an injury and want to improve your fitness levels.
Most of the elliptical machines come with arm handles. You will be able to push the handles back and forth simultaneously as you are moving your legs. Using the handles for resistance will help to work the shoulder, chest, and back muscles.
Simultaneously, the machine will help you in strengthening your lower body muscles that include quadriceps, hip flexors, and glutes.
What’s more, an elliptical machine will give you the option to work backward and switch direction. It will help to change the targeted muscles and the work you do. When you go backward rather than going forward, you will strengthen your hamstrings and your calves as well.
Tips for Using an Elliptical Machine the Better Way
Use Varying Levels of Resistance
Working against the resistance will make you stronger, help build up your muscles, improve endurance, and increase body strength. Rather than staying at the least resistance level as it feels convenient, increase the resistance gradually throughout the workout session until you are working enough that it would feel too hard to hold a proper conversation. Once you reach this point, you need to gradually lower the resistance once again until you reach the cooling down period.
When you have the elliptical machine resistance set to zero, it is much like running on a flat surface. It is not as challenging, it would be a better workout to simulate running uphill. As you increase the resistance, you mimic this effort for running the slope. The higher the resistance, the steeper the slope will be, which means you will work your glutes more.
You will not have to keep the elliptical on the higher resistance for the full workout. However, you need to adjust it to make sure you feel some kind of exertion. As you get on the machine, the natural instinct will be to move your pedals in the forward direction. However, make sure you go in the backward direction as well. You will do best if you switch it up in an individual workout or alternate every time you go on the machine.
It will change up the large muscle groups which do most of the task so that you make sure you target all the muscles of the legs. Going forward will work towards the quads as you move backward, calling the hamstrings and the glutes.
Use Varying Levels of Speed
A lot of people jump on the elliptical machines and maintain the same pace for around half an hour without making a sweat. While any exercise comes with a lot of benefits, it will not give you the best return for your time and money. Rather, add in varying intesity intervals for your routine.
High-intensity interval training is a kind of training that gets alternated between periods of less effort and highly short and intense bursts of exercises. Such types of workouts will help maximize calorie burn as they simultaneously improve your cardiorespiratory health. You can accomplish this on an elliptical by increasing to a running speed and then slowing to a jogging speed.
Final Words
Elliptical benefits are really great – low impact, high strength training, and low chances of injury which could impact your fitness regime. Preventing injuries will help keep you at your best levels during your fitness journey. There are also some tips and tricks I have shared for your elliptical workout that will help you get the best out of your routine. So, what you are waiting for? Get your hands on an elliptical trainer and get ready to improve your fitness routine to the best level possible. I personally have lost 20 pounds largely due to the elliptical as it’s my primary cardio machine.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a certified trainer or medical professional. Use this information at your own risk.
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966636213005997
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2414630
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2939211
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2913796/
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