The elliptical machine is a popular low-impact fitness gear among fitness enthusiasts. It is so in demand that sometimes people need to wait for hours to use this machine in the gym at peak hours.
It is a top pick nowadays to use at not only the gyms but also the homes. So, let us get to know the benefits this machine has to offer us so that you can take your decision regarding whether to buy or use an elliptical machine or not.
1. Booststhe Cardio Capacity And Your Stamina
Aerobic or cardio exercise is a crucial component of a well-balanced workout routine. An effective cardio exercise makes the lungs and the heart work harder. It also provides the muscles more oxygen and blood.
Elliptical machines are excellent tools for cardio exercise. It serves us various health benefits like strengthening muscles, lungs, heart and building more endurance and stamina. Though people mainly know an elliptical machine as cardio or aerobic tool, it can also serve HIIT or high-intensity interval training.
2. Puts Less Pressure On The Joints
Back in the era of 1990, when elliptical machines came to market, the runners with sore joints and lots of injuries felt happy and relieved as it made them able to work out again on their cardiovascular system and eased the pressure on the joints.
The ankles, hips, knees, and other joints feel stressed while doing the high-impact aerobic workouts. The low-impact elliptical machine gives you comfort from this perspective by providing ultimate support on your joints.
3. Serves Both The Lower and Upper Body Workout
Elliptical machines that come with handles are a few cardio machines that can serve the fitness purpose for both your lower and upper body. You can maximize the benefits of this exercise on the upper body by evenly distributing the resistance and your body weight.
That means you need to pump the arms as swiftly as the movement of your legs. If you can use it properly, it can also work on your hamstrings, glutes,chest, quads, back, core muscles, biceps, and triceps.
4. Burns Loads Of Calories
This machine is highly effective in burning all the extra calories of your body. If you want to shred your body weight in a shorter period, you can hit the elliptical machine.
A 30-minutes of workout on an elliptical machine can burn 270 to 400 calories, depending on how much you weigh right now. The mentioned burning range is for people whose weight falls from 125 to 185 pounds.
5. Burns Body Fat
As we already know, that elliptical machine is very efficient in calorie burning. So, that means it is also skillful in burning the extra and unwanted body fat.
Mainly when you focus on the interval work, this fat burning process gets faster. Also, keep in mind the intensity or the resistance level of the exercises.
6. Targets Specific Muscles Of The Leg
An elliptical machine allows you to modify the incline and the resistance of the foot pedals according to your preference so that you can focus on various muscles in the lower body, for example, glutes, quads, calves, and hamstrings.
If you increase the incline, the lower body will start to burn. And, if you set the pedals lower, the quads will work harder. Also, you can change the stride direction and make the foot pedals run in reverse. By doing this, you will be able to emphasize more on the glutes andthe hamstrings. Thus, you can customize the machine according to your fitness target and body preference.
7. Improves Your Body Balance
We know that weight-bearing strength training can strengthen the bones of our body. But are you informed of the fact that it also helps to improve the balance of your body?
After standing straight without using the handles, you can focus onthe core muscles and improve your body balance. You only have to make sure that incline and resistance are at a manageable intensity so that you can safely train yourself on this machine without holding the handles.
8. Maintains Fitness Properly After Injury
If someone is trying to recover from an injury and cannot participate in ordinary physical activities, elliptical can be a saver in such case. It helps to build up and maintain fitness. As a low-impact workout, elliptical training gives very little stress on the joints than the high-impact exercises, like jumping, running, and jogging.
Doing elliptical training after having an injury may help to regain the motion in full range. It can also help strengthen the joints and muscles while not giving any stress to the wounded area of the body.
9. You Can Enjoy A Lot Of Options
This fitness instrument generally offers a wide range of pre-programmed workout routines.
Here you can get to experience internal training, hill-climbing, and some other customizable alternatives. These options will help you out tohave the exact type of exercise you want to perform.
10. Quickly Learnable
The elliptical machine is such a fitness gear which is very easy to learn. Anybody of any age group can find out how to use this machine without giving that much effort.
But if you are going to use it for the first time and want to learn the ins and outs of this machine properly, you can take help from a fitness trainer who will navigate you in the correct direction. He can also suggest to you the best suited elliptical exercises for your personal fitness goal.
In the beginning, it is better to use only the foot pedals. And once you get to know the machine and its movements, you can use the handles.
Downsides
An elliptical machine is an efficient instrument for cardio exercise, no doubt about that. But just like the other things existing in the world, this machine also does not fall in the category of 100 percent perfection. It has some minor issues with all the excellent pros.
John M. Martinez, the MD of primary care sports medicine physician at Pain Free Running says, “The motion on the elliptical is slightly different than running or walking, so leg and core muscles are activated differently. This difference in muscle activation may potentially lead to injury if the body doesn’t adapt to the new muscle firing patterns and movement patterns.”
He also says that in an elliptical machine, the impact is lower than walking or running, and a smaller amount of stress is put on the legs. So, the gained leg strength is less. And as a result, less bone density happens in the body compared to weight-lifting or running.
Summary
The number of your burning calories will have to be more than the number of consumed calories, and an elliptical machine is an excellent tool for achieving this target.
A study from 2014 stated that elliptical training is more effective in lessening weight than regular cardio exercises like jogging, running, walking, etc.
Unlike the high-impact exercise, here, you do not have to worry about putting unbearable stress on your joints. So, you can invest in a good elliptical machine or use one at the gym to gain your fitness goal.