Weighing In On Elliptical Trainers
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Ellipticals are becoming more popular each year with 2008 already shaping up (pardon the pun) to be it's most popular year yet.
With the growth of it's use, I wanted to look deeper into why the elliptical has become one of the top pieces of fitness equipment and does it actually deserve to be or is the elliptical just the last craze?
Over the next few minutes we will look at the elliptical's benefits, it's drawbacks and it's future as a fitness star.
Elliptical Trainer Workout
More Workouts for your Elliptical
Running on an elliptical for foot rehab
Work your upper and/or lower body
Elliptical Trainer Quick FAQ's
Unlike many pieces of fitness equipment, the elliptical trainer is suited for both men and women and not surprisingly the elliptical trainers users are split down the middle with 50% men and 50% women.
How many Calorie can you burn per 30 minute workout?
Based on elliptical manufacturers specs, it is estimated that you burn approximately 720 calorie per hour.
By checking fitness websites, the data looks more like this:
Most elliptical users workout for 30 minutes per session with a woman of 150 pounds burning 400 calories per 30 minutes and a man of 180 pounds burning 525 calories per 30 minutes.
Now if you compare that to a walking workout 30 minutes at 4 miles per hour.
The 150 pound woman would burn approximately 160 calories and the 180 pound man would burn 195 calories.
For the same 30 minutes the elliptical burns more than twice the calories of walking and is quite impressive.
Cost
Ellipticals on an average cost less than a treadmill, starting around $500 and going up to $1400.
Is it considered a cardio workout?
Most definitely! Many newer ellipticals have heart monitors or EKG trackers you that you can work out at your optimum heart rate for cardio fitness.
How is the elliptical on your joints?
Ellipticals are considered a low or close to no impact activity.
Recommended Resources
- ProForm Ellipticals
Several different ProForm elliptical models - Ellipticals From Workout Warehouse
Workout Warehouse carries many different top brands of ellipticals - Mayo Clinic Exercise for Sore Knees
.....Nonimpact aerobics: Stair steppers, elliptical trainers, bicycling and stationary bicycles are generally well tolerated and are good options....... - Consumer Reports - Comparing Ellipticals
- Consumer Reports on Ellipticals
....the pedaling is easy on the joints (an advantage over treadmills); the exercise is weight-bearing and helps protect against osteoporosis (an advantage over bicycling and swimming); models with movable arms add a modest upper-body workout..... - Mayo Clinic and Home Gym Information including Ellipticals
Elliptical trainers: These combine stair-stepping motion and cross-country ski motion to produce a low-impact cardiovascular workout. The result is less stress on joints than walking produces. Elliptical trainers are a good choice for .....
Switch your routines around
Don't forget to switch around your elliptical workout for the greatest benefits.
For example:
Day 1
Use only your legs on your elliptical and keep your hands on the stationary grips
Day 2
Use both the moving arm and leg features
Day 3
Use your elliptical as though you were jogging with arms moving as you jog.
Your elliptical is part stair climber, part treadmill, part bicycle and part cross trainer so there are many benefits of owning this one machine instead of several.
It doesn't matter what activity level you are at right now, whenever you use a new piece of fitness equipment always go slowly until you get used to how your body works with it. This will help you avoid injury.
If you have not been exercising for while please consult with your health care practitioner before starting any type of a new physical activity.
The workout that you get on an elliptical is considered a weight bearing exercise. Weight bearing exercises help keep the bones strong and can help you avoid hip fractures in your senior years. This is especially important for women.
Home Fitness Product Reviews
- Save Money By Owning Your Own Treadmill
Save money by owning a treadmill – that title sounds a bit strange. - 3 days ago
- No Time to Get to the Gym? Try a Treadmill at Home!
These days, everybody knows how important fitness is to our overall health. - 2 weeks ago
- Merit Fitness 725T Folding Treadmill
The Merit 725T folding treadmill has many features that you want yet, is a very low cost alternative to a gym membership. - 2 weeks ago
- ProForm 10.0 ZE Elliptical – New For 2010
The ProForm 10. - 4 weeks ago
- The Importance of Stretching Before and After Exercise
Many people don’t take the time to stretch their muscles before and after exercise and then they wonder why they are getting injured all the time. - 4 weeks ago
- Bowflex Series 7 Folding Treadmill
The award winning Bowflex Series 7 folding treadmill is highly popular with consumers as can be seen by all the very favorable reviews. - 5 weeks ago
- Setting Up Your Home Gym
More and more of us are eliminating expensive health club and gym memberships and are looking for ways to work out effectively at home. - 2 months ago
- LifeSpan Fitness TR 2000-HRC Treadmill
This treadmill is highly popular with consumers and professional reviews alike, and is an award winning model. - 2 months ago
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We would like to hear your opinion
In order to get the best elliptical for you, you really need to sit down and decide on your personal fitness goals, your current fitness level and where you want to attive at.
Of all the brands I like the ProForm for many reasons - one being that I have found that they are truly made for the way the body works.
The stride, and the distance from the pedals to the grips are the most ergonimically developed. In terms of specific models I do favor the the ProForm Epic 1200 ( http://www.squidoo.com/Proform-Epic1200Pro-Ellipti ) since it has a new body targeting system where you can work one area of the body more than another.
For example if your thighs needed more toning than your butt, this eppiltical automatically adjusts so that you target that area more. Since most people usually have one area that needs more works, this elliptical will help them with that. It does have other good features but the targeting I think is the most important, at least for me, and it doesn't cost any more than other ellipticals -which is also a plus.
This is very informative. I too am a fan of elliptical trainers. You might also want to check my hub about it. However, I really have to ask, is the switching of routines really necessary?
Infomonster, it is best to change up your routine every 9 weeks or so because your body gets used to the exercises. Some people prefer to alternate their exercises during the week, so that they are always using different muscles and it breaks up the "going through the motions" type of a workout.
If you have 3 different routines and alternate them so that they hit each routine once a week. This gives your muscles a chance to rest inbetween workouts. In doing so it then takes the body longer to get use to the workouts and you wouldn't need to swap them at 9 weeks.
A realy good way to use your elliptical is using the bavkwards motion (most ellipticals allows this, some don't) when you do it you will notice your muscles aching the next day in places that you didn't feel before. This just shows you how each different routine works the body differently.
If someone doesn't want to change their routine ever, they are still getting a good workout!
When I went to the gym (okay I have not been for ages!) I used to enjoy the workout from this type of machine because I felt it worked a lot of me allat teh same time.
SendaCowChip says:
2 years ago
Ok, you sold me on the concept! Now what's the best model to get that provides the most value and where can I get it?