If you're considering a treadmill for your home fitness machine, you may want to reconsider. Treadmills have been around for a very long time, and they can help you to lose weight and offer a pretty good cardiovascular workout.

Unfortunately, if you choose a treadmill you're limiting yourself in the workout that you could have had, plus exposing yourself to a workout that is harder on the joints that it needs to be.

An elliptical exercise machine, or elliptical trainer or cross trainer, is somewhat of a revolutionary machine. It's really very basic in it's operation, not all that much different from a standard treadmill, but the differences do matter, and matter a lot.

First off, instead of just having just a rotating walkway to exercise the lower body, the elliptical trainer has pedals more like a bicycle. The pedals move in a continuous, fluid motion, and therefore there's no sudden pounding on the joints as there is when jogging or even running or walking on a treadmill. The elliptical trainer is designed to duplicate a walking or running motion, and this is done very well.

The benefits of an elliptical exercise machine doesn't stop there either. If you can picture walking or running on a treadmill, what is someone usually doing with their arms when on a treadmill ? They're just holding rails or maybe letting them hang. If they're running, then they probably have them bent in a running motion.

When working out on an elliptical trainer however, you're also using your arms extensively in the exercise routine. By offering handlebars that are incorporated in the machine's resistance system, the user can work the upper body as well as the lower body. This will obviously burn many more calories, resulting in a greater weight loss, if that's your goal. Obviously, you'll also be toning many more muscles because you're using most muscles in the entire body.

One thing that the elliptical trainer does have in common with a treadmill, and actually even does it better also, is it provides an excellent cardiovascular workout. Any doctor will tell you that a cardiovascular workout is the type of exercise that is most desirable. Lifting very heavy weights for a relatively short time doesn't really get the heart rate up to where it should be for an extended period of time. A good cardio workout will help in weight loss, building stamina, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a myriad or other problems.

So, is an elliptical trainer the absolute best piece of home fitness equipment ? It would seem like it's very possible. The only other exercise machine that seems to be as suitable for that title, could possibly be a Total Gym, but that's another machine for another article. A Total Gym does however, seem to fit the requirements of being convenient, providing a good cardiovascular workout, working the entire body, not taking up too much space (folds up nicely for easy storage), and one can also be had for a very reasonable price. Actually, if price is one of the most important factors to you, I would suggest looking seriously at a Total Gym.

Lastly, if you're experiencing a treadmill vs elliptical dilemma, do your research online before you decide on either, but after weighing the facts, there seems to be every reason to purchase an elliptical trainer.