There's a reason you'll find rows of elliptical trainers in almost every gym's cardio room. While no exercise machine can take the place of hard work and sweat on your part, elliptical trainers offer many benefits if you're dedicated to working out. Ellipticals are so popular that you'll find a thriving market for home trainers, too, priced anywhere from under $1,000 to $3,000 and above, depending on brand and features.
No Impact
Elliptical trainers provide weight-bearing exercise, which can help strengthen your bones and joints. At the same time, you're enjoying the benefits of a no-impact workout because, no matter how fast you pedal, your feet never come off the elliptical pedals. This means there's no pounding or jarring to impact fragile bones or injured joints.
Calories Burned
Harvard Health Publications lists a general elliptical trainer workout as burning between 270 and 400 calories, depending on your body weight. How many calories you burn depends on how hard you work out, too; the faster you run and the more resistance you use, the more calories you'll burn. Using the Harvard Health Publications calculations, you can burn off 3,500 calories, equal to one pound of fat, on an elliptical trainer in anywhere from less than nine to about 13 hours.
Cardio Workout
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that healthy adults under age 65 should get a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate cardio, five days a week, or 20 minutes of vigorous cardio exercise, three times weekly. You can use any elliptical trainer to meet this goal.
Monitor your exercise intensity with built-in heart rate monitors, if your elliptical has them, or using the ACSM's definition of moderate intensity: Hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat, but not so hard that you can't carry on a conversation a sentence or two at a time. If you've broken a sweat and can't carry on a conversation, you're working out vigorously.
Full-Body Workout
All elliptical trainers guarantee a comprehensive lower-body workout, toning your glutes, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings and calves. While not all elliptical trainers have moving swing arms or handlebars that let you work your upper body against resistance, too, many do. This involves your chest, back and arms, giving you a viable full-body workout as you do your cardio workout.
Guided Stride
While avid runners might find the elliptical's guided range of motion throughout the running stride to be inconvenient, it's a blessing for those with muscle imbalances or stride irregularities because the elliptical will guide you through a balanced, consistent motion with every stride.
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