There are a wide variety of exercise machines that you can choose to help you to get rid of excess fat and achieve a slim and well-toned body. Most gyms and health clubs offer access to many of these options, including crosstrainers and elliptical trainers, or you can purchase your own for home use. Regular use of a crosstrainer or elliptical will burn fat, aid in weight management and tone many of your major muscles.
Advantages
Crosstrainers and ellipticals offer an important advantage over jogging and running: both exercises are low-impact workouts that place a minimal stress through your weight-bearing joints -- specifically your knees, hips and spine. This makes these two types of exercise machines especially accessible if you have lower limb injuries or are significantly overweight. Both types offer an easily adjustable workout that can be customized to meet your individual fitness requirements -- intense for more advanced exercisers, or more sedate for beginners or the less fit.
Cardiovascular Benefits
Both elliptical and crosstrainers are aerobic exercise machines which will improve the condition of your cardiovascular system--your heart and lungs. American College of Sports Medicine states that cardiovascular fitness is directly linked to cardiovascular health. According to the ACSM, people who perform regular cardiovascular workouts are less likely to develop coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic diseases. (see reference 1)
Musculoskeletal Benefits
Both types of equipment will place a sufficient stress through your lower body to help improve muscles tone and bone mass. Although both crosstrainers and ellipticals offer a low-impact workout, they are also weight bearing -- this stresses your muscles and bones. Your body responds to this stress by making these structures stronger. However, while ellipticals only exercise the lower body, crosstrainers also involve an arm action and therefore provide a more all-over workout.
Fat Burning
Working out on a crosstrainer or elliptical burns fat, the primary fuel used in aerobic activity. The amount of fat burnt depends on the intensity of your workout and your body weight. But because crosstrainers involve not only the large muscles of the lower body, but also the arms, chest, shoulders and upper back, they utilize a greater proportion of your total muscles mass, and therefore can burn more fat than ellipticals.
Considerations
Though the upper body action utilized by crosstrainers means that you can gain greater benefits in a shorter time frame, you have the option not to use the upper body action -- which means you can use a crosstrainer as if it was an elliptical. However, ellipticals are more common for home and light commercial use due to their mechanical simplicity, smaller size and lower cost.
References
- "ACSM's Resources for the Personal Trainer"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2009
- "Anatomy of Exercise: A Trainer's Inside Guide to Your Workout" Pat Manocchia; 2009
- "Principles of Anatomy & Physiology, Ninth Edition"; Sandra R. Grabowski & Gerald J. Tortora; 2000
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