The amount of impact endured through exercise is a common concern for people that have back pain or joint conditions. An elliptical machine is low-impact, but still causes force on the bones. This makes it good for osteoporosis prevention. When it comes to gaining muscle on this machine, there are variables involved.
Identification
The main function of an elliptical machine is to give you a cardiovascular workout. This type of exercise involves moving in a repetitive fashion for an extended period of time. When you do cardio, you burn calories and lose weight. However, the elliptical can actually cause you to gain muscle; but being that you are not using maximal loads, this will not be a significant amount. The way to gain large muscles is through weight training where you move maximal loads.
Muscle Recruitment
Unlike running, elliptical training works muscles in the upper and lower body simultaneously. When you place your feet on the pedals, grasp the poles and start moving back and forth, a number of joint movements take place that incorporate all the muscles around them. When you move your thigh backward and bend your knee, you are doing hip extension and knee flexion. These actions work the glutes, quadriceps and calves. When your thigh comes forward and you straighten your legs, you are performing hip flexion and knee extension. These motions work the quadriceps and hip flexors. When you bend your elbows and pull the poles toward your body, you work your latissimus dorsi, biceps and deltoids. The lats are in the back and the delts are on the shoulders. When you push the poles forward, you work your triceps which are on the back of your arms. To focus only on your lower body, take your hands off the movable poles and place them on the non-movable handles in the center of the machine.
Features
Elliptical machines come equipped with incline and resistance adjustments. By increasing your incline and turning up the resistance, you will be forced to push, pull and glide with more intensity. This will increase the work load on your muscles and cause you to achieve a greater effect.
Benefits
Whenever you gain muscle, you increase your resting metabolic rate. This in turn can help you keep your weight under control. Even if you only gain a slight bit of muscle on the elliptical, it is still beneficial. A single pound of added muscle causes you to burn an additional 30 to 50 calories a day, according to the University of Michigan Health System. If you couple this with the fact that elliptical training burns calories while you exercise, it is a good all around option for weight loss.
Muscular Endurance
Muscular endurance is the ability to perform numerous reps against a resistance for a prolonged time frame. Due to the pushing and pulling motion, elliptical training helps improve muscular endurance. This is also achieved by doing a high amount of reps with conventional weight lifting exercises. Having improved muscular endurance will allow you to do functional chores with more efficiency like raking leaves, stacking firewood and shoveling snow.
Member Comments