An elliptical trainer is a cardiovascular fitness machine that helps to reduce the amount of impact delivered to the body during exercise. While the motion mimics that of a person running on a treadmill, the motion is significantly easier on the joints. An elliptical trainer is typically adjustable in terms of incline level as well as resistance, allowing more or various muscles to be worked in the body.
Leg Muscles
While elliptical trainers may vary in their front-, middle- or back-loading power, common body parts are used: the legs. There are two basic phases that are employed during elliptical motion. The first is the stance phase, which is the phase similar to when a person first mounts the elliptical machine. During the stance phase, the lower leg muscles are used. These include the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, which are responsible for moving the ankle and knee to propel the leg forward for the swing phase.
The swing phase is when the body is mid-stride on an elliptical trainer. When a person is mid-stride, he is using muscles found in the hamstring and buttocks. These muscles include the semitendinosis, semimembrinosis, biceps femoris and gluteus maximus. These muscles move the hip and knee joints, helping to build the muscles in the legs, which increases if the resistance or incline is boosted.
Arm and Back Muscles
If an elliptical machine features an arm motion option, the arms can be adjusted to increase resistance, which utilizes more muscles in the arm, shoulder and upper back. These muscles are utilized both on the pushing motion of moving the arms forward and the pulling motion of pulling the arms backward.
The muscles utilized for these motions while on the elliptical include the biceps, such as the biceps brachii; shoulders, such as the deltoid; chest, such as the pectorialis major; and back, including the deltoid.
Abdominals and Core
The twisting motion of an elliptical machine utilizes some of the abdominal and core muscles in the body, including the rectus abdominalis, transverse abdominis and internal and external obliques. Building these muscles helps to improve posture as well as balance for the body.
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