Elliptical trainers offer a low-impact, weight-bearing workout. Weight-bearing exercise helps strengthen the bones of your feet, legs, hips and lower back. "Low impact" means you can pedal through an intense workout without having to endure the pounding your joints would take on a treadmill. Elliptical trainers are also very simple to use, but in order to get the most out of your workout you should familiarize yourself with your elliptical trainer's adjustments and any special use features.
Use
Step into the elliptical trainer's pedals, lowest pedal first. The pedals might move beneath you, so hold onto the console or fixed handlebars for support. Once you're in the machine, start pedaling slowly forward. Most elliptical trainers automatically power up once you start pedaling, although you often have to push a "Start" or "Quick Start" button to adjust the resistance.
Magnetic Resistance
With elliptical trainers, you set your own pace and adjust the elliptical's resistance to create a more or less intense workout. All gym elliptical trainers and almost all home-use ellipticals have push-button magnetic resistance. Just push the "Resistance Up" or "Resistance Down" button and the elliptical automatically adjusts for you. On lower-end magnetic resistance machines you may hear a motor adjusting the resistance level, and the actual adjustment can take a few seconds to complete. Most magnetic-resistance elliptical trainers also offer pre-programmed workouts that automatically adjust the resistance for you.
Other Types of Resistance
On the very lowest-end, cheapest elliptical trainers, you may encounter air or direct-tension resistance. On an air-resistance machine, the harder and faster you pedal the more resistance you get. With direct-tension elliptical trainers, you adjust the resistance level with a twist knob.
Stride Length
If you have very long legs, pedaling an elliptical trainer with a short stride leaves you trapped in an uncomfortably choppy up-and-down motion. Short-legged individuals have better luck in a longer-stride machine, but may still feel uncomfortable. Although many elliptical trainers have fixed stride lengths, some home-use elliptical trainers allow you to manually adjust the stride length between several settings. The highest-end elliptical trainers have a free-motion stride, allowing you to set your own stride length and motion with each step you take.
Miscellaneous Adjustments
Unless you're extremely small or extremely large, you should be able to make almost any elliptical trainer work for you. Just grip the moving handlebars a bit higher or lower for a comfortable arm angle, and shift your feet in the pedals until you find the most comfortable stance. But some elliptical trainers go a step further in adjustability. They may offer handlebars that adjust length or position to accommodate your arm length, an adjustable incline ramp, and adjustable foot pedals so you can customize your foot angle.
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