The American Council on Exercise cites the elliptical trainer as one of the most popular pieces of cardiovascular exercise equipment. The motion is a cross between stepping and cross-country skiing. Your feet rest on pedals that go through an ellipse, or egg-shaped motion, without ever leaving the pedals. Combine this with movable handle-bars and you can easily get a cardiovascular workout for the entire body.
Cardiovascular
The elliptical is first and foremost a cardiovascular trainer. It can effectively raise the heart rate to improve the performance of the cardiovascular system when used regularly. According to a study performed at the University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse, the elliptical trainer provides a form of exercise that is comparable to jogging on a treadmill. The study found that your heart rate and oxygen consumption are almost identical to treadmill workouts, and superior to bicycle and stepping machines.
Muscle Engagement
The elliptical can engage all the major muscle groups of the body. The hips, buttocks, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves are all involved when you are using the elliptical. If you are using a model with the moving handle-bars, your arms, chest and shoulders can also be involved. There are also incline functions and resistance settings that can adjust the impact of the exercise. For example, if you increase the incline, you are going to up the impact on the hamstrings and quadriceps. And as you vary the resistance, you can put more of a workload on all of the engaged muscles.
Variety
It is very easy to vary your workout on an elliptical trainer. By adjusting your strides per minute you can easily incorporate interval training into your workout. In addition to adjusting your incline and resistance you can also pedal backwards on an elliptical. By doing this you can switch the muscles you are targeting to the buttocks, hamstrings and calves.
Calorie Burn
It's impossible to talk about the elliptical and not mention it's fat-burning characteristic. Because there is such a large amount of muscle mass involved in elliptical training, you can burn an amazing number of calories. It is as effective as jogging on a treadmill in terms of calories burned, but with much less impact. This makes it a great alternative for those with arthritis or joint injuries. According to caloriesperhour.com, a 150-lb. person who exercises for one hour, at 80 strides per minute, and a resistance of 10 will burn approximately 413 calories.
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