"Cardio" stands for cardiovascular exercise. When you do cardio, your heart rate becomes elevated and you start to break out in a sweat. This is a sign that you are burning calories efficiently, which ultimately leads to weight loss. Aside from performing cardio with the weight of your body, you can also utilize a machine. The best one is a matter of personal preference.
Treadmill
A treadmill is a common cardio machine that has a belt that moves continuously as you walk or jog on it. These machines have digital screens with adjustments for speed and incline. If you have knee or back pain, treadmills are not your best option because they cause impact, but they also burn a high amount of calories. You can keep the impact to a minimum by simply walking briskly. You can also look for a kind of treadmill called an incline trainer. Unlike the regular type, this machine's incline goes considerably higher. You can easily get a high intensity workout by walking briskly at a steep incline.
Exercise Bike
An exercise bike is low-impact and it elevates your heart rate in similar fashion to running. Since you operate the bike from a seated position, the main muscles that are worked are in the lower body. A recumbent bike has a bucket seat with a backrest and the pedals are out in front of your body, causing you to pedal from a horizontal position. Lower back pain sufferers tend to favor these bikes because of their comfortable design, according to the Spine-Health website.
Elliptical Machine
An elliptical machine, or elliptical trainer, is a low-impact device that works the upper and lower body simultaneously. Its action is similar to cross country skiing. You place your feet on pedals, grab a hold of poles and move your arms and legs back and forth in a smooth, gliding motion. They can be adjusted for stride distance, incline and resistance to vary your workouts. According to MayoClinic.com, most models also can be pedaled in reverse to work your muscles differently.
Rowing Machine
The rowing machine is operated from a seated position and simulates the rowing action you would experience in a rowboat. In similar fashion to elliptical training, rowing is low impact and it works multiple muscles in the upper and lower body. You can make your workouts more challenging by increasing the resistance. You also have the option of changing your hand grip from palms-down to palms-up. This will change the emphasis on your muscles.
Stair Climber
A stair climber is often referred to as a step mill or stair stepper. These are actually two different machines. A step mill contains a small staircase that revolves in a circular fashion as you walk on it. The top of the machine has a digital screen with a speed adjustment and there is a handrail to hold for balance. A stair stepper has foot pedals that move up and down and a handrail at the top. When you exercise, your feet never leave the pedals and you simply move up and down as if you were walking up stairs. You can change the resistance on this machine to make the stepping more intense.
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