Walk into any gym and you will often see a row of elliptical exercise machines. These simulate the action your body makes when it's running or walking by incorporating pedals and handlebars on an attached gear shift. Hop onto an elliptical machine for a workout and you may experience several health benefits.
Low Joint Impact
When you exercise, your joints often undergo a lot of stress. This holds especially true when doing physical movements like walking or running, since your joints have to absorb the shock of your feet hitting the ground every second. Elliptical machines let you go through the action of running, walking or jogging without actually causing foot-to-ground impact since your feet never leave the machine's pedals. This makes the exercise machine critically helpful for people who want to run but wish to avoid joint impact, reports a medical research study published in the "Journal of Exercise Physiology." The study's researchers reported that elliptical machines are therefore helpful for people going through surgery rehabilitation or who are weak.
Convenient And Safe
Elliptical exercise machines let you get your exercise fix no matter how inclement the weather outdoors. You can "run" to your heart's content without battling rain, snow, dehydrating heat or the damaging rays of the sun. Nor do you have to worry about traffic hazards and other safety risks associated with running, jogging or walking outside. Finally, many elliptical machines include entertainment gear that may make your workout more enjoyable, such as a color TV or an audio cable for your MP3 device.
Burn More Calories
Burning calories is one of the best, most reliable forms of controlling or reducing your weight. Although treadmills were previously considered the best exercise machines for burning off excess calories, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports that elliptical potentially burn even more.
Heart Rate Boosting
The University of Maryland Medical Center notes that elliptical machines are one of the best ways to increase your heart rate and achieve your target exercise pulse. This offers you several potential health benefits, including improved calorie consumption and an improvement of your cardiovascular health.
Easy to Customize
Elliptical machines can be easily adjusted to help target specific muscle zones or improve the rate of calorie burning, states "Shape" magazine. This is because the machines often include physical or electronic methods of increasing resistance. For example, the magazine reports that many elliptical let you adjust the machine's incline, with low inclines simulating bike riding while increased inclines simulating step climbing.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Recommended Exercises
- "Journal of Exercise Physiology"; The Cardiopulmonary Responses of Elliptical Crosstraining Versus Treadmill Walking; Marianne Sweitzer, et al.; November 2002
- Shape: How to Use an Elliptical Trainer
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