A Gazelle Freestyle and a treadmill create different body movements to help you burn calories and improve cardio function. Depending on the type of Gazelle or treadmill you use, you can create a variety of workouts with the Gazelle offering less impact and more muscle work. Understanding what each offers will help you create the best workout on each.
Motions
A treadmill lets you walk, run, jog or sprint. A Gazelle creates a movement similar to cross-country skiing. Using arm poles, you work your arms, chest and shoulders on a Gazelle while you create short, medium or long strides, keeping your feet in contact with the pedals the entire workout.
Impact
At lower speeds, a treadmill is low impact because it lets you keep one foot on the tread the entire time you walk. As you raise your speed to a jogging pace or higher, the exercise becomes high impact because both feet are leaving the tread at once, causing you to land on your feet with your entire body weight. A Gazelle offers a non-impact workout no matter which exercises you perform because your feet remain on the machine's foot rests.
Resistance
A treadmill provides little or no resistance unless it has an adjustable incline. Raising the incline forces you to use more muscular effort to push your body's weight forward, similar to walking uphill. If the treadmill has a negative incline, you can simulate the effect of walking downhill, adding more resistance against your quadriceps. The Gazelle uses your body's weight as resistance to push and pull the levers. If you decrease the use of your legs to move the machine, you would increase the resistance against your arms. If you use less arm effort, you need more leg muscle use to move the pedals. The Freestyle does not come with the adjustable resistance settings of other Gazelle models that were discontinued by the makers of the Gazelle line in 2010.
Calories Burned
Treadmills and Gazelle Freestyles both help you create moderate-intensity, fat-burning workouts,or high-intensity aerobic workouts. A treadmill may burn more calories than a Gazelle, depending on how you use the machines. A criticism of the Gazelle that its mechanics allows you to get into a rhythm that creates momentum, using gravity to assist you in moving the machine, rather than muscular effort, especially at higher speeds. During treadmill workouts, the faster you go, the more calories you burn. You can also add dumbbell exercises on a treadmill, increasing your calorie burn.
Upper Body Workout
A Gazelle Freestyle lets you work your arms, chest, shoulders and back using the arm levers. If you keep your elbows in while you pull and push the levers, you emphasize the chest, fronts of your shoulders and biceps more. If you move your elbows away from you body, you emphasize the lats, triceps and backs of your shoulders. Unless you use walking poles or dumbbells, you receive no upper body workout from a treadmill.
Core and Thighs
A treadmill creates a monotonous, forward-striding motion, working primarily your leg muscles in one direction. Using a double stride move on a Gazelle, or holding long strides for several seconds, recruits your abdominal muscles. By standing sideways on a Gazelle, you work your inner and outer thighs.
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