Elliptical Trainer Benefits - Why Choose an Elliptical Over Other Fitness Equipment By Kathryn O'Neill At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Considering a piece of fitness equipment and wondering about the unique elliptical trainer benefits?

The truth is that there are many elliptical trainer benefits that you won't find with other types of fitness equipment. Here are just a few.

1) Work Both Your Upper Body and Lower Body For A More Effective Workout

Think about all of the other machines you have to choose from - exercise bikes, treadmills and stair climbers. These all have one thing in common - they all only work the lower half of your body.

With upper body arm bars, the elliptical machine allows you to work your upper body at the same time as your lower body, forcing you to use virtually every major muscle group during your workout.

An elliptical machine will give you a better, more complete workout - in less time. This is a huge elliptical trainer benefit since most of us don't have hours to spend working out. With an elliptical you can get a tight, toned body in less time.

2) Zero Impact Gives You a More Comfortable Workout

Running is a fantastic fat burning workout. And the surface of a high quality treadmill is much more forgiving, when it comes to impact, than the surface of the street.

But if you've got knee, ankle or hip problems even running on a treadmill may be impossible for you. The pain associated with the impact of pounding the pavement is one of the main reasons many people don't get out and run.

An elliptical trainer provides the same, if not better, fat burning workout than running does - but without the jarring impact.

You can get the same benefits of increased endurance and weight loss that are associated with running without worrying about any potential damage from the impact. You can even use an elliptical machine - one hundred percent pain free - if you've already suffered prior injuries from running, because they're so easy on the joints.

3) More Compact Size to Fit Even Small Home Gyms

Elliptical machines pack more of a punch than exercise bikes and treadmills - and they do it in less space. Most elliptical machines are smaller in size than an average treadmill or exercise bike.

This makes the elliptical an ideal choice for someone setting up a home gym. If you don't have a lot of space available or if you live in a small home or apartment, an elliptical machine is perfect. You won't have to sacrifice a lot of living space to get a great piece of workout equipment.

Plus many trainers come with wheels on the bottom and are lighter than treadmills so you can easily move them out of the way. Some new elliptical models even fold up for even more space-saving benefits.

4) More Variety Means Less Boredom, More Effective Workouts and A Better Body

With standard exercise bikes and manual treadmills you are limited with the variety of workout that you can get. Jogging on treadmills and pushing away at the pedals of an exercise bike can get tedious. Plus it can get downright boring.

Without the ability to occasionally spice up your workout you may lose interest and end up working out less frequently or worse yet, not at all.

Most elliptical machines have adjustable levels of resistance allowing the user to change exactly how intense each of their workouts becomes. If you're strapped for time you can really boost up the resistance and give yourself a brief but very intense workout. Or you can lessen resistance and opt for an impact free "marathon session".

Another excellent elliptical trainer benefit is that many machines now include incline. This tool changes the slope of your elliptical motion and works different muscle groups. This avoids overtraining any one group of muscles, increases your calorie burn and is great for crosstraining.

Some high end ellipticals even allow you to choose between several pre-programmed workouts that will give varying degrees of resistance throughout, giving you a workout that you'll never get bored with. You can choose however challenging a workout you want to participate in on any given day.

Summary:

With all of the elliptical trainer benefits, it's no wonder these machines are among the most popular types of fitness equipment available today. And with people looking for alternatives to expensive gym memberships they will only continue to grow in popularity.

They provide more variety than other types of fitness equipment, are easy to use, conveniently sized and often quite a bit cheaper than other types of fitness equipment.

For many people this makes elliptical trainers the single best choice when selecting a piece of fitness equipment for their home gym.

- One Note of Caution: It's important to do your research before you buy. Having reviewed literally hundreds of elliptical machines, I can tell you there are lots of lemons out there - ones that are not properly designed for maximum effectiveness, ones with cheap parts and very short warranties.

When you research before buying you have a much better chance of finding the best machine for you and your fitness needs. Take it from someone who's bought the lemons before (translation: unbearably loud squeaking noises after only 3 weeks).

Do your research, buy a high quality brand and you'll be very happy with your purchase - and your new body.

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