Elliptical Trainers VS Treadmills, Which Provides the Better Workout? By Christopher Beard At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

I am often asked about what type of cardiovascular equipment between the treadmill and the elliptical trainer provide the most efficient workout from customers who are looking for cardiovascular equipment for a home gym along with a host of other questions like what is the best elliptical stride length. According to Wikipedia the first elliptical trainer was designed by a man named Larry D. Miller back in the year 2004 and was patented and marketed by Precor Fitness. The idea was to develop a machine that most closly replicated the movement of running without the impact and stress on the joints.

Over the past 5-6 years since 2004 ellipticals have taken the fitness industry by storm and every fitness equipment manufucturer has jumped on the bandwagon to design and develop the next revolutionary elliptical. Innitially most elliptical trainers only worked the lower body and the upper body portion was stationary with the brand Precor Fitness being one of the few that offered an adjustable ramp height which has made even the older used model E 544 and 546 Precor ellipticals remain in high demand. Many will agree that elliptical trainers have tremendous popularity almost eliminating the old stairmaster as the optional cardio training choice in todays state of the art facilites. People oten ask about the elliptical stride length also and I have found there to be little or no effect on the quality of the workout other than what feels most comfortable to the user. Most high end ellipticals for the home or commerical have anywhere from 17.5 to 21 inch stride length and will probably not make much difference unless your very short or very tall. Some low end home units can have very short stride lengths and feel unusually awkward , which is a pretty good indiction of the quality of thr workout you can expect.

Benefits Of Elliptical Trainers over Treadmills

Elliptical Trainers create less impact on the knees, feet, hips and back and therefore reduce the stress on the joints when compared to similar intensity on a treadmill. Todays newer ellipticals offer both lower body and upper body training which bring more muscles into action and can intensify the workout. Surprisingly to some,studies have shown that the both the treadmill and elliptical trainers work the heart, lungs and burn calories equally. Runners seem to prefer treadmills over ellipticals.Treadmills have been around a long time and they have proved effective at burning calories and improving cardiovascular function so for most of us it really comes down to preference. Elliptical trainers simply provide a newer type of equipment for accomplishing the same goal, as many would agree that it can get a bit mundane training on the same exercise equipment everyday and in fact changing the equipment we train on from time to time can encourage the body to respond more effectively due to the varying of the exercise and intensity level.

Regardless of what choice you make in the two types of cardiovascualar exercise benefits are there.

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