The elliptical trainer has become a mainstay in gyms and homes alike, and for good reason. This low-impact cardio machine offers a multitude of benefits, from boosting stamina and burning calories to providing a full-body workout and minimizing stress on your joints. If you're on a weight loss journey, recovering from an injury, or simply looking to enhance your overall fitness, the elliptical trainer might be the perfect addition to your routine.
What is an Elliptical Trainer?
An elliptical machine, also known as an elliptical trainer or cross-trainer, is a stationary exercise device that combines elements of a treadmill, stair climber, and vertical climber. It features moving foot pedals, moving arm bars, and a flywheel. The term "elliptical" refers to the oval or round shape of the flywheel, which ensures smooth movement of the pedals and arms. The resistance can be adjusted to modify the intensity of the workout.
Top 10 Benefits of Using an Elliptical for Weight Loss
1. Boosts Stamina and Cardio Capacity
Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio, is vital for a balanced exercise routine. The elliptical allows you to get a good aerobic workout, strengthening your heart, lungs, and muscles. This, in turn, can help build your stamina and endurance, enabling you to perform daily activities with greater ease and less fatigue.
2. Burns a Significant Number of Calories
One of the primary reasons people turn to the elliptical is its ability to burn calories efficiently. Depending on your weight, you can burn approximately 270-400 calories in 30 minutes. Burning more calories than you consume is crucial for weight loss. To maximize calorie burn, consider increasing the intensity of your elliptical workouts through interval training or by adjusting the resistance and incline.
3. Reduces Stress on Joints
Unlike high-impact exercises like running, the elliptical provides a low-impact cardio workout, reducing stress on your joints. Your feet never lift off the pedals, minimizing the wear and tear on your knees, ankles, and hips. This makes the elliptical an excellent option for individuals with joint pain, arthritis, or those recovering from injuries.
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A 2014 study demonstrated that an elliptical workout is significantly less weight-bearing than running, jogging, and similar exercises. This allows you to continue training without the impact that can lead to discomfort or injury.
4. Provides a Full-Body Workout
An elliptical machine with handles is one of the few cardio machines that can provide both an upper and lower body workout. Distribute your weight and resistance evenly, pumping your arms as fast as you're moving your legs to maximize the upper body benefits. When done correctly, the elliptical can target your glutes, hamstrings, quads, chest, back, biceps, triceps, and core muscles, providing a comprehensive workout.
5. Burns Body Fat
Given the high calorie burn associated with elliptical workouts, it can help you lose body fat, especially when combined with interval training. Focus on the intensity and duration of your workouts to maximize fat burning. High-intensity intervals can help you accomplish more in a shorter amount of time.
Incorporate interval training into your elliptical routine with a 2-to-1 ratio, such as 30 seconds of high-intensity work followed by 15 seconds of recovery, or 60 seconds of high-intensity work followed by 30 seconds of recovery. Continue moving your legs during the recovery periods, albeit at a slower pace.
6. Targets Specific Leg Muscles
You can modify both the resistance and incline of the foot pedals on an elliptical to target different muscles in your lower body, including your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. Increasing the incline can engage the backside of your lower body more, while lowering the foot pedals can make your quads work harder. Additionally, the foot pedals can move in reverse, allowing you to change the direction of your stride and focus more on your hamstrings and glutes.
Read also: Elliptical Training: Your Guide to Shedding Pounds
7. Improves Balance
Weight-bearing exercise can strengthen your bones and improve your balance. By standing up straight and letting go of the elliptical handles, you can target your core muscles and work on your balance. Ensure that the resistance and incline are set at manageable levels to use the machine safely without the handles.
8. Maintains Fitness After Injury
If you’re nursing an injury and can’t participate in your regular physical activities, working out on an elliptical can be a great way to build or maintain your fitness. Since it’s a low impact exercise, the elliptical puts less stress on your joints than high impact workouts like running, jogging, or jumping.
Working out on an elliptical after an injury may help you regain full range of motion. It can also help strengthen your muscles and joints while taking the stress off of the injured area.
9. Provides a Variety of Options
Elliptical machines typically offer a variety of preprogrammed exercise routines that mimic hill climbing, interval training, and other customizable options. These options help you tailor your workout to your specific fitness goals and preferences, keeping your routine engaging and effective.
10. Straightforward to Use
One of the advantages of an elliptical is that it doesn’t take long to learn how to use it. Although the learning curve with this machine is fairly easy, you may want to ask a personal trainer for guidance if you haven’t used one before.
Read also: Comprehensive Guide to Elliptical Weight Loss
A trainer can give you tips on how to use it correctly and the type of workout that may be best for your fitness goals. When first getting started on the elliptical, you may want to only use the foot pedals. Once you get used to the movement of the machine, you can add the handles.
Integrating the Elliptical into Your Fitness Routine
Elliptical vs. Running
If you’re looking for an alternative to running, the elliptical is a great option. Not only is it easier on your joints, but you can also adjust the incline and resistance to mimic a running workout. That said, most avid runners will tell you that it’s not the same as a good old-fashioned run. Hitting the pavement or trails requires your feet to leave the ground and forces your body to adapt to inconsistent conditions. You might be stepping on uneven surfaces or going up and down hills.
This means you’ll recruit your lower body muscles to a greater degree and need more force to propel yourself forward. Plus, pumping your arms boosts your heart rate, increases calorie burning, and uses some key upper body muscles like the biceps, triceps, chest, and upper back.
Many ellipticals come with handlebars that allow you to push and pull against resistance, but unlike the arm movements you perform continuously while running, this motion is optional with an elliptical. Also, the machine will do some of the work for you.
Although you should engage your core muscles when performing any aerobic workout, it’s easier to let these critical muscles relax when exercising on the elliptical, making running a better workout for your core.
One way to get the best of both worlds is to incorporate the elliptical into a running routine. For example, replace one outdoor or treadmill running day with a 30-45-minute workout on the elliptical. Use this time to work on intervals and heart rate training. As a result, you’ll focus less on the impact and more on your cardiovascular system.
Elliptical vs. Cycling
Both cycling and the elliptical machine are considered low impact cardiovascular activities. Since your feet are in contact with the pedals during the entire workout, both cycling and elliptical training are easier on the joints than running or other high intensity workouts.
If you’re using an upright or recumbent bike, you can regulate the resistance to get a cardiovascular workout and calorie burn similar to those of the elliptical. However, comparing outdoor cycling with an elliptical is a little more challenging.
There are more variables like hills, uneven terrain, trails, and traffic when you head outdoors. This often results in a workout that’s more interval-based than a consistent, moderate intensity session on an elliptical.
Outdoor cycling also requires your body to adjust to varying conditions. In that sense, cycling may be a better workout, especially if you’re looking for a more functional workout that replicates the movement patterns you do more regularly.
Plus, findings from self-reported data show that ditching motorized transportation in favor of cycling to work may result in less weight gain over time.
Duration and Frequency
The amount of time you should spend on the elliptical depends on your overall goals. In general, you should aim for a minimum of 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week, with the upper end being 300 minutes.
This translates to 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week to hit the 150-minute goal. If you don’t have 30 minutes to spare, up the intensity and do 20 minutes instead. Working out at a higher intensity is a time-efficient method for improving your cardiovascular health and boosting your calorie burn.
Maximizing Weight Loss with the Elliptical
Elliptical machines are designed for cardiovascular or aerobic workouts. Many people use the elliptical to increase their heart rate, burn calories, and lose body fat. While aerobic exercise can aid weight loss, it’s not a magical cure for belly fat. That said, combining exercise and a low calorie, high protein diet as part of an overall weight loss program can result in both subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat, according to research.
Combining Elliptical Workouts with Other Training
To use the HIIT elliptical for weight loss, try changing the pace or resistance of the elliptical machine. To lose more weight you can also combine elliptical workouts with other bodyweight or weightlifting training. Some sportsmen use elliptical machines as a simple warm-up because it activates the whole body. Do not try to hit a serious target from the beginning because you can cause your body to ache. Feel free to move from 30 to 50 or 60 minutes when you feel strong enough.
Diet and Caloric Deficit
If your goal is to lose weight it is recommended not only to rely on this machine because your body will not find this workout challenging over some time. Make sure you have a caloric deficit. Let’s imagine you had a great elliptical calorie-burning training. Then you head to your house and devour more calories than you had lost. Add healthy food to your regime. Sounds too simple but you won’t get the results you desire if you hesitate to eat healthy food.
Potential Drawbacks and Considerations
With all of the pros that come with using the elliptical, there are some cons to keep in mind. “The motion on the elliptical is slightly different than running or walking, so leg and core muscles are activated differently,” says John M. Martinez, MD, primary care sports medicine physician at Pain Free Running. “This difference in muscle activation may potentially lead to injury if the body doesn’t adapt to the new muscle-firing and movement patterns.”
Also, if you aren’t consciously trying to keep your legs aligned properly, you may feel pain associated with improper tracking of the feet and legs, especially because your foot often remains in a fixed position on the elliptical machine.
He also points out that since the elliptical is lower impact than running or walking, you may see fewer gains in leg strength due to less stress being placed on the legs. Because of this lower impact, Dr. Martinez says you may also see less improvement in bone density compared with running or weightlifting. This is because higher loads or impact tend to increase bone density in the lower body.
Overcoming the Drawbacks
One of the elliptical drawbacks is that it has less impact on our lower body which makes our legs not as strong as after treadmill running for example. To make your elliptical training more challenging you can alter the inclines and resistance. You are able to combine it with other exercises and fitness appliances.
For starters, make sure the machine is the right size for you and not too big or small. Hints for that? If you’re pushing off on your toes or heels a lot, it may be too big. If you find yourself hunching over, it may be too small. And while low-impact elliptical exercise may be good for your joints, the elliptical will not help lower your risk of osteoporosis. Easterling recommends adding in higher-impact activities like strength training to round out your workouts if bone density is a health concern.
Is it OK to use an Elliptical Machine Every Day?
If you love the elliptical machine, there’s nothing wrong with using it every day. Still, overdoing any type of exercise can set you up for burnout and injuries. “Don’t just do cardio exercises,” advises Easterling. “As you age, it’s especially important to include activities that build muscle and improve flexibility and balance.” (That’s a good reason to work in resistance training and daily stretching exercises.)
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