Elliptical trainers have become a popular choice for individuals seeking an effective and joint-friendly workout option. Often found in both fitness centers and home gyms, these machines offer a versatile way to achieve your fitness goals. If you're debating between ellipticals and treadmills, understanding the unique benefits of each can help you make an informed decision.
Elliptical vs. Treadmill: A Comparative Overview
Both ellipticals and treadmills are excellent cardio options, but they provide very different training experiences.
Treadmill Benefits
- Targeted Lower Body Workout: Treadmills, especially incline treadmills, primarily target the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves.
- Versatile Training Options: From steady-state walks to HIIT sprints and incline hiking sessions, treadmills offer nearly limitless training options.
- Race Preparation: If you’re training for a 5K, half marathon, or full marathon, treadmills are unmatched for replicating outdoor running conditions indoors.
- Increased Calorie Burn: Adding incline and speed can dramatically increase energy expenditure.
Elliptical Benefits
- Joint-Friendly Design: Ellipticals are designed to be joint-friendly. Instead of pounding against a surface, your feet glide in a smooth circular motion.
- Full-Body Engagement: Unlike treadmills, ellipticals actively work your upper and lower body. Pushing and pulling the handles recruits your arms, chest, shoulders, and core while your legs drive the stride.
- Rehabilitation and Joint Concerns: Because ellipticals reduce impact, they’re often recommended by trainers and physical therapists for those recovering from injuries or managing joint concerns.
Is an Elliptical Good for Weight Loss?
The short answer is yes. Elliptical trainers can be a hugely popular choice for the home gym, suiting all ages and exercise experience. An elliptical workout is great for cardio fitness or as part of a weight-loss program while the smooth fluid movements of ellipticals avoid undue stress on your joints and muscles.
Both ellipticals and treadmills can help with weight loss, especially when paired with balanced nutrition. Increasing the speed and incline on your treadmill can help you burn more calories. Ellipticals often show higher calorie burn for beginners, while treadmills can match or surpass that with running or incline walking.
The Benefits of Elliptical Trainers for Weight Loss
Low-Impact Cardio
One of the most commonly reported benefits of the elliptical trainer is that it’s a low impact exercise. During some aerobic activities like running, your lower body joints, such as the knees, ankles, and hips, can take a beating from the constant impact. On the elliptical, however, your feet never lift off the pedals. Instead, your lower body glides through the movements of walking, running, and ascending a steep slope.
Read also: Elliptical Trainer Benefits: Weight Loss
According to the Arthritis Foundation, the elliptical machine may be especially beneficial for people with knee or hip arthritis because it places minimal stress, weight, or impact on the joints. A 2021 study also found that the elliptical trainer caused less long-term joint and cartilage degeneration in the knee than cycling, running, and swimming.
Full Body Workout
An elliptical machine with handles can work the muscles in both your upper and lower body. To maximize the upper body benefits, distribute your weight and resistance evenly by pumping your arms at the same speed as your legs. To focus even more on the upper body, initiate the movement from the arms and let your lower body follow along.
When done correctly, the elliptical can target your glutes, hamstrings, quads, chest, back, biceps, triceps, and core muscles. Every session on your elliptical works both your upper and lower body.
Calorie and Fat Burning
The elliptical machine can be an effective tool for burning body fat and losing weight when used in conjunction with other tools, such as balanced eating, resistance training, and effective sleep management.
Weight loss primarily occurs when a calorie deficit is maintained over a prolonged period. A calorie deficit occurs when your body expends more energy (calories) than it takes in daily. Regular aerobic exercise can help you maintain a calorie deficit by burning calories. Some research also found that aerobic exercise is associated with less abdominal fat and reductions in waist circumference.
Read also: Elliptical Training: Your Guide to Shedding Pounds
The elliptical trainer is an effective way to burn calories, which could help support weight management goals. Depending on your weight, this cardio machine can help you burn around 270 to 400 calories in 30 minutes. The lower end of the range represents a person weighing 125 pounds (56.7 kilograms [kg]), while the higher end is for someone weighing 185 pounds (83.9 kg). However, several other factors can influence the number of calories you burn during an elliptical session, including your current fitness level and the speed, intensity, and incline of the machine.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
To maximize fat burning in a shorter amount of time, try HIIT. You can start 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. Don’t stop moving your legs during the recovery periods. Continue to move the pedals at a slower pace.
HIIT combines periods of high-intensity short exercise sessions followed by brief 30- to 60-second recovery periods. This exercise usually doesn't exceed 30 minutes. Based on the individual’s fitness level, a typical HIIT session can vary between 15 and 30 minutes.
Target Different Muscle Groups
You can change both the resistance and incline of the foot pedals on an elliptical. By doing this, you can target different muscles in your lower body, including your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves. By increasing the incline, you may feel the backside of your lower body more. If you adjust the foot pedals lower, you may feel your quads working harder. Plus, since the foot pedals also move in reverse, you can change the direction of your stride and focus more on your hamstrings and glutes.
During your workout, you can also make adjustments yourself such as changing the elliptical's resistance or the incline of the foot pedals. This means different muscle groups are targeted.
Read also: Comprehensive Guide to Elliptical Weight Loss
Improve Balance
Using an elliptical machine may be an effective way to improve overall balance, which is important for preventing falls and other injuries. Try standing up straight and releasing the elliptical handles. This could target your core muscles and work on your balance. Just ensure that the resistance and incline are set at manageable levels so you can use the elliptical machine safely without using the handles.
Rehabilitation and Injury Recovery
Some research suggests that working out on an elliptical can be an effective way to build or maintain cardiovascular fitness while recovering from an injury. 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 could also help improve your range of motion and strengthen the muscles and joints while taking the stress off the injured area.
With their smooth movements and low impact, Technogym Ellipticals are the perfect workout solution for seniors. As the feet never leave the pedals, ellipticals provide a form of exercise that's much easier on the body than running or long walks. This is particularly important if you suffer from painful conditions such as osteoporosis or arthritis. Another strong reason for working out on an elliptical in later years is to help you maintain a good balance. Balance is something that deteriorates as the years go by and can lead to dangerous falls.
Variety of Workouts
Elliptical machines typically offer a range of preprogrammed exercise routines that simulate hill climbing, interval training, and other customizable options, allowing you to achieve the type of workout you desire. Technogym Live you have access to different training programs designed to give different elliptical workout results. These programs are simple to follow and led by our team of experienced Virtual Trainers.
Most elliptical machines come with preprogrammed workouts so you can easily switch things up. You can choose from hill climbs, interval training, a flat walk, or create a custom routine that fits your needs or physical abilities.
Ease of 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. A trainer can provide you with tips on how to use it correctly and recommend the type of workout that may be best suited for your fitness goals. When first starting the elliptical, you may want to use only the foot pedals. Once you get used to the machine’s movement, you can add the handles.
One of the reasons elliptical machines have become so popular is their simplicity. No complex coordination or movements are required. Just get on and start moving. A trainer at your gym can give you specific tips to help you get the most out of your elliptical workout.
Cardiovascular Fitness
Using an elliptical machine can give you a great cardio workout. Your speed and machine resistance will affect your workout intensity and how hard your heart works. (For moderate intensity, you should feel slightly out of breath yet still be able to have a conversation.) “Working at moderate intensity can help improve cardiovascular endurance, which helps strengthen your heart and lungs,” says Easterling.
Tips for Maximizing Your Elliptical Workout
- Proper Form: Maintain good posture and engage your core muscles throughout the workout.
- Vary Your Routine: Change the resistance, incline, and direction of the pedals to target different muscle groups and prevent boredom.
- Interval Training: Incorporate HIIT workouts to burn more calories and fat in less time.
- Listen to Your Body: If you’re new to elliptical training, start with a gentle workout and gradually increase the intensity and duration.
- Stay Consistent: Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week.
Potential Risks and Considerations
Like all exercise machines, there are some potential risks associated with using an elliptical. You may find that your muscles are sore the days after using it for the first few times, especially if you’ve never used an elliptical before. The movement pattern is different than walking. This may feel awkward, and it’ll activate your muscles in different ways. It’s essential to ease into an elliptical workout routine, allowing your body to become accustomed to these movements and helping to prevent overuse injuries. As you become more comfortable on the machine, you can start to adjust the resistance, speed, and incline to make your workouts more intense.
There aren’t many disadvantages to working out on an elliptical machine, but there are a couple things you should know to make sure you’re getting the most out of your workout efforts. 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.
Incorporating Elliptical Training into Your Routine
One way to get the best of both worlds is to incorporate elliptical training into a running routine. For example, replace one outdoor or treadmill running day with a 30- to 45-minute workout on the elliptical.
Examples of Elliptical Workouts
Elliptical Workout for Beginners
If you're new to this form of exercise or recovering from injury or illness, you'll want to start with a gentle elliptical workout for beginners. If you do too much too soon, you'll not only be fatigued but end up with sore muscles and joints. This may put you off using your elliptical equipment again or even lead to injury. As a good guide, aim to work at a level that allows you to speak in full sentences but also delivers a gentle burn in your muscles and some breathlessness at the end of the session. To start your elliptical journey, we've put together a short routine that is ideal for beginners. Do this three times a week to start with while paying attention to your rate of perceived exertion (RPE). A scale of one to 10 gauges how hard you are working. Level 4 is an easy warm-up pace while Level 6 is beginning to take you out of your comfort zone. During your first sessions, adjust the elliptical so that you stay working at a moderate intensity of RPE Level 5. Increase the incline and/or resistance until you're working noticeably harder than your warm-up pace. You should still be able to chat.
Elliptical Workout for Seniors
If you're a senior and have added an elliptical to your home gym, start with some simple beginners’ routines of about 10 minutes each. As you feel comfortable with these, increase the length and pace of your sessions.