Elliptical vs. Treadmill: Discover the Ultimate Machine for Rapid Weight Loss!

Choosing between an elliptical and a treadmill can be a tough decision when trying to optimize your workout for weight loss. Both are staples in gyms and home fitness setups, offering distinct advantages and catering to different preferences and needs. Ultimately, the "best" machine depends on individual factors such as your fitness goals, physical condition, and personal preferences.

Understanding the Basics: Treadmill vs. Elliptical

First and foremost, the treadmill and elliptical are necessary machines to include in your gym. These two cardio focused machines have their pros and their cons. The treadmill consists of a moving platform, much like a conveyor belt, which allows you to run in one spot and in one direction while monitoring your heart rate at the same time. The belt moves along as you take each step. Treadmills are made to absorb the impact from running and make it easier on your body. Use inclines to add resistance. This allows you to push yourself and intensify your training.

We refer to the elliptical as a cross trainer because it is a power combo of both the treadmill and the exercise bike. The movement of the elliptical is a mix of the circular cycling motion of the exercise bike and the running motion of the treadmill. The quads, hamstrings, and calves are all worked when you push the pedals down. While you hold onto the handles, you work your triceps, biceps, and shoulders. Ellipticals are perfect for a full body workout and strengthen your heart and lungs.

Key Considerations for Choosing a Machine

Your exercise needs, body, and goals should all be considered when deciding whether the treadmill or the elliptical is the best machine for your workouts.
Maybe it comes down to personal preference for your body.
Maybe you need one for your home gym or to fill a facility.
Do you prefer a steady pace or intermittent training?
Would you rather focus on a full body workout or only on your legs and cardio?
Whatever the motivation, make a list of your ideal workout and see which machine is best for you.

Treadmill: The Power of Impact and Versatility

Treadmills are an optimal solution for your home gym. A treadmill consists of a moving platform, much like a conveyor belt, which allows you to run in one spot and in one direction while monitoring your heart rate at the same time. The belt moves along as you take each step. Treadmills are made to absorb the impact from running and make it easier on your body. Use inclines to add resistance. This allows you to push yourself and intensify your training. If you need a treadmill that allows you to vary the elements, the Technogym MyRun is the perfect treadmill. It provides you with personalized training programs that will improve your workouts. Give yourself the perfect lower body workout and strengthen your heart as well.

Benefits of Treadmill Workouts

Versatility: From steady-state walks to HIIT sprints and incline hiking sessions, treadmills offer nearly limitless training options. Treadmills allow users to customize their workouts by adjusting speed, incline, and duration, making them suitable for individuals of all fitness levels.
Effective Calorie Burn: Running or jogging on a treadmill typically burns more calories per hour than elliptical workouts due to higher intensity workouts and the engagement of multiple muscle groups. Running or jogging on a treadmill engages multiple muscle groups and elevates heart rate, significantly increasing calorie expenditure.
Cardiovascular Health: Regular aerobic exercise on a treadmill can help improve heart and lung function, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Treadmill workouts provide benefits for cardiovascular health and overall fitness.
Race Training: If you’re training for a 5K, half marathon, or full marathon, treadmills are unmatched for replicating outdoor running conditions indoors.
Builds leg strength: Running or walking on the treadmill can strengthen your leg muscles, including your quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. A treadmill workout can also strengthen your hip flexors and glutes.

Potential Drawbacks

Impact on Joints: Treadmills involve repeated foot strikes that create more impact on the knees and hips. Running or jogging on a treadmill can put more stress on your bones and joints compared to working out on an elliptical trainer.
Risk of Injuries: Common running injuries include shin splints, knee injuries, and stress fractures.
Limited Muscle Groups: Although a treadmill can help you build strength in your leg muscles, hip flexors, and glutes, it doesn’t target as many muscle groups as an elliptical.

Treadmill Workout Examples

HIIT Sprints: Alternate between periods of high-intensity sprinting and recovery periods of walking or jogging. For example, sprint at maximum effort for 30 seconds, then recover by walking or jogging for one to two minutes.
Incline Training: Increase the incline on the treadmill to simulate hill climbing. Start with a moderate incline and walk or jog for one to two minutes, then increase the incline to a challenging level and maintain a brisk pace for one to two minutes.
Progressive Speed Increase: Begin with a five-minute warm-up at a comfortable pace. Then, increase the speed every minute for five minutes, reaching your maximum sustainable speed. Maintain this speed for one to two minutes, then gradually decrease the speed every minute for five minutes.
Distance Run: Set a goal distance (e.g., 3 miles) and maintain a steady pace throughout the workout. Start with a five-minute warm-up, then run at a consistent pace for the specified distance.
Uphill Intervals: Increase the incline to a challenging level, and run or walk uphill for a set duration (e.g., one minute). Recover by reducing the incline and jogging or walking downhill for the same duration.

Elliptical: Low-Impact, Full-Body Engagement

The elliptical is also great for those who want to burn calories but not feel like they’re running a marathon. It encourages workouts that feel effortless and are just as efficient. Programs are provided to help you choose your goal, whether you want to focus on burning calories, speed, or distance. You can speed up or slow down when you want, and plan periods of lower intensity for resting. Still not sure which is better, the treadmill or elliptical? Less wear and tear - the treadmill gives you the same run and walk you are used to but without affecting your joints. Intermittent - Because you always control the speed, you can easily slow down or speed up to give yourself an intermittent workout. Resistance setting - Utilize the resistance setting when you do want to build more muscle or simply work on overall body tone. This is a game changer! Low injury risk - One of the best benefits of the elliptical is that you don’t have to worry about it hurting your joints.

Benefits of Elliptical Workouts:

Joint-Friendly: Ellipticals are designed to be joint-friendly. Instead of pounding against a surface, your feet glide in a smooth circular motion. The smooth, gliding motion reduces stress on the joints, making it an ideal exercise option for individuals with joint pain, arthritis, or those recovering from injuries.
Full-Body Workout: Unlike treadmills, ellipticals actively work your upper and lower body. Elliptical machines engage the upper and lower body, targeting various muscle groups such as the arms, legs, glutes, and core. Pushing and pulling the handles recruits your arms, chest, shoulders, and core while your legs drive the stride.
Low Injury Risk: One of the best benefits of the elliptical is that you don’t have to worry about it hurting your joints.
Effective Calorie Burn: Elliptical workouts are also highly effective for burning calories and improving cardiovascular health. The continuous, rhythmic motion of elliptical training elevates heart rate, increases oxygen consumption, and stimulates fat burning.
Muscle Engagement: Ellipticals recruit both upper and lower body muscles, engaging the arms, chest, and core as well as the legs. Users can sculpt and strengthen muscles throughout the body by incorporating both pushing and pulling motions with the handles while improving coordination and balance.

Potential Drawbacks:

Less Muscle Development: While an elliptical is a great option for low-impact aerobic exercise, you may not notice the same amount of muscle development as you can get from a treadmill.

Elliptical Workout Examples:

Interval Training: Alternate between periods of high-intensity effort and recovery. For example, pedal at a moderate pace for two minutes, then increase the resistance and pedal at maximum effort for one minute.
Reverse Pedaling: Pedal in reverse engages different muscle groups and adds variety to your workout. Start with a moderate resistance level, and pedal backward for three to five minutes, then switch to forward pedaling for three to five minutes.
Incline Intervals: Increase the resistance level to simulate climbing uphill. Begin with a moderate resistance, and pedal at a steady pace for five minutes. Then, gradually increase the resistance every minute until you reach a challenging level.
Upper-Body Integration: Combine elliptical training with upper-body exercises to increase calorie burn and engage more muscles. Incorporate intervals of arm movements, such as pushing and pulling the handles while pedaling. For example, pedal at a moderate pace for two minutes while pushing the handles forward, then pedal at a faster pace while pulling the handles toward you for one minute.
Steady-State Cardio: Set a goal distance or time, and maintain a steady pace throughout the workout. Start with a five-minute warm-up at a comfortable resistance level, then increase the resistance slightly and pedal at a consistent pace for 20 to 60 minutes, depending on your fitness level and goals.

Scientific Insights: Fat Oxidation and Exercise Modality

Fat oxidation during exercise is associated with cardio-metabolic benefits, but the extent of which whole-body exercise modality elicits the greatest fat oxidation remains unclear. Adequate selection of exercise modality during training may have a meaningful impact on substrate oxidation. During aerobic exercise, oxidation of carbohydrates and fat, in exercising muscle, is influenced by fitness level, diet, sex, and intrinsic biochemical factors. The oxidation of substrates is also known to be further altered extrinsically, via exercise duration, and exercise modality. Substrate metabolism shifts towards greater fat oxidation and reaches higher rates of maximal fat oxidation (MFO) during walking and running compared to cycling.

A study investigated the effects of treadmill, elliptical and rowing exercise on fat oxidation in healthy individuals. Nine healthy males participated in three, peak oxygen consumption tests, on a treadmill, elliptical and rowing ergometer. Indirect calorimetry was used to assess maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O2peak), maximal fat oxidation (MFO) rates, and the exercise intensity MFO occurred (Fatmax). Mixed venous blood was collected to assess lactate and blood gases concentrations. While V̇O2peak was similar between exercise modalities, MFO rates were higher on the treadmill (mean ± SD; 0.61 ± 0.06 g·min-1) compared to both the elliptical (0.41 ± 0.08 g·min-1, p = 0.022) and the rower (0.40 ± 0.08 g·min-1, p = 0.017). Fatmax values were also significantly higher on the treadmill (56.0 ± 6.2 %V̇O2peak) compared to both the elliptical (36.8 ± 5.4 %V̇O2peak, p = 0.049) and rower (31.6 ± 5.0 %V̇O2peak, p = 0.021). Post-exercise blood lactate concentrations were also significantly lower following treadmill exercise (p = 0.021). Both MFO and Fatmax were higher during treadmill exercise. These results are believed to stem from differences in muscle recruitment patterns and Type II muscle fiber recruitment in cycling from lower muscle mass contribution to total energy production.

Intrinsically, as exercise intensity increases, greater glycolytic activity results in an increased accumulation of lactate and hydrogen ions, decreasing muscle pH. Reductions in fatty acid oxidation are strongly correlated with the accumulation of plasma lactate. The elliptical and rower are two modalities increasing in popularity for their ability to offer meaningful aerobic benefits, as they incorporate whole-body movements. They further provide alternatives to those with limited range of motions and physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and others. Importantly, it has been reported that heart rate and oxygen uptake during elliptical exercise is similar to treadmill when both exercises are performed at self-selected intensities. Despite some aerobic similarities, MFO and Fatmax was reported higher during rowing compared to cycling. The crossover point, where energy contribution from CHO and fat to total energy expenditure is equal, was also reported to occur at a higher relative exercise intensity during rowing than cycling. Although the elliptical and rower involve a large level of muscle mass, they involve more regular activation of muscles in the upper limbs compared to treadmill exercise. The muscles of the upper limbs have a relatively smaller surface area than those of the lower body, and the metabolic demand across these muscle fibers may be larger during elliptical and rowing exercise, leading to a greater reliance on Type II muscle fibers.

A study consequently investigated the effects of treadmill, elliptical and rowing exercise on MFO, Fatmax, the crossover point, and rates of fat oxidation. Nine healthy males (age: 22 ± 1.1 years, height: 1.78 ± 0.03 m, weight: 78.0 ± 3.7 kg, body fat: 8.70 ± 1.15%) participated in the study. Participants completed one familiarization session to become accustomed to the exercise protocols, instrumentation, and each of the exercise modalities. An adapted incremental V̇O2peak exercise protocol was used to ensure that there was a sufficient number of stages to build substrate oxidation curves.

There was no significant difference in V̇O2peak values across the three exercise conditions. However, there was a significant difference in mean HRpeak between modalities, where HRpeak was higher on the TM (195 ± 5 bpm) vs. ROW (p = 0.005, 189 ± 7 bpm) but not EL (194 ± 6 bpm). Mean V̇Epeak was also not different between the exercise modalities. Mean V̇O2/HR was not significantly different between modalities. Mean MFO was higher in TM vs. EL (p = 0.022) and ROW (p = 0.017), but there was no significant difference between EL and ROW. Similarly, Fatmax was higher in TM vs. EL (p = 0.049) and ROW (p = 0.021). However, mean Fatmax was not different between EL and ROW. Regression analyses revealed a strong influence of modality on both fat and CHO oxidation curve during exercise. Examination of the fat oxidation curves revealed that curves became linear, and the distribution of the data was greater in the elliptical and rower exercises. The CHO oxidation curves were similar in shape between exercise modalities, but a greater distribution of the data was found in the elliptical condition.

Mean pH was significantly lower post-exercise compared to pre-exercise for all three exercise modalities. However, there was no difference in pH between exercise modalities. Blood lactate concentrations increased across time, and were also higher post-exercise in ROW compared to TM. Blood glucose concentrations were not significantly different between exercise modalities. Mean pO2 and pCO2 were both significantly higher post-exercise compared to pre-exercise across exercise modalities. Additionally, pO2 was higher post-exercise in TM vs. ROW. Mean BEecf was significantly lower post-exercise compared to pre-exercise. BEecf was also significantly lower post-exercise during ROW exercise compared vs. TM and EL. Mean HCO3- was significantly lower post-exercise compared to pre-exercise. There was no significant difference in mean sO2% between exercise modalities.

Practical Considerations

When it comes to ellipticals vs treadmills, there’s no single winner. The smartest option? Use both. Alternating between the two keeps workouts varied, reduces overuse injuries, and challenges your body in new ways. Many NordicTrack users combine both for best results.

Elliptical is often better for beginners because:

They’re low-impact
Easy to learn
Support a full-body workout without putting stress on the joints.

Maximizing Weight Loss: The Importance of Intensity and Consistency

Increasing the speed and incline on your treadmill can help you burn more calories. The takeaway: both machines can help with weight loss, especially when paired with balanced nutrition.

Tips for Both Machines:

Interval Training: Incorporate intervals of high-intensity effort followed by periods of rest or lower intensity.
Progressive Overload: Gradually increase the duration, intensity, or resistance of your workouts over time.
Listen to Your Body: Pay attention to your body's signals and adjust your workouts as needed to avoid overtraining or injury.
Stay Consistent: Aim for regular workouts, ideally several times per week, to maximize weight loss and fitness gains.

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