Chances are you consider cardio machine to be painful. After all, it’s boring for 20 minutes, and you just want the calories burnt to make up for it. While elliptical trainers is meant to offer low impact exercise, most tend to be wobbly.
They’re clunky, the foot pedals slides around, and they don’t give you anything to hold on to so you end up doing half as much than what your body can do. And a well-made elliptical enhances it. An elliptical is far from just a treadmill with handles attached to it.
A good one are like a precision machine designed to work your arms, core, glutes and legs in an uninterrupted loop. Get the mechanics of the handles right (alongside resistance and stride length), and all you care about is how fast you’re going. That transforms something that can feels like a chore into a total body workout.
Key Features To Check Before Buying
Understanding Elliptical Mechanics
The key to finding best model isn’t what it says on the box; you need to know about resistance types that affects your heart rate, and stride mechanics that affect your joints. There are plenty of machines out there… Some aimed at home market, others commercial-grade.
It’s all about locating one that give you a good workout but doesn’t cause too much pain in your wallet or joint. The first metric differentiating good ellipticals from great ones is stride length. If an elliptical’s stride length are too short, it will cause you to march in-place.
Choosing the Right Stride Length
This prevents hip extension and leaves your glutes sitting idly by. You’re looking for at least eighteen inches; for most adult, anything above twenty-four inches is best. Anything within this range will allow you to use your legs in a naturaly manner.
It duplicates the mechanics of hiking or running while not compromising your knees. While it’s important that pedals moves the correct distance, so is how your feet connect with them. Fixed pedals that do not rotate at the same pace as you walk can lead to shin strain issue.
Moving Pedals for Comfort
With moving pedals, you pivot through your foot to reduce the torque on your lower leg and ankle. This increase comfort during longer sessions. It also allows movement to feel organic, a design element used by brands such as NordicTrack in their commercial model.
Types of Resistance Systems
Resistance fuels your workout. Resistance is where you find the engine of your workout. Magnetic resistance provide smooth, quiet power without the jerkiness of friction belts.
Most industries uses magnetic resistance as it’s smooth and quiet and avoids the jerking motion common with a friction belt. It’s the way you adjust the resistance that makes them different than. If it’s manual, you have to get off the elliptical to adjust, interrupting your flow.
For automatic digital resistance, the better the system, the more you’ll stay in the zone. The same is true if there’s an adjustment for incline. Both Schwinn and Peloton has a responsive system that adjusts on the fly based off how hard you’re working out.
Importance of Weighted Handles
You might neglect to use your upper body on an elliptical. Lots of machines has handles that are lightweight, flimsy, and just there to hold onto. Good ellipticals come with handles that rotates, are weighted, and force you to work against them.
Your shoulders and arms becomes part of the workout. You get more functional strength and burn more calories. This is what made the Precor EFX line famous, they had a resistance curve that worked the upper body hard while not impeding lower body.
Flywheel Weight and Motion Smoothness
The ultimate test of a good piece of equipement is its consistency in motion. You’ll find with cheap ellipticals that there’s always a dead spot in your pedaling rotation (i.e., at the bottom of the stroke, or at the top). And as you try to overcome this inconsistancy, you’re fighting against machine.
High-quality elliptical machines use a heavy flywheel (thirty-plus pounds) that smooths out inconsistencies. The heavier flywheel store momentum and gives it back to you in a seamless loop. With a stable feel, you can work harder for longer periods before your body fatigue from fighting mechanical resistance.
Matching Machine to Workout Goals
To that point, how do you know which machine is best for you? Do you want to mimic running? Then focus on inclines and long strides.
Are you looking for a combination of strength and endurance? Find one with strong magnets and a set of weighted handles. There are machines available to suit everyone’s needs but not many can provide everything.
Spend money on what suits your body naturaly. You’ll find you work out better while also giving yourself less excuse, and you should of picked a good one.
