If you’ve ever tried to get your heart rate up while avoiding joint irritation, then I have some sympathy for you: cardio can be awful. You climb onto treadmill, and your knees begins to complain. You hop onto the stair climber, and your hips cry uncle.
Many people avoid machine altogether out of fear that they’ll do some damage to themselves. And so they’re missing out on cardiovascular goodness… because price is too steep. Move better.
Joint Friendly Cardio Workouts for Everyone
Why Cardio Can Be Awful for Joints
Do you want to know how to walk or run? Well there’s an app for that, but better yet, there are machines that mimic movement without the jarring impact of a heel strike. The clear winner in this category is the elliptical machine.
The Benefits of Elliptical Machines
By keeping your feet on the ground, it offers continuous loop motion that simulates natural flow of walking or running. The slight change in mechanics makes all the difference for joint health and you still get the burn…without bruise. Most folks approach elliptical as if it were a stationary bike with handles, but that’s not the point.
Total Body Conditioning Technique
If you’re using it correctly, the elliptical is total body conditioning tool. You should engages your upper body to realy get the most out of this low-impact workout. By doing so, you distribute the load over more muscle groups, making it easier on any single joint with each stride.
Resistance Settings and Intensity
A lot of people gets hung up on resistance settings, cranking up to max strength in order to muscle their way through tough reps. While that’s good for building strength, it often results in slower speeds, and it puts undue strain on the hip flexors when you slip out of form. Just because something is low impact doesn’t mean it’s low intensity.
It simply means you’re using your muscles to generate force instead of gravity slamming your feet down onto a deck. Move faster while keeping a lower resistance and you’ll have same heart rate; the idea here is sustainable effort, not brute force. The other key element is proper posture.
Proper Posture on Elliptical
Reaching out for those whirling handles too aggressively and leaning over will stress your lower back. Engage your core and keep chest upright. Picture a string attached to the crown of your head and pulling upward; this not only supports your spine during the task but keeps your hamstrings and glutes in position to do the bulk of work.
Stride Length and Form
When your shoulders start to round forward, you’re not working with the machine (you’re fighting against it). Stride length is something most folks don’t pay much attention to, but it’s realy important. A shorter stride will feel clunky if you are tall.
It will force your legs into a choppy pattern, which can be irritating to the knees. Look for an elliptical with enough stride length to allow full extension. At the top of each movement, your leg should nearly fully extend, which also mirrors your natural gait cycle.
Adding Variety to Workouts
It feels more like walking on moving sidewalk as opposed to riding a cramped bike. Don’t fool yourself: this isn’t a luxury, it’s a prerequisite for steady use. To keep it interesting, variety is key (change directions every few minutes).
When pedaling forward, you engage the glutes and quads. Reverse pedaling hits calves and hamstrings a bit more directly so you don’t get any muscle imbalances. Bilateral exercises like this also help keep the brain involved enough that you’ll be pushing harder than you thought.
Often, the novelty of reversing the pedaling motion tricks you into maintaining higher effort level, and before you know it, time flies by. Then there’s incline. This setting makes workout even harder by raising the platform, which adds more work for your posterior chain while reducing impact.
Using Incline Settings
There’s no need to pick up the pace or ratchet up resistance, just raise that deck and go. Your heart rate will rise on its own. It is a very subtle adjustment, but it will make a big difference.
Long Term Health and Recovery
Intensity isn’t everything for your long term health. If you’re beating up your body one day, you won’t be able to go hard another day. Almost all exercise programs will includes low-impact cardio.
There’s no need for elaborate cool downs or warm ups; you could do it every day if necessary. It’s a gentle movement that helps circulate blood to your joints. That circulation help them recover and stay lubed up.
While you get fitter, you’re also protecting the machinery that allows you to do so. Nope, the elliptical isn’t magic. It won’t give you the same bone density benefits as high-impact exercise nor will it provide same strength improvements as heavy lifting.
Elliptical vs High Impact Exercise
But it does have a specific and important role to play. It’s a safe place in which to perform your cardio workouts. It’s a place where you can build endurance.
It’s a place where you can recover after more intense workout. It’s a way to remain active when you’re hurting too much to sit still. Be kind to your joints; they’ll thank you.
Keep moving and let the machine do its job. Rest assured that it was designed to do just that. You should of tried it sooner.
