Elliptical Bike Machine – 5 Reasons Why You Should Have One
The Elliptical Bike Machine is a piece of gym equipment that tends to get a bad reputation for being boring and not challenging enough. Since it is thought to be geared more towards aging joints and beginners to fitness, it has also been pushed by the wayside by most individuals without further research. Whether you are looking to find out what the best cardio workout is or looking to whether you should make the jump and look to purchase an elliptical bike machine, this article is for you.
The elliptical is a cardio workout that is what you make of it and can help give you an excellent aerobic workout while burning calories for weight loss. In this article, we will be going through the many reasons why people have it all wrong when going about elliptical bike machines. We will also be learning what makes the elliptical bike machine highly recommended on our list of exercises.
1. Low Impact Exercise
The elliptical trainer is well known for having the benefit of being a low impact exercise when compared to most other forms of cardio exercise. The elliptical trainer was initially created by an inventor who came up with the idea for the motion while filming his daughter running alongside his car. He then replicated that running motion by designing a machine that puts less stress on the joints and bones.
Elliptical bike machines reduce the stress and strain on your body through an elliptical motion because your feet never leave the pedals. This is in comparison to running or walking on a treadmill, which are high impact exercises, and this can cause a lot of damage to your joints over time. This type of damage can not only affect the joints in your legs but also your lower back which a lot of people tend to have serious problems with.
A study we found from the University of Missouri measured oxygen utilization, heart rate, lactic acid formation, and rating of perceived exertion while on an elliptical bike machine. They found that the elliptical exercise was virtually identical to exercising on the treadmill, but the elliptical bike provides low joint impact.
2. Dual Action Workout - Upper & Lower Body
What makes an elliptical unique to other cardio machines and workout exercises is its combined upper and lower body workout that it provides. There is no other piece of fitness equipment that exercises as many muscles simultaneously, with an elliptical trainer you can utilize:
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
- Quadriceps
- Back
- Chest
- Triceps
- Biceps
In addition to all those muscle groups, the upright posture on an elliptical bike machine will utilize your core muscles and if you go hands-free you can increase your balance and posture.
However, many people often place a lot of the resistance on the lower half of their body while on the elliptical machine, it is important that people don’t make that mistake. Just going through the motions while using the upper handlebars and not utilizing them decreases the number of calories you can burn and muscles you can strengthen.
3. Burning More Calories In Less Time
The main benefit of exercising more muscles is obviously toning more of your body and burning more calories. By optimizing your energy expenditure you end up burning a lot more calories and body fat in a less amount of time.
The elliptical bike machine is especially helpful if you are strapped with time and in need a good workout. Since the elliptical burns more calories in a short amount of time, you don’t need to spend a lot of your time and effort on the machine to break a sweat.
There is a significant reduced perceived rate of exertion when it comes to an elliptical workout session, so you are actually exercising harder then you think.
Depending on how much you weigh the elliptical bike machine can burn about 250 to 400 calories in one 30 minute session, representing 125 pounds to around 185 pounds. This is a good bang for your buck when it comes to cardio workouts, especially since the elliptical feels less challenging and is low impact.
4. Targets Weaker Muscle Groups
By being able to change the resistance and incline of the foot pedals on an elliptical bike machine, you can target many different muscles in your lower body. This results in the ability to fix and strengthen a few different muscles in your legs, such as the hamstrings, quads, glutes, and calves.
One of the studies that we found on the elliptical bike machine was where they compared muscle activity patterns of the hamstrings and quadriceps.
They compared these muscle patterns while walking on the ground, walking on a treadmill, a stationary bicycle, and elliptical bike trainer. They found from this study that the elliptical bike trainer produced a significant result in quadriceps utilization and quadricep/hamstring coordination than any of the other exercises studied.
The problem with cycling and running, when compared to the elliptical, is that they also don’t do a great job in building up your glute and outer hip muscles. This can leave these muscles weaker than the rest of your legs, so it is always best to train your muscles all at the same rate for a more balanced workout.
5. A Variety Of Different Workouts
When you are using an elliptical bike machine you start to realize that there are many different types of exercises you can do to switch up your workouts. Most ellipticals allow you to mimic jogging, walking, running or even climbing a staircase depending on what type of intensity you are wanting that day. Unlike treadmills, you can adjust the intensity of the exercise automatically depending on your heart rate or what level of difficulty you personally want to be at.
There are also a lot of built-in programs on ellipticals so you can switch up workouts simply that can mimic internal training, hill climbing, and customizable options. It’s a proven fact that when you are constantly repeating the same activity or workout over time your body gets used to it and your muscle do not work as hard. So while using an elliptical bike machine you can consistently switch up the workouts so there is still a challenge and your muscles don’t start getting comfortable.
You can also engage and workout your core while on the elliptical depending on which muscles you want to target.
An example is avoiding to use the handles on the machine and forcing yourself to balance by using your core.
The Conlcusion
Overall the elliptical bike trainer is shown to be a piece of versatile exercise equipment that targets many different muscle groups. The studies prove that it is more efficient in burning more calories while toning a wider variety of muscle on your legs, arms, and core. When looking to buy or use elliptical trainers regularly, it is essential to know the extent of what the machine can do for you, even if it has a reputation of not being a challenging workout. Now you can confidently use an elliptical bike machine to its fullest extent and experience a challenging, full-body workout.