Elliptical Machine Workouts
like basketball and soccer are great for improving cardiovascular health and burning fat, but they can be hard on your joints. If you have chronic knee or lower back pain you're better off doing your cardio workouts on an elliptical machine because it follows the movement of your legs without you having to step and put all of your weight on your joints like you do when you do a running or jogging workout.
When you do an elliptical machine workout you'll be able to work your legs with the amount of intensity you want, whether it's a low intensity, longer duration workout or a higher intensity, shorter duration workout. Most elliptical machines found at the gym will give you an option at what level you want to work out at. If you choose a higher level you'll have more resistence added to work against. You can start out at a low level to warm up, raise it to really start your workout, and lower it again as your workout gets tougher. If you want a change of pace you can also do your elliptical machine exercise backwards. This is great for when you're leg muscles start burning to give them some rest while continuing to exercise. Do this every few minutes if you want to change it up and give your quadriceps and hamstrings a different angle to work.
Many elliptical machines also have hand holds that allow you to move your arms back and forth while you exercise. This is different than most cardio exercise where you pretty much work only your lower body (you can do upper body cardio by doing boxing workouts).
Another great thing about elliptical machine workouts is the fact that elliptical machines don't move a lot when you exercise on them, so you can read a book or magazine to fight off boredom. Try reading when you're running at a brisk pace on a treadmill. It's hard to do. No matter how hard you're exercising on an elliptical machine you still should be able to read.
If you're new to working out on an elliptical machine you should start out by training 20-30 minutes at a time on them 3 times a week. As you get used to exercising on them you can raise the level you work out at and/or do more workouts per week for a longer time. Once you get to where you're doing 45 minute workouts 5 times a week the unwanted body fat you are trying to get rid of should be melting right off - as long as you follow a good diet plan.
Working out on an elliptical machine is a great way to do cardiovascular training to help burn calories and boost your metabolism so you can get rid of unwanted body fat. Elliptical machine workouts will also spare your joints unlike some other forms of cardio exercise.
Runnng, jogging, and playing sports
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