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Buying a home cardiovascular exercise machine is a big investment. The decision regarding which one to buy should be taken very seriously and consider all options. This Choozza helps you buy the exercise machine that's best suited for your needs.
What's the perfect choice for you?
Last updated by Nimo, on 21/7/09
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Treadmill A treadmill is a fitness exercise machine that works the lower body. The treadmill provides its user with a controlled method of performing the running or walking activity. Using it regularly, the user may increase their fitness level (via cardiovascular workout) and lose weight by way of fat burning. |
Elliptical Trainer An elliptical trainer, also called a cross trainer, is a fitness exercise equipment that works large muscle groups. The elliptical machine provides its user with a no-impact exercise method. Using it regularly, the user may increase their fitness level (via cardiovascular workout) and lose weight by way of fat burning. |
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Maintenance Considerations: Every fitness machine needs maintenance. The more moving parts your machine has - the more time and money you'll need to spend over the years on maintaining it. |
Treadmills are composed of many moving parts (think belts, motors, rollers and bearings) which are under lot of impact. All these moving parts may burn out, and are constantly in danger of wear and tear through use. Compared to other exercise equipment, treadmills are high-maintenance, especially the models that have motors. |
An elliptical trainer has very low maintenance compared to other fitness equipment. The elliptical trainer works by means of a very low-impact motion, and does not have many moving parts. It is therefore not very likely that your cross trainer will require frequent service. The lesser impact also means less wear and tear of the elliptical machine, which contributes to lowering maintenance needs. Most ellipticals do not have a motor and work by using a magnetic resistance wheel. The wheel and foot rests need infrequent oiling, but as there is no motor - no serious maintenance work is usually required. |
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Risk Free: What are the specific health benefits or risks involved with using the exercise machine? How can this machine contribute to your health specifically? This category is mainly around impact. Impact is the price the exercise machine takes from your joints. Running is high-impact, as your feet land on the hard ground many times. Swimming is non-impact. The more impact the machine has, the more risk you face of pain and damage to your bones, joints and other parts of your body. |
Walking or running, every time your foot lands on the surface your body is jolted. This is true for concrete, pavements, grass, and the treadmills' mat. This impact affects the joints in your lower body (especially the knees) and the lower back. This has a direct correlation to the length and frequency of workouts, especially in the beginning, as your body will not be able to walk/run for long periods of times, and will need longer rests between workouts. On the up side, walking is a simple form of exercise that does not require coordination, and hence a treadmill is a good choice if you have no experience at all, and need to start exercising immediately. |
Elliptical trainers are the machine of choice for older people or those having knee problems. The cross trainers are regularly used for rehabilitation, as the elliptical workout does not involve impact at all. Your feet never leave the foot rests and so the elliptical provides exercise without abusing the joints in your lower body. |
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Minimal Space and Power Needs: When you but an exercise machine for your home, you need to put it somewhere and sometimes plug it in as well. Every type of exercise machine has different needs in terms of space and electricity usage. |
Home treadmills come in two main variations - powered and non-powered. The non-powered version does not require electricity to function and is therefore economical to operate. In terms of space, treadmills usually require more space than other exercise equipment. Even the foldable ones are limited in this aspect, as the running surface must be wide and long enough to accommodate large gaits, and can not be folded in half. |
An Elliptical trainer uses very little electricity and is economical to operate. Most of the models for home use do not require electricity at all, or only very little power to enable the exercise monitor. The elliptical trainers also have small footprint and take up less floor space than other fitness equipment. This makes them a very good option for small houses. |
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Safety: With every workout, there's risk. Falling, injuries, pains and strains are a part of training life. How safe is the exercise machine? How big is the risk of something going wrong? |
Treadmills are only relatively safe. The exercise is usually performed at relatively high speeds - running or jogging, with little space for mistake. Falling from a treadmill could be quite serious, as the running surface (the belt) usually continues to move. Almost all treadmills sold today have some sort of a safety device. Some are equipped with safety switches which kill the motor when you press them, others have a sort of a safety key that stops the treadmill automatically when you fall. Most treadmills are equipped with handlebars that you can use to stabilise yourself if you need. No safety measure can guard you against a situation where you have a power outage while you are on the machine. The motor will stop immediately while you keep on running. This is an extremely dangerous (if rare) situation. |
An elliptical trainer is very safe to use. The way the cross trainer works, it stops immediately when you stop, which reduces the risk of falling off it. There is hardly a risk of falling from an elliptical machine. There's a remote chance of that happening when you use it in reverse, by walking backwards, as the motion feels strange the first few times you do it. The models that have the handlebars are even a bit safer, as you have more points of contact with the elliptical - thus making it less likely you'll fall off it. While there is always a concern with exercise machines and young children in the house, it is not a big issue with the ellipticals, as young kids would probably not be strong enough to operate it. The machines usually have a low center of gravity and are therefore not likely to tip over. |
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Workout Effectiveness: What type of exercise do you get from this exercise machine? What can you expect in terms of the exercises effectiveness? |
The treadmill is the best fitness machine if your preferred exercise is running, jogging or walking. While treadmills provide excellent cardiovascular workout, they only work your lower body. Treadmills do not work your back muscles or any large muscle group other than your legs. However, they are still effective as a fat burning and fitness equipment. The downside of the workout on treadmills is that this is a high-impact exercise, as your joints, knees, shins, ankles and back absorb shocks every time you put your foot down. The surface you run on while you exercise on a treadmill is usually cushioned and equipped with shock absorbers. This way it provides less impact than concrete, but still - your body will experience an impact up to 2.5 times your body weight every time your foot lands on the treadmill's belt. There is an injury risk inherent to such high-impact workouts. The exercise variety that a treadmill provides is focused around changing the incline and speed of the belt. These do not provide a lot of options, but are usually enough. |
Performed correctly, an elliptical exercise machine provides a very efficient cardiovascular workout. Most elliptical trainers have dual action handlebars, and together with the foot pedals they give you a total body workout, exercising both your legs and your torso. Since your feet never leave the pedals, an elliptical cross trainer workout is low-impact. Some studies show that this lack of impact on the joints allows a very effective workout in terms of fat burning vs. perceived effort levels, meaning you will feel that you can go on for longer. Most elliptical trainers let you change the incline, intensity and sometimes the gait length. This adds variety to the workout. Additionally, the elliptical trainers are unique in that they let you go both forward and backward. The backward motion adds lower body workout of different muscles. The elliptical trainer is first amongst all exercise equipment in that it simultaneously works the largest number of muscle groups. That is the reason an elliptical machine is also called a cross-trainer. The workout on the elliptical uses your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluts, chest, back, triceps and biceps. The more muscles are exercised - the more of your body gets toned, the fat burning process is accelerated, and your fitness level increases faster. In terms of fat burning, elliptical trainers and jogging burn a similar number of calories. However, because of the impact, jogging carries a risk of injury to the back, knees, hips, or ankles. On a cross trainer your feet are always on the foot pedals. The exercise on an elliptical trainer can be compared to running in midair. Being a low-impact workout, elliptical machines are very good for older people or for exercising when recovering from a joint injury. People who suffer from repeating shin splints also find that the cross trainer lets them get a good cardiovascular workout without over-straining their shins. Exercising correctly on the elliptical trainer, when using the handlebars, burns lots of fat quickly. This usually shows quick results in weight loss, toned muscles - both lower and upper body, and increased level of fitness. While a workout on the elliptical trainer can be very effective, it tends to allow momentum from bodyweight alone. This means that if you set the resistance level too low, you will not produce force and move your bodyweight yourself. Rather - the machine will use the momentum built up in the first minute or so of the workout. The risk here is that you will not actually use your muscles to move, and therefore not burn many calories. This happens more often than not. |
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Price: How much will it cost you to get a good fitness machine? |
Treadmills are not cheap, and good ones can be very expensive. |
Good elliptical trainers are not cheap. While prices change considerably, they will always cost more than other same-grade fitness equipment. |
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Fat Burning Efficiency: While every exercise burns fat, some forms of exercises allow more fat burning to occur. This usually has to do with length, intensity and the total number of muscles participating. Research shows that when more large muscle groups are exercised - more fat burning happens even after you finish the workout on the exercise machine. |
The treadmill does not use many big muscle groups compared to other fitness equipment and therefore is less effective at overall fat burning. It is also worth noting that because treadmill is a high-impact workout, you are usually able to exercise for shorter durations (compared to other fitness equipment) at whichever level of fitness you are at. This means that you will not have the opportunity to burn as much fat as with other machines. Having said that, the treadmill lets you easily perform short sprints, which contribute to burning fat in the post-workout recovery time. |
Since the more muscle groups you use for an exercise, the more calories you will burn, an elliptical trainer lets you burn more fat in less time than other fitness equipment. This is not so simple though, because in order for this to be true, the machine has to be used correctly, that is - with no momentum. If you can achieve that, an elliptical cross trainer is probably the best fitness machine to burn fat with. Because there's no impact, you can exercise harder on an elliptical trainer compared to high-impact exercise equipment. This is because your perceived effort is lower. This also means that you will be able to exercise for more time, and therefore, overall, burn more fat. Some researches show that the type of energy exertion on the elliptical trainer is very effective for overweight individuals, as it burns fat more effectively. Note that it is easy, using the elliptical cross trainer to gain bodyweight momentum. This lets the machine do most of the work for you (like with bicycle) so it loses points for easiness of self deluding. |