Cardio machines are an indispensable equipment in any gym. Indeed, when you come to any random gyms, you’ll find two types of cardio machines sharing the top position of most chosen trainers: elliptical vs treadmill.
But the real question is which one is the king of weight loss? This has been a controversial debate of most gymers for years – either side comes with a little bit of bias.
If you also share the same concern, join us on the journey of finding out the final answer on the topic “Treadmill vs Elliptical: Which one is your best friend on the weight loss journey?”.
What’s An Elliptical Machine?
An elliptical trainer simulates your arm and leg motion. Although elliptical machines don’t have a history as thick as the treadmill trainers, they’re a popular choice for both gym and home use.
Also, the feature that distinguishes the elliptical from other machines is its one-of-a-kind movement. It resembles a cross-country skiing traipse.
That elliptical motion presses no impact force on our body joints. It’s also the reason why so many people go for elliptical rather than treadmill.
Moreover, the unit comes with unique elliptical handles serving far beyond than just a thing you grab on to. By building up the resistance on the handles, ellipticals help to strengthen your upper body as well as your legs by asking gymers to push and pull.
This difference is also what distinguishes ellipticals and treadmill: While ellipticals lean towards strength training, treadmill don’t. Moreover, Ellipticals help to burn calories and activate as many muscles as possible.
Benefits
Low Pressure On Your Joints
Cardio on an elliptical machine creates less pressure on your bones and joints, especially on your knees.
As the movements provided by the ellipticals are climbing the stairs and cross-country strides, gymers can skip stomping their feet on the belt and the floor.
In the long run, you can prevent your knees from injuries and pains.
Full Body Workout
Not only does the elliptical aim for your leg muscles, but it also trains your the biceps, triceps, lats, and the core. In other words, exercising on an elliptical equals a full body workout.
As a result, you’ll get a toned body, strengthened core, and improved balance.
Reverse Movement
As the machine serves as a full-body trainer, it’s not strange when ellipticals offer backward movements.
By pedaling reversely, you will also exercise other groups of muscles, commit in a whole body workout, and finally, lose some weight.
Excellent Calorie Burner
According to the statics, it only takes 30 minutes for an elliptical to burn about 200-300 calories, which is an impressive rate.
Setbacks
Lack Of Bones Exercises
Less pressure on your bones and joints can be both good news and bad news. As you might already know,, ellipticals won’t increase your bones’ endurance and strength.
Lack Of Activities
Because of the high-up pedals, gymers cannot fully hold the weight of their entire body. Thus, your movements are limited by a minimum resistance.
When To Use It?
Those indicated below may want to get on an elliptical:
- Gymers who are having injuries and on their way of recovery.
- Those who are over fatigued and require low-impact training.
- People who want a mixed workout including lower and upper body exercises.
Notes When Using Elliptical
- Don’t forget to consult your doctor before using ellipticals. Avoid getting on them if it’s your doctor advice.
- When using elliptical trainers, make sure your position is standing upright rather than bending forward.
What’s A Treadmill Trainer?
A treadmill trainer is an indispensable sight in any gyms. For years, it has become a must-have part of fitness equipment.
To explain the popularity of treadmills, most gymers believe it resembles running movement correctly. Running nowadays has become a familiar motion people take into their daily routines.
The treadmill come with a moving belt acting as the running surface, which can be moved in both manual and motorized methods.
Instead of using your own body to do the task like manual units, a motorized treadmill uses a motor to make the belt move, allowing gymers to exercise on it without difficulties.
Moreover, It is also the ideal trainer for all fitness levels because of the ability to set the desired speed as well as adjust the slope of the platform.
Benefits
High Versatility
Gymers can use treadmill in several ways. Whether it’s a slow or brisk walk, run or sprint, these machines can give you the training you want. Also, you can adjust the incline to either add or decrease resistance to your exercises.
Better Abs Engagement
As running helps your core get engaged and activates your ab muscles, your body will become more balanced, which will help you avoid falling off the machine.
For examples, if your running exercise lasts for 20 mins, you will engage your core entirely during that period. Therefore, if you often practice on treadmill, your core will be stronger, and thus, you can have better posture, get a toned body, and boost your stamina.
Fantastic Calories Burner
For 20 minutes training on treadmill at 8 mph, you can get rid of about 200-300 calories. Thanks to this, treadmill can help you burn all your fat and get slim shape in no time.
But keep in mind that the number of burnt calories also hinges on your current weight and the set incline degree.
Experts say that you should adjust your incline degree to at least 3 degrees and run periodically. For instance, you can practice at 6 or 7 mph for 60 seconds and then switch to 13 or 14 mph for 5 seconds.
More Natural Feel
Thanks to the simple and easy-to-use design, when you get onto a treadmill, you can quickly get used to its system and platform. It won’t take up to 1 minute to get to know this machine.
After that, you will feel much natural and comfortable. The ease of use also helps you stick to your workout schedule much more comfortable.
Awesome Lower Body Training
Hopping on the treadmill for exercises will train your abs, calves, hamstrings, glutes, quadriceps, and heart muscles, which is literally all of your lower parts.
Therefore, if you get accumulated fat on your lower body, running and walking periodically on these machines will help to cut down on that stubborn fat effectively.
Setbacks
Impact On Posture
An issue you might face when running on a treadmill is that the belt size may result in changes when walking or running. And over time, this can lead to problems in posture and cause lower back pains and joint injuries.
More Pressure On The Joints
Whether it’s a fast or slow run on the treadmill for a long duration, your knees can get injured. That’s because treadmill make users bear two to three times larger than your body’s weight.
Lower Body Training Only
Walking or running on the treadmill only serves as a lower body workout. You might feel like doing a full body workout, but it’s not. There are nearly no upper body muscle groups targeted and trained when hopping on the treadmill.
Muscle Loss
Muscle loss might be the result of treadmill practice only.
When doing cardio for an extended period, your body will use glucose and muscle glycogen. To a point, there is no glucose and muscle glycogen left.
After that, to provide power to your activity, the cells will dissolve protein and turn them into glucose using Gluconeogenesis.
And thus, if you do not prepare a good meal full of proteins after the workout and do physical training every other day, it’s just the matter of time when you face muscle loss. As a result, your body tone faces with deterioration.
Lower Safety Level
Well, not every exercise is suitable for you. You might be spectacular on the field, but on treadmills, you might just be a baby who cannot withstand the pace of training and get dizzy.
Practicing at high speed and changes of the belt speed can also make you lose your balance, fall off the machine, and hurt yourself.
When To Use It?
Those below are recommended to use the treadmills:
- You’d like to take a walk or run as a warm-up before doing other exercises.
- You specifically want to burn extra fat accumulated on your lower body. Hop onto the treadmills for a 20-30-minute practice weekly or twice a week.
- You are in a recovery program which requires slow walks to increase your muscles and bones’ strength. In this case, having a supervisor is a must.
Notes When Using Treadmill
1. Don’t exercise rigorously on the treadmill when:
- You have recently got injuries on your knees.
- You have plantar fasciitis.
- You suffer from lower back pains.
- You’re recovering from heart surgery.
- Your doctor appoints not to use treadmills for training.
2. Always have high-quality running shoes on while practicing on the treadmills.
Which One Helps To Cut Down The Most Weight?
Calorie Burn
Yes, Nogii all know that calories take a leading role in both weight loss and weight gain. You’ll gain weight when the calories you take in is higher than those you burn.
To lose weight, you have to make an energy decrease by consuming fewer calories or increasing the number of burnt calories using physical activities.
Elliptical Vs Treadmill: Which is better?
It’s a fact that whether it’s a treadmill or an elliptical trainer, you could burn almost the exact number of calories. But based on your goals, make up your mind whether what you need is a full body workout or only lower body exercises.
Depending on your training type, you can determine your desired trainer – the treadmill or the elliptical.
Remember that both the treadmill and the elliptical will help to cut down your weight, but don’t forget to also exercise physical training to uphold your muscles and enhance your body tone.
However, if you ask us which one is the real hero when it comes to weight loss, we’d say that ellipticals win the battle. They’re likely to be much easier on the joints and target more muscles. Thus, they burn calories much quicker.
Verdict,
Our final thought is that both machines have merits and drawbacks. Nogii absolutely cannot think of any reasons why not to use both of them if you’re going to the gym.
However, if you just want to exercise a bit at home, remember to ask for your doctor advice (if you have any muscle-related issues and injuries) and try out several machines for a few times.
By doing this, you can find the best trainer machine for you.
