For anyone who frequents - or occasionally visits - a workout room or gym, the conflict over whether to use the elliptical trainer or the treadmill may be a familiar one. These two popular machines promise the user heart-pounding, fat-burning, muscle-building exercise in an ideal, controlled setting, but can they really deliver? When it comes down to it, which machine provides the best burn?
Experts have long debated the benefits of the elliptical versus those of the treadmill. Most maintain that ellipticals allow for the least bodily damaging workout since the machine is extremely low-impact on joints like knees and ankles, which are often injured by intense outdoor runs or even high-speed treadmill workouts.
Ray Hudson of Elliptical Trainers Review claims that the low-impact nature of the elliptical actually allows the user to burn more calories with less exertion than a treadmill does, especially when the lower-body workout is combined with the machine's unique moveable arms function. This lets the user benefit from a more intense workout while putting out seemingly less effort than he or she would have on a treadmill. It sounds like the ultimate piece of equipment, right?
But not everyone agrees that the elliptical is the miracle machine we've been waiting for. Some fitness gurus assert that treadmills are actually the winner of this intra-gym rivalry.
Expert Richard Weil claims that since the machine's heavy impact requires the user to propel his or her body through the air, this additional exertion adds substantially to the calorie burn.
In addition, experts warn users not to pay too much attention to the calorie count on the elliptical - or on any machine, really - since the results are generally inaccurate due to fluctuating factors like weight and vigor of exercise.
It is particularly difficult to gauge the intensity of an elliptical workout; While a treadmill runner runs at a regular miles-per-hour speed maintained by the machine, elliptical users are almost entirely responsible for how fast they are going.
As a regular long-distance runner who has been forced to spend brutal winters and humid summers working out indoors, I have had a lot of experience with both pieces of equipment.
A few years ago, the elliptical was my machine of choice; It was low-impact, a quick workout, and I could use it while watching House on Tuesday nights without feeling nauseated (a multi-task I could not accomplish on a treadmill).
However, while I kept the resistance on the machine high so I could feel the burn, I tended to slog through the workout, making my elliptical experiences not nearly as satisfying as outdoor runs.
Additionally, I never felt that post-workout endorphin-euphoria that I usually crave when exercising, which only added to my frustration with the machine.
I switched to the treadmill last summer, and while I still spent a good 30 percent of my workout time daring the digital clock in the corner to count down the seconds faster, I ended up enjoying both the actual workout and its aftereffects much more than I had on the elliptical.
Most importantly, the treadmill kept me in better running shape than the elliptical, thereby making it that much easier to return to my outdoor runs when the weather got better.
I do go back to the elliptical from time to time to take the pressure off my joints, since my knees and ankles are a bit damaged from the heavy impacts of my regular runs. This also provides a nice change of pace and doesn't leave me with guilty feelings of neglect toward the once-beloved elliptical.
In the end, the best way to decide which machine provides the ultimate workout for you is to try them both out.
I have had friends tell me that they would never exercise if it were not for the elliptical, since they deem the treadmill too intense and too boring to become a staple in their lives.
Others stick to the treadmill religiously, believing that the calorie burn is more significant and the workout more satisfying. Some even alternate between the two machines in order to avoid becoming bored by a regular routine.
Find something that you like and stick with it; the more you enjoy your exercise machine, the more you'll benefit from your workout.
