The Best Aerobic Exercise Machine For You May Not Be The Best One For Me
What exactly do I mean by aerobic exercise machine? In the category I would place treadmills, elliptical trainers, exercise bikes including spinning bikes and recumbent bikes, stair climber machines, rowing machines and cross country skiers. There may be a few others you can think of, but I believe these six categories will include over ninety-five percent of all aerobic exercise machines.
The big guns in the aerobic exercise machine camp are the treadmill and the elliptical trainer, followed by the exercise bike variations. The pendulum has swung back and forth between treadmills and elliptical machines as the most popular and/or the most recommended cardiovascular workout apparatus over the past few years.
When elliptical trainers first started to appear in commercial gyms, there were studies that indicated that they offered the ability to get the same level of workout as a treadmill while the user perceived the effort to be less. Of course, being able to get more results for less work is something most people only dream of, so this caused a surge in the popularity of elliptical machines.
Of course, almost any time you have research concluding one thing, there will soon be new studies appearing that claim different, if not totally opposite, results. This happened with treadmill research that showed that the treadmill was supposedly every bit the elliptical trainer's equal as far as energy expenditure and results. If you were using these studies to decide which aerobic machine you would be using for most of your workouts, these conflicting results could cause you some stress - and not the good type of stress. The answer to this conundrum is to just pick the machine you like the best - the one you can work out on consistently. Or use them all, if that's what will keep you consistent in your cardiovascular or aerobic workouts. While treadmills and ellipticals seem to get all the press lately, if you hate treadmills and elliptical machines and love taking spinning classes, then that's what you should do. Even if spinning is not quite as efficient as using an elliptical (and I'm not saying that, just making a point), doing three spinning workouts every week for a year will get you in much better shape than dragging yourself onto the elliptical whenever you can convince yourself to put in the effort. And the same goes for any other aerobic exercise machine such as the rower or stairclimber. Or other types of workout bikes such as the recumbent. Do what you like. If you like variety, fine - then do something different every week or every workout. If you love the stairclimber, then use it every time. But while the latest research can be a great tool for getting results if used wisely, focusing on it too much can be a detriment to your fitness.
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