Easy Exercise Machine - A Contradiction In Terms
When doing some research prior to building this website, I noticed that there are were a rather large number of people searching for an 'easy exercise machine'. Talk about an oxymoron! Well, maybe their definition of easy is different from mine, but to me, easy means 'no work involved'. Since the American Heritage Dictionary defines exercise as "Activity that requires physical or mental exertion, especially when performed to develop or maintain fitness", easy exercise machine has got to be considered a contradiction in terms.
So I don't think you can perform an activity that ranks as 'exercise' and, at the same time, qualifies as 'easy'. Maybe after you've been training at it for a few years. But if that's you, you're probably not searching the web for a machine that'll make it easy. You are that machine!
The fact remains that the benefits of exercise come from the work involved. It's not that exercise is innately good and laziness inherently evil (some people would argue with that, but that's a philosophical argument, and I'm talking about physiology here) - it's just that our ancestors had to work to survive, so that's what our bodies now need to thrive. Our forbears needed to hunt animals, farm their crops and/or forage for food, and build shelter if they wanted to be around for tomorrow. Our bodies adapted to this regime, and now we need physical activity to be at our best. Our bodies need exercise, and it has to be real exercise, not 'easy exercise' - whatever that is.
Having said that, there's no reason to work any harder than we have to. Work smart, not hard, right? Therefore, you may want to do some research to see which exercise machines will return the most sweat equity for your investment of time and effort. When the elliptical trainer first came out, there were a number of studies that indicated that users were getting the same level of workout that they did from a treadmill, but at a lower perceived level of exertion, or if they worked at what they felt was the same level of exertion they were actually working harder - meaning they could get fitter in the same workout time or get just as fit in less time. There have been some studies lately that indicate that the treadmill got a raw deal in this earlier research, but this frequently happens with scientific studies. There's hardly ever a 'last word'. If you're interested in using an elliptical (or any other type of exercise machine) because it might provide you with what feels like an easier workout, then do your research and come to your own conclusion. Better yet, forget the research and just experiment on yourself, because your results are the only ones that count, whether you're looking for the best fat loss diet plan, the best exercises to add ten pounds of muscle, or even for that elusive easy exercise machine.
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