If you are like most of the overweight Americans out there than one of your new year’s resolutions is to lose some weight and get in shape. Great news here, you are not alone in this goal. It is considered the most common goal across the board for the New Year. Whether it is be healthy, eat better, look better, feel better they are all the same –people wanting to lose fat.
According to many experts the best way to consistently lose weight and feel better is to keep your exercise fun and interesting and one of the best ways to do this quickly is with a treadmill or elliptical machine. Don’t limit yourself to just one these machines either, while the treadmill burns more calories the elliptical offers less impact to you joints.
The elliptical has a few advantages that the treadmill just doesn’t offer, but it really depends on the machine you buy and what your goals are. One of those advantages is a more complete all over body work out. This can be accomplished because while your hands are engaged at the top of the machine they are moving with you forcing your core muscles into consistent tension. This allows the abs and butt to develop some more tone.
The downside of course is that if you just cruise along with the elliptical you don’t get the same cardio workout that you do with the treadmill. The treadmill is harder for you body to move on and requires more from your muscles providing more resistance and a better cardio experience. It is however constantly putting pressure on your joints which can be uncomfortable and lead to other health problems down the line.
I recommend taking advantage of both of these machines by using what is called interval training. In other words spend half the time on the treadmill and half the time on the elliptical. This will allow you to benefit from the use of both machines.
If the treadmill is too much in the beginning and standing in line waiting for one at the gym seems a little intimidating just relax and start with the elliptical. Of course you can always purchase used treadmills and have it at you home for your own non judgmental use every day. In the end its up to you for how you want to lose the weight and increase your health.
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