Cross Trainers 101: Benefits and Uses for Fitness

You see them in nearly every gym you go to, different types of elliptical machines line one end of the gym alongside the treadmills and stair machines. Cross trainers are a specific type of elliptical that are one of the best cardio options in the gym because it creates a full body workout by providing an upper body exercise. This is created from the user holding onto moving bars that swing in unison with the ellipses of your legs.

The cross trainer is perfect for someone who wants to have an intense workout. It could be useful for either a pre-workout cardio stint or a full intensity cardio session. After all, the average adult needs approximately 150 minutes of intense cardio per week. Since the cross trainer provides a low impact alternative, these 150 minutes don’t have to be so strenuous on your joints or your muscles. There many different cross trainer routines that can be performed, and all of them provide many benefits for various parts of the body, and of course, they help to burn fat and help people to both lose weight and maintain weight.

Full Body Toning

Many gyms are filled with a variety of cardio machines but the problem with the majority of these machines are that they don’t give you a complete workout. The cardiovascular activity of your workout should cover your whole body as if you are actually outside running or swimming. When you are attempting to simulate a realistic cardio workout, the machine producing it should create an activity that engages the most possible major muscle groups. From the cross trainer doing exactly this it also helps to provide definition in the muscles you are engaging. For example; if you are on the bike machine, you aren’t exactly getting any cardio from the use of your arms.

Superior Cardio

When you take into consideration the full body experience of the cross trainer, one can see why the cross trainer is superior at providing a cardio experience. From the motion of the user’s arms and legs in unison, the body has a unique surge of full body cardiovascular activity. In your legs alone, the cross trainer uniquely engages both your quads as well as your hamstrings.

Low Impact

On top of providing all these great benefits to improving your workout, the cross trainer creates a low impact experience for the users joints. This helps to promote better muscle development when weight-lifting and just better overall bodily health. As well, it has been suggested that machines like the traditional elliptical, which, requires the user to hold on to stationary handles is damaging to your posture. Even when a user is not using the handles on a machine, something like a tread mill can be damaging to your knees and other regions that are typically prone to arthritis.

The combination of the full body tone and the creation of a realistic intense cardio session is what makes the cross trainer an excellent choice when deciding which cardio machine to use at the gym. Next to swimming, this is probably one of the least harmful choices you can make for your body.

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