Archive for the ‘Home Fitness Exercises’ Category

What Is An Elliptical Trainer And How Can It Help Me?

Posted by Lily xu on 11 January 2011 | Filed under Home Fitness Exercises

Ellipticals are one of the best weight bearing total body fitness exercise machines on the market today and no other fitness equipement offers as many benefits.Elliptical trainers, sometimes referred to as cross trainers, are a new form of exercise equipment rapidly becoming the most popular piece of fitness equipment in gyms and homes around the world. Elliptical trainers are a good choice for anyone desiring a safe, total body work out.

Elliptical TrainerMy Personal Experience On The Elliptical

I have to admit when I was first introduced to an elliptical trainer I was a bit skeptical about its ability to furnish a whole body workout. Boy was I (pleasantly) surprised however by the results. The elliptical is now a personal favorite for my husband and I, who use it religiously. Both of us have knee problems that do not affect us when working out on the elliptical. It’s quite easy to get your heart rate up when using an elliptical machine, but you don’t feel like you are ‘pounding pavement’ and killing your joints.

Elliptical Trainers: How Do They Work?

Elliptical trainers work much like a stair climber only they reduce the impact to your knees and joints. They provide you with footpads to stand on while you exercise. You hold onto handles that move in a manner much like you would if cross country skiing. Elliptical trainers allow you to engage in weight bearing exercise, which helps build muscle and strengthen your bones. Unlike jogging or running, elliptical trainers provide a total body workout without severely impacting your joints including your knees.

Most elliptical machines have a crank arm attached to a bar at one end of the machine and an axis at the other end of the machine. The axis then rotates when the bar moves and the end moves in a flat back and forth direction. Resistance for elliptical machines is created either through a band that attaches to the fly wheel or by magnetic resistance (most higher end models feature magnetic resistance). The motion of an elliptical machine is smooth like a bicycle ride. You can also switch your movement into reverse and rotate the areas of your legs you are working.

An elliptical machine provides continuous movements that are smooth and non-jarring. That is why so many people prefer them to the abrupt and impactful movements of a treadmill or other exercise machine. An exercise bike may provide the same smooth motion. You can’t however work your upper body the same way using a bicycle that you can when using an elliptical machine. Likewise, swimming also provides excellent smooth exercise for all body parts, but it doesn’t provide weight bearing exercise. Study after study suggests that it is important for people, especially women, to engage in weight bearing exercises to help boost bone density and muscle strength.

Benefits Of ‘Elipticizing’

Using an elliptical trainer provides many benefits including:

1. They are easy to use.

2. They are good for patients with knee problems or those looking for a low impact but effective form of cardiovascular exercise.

3. You can adjust elliptical trainers to meet your fitness level.

4. Most come with built in heart monitors so you can check your fitness progress.

5. Elliptical trainers provide a total body workout, exercising the arms and legs at the same time.

6. If you own an elliptical trainer, you probably won’t need another form of exercise equipment.

Even better, you can select from various types of elliptical workout machines to suite your personal needs. Some for example are built for home use while other higher end models are exclusively built for gyms (though many home owners prefer these because of their exceptional quality).

History of The Elliptical Trainer

The elliptical trainer first started gaining popularity during the 1990s. During this time studies began showing that elliptical trainers provided superior benefits over other forms of exercise like bicycling or running. Elliptical machines offer total body routines without high impact exercise. Traditional versions initially only worked the lower body with stable, unmoving handlebars. Fortunately the elliptical trainers of today feature movable handles that offer a more complex and sophisticated workout. Users can now workout multiple areas of the body in one session, rather than jump from machine to machine to get total body benefits.

How To Find The Best Elliptical Machine

Posted by Lily xu on 11 January 2011 | Filed under Home Fitness Exercises

When shopping for an elliptical machine you want to find the best elliptical machine of the best quality while saving as much money as possible. Because of the fact that the elliptical machine is a low/no impact machine it’s a perfect Elliptical Machinechoice for people who are suffering from or are recovering from any joint problems such as the knees, ankle, hip or back. The elliptical machine is an excellent choice for home equipment, especially if you do not want the traditional treadmill or exercise bike.

If you are thinking about home fitness equipment, seriously consider an elliptical trainer. In the history of fitness and aerobics, elliptical machines are the only aerobic products that have made a breakthrough. Almost all gyms, fitness clubs and even homes have already acquired their own elliptical machines.

Buying an elliptical machine online isn’t difficult when you’ve spent time comparing reviews and ratings. Higher-end elliptical machines,brands found in specialty stores, can accommodate users up to 180 kg (400 lbs), and range in price from $1300 to $5400 (US). Consumer Reports magazine is one good place to compare features and costs of elliptical machines.

An elliptical workout burns 13 calories per minute. The general estimates of calories burned with an elliptical trainer are 387 calories for a 150 pound woman who has done 30 minutes of elliptical exercise. Elliptical trainer workouts are safe for the joints and provide a no-impact workout as opposed to a treadmill where your feet hit the deck with every step.

The elliptical trainer uses all of the muscles of the lower leg. There are many benefits for using an elliptical trainer but probably one of the most important benefits of using an elliptical trainer is the absence of impact. Most elliptical machines will come standard with an on-board computer.

If you’re cramped for space or have a small home gym, an elliptical trainer can be a great way to save space while getting an overall body workout. Elliptical machines give you a weight resistant workout which is important because, weight resistant workouts burn calories faster and more efficiently. With the elliptical machine, all exercises to maintain a healthy bone density can be performed.

According to the elliptical machine manufacturers, a general estimate of calories burned by an elliptical trainer can go up to 720 calories an hour. Elliptical machines are able to provide healthy bodies by maintaining healthy bone density. Elliptical trainers use the arms and the legs making it a cross trainer, in a smooth and natural motion.

Elliptical trainers have also been proven to offer a lower ‘Perceived Rate of Exertion’ whenever you’re working out. With quality elliptical exercise equipment, you feel the movement as fluid. An elliptical workout provides an overall body workout without all the strain.

And if you have never used an elliptical trainer you need to give one a try. Often people with joint problems feel that they have to give up on exercise, but not any more with an elliptical machine. Make sure to take time to research the ratings and reviews of ellipticals online. You can save money if you take time to compare brands and models. Look for discounts and low cost or cheaper models but still of good quality. You can choose from a wide variety of elliptical machines available in the marketplace. All in all you want to choose the best elliptical machine for you.

The Great Reason Why We Buy treadmill

Posted by Lily xu on 11 January 2011 | Filed under Home Fitness Exercises

Here are the some great reasons why to buy a treadmill:

buy useful treadmill1. The treadmill will save you time. You can set your workout schedule and you don’t have to worry about getting to a gym early enough to find an open machine, yours is always available.

2. No excuses, it’s in your house, get off your butt and use it.

3. The treadmill will create opportunities for your kids to be present while you are exercising. Your son or daughter can work on a homework assignment or coloring book and there’s no daycare or babysitter to worry about.

4. No more gym fees. Investing in a treadmill at home means no more spending $25 to $30 a month on a gym membership just to use their equipment. Or even worst spending that money every month and NOT going.

Start Physical Fitness And The Positive Do Exercise

Posted by Lily xu on 15 September 2009 | Filed under Home Fitness Exercises

Why Physical Fitness? Is exercise really for me? Perhaps you have a negative attitude toward exercise. Through no fault of your own, past physical education or athletic experiences may have created this outlook.  Although the most opportune time for developing lifelong fitness habits is in the childhood years, it is in the late teens and early twenties that men and women develop a fitness consciousness. At this stage in life you have Come see the workout system used by the best!reached physical maturity; your body is at its natural peak of physiological efficiency and health. However, observe friends in their late twenties and early thirties. In many of them this natural fitness has begun to disappear. Lack of exercise is beginning to show its effect. An increase of body fatness, a loss of muscle tone, and a lessened breathing capacity are some of the obvious signs of physiological deterioration. These middle-aged characteristics begin to reveal themselves in many Americans in their mid to late twenties. Unfortunately, our bodies are not programmed to stand the stress of sitting or of being inactive.

You don’t have to be athletic to be physically fit. Traditionally, organized athletics have tended to develop super-fit competitors for the entertainment of a physically inept society.

Our modern life-style fosters unfitness. Many technological advances are intended to eliminate physical exertion from everyday activities. The automobile and television are key contributors to our sedentary lifestyle, and we have become accustomed to other automated energy savers: elevators, riding lawn mowers, motorized golf carts, snow blowers and various remote control devices. The eighties brought us the home computer. Such advances enable us to carry out our everyday chores more easily. Microcomputers not only enable us to keep our home or business records in order but also provide hours of enjoyable play with computer games of many kinds. Or just surfing and chatting. However, the rapid repetitive movements required in manipulating the controls and/or keyboard does little for physical fitness.

Overeating, addiction and laziness are other detrimental characteristics of a sedentary life-style. At the same time, we live in a competitive society characterized by pressing domestic problems, business obligations and deadline tensions. All of these have an impact on the physiological systems of the body and appear to affect our state of health. Your emotions, nerves, glands, and mental state along with your heart, lungs, and muscles are all fused into a complex, wonderful organism — your body. Thus, there is a dire need, more than at any time in the history of humankind, to seek out stimulating exercise that will offset the perils of modern living. In fact, working out regularly to maintain a high level of fitness enables you to enjoy the privilege of all our modern gadgets and our computers.

Many men and women feel that their daily work provides them with enough exercise for fitness. Running up and down stairs or standing all day at a job seems to be physical exertion. It is exertion, of course, but such limited activities do not use the lungs fully or provide adequate stimulation for the heart to produce a training effect. If normal, day to day activities leave you fatigued at the end of the day, then you need the increased energy and vitality that comes from regular physical exertion. You must use energy to gain energy. In other words, regular stimulation of the total body through vigorous exercise produces increased strength and endurance, characteristics associated with good health.

These attributes cannot be acquired from sitting at a desk all day, watching sports on television, riding elevators, or snacking.Now that inactivity has been recognized as a threat to physiological well being, some authorities have suggested that exercise may be the cheapest preventative medicine in the world. Researchers in medicine, nutrition, psychology, physiology, and physical education agree that exercise, properly performed, is necessary for maintaining functional physical fitness. No responsible health educator will ever suggest that exercise is a panacea. But it is clear that, just as we need food, rest and sleep, we need daily exercise for the maintenance of our physical capacities. Physical fitness is not an end in itself but a means to an end. It provides the basis for optimal physiological health and gives us the capacity to enjoy a full life.

Exercise is good for you. Okay, you knew that! Try this: call exercise a "positive do!" Rather than telling yourself, "Don’t eat this or that" or "Don’t smoke", "Don’t get excited", "Don’t worry", say, "DO exercise!" Think of exercise as something fun that you can integrate into your lifestyle in a fairly painless manner. It is a physiological fact that people who exercise tend to not smoke or if they do they find they smoke less, they are more conscious about what they eat and they have an easier time relaxing and sleeping better. Can’t argue with those results! Think of these facts as the positive side effects of exercise.

Exercise offsets the ill effects of sedentary living in our modern technological society and ensures that you are living at your potential. Strive to make exercise an integral but fun part of your lifestyle.

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