An elliptical trainer is often referred to as a cross trainer. It is an exercise machine that imitates walking and running without pressure on the joints. This machine eliminates impact injuries commonly caused by the actual running or walking exercise. They can also be set for either light or high resistance which is chosen by the person using it for cardiovascular workouts.

A Typical Elliptical Cross Trainer

The elliptical trainer is not intended to build muscle or to be used for anything other than cardiovascular workouts. The intensity of the workout is solely controlled by the user. The elliptical trainer's motion can be manually controlled by the user or it can be controlled by an on-board integrated computer. The oldest elliptical trainer had a rear drive location. Now the latest machine has a center drive location. Incline can be controlled on some models to create different difficulty levels. Elliptical trainers are driven most often by the legs however some have a hand lever to produce a pedal motion. Elliptical cross trainer with a computer are common since they adapt the difficulty to the current cardiac performance to produce the best results.

There are different degrees of durability that make up the elliptical cross trainer. There is one for intensive use in a club or a gym and another for home use. Prices for each of these varies in accordance with their durability. The models that would serve a gym or club run about $4,000 while the home use elliptical cross trainer can be purchased for around $500.

The best description of the elliptical trainer is that it is somewhere between the stationary bicycle and a treadmill. In the way it exerts the heart and leg muscles it is much the same as a treadmill, while the range of leg motion is similar to that of the stationary bicycle.

The elliptical cross trainer is efficient in burning more calories and causing the user to exercise more muscle groups in a lesser amount of time. Perhaps one of the reasons the elliptical trainer is so popular, especially among apartment dwellers, is that it is very quite in comparison to the treadmill, which has a tendency to be somewhat more noisy.

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