Curious about which is better – Elliptical or Treadmill for Losing Weight?
First off, both Treadmills and Ellipticals are great cardio-equipment that can increase endurance and metabolic rate, and improve overall health. If you think you need great cardio machines to get healthy, let me be the first to share with you that you don’t need to lose weight to get healthy, rather get healthy first in order to automatically lose weight. If that concept seems backwards, see any number of books on this subject at amazon or elsewhere, especially this book by Dr. Eric Berg, called The 7 Principles of Fat Burning. Exercise for many can be stressful and instead produce a response in your body to resist weight loss and fat burning, but that’s another topic for another day. To figure out which is better – Elliptical or Treadmill for losing weight, consider the benefits and disadvantages.
Benefits of Elliptical or Treadmill
Let’s focus on which is better, Elliptical or Treadmill for losing weight. Quickly, let’s compare the benefits of each type of machine.
Treadmills are:
- best for setting a rigid and repetitive workout routine
- easy & quick to operate
- great for walkers and runners
- great for toning lower body muscles if that’s your goal to get on a treadmill
- safer than running out on the road-side dodging cyclists and pizza delivery cars when crossing roads
While, Ellipticals are:
- best for varying your workout routine
- not so easy to get started with but very enjoyable once you know what you’re doing
- great for simulating walking, hiking, skiing or running without as much impact on knees and joints
- great for toning lower AND upper body muscles
- safer than hiking or skiing
Disadvantages of Treadmills and Ellipticals
It would be unrealistic if all we talked about were benefits of either machine, so consider the cons of using Elliptical or treadmill for losing weight.
Treadmills:
- are monotonous, downright boring unless some music or TV keeps us engaged
- don’t require you to think much or exercise your mind (yes, that can be a con)
- keep you indoors, out of touch from the environment and the fresh air
Ellipticals:
- are not as monotonous as treadmills, but still boring as soon as you stick to a routine
- can’t make you see the need to step-it up and make things harder and interesting at the same time unlike the real outdoors
- require you to constantly push yourself to achieve the results you really want
Can you see which is better – Elliptical or Treadmill for Losing Weight?
You might be losing your patience thinking there’s really no secret or revelation here…but wait…seek and you shall find! So far you’ve seen the pros and cons of owning each machine, and you probably already knew them, but here are the 3 Keys to unlock the potential of any of these machines:
- Know where you are,
- Know where you want to be, and
- Know what you believe will work for you.
It seems trivial, but allow me to explain. Which of these machines do you think would be better for you if you were already running outdoors and yet not losing any weight? Which one would be better if you are a runner and don’t want to skip your routine in winters? Would either be good if you always get muscle stiffness with even a light exercise? Are you 20 lbs overweight or 120 lbs overweight? Do you already know you can’t run, even on those shock-absorbing lower-impact treadmills because you have a spine or knee issue? Or are you in average physical shape but have this belief that treadmills, ellipticals or similar home equipment have not worked for you in the past and probably won’t work now? You see where I am going with this…
So, knowing where you are (your physical condition & mindset), where you want to be (with passion & desire), and what you believe will work for you (strong belief & focus in execution) are the most important mysteries you need to unravel yourself rather than finding a magic-pill machine that will work for you just because it worked for Phil or Jenny on TV. You may not think that Phil or Jenny did such an assessment, but they did; otherwise, they would not have lost all those pounds. Losing weight is as much a mind game as it is about choosing the right equipment.
Bottom Line: Any machine, elliptical or treadmill would work just fine for losing weight as long as you make an informed assessment of where you are, where you want to be, and what you believe will work for you. If you have already made up your mind about which to buy, take a look in the Fitness Equipment for Sale coupons category for any elliptical or treadmill you need for losing weight so that you can now get it at a discount. No doubt, if you want less impact on joints and a better aerobic exercise, an elliptical is the way to go.