7 Top Advantages of Using a Cross Trainer for Fitness

Are you looking for a workout that burns calories without hurting your joints? The cross trainer could be your best choice. Known also as an elliptical, this popular cardio machine offers a smooth, low-impact workout that targets your entire body. Unlike running on a treadmill, the cross trainer provides a gentle motion that is easy on the knees and hips while still delivering an intense exercise session.

What makes the cross trainer stand out is its versatility. It’s suitable for beginners looking to start their fitness journey and advanced athletes aiming to switch up their gym routine. Whether you’re looking to tone muscles, improve endurance, or lose weight, the cross trainer adapts to your fitness level and goals.

In this post, we explore the top seven advantages of using a cross trainer.

What is a Cross Trainer?

A cross trainer, also known as an elliptical, is a stationary exercise machine that simulates walking, running, or climbing in a smooth, low-impact way. It mimics the natural movements of these activities but without the harsh impact on your joints.

This machine works both the upper and lower body simultaneously, engaging various muscle groups, including the legs, arms, and core. Because of its smooth motion, it offers a cardio workout that’s gentler on the knees and hips compared to running on hard surfaces. It is suitable for all fitness levels and helps improve cardiovascular fitness.

Dynamo Fitness is a leading supplier of premium quality gym equipment in Australia. Explore our range of elliptical machines and shop today for a complete body workout.

How to Use a Cross Trainer

Using a cross trainer is simple, but following the correct technique ensures a safe and effective workout:

1. Mount the Cross Trainer Carefully: Step onto the pedals one foot at a time. Hold the handlebars to maintain balance as the pedals may start moving.
2. Proper Posture: Keep your back straight and look forward. Avoid hunching your shoulders and engage your core muscles. Ensure your hips remain aligned with your legs to avoid twisting.
3. Start Moving: Begin by pushing down on one foot. Continue to pedal with both feet, keeping them flat on the pedals. Push and pull the handlebars with your arms to engage the upper body. This motion works your arms, legs, and core.
4. Adjust Resistance: Use the resistance buttons on the console to make the workout more challenging. Increase resistance to target more muscle groups and intensify the workout. For beginners, start with lower resistance and gradually increase it as you gain strength.
5. Vary Your Workouts: Once you feel comfortable, try alternating forward and pedal backwards to work different muscles, especially your hamstrings and glutes. Incorporate interval training by adjusting speed and resistance to maximize calorie burn and muscle engagement.

Advantages of Using Cross Trainer Machine

1. Improves Cardiovascular Fitness

A cross trainer provides an effective cardio workout that targets the heart and lungs. It strengthens your heart and the cardiovascular system, improving blood circulation and oxygen supply throughout the body. This helps boost your endurance, stamina, and makes daily physical activities easier. Regular use of a cross trainer can also reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, hypertension, and stroke​.

Why It Works

• Full-Body Engagement: Using a cross trainer involves your arms, legs, and core, ensuring a full-body workout. This increases heart rate and keeps it elevated, crucial for improving cardiovascular fitness.
• Low-Impact Exercise: One of the benefits of cross trainers is that they simulate walking or running without the harsh impact on joints. This allows for longer workout durations, which further benefits the heart and lungs.
• Adjustable Intensity: You control the resistance and speed, making it easy to tailor workouts to your fitness level. Beginners can start with lower resistance and gradually increase it for more cardiovascular benefits.

2. Whole Body Muscle Engagement

A cross trainer provides a comprehensive workout by engaging multiple muscle groups in both the upper body and lower body. It targets the legs, arms, chest, back, and core muscles, offering more than just a lower-body exercise.

• Lower Body: The cross trainer works the quads, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. When you pedal forward, the quads get the most work. Reverse pedaling activates the hamstrings and glutes more intensely.
• Upper Body Benefits: Dual-action handlebars allow for an effective upper-body workout. Pulling the handles works the biceps and lats, while pushing them activates the triceps and chest muscles.
• Core Strength: The cross trainer is also helpful in stabilizing the core. As you stride, you need to maintain your balance, which activates the core muscles. This results in improved posture and better stability over time.

3. Elliptical Machine Workout Burns Calories Effectively

Cross trainers are excellent for burning calories, making them a great choice for weight management. The number of calories burned on a cross trainer depends on several factors, including age, weight, workout intensity, and duration.

On average, a person weighing around 180 lbs burns approximately 249 calories during a 30-minute moderate-intensity session. If you weigh less, like 120 lbs, you might burn closer to 140 calories for the same workout duration. Conversely, someone weighing 200 lbs may burn around 233 calories in 30 minutes. Increasing the intensity or resistance of the workout will help burn a lot of calories, even in a shorter period.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on a cross trainer can burn the same amount of calories as steady-state cardio but in a shorter time, making it effective for quick sessions. However, regular cardio on a cross trainer is ideal for sustained fat loss since it uses fat stores for energy, rather than sugar stores, and is easier to recover from.

4. Exercises with Low Impact on Joints

A cross trainer provides a low-impact workout, making it ideal for people with joint concerns. Unlike running or aerobic exercises, which involve a high level of impact, a cross trainer’s smooth, gliding motion allows both feet to stay on the pedals throughout the entire exercise. This reduces the strain on the knees, hips, and ankles, helping those who may experience discomfort or pain during high-impact activities.

• Constant Foot Contact: When using cross training equipment, your feet remain in contact with the foot pedals, preventing the jarring impact that occurs when the feet strike the ground in activities like jogging or running. This constant contact ensures the knees stay in a relatively stable position, minimizing stress on the joints.
• Fluid Motion: The elliptical design mimics natural walking or running motions, but with a gliding movement. This fluid motion lowers the pressure on the hips and knees, providing a safer option for people with arthritis or joint injuries.
• Adjustable Resistance: Many cross trainers allow you to adjust the resistance level, so you can customize the intensity without pushing your joints beyond their comfort zone. The backward stride feature also helps target your glutes and different muscle groups, further promoting joint strength.

5. Cross Trainer Benefits All Fitness Levels

Cross trainers are adaptable, making them suitable for users at any fitness level. They offer manual control over resistance and speed.

For those just starting, cross trainers enable low-intensity workouts to gradually build endurance. Beginners can use lower resistance settings, maintaining a moderate pace to avoid overexertion while still gaining cardiovascular benefits.

For advanced users, cross trainers provide options for high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This flexibility allows users to alternate between short bursts of high resistance and speed, followed by recovery periods.

HIIT on a cross trainer burns calories effectively in a shorter timeframe while still offering a low-impact workout that minimizes strain on joints.

6. Accelerates Weight Loss and Maintenance

Cross trainers are effective tools for burning calories, supporting both weight loss and maintenance goals. They work the upper and lower body simultaneously, recruiting multiple muscle groups, which helps burn more calories than many other cardio machines.

A 30-minute session with a cross trainer can burn around 175-324 calories, depending on factors like age, weight, intensity of the workout, and duration. This calorie burn makes cross trainers an excellent option for those looking to shed pounds or maintain a healthy weight when paired with a balanced diet.

Why Cross Trainers Are Ideal for Weight Loss

• Full-Body Engagement: This piece of equipment works the leg muscles, arms, and core, providing a comprehensive workout. This increases energy expenditure, speeding up the calorie-burning process more than exercises that focus on a single muscle group.
• Adjustable Resistance: By increasing the machine’s resistance, you make your muscles work harder, further boosting calorie burn. The cross trainer’s adjustable incline feature allows you to vary the intensity, engaging more muscles and burning more fat.

7. Improves Posture and Core Stability

Using a cross trainer helps improve posture by engaging the core muscles, including the abs, lower back, hips, and pelvis. Maintaining an upright posture on the cross trainer requires the core to stabilize the body during movement. When your core muscles are well-developed, they help keep your spine in proper alignment.

Engaging the core on the elliptical trainer not only improves posture but also enhances overall stability and balance. A strong core provides a solid foundation for various movements, making exercises like squats, deadlifts, and even daily tasks easier to perform.

As a result, having a stable core can reduce the risk of lower back injuries and improve athletic performance in activities that require balance and coordination.

Shop the Best Cross Trainers for Cardiovascular Health

In summary, cross trainers offer a versatile and comprehensive workout that benefits all fitness levels. They improve cardiovascular health, engage multiple muscle groups, aid in weight loss, and enhance joint health with their low-impact nature.

To experience the benefits of a cross trainer, explore the range of cross trainers and other gym equipment at Dynamo Fitness Equipment. Explore our collection online or visit our mega stores:

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Contact us today for more information. Take the first step toward a healthier lifestyle with the perfect fitness gear for your home or gym.