With the rise in cardio diseases, the utilization of an elliptical trainer or the elliptical has escalated tremendously in the recent past. Elliptical workout is a fun, easy and swift way of reducing the treacherous calories. You don’t have to switch between machines to perform different exercises or make a routine. In fact, you can watch TV or read a newspaper while working out on a single machine and workout all your exercises.
Nevertheless, while the elliptical workouts might sound smooth or easy, you shouldn’t get over confident that you’re doing everything correctly.
There’s more to knowing how to spin and/or move on the trainer. The majority of users of this machine make some mistakes, which they don’t know they’re doing wrong. The mistakes not only reduce your workout’s efficiency, they also make the machine harmful rather than being beneficial, even with a best elliptical machine.
Here’s a list of the most common mistakes that many people usually make:
Resistance
The resistance setting on the elliptical drastically changes the amount of resistance one feels. The settings can cause your mile of walk to be super tough or as easy as pie. Resistance settings can change a workout to from being a complete waste of time to being the ultimate calorie burner.
To do it right, you should begin with normal resistance. However, if you don’t feel like doing some real effort or hard to pace while walking, you can step up the resistance. The prudent thing to do is to step up resistance as well as walk at a modest pace until you’re left with the least bit of energy in you. Only then will your workout using the machine become fruitful.
Weight Distribution
Your standing position during a workout should distribute your weight on the entire foot. A good number of people exert the whole body’s pressure on the foot’s toes while exercising. Doing that is highly harmful to the toes because of the too much force and weight. Actually, it’s similar to standing on stilettos. It puts all the pressure on the spine rather than on both of the feet. The other problem that it brings with it is making your toes go numb after just some little workout. When that happens, you’ll be unable to continue further.
Inclination
Exerciser that shift from the treadmill to the elliptical trainer are the most susceptible to be victims of the inclination mistake. Always remember that an elliptical is in plenty of ways distinct from a treadmill. For instance, a treadmill makes one work hard when you’re running at an inclined position. That’s not the case with an elliptical.
The main role of the inclination on an elliptical is to ease up exercises rather than making it difficult to use. The inclination makes it effortless for one to push and pull during an exercise thus reducing the calories amount you burn by a huge margin. You can also look into under desk elliptical, if that is something you might be interested in.
The wise thing to do is to lower the inclination as much as you can. Always avoid reducing the inclination to zero for maximum calorie burning.
Water
One of the hugest mistakes one can ever make while using an elliptical has to do with water. Because water constitutes the largest part of the body mass, it’s needed in vast amounts. You should always think of it as a coolant for the body and lubricant for the muscles. When you’re working on the machine, you burn calories through sweating that’s a major source of shedding water from the body.
It’s paramount to always have a water bottle every time you’re working out. Take small water sips every 5 – 10 minutes to ensure your body remains hydrated throughout.
Shifting Machines
Following the same schedule on an elliptical machine makes the body bored of the workout. It reduces the results you derive from the workout. Another mistake many people make is to step to the gym and only work on one machine.
You must work on other machines together with the elliptical in order to ensure that the body is familiar with different movements of a workout. For example, you alternative between the stepper machine and rowing machine.
Conclusion
By avoiding the above elliptical mistakes, you’ll be able to maximize the benefits you derive from the machine. In no time, you’ll begin to see the wonderful results of the workout. There’s no doubt about that.