Elliptical Machine Buying Guide Elliptical trainers are the fastest growing and now the best selling category of cardiovascular fitness equipment today. Known to burn a high rate of calories without all the joint stress associated with other forms of exercise, ellipticals have proven to provide results for both weight loss and toning. The various types of elliptical machines: Elliptical trainers began as a lower body only form of exercise back in the mid 1990’s, but quickly added the upper body moving handles which served to increase metabolic benefits with far less perceived effort. Simply put, elliptical trainers with upper body provide faster results. Today over 97% of ellipticals sold, have the upper body feature and therefore this buying guide will focus primarily on ellipticals with upper body movement. Front or Rear Drive? Rear drive ellipticals have dominated the commercial market for over 15 years and you would be hard pressed to find a front drive elliptical on the floor of a health club. The reason for this is that with the drive system in the rear there is a much better feel for the motion. Greater inertia pushing the foot forward allows the user to accomplish more work with no strain on the knees or other joints. Front drive ellipticals, on the other hand, had previously been the only option for home use because of the low manufacturing cost and retail selling price point. But front drive ellipticals have one big problem. Roller Tracks. Those tracks are located behind the user and they have urethane wheels (Roller Blade type) which are connected to the pedals and those wheels roll through a steel or aluminum track. This design is a maintenance nightmare and can lead to the demise of your fitness routine. The wheels and track need to be regularly cleaned and lubricated after each use or at least once a week or else they will begin to clump up with dust and dirt causing a very bumpy ride and a litany of service issues. Fortunately there is a new breed of rear drive ellipticals on the market now available on a direct-to-consumer basis from the manufacturer. These ellipticals are featured on our website www.yowzafitness.com and they are totally silent and incredibly smooth. How is this possible? By eliminating the troublesome “roller track” design, it is now possible to create a silky smooth feel with no maintenance required what-so-ever. Variable Motion Ellipticals (VME): Variable Motion Ellipticals allow the user to adjust the machines motion while on the fly. These machines contain a motor which will make the stride longer and higher, recruiting more major muscle groups in the process. Typically in the home, there are more than one user and it is not uncommon to see one person who is over 6’ tall in the same home with a spouse or child that may be a foot or more shorter. The only way to have one elliptical which can properly fit all potential users is to adjust the motion itself. This is the single most dynamic advancement in cardio training during our lifetime! Introduced a couple of years ago on commercial products selling for over $8000, the variable motion elliptical category now has seen prices falling to very reasonable levels, as the quantity of scale in the industry takes its shape. Take a look at the new state of the art YOWZA Captiva www.yowzafitness.com/captiva. Counter Rotational Core Motion: Up until recently, the handlebar movement on elliptical trainers consisted of two perfectly straight handlebars which rocked back and forth in a contralateral motion. Although effective in terms of cardiovascular benefits, this movement is not biomechanically correct. YOWZA Fitness has designed and patented the world’s first Counter Rotational Core Motion elliptical machines. The idea behind this new upper body movement is the Counter Rotational Core training arm motion. The counter-rotational movement provides the ultimate in cardiovascular training while targeting the muscles of the internal and external obliques, rectus abdominus and serratus. What does this mean to you? Think about owning one machine where you will get a high intensity cardiovascular workout, burning calories at an unprecedented rate, and simultaneously offering a core body strength training and toning workout at the same time. For more information on variable motion ellipticals check out the Sanibel and Captiva models at www.yowzafitness.com/ellipticals. I hope this document is of help to those who are in the process of researching and buying an elliptical machine online. Best of luck to one and all!
|
