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Elliptical Muscle Groups
By James Knight
Traditional treadmills can cause damage to the lower half of the body due to the large impact pressures placed upon these during running; shock is transferred up through the feet, up the legs and into the legs and spine. Many runners suffer knee and back injuries, and problems can occur later in life if proper precautions are not taken.
Stair climbing equipment helps in shaping and toning certain muscles, but work on very few other aspects of the body and its fitness. A similar situation is found with bicycle training, which focuses the resistance solely on the legs. Unless some effort is made to exercise other muscle groups (like lifting weights while riding), there will be no additional benefit gleaned.
Elliptical trainers allow the exerciser to focus on a number of different muscles during one workout - it is difficult to think of another type of exercise that will benefit in so many different ways. Certainly an elliptical trainer is favoured over treadmills, stair climbers and bicycles when it comes to an all-round workout.
Physicians take note of the full-body cross-training exercise that is provided by the elliptical trainer. A common misconception is that ellipticals divide the body into two separate and distinct groups of muscles when used, but this is actually not the case. The fluid exercise motion provided by an elliptical workout means that muscles work together, complementing one another and providing a full-body workout. The resulting exercise is more natural, more comfortable, and more effective to the whole body.
Upper-body muscles are called into action due to the skiing motion of the upper handles connected to the machine's pedals. Shoulders (deltoids) and the chest muscles (pectorillis major - pecs) work along with the back of the upper arms (triceps) and front of the arms (biceps) to push and pull the handles in a rhythmical motion.
The primary resistance offered by the elliptical is to the legs, and as such larger muscles such as hips (gluteus maximus), fronts of the thighs (quadriceps) and back of the thighs (hamstrings) are utilised together. The body needs to stabilise itself when on the elliptical, and the calves (gastrocnemius), and lower shin (tibialas anterior) provide this stabilisation, thus exercising them in the process.
Other muscles effected are the 'obliques' - the stabiliser muscles that flank the abs (rectus abdominus) - and once again the motion means that these muscle groups complement one another, along with the back muscles (latissimuss dorsi) providing an effective workout across the body.
More resources detailing the elliptcal trainer muscle groups, along with other elliptical trainer related articles on subjects like dual action workout aspect of elliptical trainers are available at my site about elliptical trainers.
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