Eliptical Machines are Spelled with 2 L’s
Elliptical machines have long skies with a mold for your feet, the skies are then attached to gears which allow them both vertical and horizontal movement. Think of someone cross country skiing and this is essentially what you have. The reason it is low intensity on the joints is because your feet never actually leave the pedal, they simply move the machine forward and backward. In contrast a treadmill will have you striking the pad every time you land a stride.
The eliptical machine is actually spelled with two L’s, as in Elliptical Machine. It gets its name from the shape the movement of the pedals makes when in use, an elliptical or elongated oval. The machine is the most popular cardio machine in the country right now and there are 3 reasons why. First the elliptical provides low intensity workouts to your joints, second the machine has passed the preliminary level of fad and reached a level of mainstream acceptance and third women seem to like it more than men, meaning that in order to diversify demographics the gym better have them.
Initially in the late 90’s the elliptical machine was being first introduced in popular gyms in California, New York and Florida. The 90’s were a time when a lot of new and crazy equipment were first being brought to market. Who can forget the HealthRider, a machine designed to mimic more or less the motion of riding a horse. It takes the newer machines a lot of time to gain acceptance into the mainstream market. They need to be natural feeling, easy to use and give the user a sense of normalcy when using it, if not then no one does.
Women tend to gravitate more to the elliptical workout more than men do because it is a much less aggressive movement. It can be used with high intensity without making the girl feel like she is the center of attention at the gym. While this is only initially true what always remains constant are girls doing what other girls do too, (not just, guys do it too when it comes to lifting but that is another topic.) Because they are more popular among women, gyms are forced to load up on them in order to attract that demographic.
March 03 2010 11:14 am | Exercise Equipment and Exercises