Are You STILL Doing Useless Workouts On Elliptical Machines And Treadmills? Part I: Why These Workouts Are Useless and Ineffective

I found this article by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer and author of TheTruth About Six Pack Abs. He explains why workouts on elliptical machines and treadmills are worthless (Part I) and then presents alternative workouts (Part II – future post).

Part I: Why Workouts On Elliptical Machines and Treadmills Are Worthless

The fact is, ellipticals and treadmills are one of the least effective methods of working out in existence. In this article, I'll show you how to get a much more effective fat-burning workout without wasting time mindlessly exercising on a boring elliptical machine or treadmill.

If you really honestly enjoy your elliptical machine workouts and treadmill exercise routines, then I give you my blessing to keep doing what you love. The reason is that even though ellipticals and treadmills are relatively ineffective compared to other types of exercises, whatever you actually enjoy doing the most is going to benefit you most in the long run because you will be more likely to stick with it more consistently.

However, don't say that I didn't warn you that you might be wasting your time with all these boring mindless cardio machine workouts.

I actually do not believe in cardio machines as a good form of working out at all. This might surprise you coming from a fitness nut such as myself, but I don't think I've personally used an exercise bike, treadmill, elliptical, or any other cardio machine for at least 8 years or more.

In fact, I don't even use cardio machines anymore for warm-ups before my workouts. I actually think it's a much more effective warm-up to do dumbbell and/or kettlebell swings, snatches, clean and presses, etc, mixed with bodyweight exercises as a great full-body warm-up.

Why do I think cardio machines are so awful?

Here’s 5 reasons why . . .

1. Treadmills and ellipticals are just an ineffective way to work out compared to other options. Why should you do treadmill or elliptical workouts when you can get better results by doing more interesting forms of training that actually stimulate a fat-burning hormonal response and stimulate your metabolism to a greater extent.
2. Elliptical machines and treadmills are insanely expensive and a waste of money for people who work out at home There are so many better things for home workouts you could have spent your money on rather than wasting it on an elliptical machine, treadmill, or exercise bike. You'll see plenty of ideas below for better home workouts if you don't like going to a gym to work out.
3. I have seen several studies that indicated results that treadmill running may be less effective than outdoor running for various reasons such as stride abnormalities on treadmills vs natural running, slightly less caloric burn compared to outdoor running, and so on. Note:  I never recommend just "jogging" anyway. Variable intensity walking/running or sprinting are much more effective, training your heart rate in a much wider range instead of the same heart rate range the whole time.
4. Steady state exercise (that doesn't require concentration on what you're doing) while watching tv or reading a newspaper or magazine creates a mind/body disconnect resulting in extremely poor results compared to exercise that requires focused attention.
5. Elliptical and treadmill workouts are just mind-numbingly boring!

Next Post: Part II: Good alternatives to elliptical machine and treadmill workouts

 valmillsy

P.S. Learn more about The Truth About Six Pack Abs by clicking HERE.