5 Reasons Why Elliptical Machines And Treadmills Are Useless Exercises

I know all of you elliptical and treadmill worshipers are probably raging at me now after the headline of this article, but the fact remains that ellipticals and treadmills are one of the least effective exercise methods out there. With 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.

Now first let me say that if you really enjoy your elliptical workouts and treadmill workouts, 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 exercise, anything you really enjoy doing will benefit you more in the long run because you’re more likely to do it more consistently.

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

I’ve discussed this with my ezine subscribers before… In fact, I don’t believe in cardio machines at all as a good way to exercise. This may surprise you coming from a fitness fanatic like myself, but I don’t think he personally has used a stationary bike, treadmill, elliptical, or any other cardio machine for at least 8 years or more.

In fact, I don’t even use cardio machines to warm up before my workouts anymore. In fact, I find it a much more effective warm up for dumbbell and/or kettlebell swings, snatches, cleans and presses, etc., combined with bodyweight exercises as a great full body warmup before working out.

Why do I think cardio machines are so horrible? Well here are 5 reasons:

1) Treadmills and ellipticals are just a very ineffective way to exercise compared to other options. Why should you do workouts on a treadmill or elliptical when you can get better results doing more interesting forms of training that actually stimulate a hormonal response to burn fat and boost your metabolism to a greater extent?

2) Ellipticals and treadmills are unbelievably expensive and a waste of money for people who work out at home… there are so many better things to work out at home that you could have spent your money on instead of wasting it on an elliptical machine, a 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 running on a treadmill may be less effective than outdoor running for various reasons, such as abnormalities in treadmill stride vs. natural running, slightly lower caloric burn compared with the outdoor race, etc.

(although I never recommend just “jogging” anyway… walking/jogging or variable intensity jogging are much more effective, training your heart rate in a much wider range rather than the same heart rate range all the time).

4) Steady state exercise (requiring no concentration on what you are 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 overwhelmingly boring!

So what are some good alternatives to elliptical and treadmill workouts? Some of my favorites are:

• Outdoor wind sprint workouts: This is the ultimate workout for a lean and rock hard body… just look at the powerful yet super lean and ripped bodies of world class sprinters, and compare them to the weak and ripped physiques. caps of typical marathon runners… How would you rather look?
• Jump rope – amazing mind/body connection and really fun (you can try speed jumps, crossovers and double unders once you get good at it)
• Kettlebell Workouts – Nothing will get your heart pounding and sweating more than high rep kettlebell swings and/or snatches (or cleans and presses)! These can also be done with dumbbells, but I prefer kettlebells as they have a better “feel” and the unbalanced nature of KBs makes you work harder)
• Bodyweight exercises: mountain climbers, bodyweight squats, pushups, jumping exercises, lunges, crawls, plank grabs, etc.
• The good old fashioned rowing machine: I don’t really classify it as a “cardio” machine per se, like ellipticals and treadmills… Rather, I think the rowing machine is actually a great workout for the whole body that actually uses real resistance. )
• Hill sprints: run uphill as hard as possible, then walk down and repeat as many times as you can for a complete workout (another classic exercise for a lean, rock-hard body)
• Shadow boxing…an amazing workout but if you’re shy it’s best to do it at home as you’ll get some crazy looks doing this in a typical gym!
• Swimming races: a muscle toning exercise compared to distance swimming at a steady pace… I actually love the upper body pump I get from swimming races (as opposed to swimming slow and constant, with race swimming, you swim as fast as you can with maximum effort). as much force as you can for 1 lap. Then rest for 15-20 seconds before doing another sprint swim.)
• Heavy bag punching/kicking workouts, speed bag, rebounding bag… all are tremendous workouts and much more fun than boring cardio machines (requires a very intense mind/body connection which increases results).

I hope this article gives you lots of ideas you can use to get out there right away and add more variety to your workouts instead of relying on the same old boring elliptical and treadmill workout routines. Have fun!