The elliptical is awesome in so many ways, but it's also easy to cheat on this joint-friendly machine. Avoiding the handles at different points of your workout will engage your core, but when the hands go, form often follows. Get more out of your elliptical workout with this simple trick.
Without the handles our bodies want to shift from side to side, rather than propel forward. Even if your arms are pumping, your hips may bounce from left to right, and while your heart rate stays up your quads are getting a break. When you're doing intervals with no hands, place your hands firmly on your hips for 15 seconds and pull your shoulder blades together to maintain posture. You will feel your hips move less, your core tighten, and your quads challenged. Repeat whenever you feel your form slipping.
Esprit
Radley
DKNY
thanks for this suggestion. i 'm an elliptical girl and it's a staple in my workout so knowing that i could increase the intensity by just putting my hands on my hips could really help. the challenge though is that i feel like i'm not coordinated enough and that i'm going to fall off.
1huh? I always just pump my arms like I am running, is this poor form? Thanks in advance!
2Thanks for this tip! When I work out on the elliptical, there's a personal trainer program that tells you to not use your arms for a little while. I always try to figure out how to do it without feeling like I'm going to fall off, lol.
3What if your elliptical has the arms that move back and forth? I feel like using the arms gives me a stronger workout that just pumping my arms like I'm running.
4I do this as part of my intervals! I'll do one min forwards, one min backwards, one min forwards without handles, one min backwards without handles on random setting!
Seems to work OK.
5after I work out on this machine for about 45min my feet go numb?? hmm..weird
6I love the elliptical! It's my cardio staple.
7Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.