Elliptical Equipment: The Ideal Piece Of Home Fitness Equipment

The newest cardio equipment that has hit the fitness market is the elliptical training equipment. It gives individuals full and low impact body workouts. However, people must learn if these machines have been living up on the beneficial claims.

The University of Wisconsin's researchers known as La Crosse have compared the motorized treadmill from the NordicTrack Ellipse elliptical trainer. They focused on parts like the cycle ergometer and stairstepper to determine the differences among the provided exercise modes of both equipments. Their study revealed that running a treadmill and Ellipse displays no important differences in terms of heart rate, calorie expenditure, and oxygen consumption. Both equipments have provided superior workouts on its test subjects over the cycle ergometer and stairstepper.

The researchers also discovered that impact forces that are produced by the Ellipse is similar to walking, while running a treadmill became the number one activity in providing maximum amounts of exercise impact, which could cause knee and joint pain. John Porcari who is the lead researcher explained that the Ellipse ground forces reaction is less than a half, compared to treadmill running, thus the motion of each equipment is giving workouts with similar intensity. Moreover, orthopedic injury is less likely to be acquired.

The ACE (American Council on Exercise) commissioned a recent study headed by Doctor Len Kravitz. It was conducted at the University of Mississippi camparing 4 elliptical trainer's overall qualities.

The equipment being tested are the NordicTrack's Ellipse selling at $599.95 dollars, the ICON Health and Fitness, Incorporated's HealthRider Elliptical Crosstrainer at $499.99 dollars, the Guthy-Renker's Power Train at $199.80 dollars, and the Quantum Television's Cyclone Crosstrainer at $399 dollars.

Seven women and seven men performed the rigorous elliptical trainer testing. The four elliptical trainers surprisingly displayed similar test outcomes including perceived exertion ratings, calorie expenditure, heart rate, and stride speed. The perceived exertion ratings range from 12.5-13 correlating to a challenging yet a comfortable workout. The ACE's study on each equipments revealed that effective workouts are given to both women and men. Their burnt calorie was equivalent to an 11.5 minutes mile running or a powerful aerobic dancing.

University of Mississippi's researchers also surveyed each machine's personal responses on the provided test subjects. The overall preferences based from the fourteen participants have ranked the equipments from the top to the least of their favorites. The Ellipse is on the top of the list, second was the HealthRider, third was the Power Train, and the last was the Cyclone. Nevertheless, Consumer Reports magazine have recently reported problems on the Ellipse in the form of durability failures. Needless to say the researchers and test subjects have proven the effectiveness of NordicTrack's Ellipse.

The research team of Dr. Kravitz also provided their comments. Five out of seven women has been hit on the knees by the Cyclone's center guard panel. The HealthRider started to make an extremely loud noise on its metal parts after a one hour use.

Moreover, Kravitz stated that the Cyclone and the Power Train appears to be made inexpensively to have a competitive price. The HealthRider is a product launched before it's ready but it's very smooth when running on it and gives a highly satisfactory service although the quality has not been tested. The ellipse compared to other equipment is more solidly built, feels smooth, runs smooth, and the most durable.

The studies from both universities lend credibility on the elliptical trainer's effectiveness. Make sure you thoroughly do your own research prior to purchasing any fitness equipment including elliptical trainers.

Get more elliptical trainer reviews at http://www.onlyellipticalreviews.com

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Fitness Competitions - Compete In Fitness Contests & Fitness Shows

This is an article designed to help you work toward competing in a Ms. Fitness or Ms. Figure contest. If you are debating the idea of competing then don't debate, just go for it! Almost anyone can prepare toward a Fitness/Figure contest and this information should give you a great boost toward that goal! It is nice to have the 2 classes to choose from.

When I discuss competition, there are several obstacles which seem to deter women from competing. The 4 biggest concerns I hear are:

• I can't do gymnastics
  
  


• I am not flexible
  
  


• I can't jump
  
  


• I could never get that lean

I could never get that lean

These are all very simple problems to deal with and age has no bearing on anything! I have competed along side many women in their 40's who have won or placed very high.

The Ms. Fitness routine is not judged on what "tricks" you are able to perform, but rather on how clean and polished the content is. Ms. Figure has the same focus with a bit more on physique, of course, since this is a contest where the judges want to see a body in between fitness and bodybuilding. Ms. Figure is perfect for those who are not interested in the strength, flexibility and endurance components of competition. Ms. Figure contestants should recognize that Ms. Figure does require that you to be somewhat leaner than for a Ms. Fitness competition.

Bare Basics

Planning Training & Diet

Let's start of with planning. You want to look ahead a year to 4 months away from a contest date depending on your current level. Training and diet needs to be periodized toward your contest so that you are prepared and peaked at the right time. I always suggest doing a few contests the same year especially if there are some contests that fall a week apart so that you can get some experience and get to utilize everything you worked so hard for. Periodizing simply means you plan progressively over time so that you can:

• I can't do gymnastics
  
  


• I am not flexible
  
  


• I can't jump
  
  


• I could never get that lean

Insure success

Ms. Fitness wants to concentrate on the outcome of a nice toned and moderately lean physique with out too much hardness or striations. Ms. Figure wants to get a bit leaner than Ms. Fitness with a bit more muscle density and hardness yet not as lean, striated or muscular as the bodybuilders. Achieving this balance is the trick. Even once your at your best the rest is up to who is standing beside you and how you all look in comparison.

The type of weight training/cardio and diet depends on each individual, some need more others need less but everyone needs a different combo and levels can vary so programs have to be individualized, you can't train/eat like "everyone else" because it may not work for YOU. Mass produced competitive training/diet manuals made bulk in advance to help you prepare for a contest can work but were not made just for you, which means you are getting second best. I am very insistent on making sure all the programming is catered to each of my clients individual needs but unfortunately not all trainers do that which can result in injury or lack of preparation. You don't want to be 'group' trained for contests because the chances of all participants being at the same level has a very low probability resulting in some participants not getting all the attention needed to be properly prepared.

Talent

Don't have one? Who cares! You can put a routine together with any theme. I have put all types of routines together for Ms. Fitness, Ms. Figure and Bodybuilding that utilize all types of talents from Salsa to Martial Arts. Take what you like and enhance it. Even some ethnic backgrounds can translate into a cool routine, so be creative because that always gives you points! Here are some theme ideas used in past fitness, figure and bodybuilding routines:

• avoid injury
  
  


• work on different aspects of training/diet progressively
  
  


• avoid overtraining or too many plateaus
  
  


• insure success

Suits, Posing and Tanning

Costumes and posing suits are also going to be judged. Even if they're not part of the formal scoring, your outfits can make you look better or worse so keep that in mind. The color of your suit is a big factor. With Ms. Figure you have to stick with a solid color for pre-judging so you want to pick a complimentary color that will enhance your physique but not take away or distract from it. Black seems to be very popular. Now it has been okay to use a dazzled up suit for night shows in Ms. Figure and Bodybuilding. Like the Ms. Fitness women, the Ms. Figure ladies want to have 2 suits to highlight the morning and night show. Most of the judging is normally done in the morning show but there are times when ties occur and those are the occasions when you will be judged at night.

Skin tone is also normally judged and affects your look. The appearance of looking 'tight' is enhanced by tanning and coloring. I normally suggest tanning well in advance so that by the last few weeks prior to competing you don't have to tan which can make some people feel drained and considering you're already dieting and depleted you don't need added stresses. Then you can start coloring up a few days prior to contest. For those of you not familiar, there are products sold for that extreme tanned look which is needed on stage to keep from being washed out by the stage lights. The products vary but are made especially for competition and can be found online at some bodybuilding sites. I find being tanned then using the coloring product is your best bet.

Skills

Now you have to assess your skills. For Ms. Figure most women are required to do the routine in a regulation suit and heels although some organizations have a figure that is close to Ms. Fitness in the way that they can wear a costume and do a high energy routine but without inverted movements and adding poses into the routine. Ms. Fitness uses heels for the physique and gown round so here is a skill that is needed -- practice walking in 4-5 inch heals (I always suggest platform, you may think they are ugly but they look the best on stage)! Of course, open hand posing (similar to the mandatory bodybuilding poses) must be practiced for the comparison rounds in Ms. Figure. Both classes need to practice posing for the quarter turns. There is a variation of ways to pose but you don't want to be to stiff. You want to get a balance with your arms to avoid over exaggeration but the line is fine because you do need to strain a little. You want to angle slightly but keep heels together, head high, shoulders level and back, chest out, exhale to show abs. On the side pose some judges like you to look at them and others like you to look straight ahead so keep your ears open for the cues. The side pose is when you want to hike up the hip that faces the judges and even lift your heel a tad to give a nice defined leg and glute.

Lastly on your back pose you need to bring the lats out more for Ms. Figure than Ms. Fitness but in both cases the shape has to show, and tuck up the tush for a nice tight back end.

Skills for the fitness routine are a variety of holds, push ups, splits and dance. With a minimum of these you can put together a winning routine. When girls perform 'lacking' routines but still win fitness contest the audience can still see for themselves who the REAL fitness girls are regardless of the placings - likewise if you see a great routine but the girl has cellulite on her rear the audience can see it! Unfortunately I have seen Champions who have won contests without so much as a push up and no flexibility whatsoever but they had unbelievable stage presence, a clean and polished routine, or a higher point grade in other rounds. I still to this day believe you should go into a contest with strength and flexibility components in your routine but you don't have to be a gymnast to win a Ms. Fitness contest.

Kris created ShapeFit.com to provide quality health and fitness information to people from all over the world. He has an extensive background in strength training, nutrition and wellness planning. ShapeFit.com currently provides over 2,000 pages of free health and fitness content to over 300,000 visitors every month. ShapeFit.com provides numerous diet and exercise articles on building lean muscle, burning body fat, increasing energy levels and living a healthy lifestyle. Some of the fitness tools include weight loss diets, muscle building workouts, and weight loss advice.