Straighten your back, relax, keep your shoulders back. Proper body position on elliptical machines is crucial for successful and effective warm-up. It may be difficult at first, but eventually you will start to feel natural at it.
Watch Your Posture
The core idea for elliptical machines is no stooping and no slouching. Also, there is no need for swinging motions. Bend your knees as if you want to sit down, try not to move and not to twitch your upper body. Surely, your upper body will move if you use the handles, but the trunk should not be swinging back and forward.
Exercising on a Good Elliptical Machine
Keep in mind that a good elliptical trainer has to be set up such that it helps maintain correct body position throughout the workout. You should not need to bend your body in order to reach the handles. Poor ergonomic design of some cheaper elliptical machines can result in uncomfortable body position and thus poor training.
Is Your Workout Hard Enough?
Workouts on elliptical trainers are easy and fun, but they should not be too easy. After working out on the trainer you should get sweaty and feel light pain. If you can easily jump and bend after the training, then the difficulty level in too low for you.
Tips on Adapting to Elliptical Trainers
Do not worry if you feel like you need to wrap up the workout as soon as you adopt the correct body position. Usually, after another 5-10 minutes you will be surprised that you can still keep on going. Once again, do not forget to maintain correct position during the main workout, warm-up, and the wrap-up of the workout. If you notice that as you progress through your workout your posture relaxes and changes, then correct it and keep on going.
Correct usage of elliptical trainers is the key to successful and safe training.
