Kitchener Personal Trainer

CARDIO MACHINES AT THE GYM

Sometimes cardio at the gym gets a negative connotation. It’s almost like when someone asks you what you do at the gym, you’re afraid to say you do cardio-any cardio. You want to just tell them I do weights, yeah heavy weights like Bench and Squats. Even for me, I always leave Cardio out of the conversation for fear of looking like a cardio bunny. But the reality is, is that if you are looking to shed some weight or fat or you just want to live longer cardio is necessary. Cardio makes our hearts stronger and it is one hell of a calorie burner, if done right! 

It is true though that cardio can be used as a crutch at the gym. Maybe you just go to the cardio section of the gym because you don’t know how to do anything else or someone told you the way to change your body is to do lots of cardio. Either way cardio should be part of a fitness program, not the entire fitness program.

Having said all of that, I do have a few of favourite cardio machines at the gym. They are not the easiest machines but I feel they are very effective for different reasons. Here are a few of my favourite cardio machines:

StairMaster

I put down StairMaster first because it is my absolute favourite cardio machine at the gym. I love it. If you’re unsure what that is, it’s the machine where you feel like you are on an endless flight of stairs. The stairs just keep revolving round and round and you need to keep climbing them . This is challenging no doubt but is so effective at raising your heart rate, burning calories and hardens your butt and shapes your legs, specifically Hamstrings. It’s the bomb. If you can run up the StairMaster, it’s even better. Say good bye to weak, jiggly legs!

Treadmill

Otherwise known as the Dreadmill. This is because people are not using it to it’s optimum potential. What do I mean? It means most people are simply walking on the thing and I suppose that’s all well and good but it gets pretty darn boring because to get anything out that, you need to walk on it for at least 40 minutes. This is an inefficient way to use the Treadmill. It drives me a little bit crazy when I see people walking on it. If you want to walk, go outside! At least you will have things to look at while you walk! The perfect way to use the Treadmill to burn calories and get strong is interval running. Yes I said running. Running is one of the best exercises out there. It has so many benefits. 

Running burns calories, is great for your heart, reduces cellulite and strengthens your core and legs. It’s pretty awesome. So that is why the Treadmill gets second place as my favourite cardio machine at the gym.

Stepper

This machine used to be very prevalent in gyms years ago. There used to be a lot of them but then I guess some of them were replaced with Elliptical Trainers and StairMasters but they are still my favourite machine and you will still see some of them. This machine if you haven’t seen it or don’t know what it is , is the machine with two steps but separated by each other. Basically each step is for each foot. If you just step on it both steps will just sink to the bottom, right to the floor. So your job is to keep the steps up by stepping up and down quickly and efficiently. 

Make sure your steps are deep and quick. Lots of people hate this machine quite frankly, but I love it. Like the StairMaster, it is great for your Glutes and Hamstrings.

So there you have it, my favorite machines at the gym. These are excellent machines if you want to see results in a timely fashion. What are your favourite machines at the gym? Comment them below!