Pros and Cons of Cardio Machines

These days, there are a ton of different Cardio machines. For clarification purposes, what I mean by “cardio machine” is any machine that is used for and designed for the purpose of increasing cardiovascular and respiratory efficiency. Some different types of cardio machines are:

Treadmills

Stationary Bikes

Elliptical Machines

Cardio machines exist to make it more convenient for us to get good cardiovascular and respiratory workouts. Basically, we use cardio machines because we don't want to go running outside. Which is fine. It's better to use cardio machines then to do nothing. In this article I'll talk about a few different cardio machines.

First let’s talk about the good old fashioned treadmill. I think that a treadmill is a wonderful device that can be used to vastly improve one’s health. It allows us to run indoors, and typically offers many speed, and incline options. Having said that, there are definitely some cons for the treadmill. Because you are not moving through space, you’re body may get jolted from running on the treadmill.

Typical running can have a jolting effect as well, but it's usually not as bad. I also want to talk about exercise bikes. Exercise bikes (stationary bikes) can be a very useful workout tool. Unfortunately when we use exercise bikes we are sitting down. Sitting down is something that we already do a lot of in this day and age.

More and more people have desk jobs these days and sitting down isn’t always good for our bodies. The fact is, probably most of us sit down too much. Of course there are some jobs that require us to stand for long periods of time. In that case, it may work better to use an exercise bike rather than something like a treadmill.

Listen to Your Body

In any case it is best to use caution and listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us. If you’re confused as to what your body is telling you then remember that it is always best to use movements that are more natural. I’m not saying that we should never use an exercise bike or a real bike for that matter. If it gets you to exercise then I say, 'go for it,' but monitor how your body reacts. For example, if your tailbone starts to feel a lot of pain when you’re on the bike you should probably see a doctor and switch to walking for the time being.

Of course, we don’t all have cardio machines available to us. Either we don’t go to a gym, or we just don’t own any of these machines. That’s okay. They are not a necessity for your physical health unless you let them be. However, if you’re open to using good old fashioned body weight exercises then you will be just fine. One of the main issues with all cardio machines is their price tag. They typically cost a good amount of money. So it all depends on your needs, wants, and priorities. Will you only workout if you have a stair stepping machine or are you willing to find other ways of getting the job done? It’s really up to you.