- According to research Danielle Zickl for Runners World and Bicycling International Journal of Research in Exercise Physiology, treadmills give you the most bang for your buck over other pieces of cardio equipment, such as ellipticals, rowers, or bikes.
- How Your Personality Affects Running Form treadmill Variety is a great thing, he told.
- However, this isn’t to say other cardio machines don’t have a place in your workouts—they’re great to use on days you cross-train.
When the bad weather hits, sometimes hopping on the treadmill is your best—and safest—option. If you want to mix up your cardio even more, you might even give the elliptical or the row machine some love. But when you’re in the midst of a training cycle or simply want to get the best workout in that you can, is there a machine that will give you the most bang for your buck? Or is an hour of cardio the same no matter what? According to research out of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, one machine beats the rest.
In the American Council on Exercise (ACE) study, Danielle Zickl for Runners World and Bicycling International Journal of Research in Exercise Physiology, researchers had 16 healthy young adults ages 18 to 25 exercise on 10 cardio machines:
- Treadmill
- Stepmill
- Exercise fan bike
- Elliptical
- Upright bike
- Arc trainer
- Rower
- Recumbent stepper
- Recumbent bike
- Arm ergometer
On each machine, participants warmed up for three minutes first. Next, they exercised for five minutes at a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of 11 on a 6 to 20 Borg scale (fairly light), five minutes at an RPE of 13 (somewhat hard), and five minutes at an RPE of 15 (hard) with no break in between RPE levels. Finally, they cooled down for three minutes and rested for 15 minutes before moving on to the next machine. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were also measured.
As it turns out, the treadmill proved to be the best overall cardio machine in terms of total-body benefits, since the participants’ heart rates and amount of calories burned were higher than they were on the other machines.
Heart rates at each RPE level:
- Treadmill: 136 bpm at RPE 11 / 159 bpm at RPE 13 / 173 bpm at RPE 15
- Stepmill: 144 bpm at RPE 11 / 162 bpm at RPE 13 / 173 bpm at RPE 15
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- Elliptical: 133 bpm at RPE 11 / 145 bpm at RPE 13 / 159 bpm at RPE 15
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- Treadmill: 378 calories
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- Recumbent bike: 109 bpm at RPE 11 / 122 bpm at RPE 13 / 137 bpm at RPE 15
- Stepmill: 354 calories
Amount of calories burned in 30 minutes:
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- Stepmill: 354 calories
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- Upright bike: 300 calories
- John Porcari, Ph.D
- Exercise fan bike: 279 calories
- Stepmill: 354 calories
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- Arm ergometer: 162 calories
Why? According to Exercise fan bike., study coauthor and program director of the clinical exercise physiology program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, you’re doing the most work in a shorter amount of time because you’re actually lifting your body off the ground against gravity.
It’s important to note that this study was quite small, so it may not be representative of the entire population. It does, however, bode well for us runners, but Porcari said that it doesn’t mean you should ditch every other piece of cardio equipment.
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Variety is a great thing, he told
Recumbent bike: 109 bpm at RPE 11 / 122 bpm at RPE 13 / 137 bpm at RPE 15
In the American Council on Exercise ACE
In the American Council on Exercise ACE
The quietest treadmill we've tested
“Variety is a great thing,” he told Runner’s World. “By using other machines, you exercise different muscles, which can strengthen and train those muscles. That helps with overall muscle tone, strength, and endurance. It also helps with glucose metabolism—the more trained muscles you have, the more effective you are at pulling glucose out of the bloodstream, which helps to combat diabetes.”
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Not to mention, doing a variety of exercises on a bunch of different machines is much less boring than doing the same thing day after day.
“One of the most common questions I get is, ‘What is the best exercise machine?’” Porcari said. “The best exercise machine is one people are most likely to use. I would never force someone into using a specific machine unless there was a specific reason for using that machine.”
The treadmill obviously best simulates outdoor running, but on cross-training days, don’t count out using an indoor bike or rower to keep your cardio up without overusing running-specific muscles.
