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Elliptical Crosstrainer were originally developed to emulate the motion of running, but without the same level of impact on your joints.Many of the new designs achieve this exceeding well.

An Elliptical trainer has an elliptical motion or an oval shaped motion. This motion is aimed at emulating the motion of your feet when you are running.

A Crosstrainer has a circular motion. This type of motion is normally only found in the most basic entry level machine and although it performs a function of increasing you heart rate, it is not an ergonomically correct motion and therefore not very comfortable.

Today most people refer to both Elliptical Trainers and Cross Trainers as Cross Trainers.

There are two main designs of Elliptical Cross trainers; Rear Fly wheel and Front fly wheel.

In general terms the Front Fly Wheel Elliptical trainers tend to have a smoother motion, that is a motion that is more level, so your body is not moving up and down as much. However, the Front Fly Wheel Elliptical Cross Trainers are typically more expensive.

There are how ever some fantastic Rear Fly wheel Elliptical Cross Trainers on the market that not only have a great feeling motion but are also quite inexpensive.

My advise is to do consider the below points and talk to Fitquip about your opinions on Cross Trainer Fitness and and which of the many models that would be most suited to your situation.

In general you will find that retailers will sell product that they believe offer the best balance of quality, motion and price, after all a happy customer is a good customer. At Fitquip we have the experience to asses you height, weight and fitness goals and match you up with the Best Elliptical Life Fitness Cross Trainer for your money.

The stride length is the measure of horizontal motion. If you were to measure from the back of your foot from the rear of the stride to the furthest forward position of the stride, this is the stride length. Stride lengths vary from 16 inch to 24 inch.

In general most people would find a stride length of 19 inches as being perfect for general everyday fitness.
The more advance and/or taller user will benefit from a stride length up to 22 inches.

The actual fly wheel in enclosed in the body of the Elliptical Cross Trainer and is generally not visible, except on the very latest 'Spin Style Elliptical Cross Trainers'.

The fly wheel absorbs and releases energy from the motion that you create. Without a fly wheel the motion would be uneven and jumpy.The principal is best demonstrated by imagining your self running or cycling.To go from a standing start up to say 10km per hour it takes a lot more force or energy than it does to maintain a speed of 10km per hour.Once you are in motion you have your entire body weight in motion. This motion in turn assists in creating the continuation of the motion i.e. even if you stopped adding energy, your body would continue moving. So as you add energy through either another step or by pedalling, the stored energy creates a smoothing effect by continuing motion in the small intervals between your steps or pedals.

One of the best examples of this principal is a spin bike. Here the fly wheel weight is 14 to 20lb and the overall feel of a spin bike very closely mimics riding a real bike.
It simply makes the machine feel smoother.
For most people a 9lb fly wheel is about perfect.

Having adjustable stride length on you Elliptical Cross Trainer allows you to elongate your stride as you speed up, which is what you naturally do if you were speeding up from a jog to a sprint. It also allows a machine to be tailored from one user to another.I have found that most of the Elliptical Cross Trainers with this feature are quite expensive and the net benefit is negligible.In saying that there are some Elliptical Cross Trainers on the market in the $4000 to $8000 price bracket that adjust automatically as you speed up and I have found these to have a fantastic motion and you do benefit through working out harder and for longer.

Fitpay* is our take home lay buy plan. It's fast, simple and easy. With Fitpay you can choose from a huge range of Elliptical life fitness Cross Trainers and Crosstrainers from as little as $10 per week and the best part is you can take home today. The payment terms can be spread over three, six or twelve months.
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