Treadmill vs. Elliptical for Glutes

When it comes to cardiovascular exercise, treadmill and elliptical are considered to be two of the most commonly and popularly used machine. These machines works effectively in order to tone the muscles of the lower body including quads, hamstrings, calves, hips, Gluteus and others.

What are Gluteus muscles?

Gluteus muscles can be considered as combination of three separate muscles namely, Gluteus medius, minimus and maximus.

The Gluteus medius enables the movement of the thighs away from the body, the maximus enables us to stand and keep standing while the smallest of all the minimus helps in other muscles for performing functions like standing, walking and sitting. These muscles support the tendons in the thigh and pelvic region as well.

How treadmill affects the Gluteus muscles

While walking or jogging on the treadmill that is not inclined we are basically working on the hip flexors, but if we incline the platform there is harder workout for the gluteus muscles. Thus during this incline training the gluteus muscles are forced to uphold the body weight of the trainer and also keep moving this weight from one leg to another.

In order to avoid the muscle imbalance, you can alternate between the inclined and the non inclined treadmill. The present day treadmill comes with option of multiple inclinations and you can select the machine after going through various treadmill reviews.

How elliptical affects the Gluteus muscles

Elliptical machines are known to offer complete body workout which also includes the gluteus muscles. As compared to treadmill, the impact of elliptical is less on the joints, back and hips due to its gliding motion. Thus if you have issues due to weight bearing exercise and wish to tone the muscles of your butt, elliptical will be a good machine.

Thus it can be said that elliptical mimic the running motion without putting too much stress on the joints and this motion included hip extensions which targets the gluteus muscles as well. Majority of the elliptical have levers which engage the arms as well as the upper body which offers complete cardio workout. In order to target the area of the thighs and butt you can reverse the stride and increase the resistance.

Treadmill vs. Elliptical for gluteus muscles

Thus after looking how treadmill and elliptical affects the gluteus muscles, it can be concluded that treadmill is definitely a better option when it comes to exercising the gluteus muscles. As per a study conducted, treadmill jogging involves around 50 percent of the gluteus maximus muscles while working on elliptical these muscles are involved up to 32 percent.

But for those individuals who are not comfortable with high impact workout of treadmill, it is best to work out on elliptical as they make your workout feel easier than what actually it is. You can put stress on your gluteus muscles even with elliptical altering your standing on the machine. You can try to push your butts farther and bring your heel down when you are glide walking on the elliptical.

Thus depending upon your capabilities, you can select between treadmill and elliptical to work out your gluteus muscles. Get a machine after reviewing fitness equipment source.

Mitch Calvert is a certified personal trainer with a B.A. who works with those who have 50+ lbs to lose, because that's where he started. He has been featured on T-Nation, EliteFTS.com, STACK.com, and was ranked as one of the top 10 fitness blogs by BreakingMuscle.com. You can get details and/or apply for his quarterly Mansformation Challenge or access his free diet book normally sold on Amazon here: 50 Lbs Diet.

Content is republished with permission from Mitch Calvert. Original article published on mitchcalvert.com.

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