The elliptical trainer is one of the most popular devices that you will find in any gym or health club. The reason is that it combines the effect of a lot of workout devices in one place and it is together a bicycle, a stair stepper, and a cross country skiing machine. To use this you will need to step on to the machine facing the direction of the console and start pedaling after turning the monitor on. Pull on the handles evenly as you are pushing forward with your feet.
You can increase as well as decrease the pedaling resistance so that you can vary the strength of your muscle training. Make sure you stand upright on the machine and don’t lean forward or backward while you are at it. Also, don’t grip on the handles too tightly and look straight ahead. Keep in mind whether your elliptical has fully stopped before you step off from it.
Some tips for using it
The elliptical trainers are going to provide you with similar cardiovascular benefits as you get while running but it is going to have a lower impact on your joints, so this is great for the people who are suffering from arthritis.
If you want to build strong bones and prevent yourself from getting osteoporosis then you will need to do some higher impact exercise along with this as using the elliptical trainer alone will not help you on that. You can add some weight training or other weight based exercises.
There is not much proprioception or balance that you need from the elliptical trainer so you can add a couple of more functional fitness training stuff into your workouts so that you get an overall benefit from it.