eally matter where you put your hands while working out on these machines, but I suggest you to try to keep them down straight like in a walking motion. In this way you will also train your core (abs and back) improving your balance at each step.
Rowing is my favorite aerobic exercise (just because I like it) and it burns calories like any other exercise.
It’s another excellent choice for develop aerobic fitness and it does a fantastic workout.
It conditions heart and lungs without any orthopedic trauma like jogging or stair climbing machine and it’s a good workout for the muscular system too.
When properly performed this exercise involves most of the major muscular groups of your body. Around 70% legs and 30% arms are engaged at every row strike.
If you are looking to develop your upper body this workout will place a considerable demand on your back muscles (lats, posterior deltoids, rhomboids) and simultaneously improve your aerobic fitness.
However I have to say that you should take your time to learn the correct position and technique to properly perform this exercise. Make sure you check with a fitness professional about the correct movement and different kinds of machines available.
Cross training is not one exercise or “one machine’.
Cross training is the mix of different exercises during your workout session.
It’s good to mix up exercises in order to train different muscles to perform different movement.
While your heart and lungs will be well trained if you switch between one exercise to another (let’s say from cycling to running for example) your muscles may not be able to perform their best on running because they were trained for cycling.
Alternating exercises will develop all muscles involved in any activity and help to avoid injury during training while giving a more complete workout.
Considering that the aerobic workout should be performed minimum 20 minutes per session 3 times a week, you can easily come up with your own program as follow:
Monday: 10 minutes running + 10 minutes stair climbing
Wednesday: 10 minutes rowing + 10 minutes cycling
Friday: 10 minutes stair climbing + 10 minutes rowing