Ellipticals: Getting your money's worth

Ellipticals (or, more precisely, elliptical trainers) just can't be beat if you're looking for a high-quality fitness workout to exercise your entire body at once. When it comes to maintaining your health and helping with weight loss, they're better than treadmills, stationary bikes, and even rowing machines. And it's a rare piece of fitness equipment that will offer you a better cardio workout.

So, what's an elliptical, exactly?

Elliptical machines are a revolutionary class of fitness equipment that uses healthy elliptical motion to exercise multiple muscle groups. Like treadmills and bikes, they give your legs a good workout, but your arms, thighs, back, and most of the rest of your body get a high-level cardio workout, too. Companies like Precor, Nordic Track, Nautilus, Smooth Fitness, and many others make high quality machines, with Smooth Fitness's CE Elliptical Trainer and Precor's EFX 5.21 scoring highest in customer reviews.

Precor, Smooth Fitness, Nautilus, Nordic Track -- which is right for me?

A difficult question indeed. Although you can find elliptical fitness equipment for "a few low payments of $29.99!", it's best to leave those machines alone. They're noisy, cheap, and won't be able to provide the cardio boosting exercise you'll need to maintain your health and promote weight loss. You get what you pay for, so bite the bullet and invest in quality fitness equipment. A decent elliptical may cost you a good $1,000 or more, but it the long run the investment will be worth every cent.