The cross trainer is the machine people walk past on the way to the treadmill, then come back to once their knees start voting on the matter. It has a quiet reputation – no pounding, no drama – and that reputation undersells it. Used well, a cross trainer trains your heart and lungs hard, brings your arms into the session alongside your legs, and does it without the repeated landing forces that make running a problem for a lot of people.
This is a guide to what a cross trainer actually does for you – the real benefits, the muscles it works, how to use one properly, and, just as honestly, where it falls short. If you are weighing it against a treadmill or a rower rather than looking at the cross trainer on its own, our guide to treadmill vs cross trainer vs rower sets the three side by side. This post stays with the one machine.
What a cross trainer is, in one paragraph
A cross trainer – also called an elliptical – has two foot pedals that travel in a long oval, and two handles that push and pull as you stride. Your feet never leave the pedals and never strike the floor, so the motion is smooth and continuous rather than a series of impacts. You control the effort in two ways: how fast you go, and how much resistance you dial in. Some machines also raise the ramp to change the angle of the stride. That is the whole machine. The benefits below all come from that one idea – a weight-supported stride that moves your whole body.
The benefits that actually matter
It is genuinely low impact
This is the headline, and it holds up. Because your feet stay planted on the pedals, there is no moment where your bodyweight lands on a joint the way it does with every running step. For anyone with a history of knee or hip trouble, coming back from an injury, carrying a bit of extra weight to start with, or simply training through the years when joints get fussier, that matters. You can work hard – breathless, sweating, heart rate up – without asking your ankles, knees and hips to absorb the shock. A machine you can use on a sore knee is a machine you will actually keep using.
It works your whole body, not just your legs
Most cardio machines are a legs-and-lungs affair. The cross trainer is unusual in that the moving handles bring your upper body into the same session. Push and pull on the handles and your chest, back, shoulders and arms are working alongside your legs, which spreads the effort around and means more muscle doing something for the same block of time. It is the closest a single cardio machine gets to a full-body movement while staying low impact. More on exactly which muscles below.
It builds real cardiovascular fitness
Low impact does not mean low intensity. Raise the resistance or the ramp and a cross trainer will push your heart rate as high as you want to take it – steady-state work to build an aerobic base, or hard intervals if you want to train your top end. Because your whole body is involved, a strong session can feel more complete than the same minutes spent moving only your legs. For general heart and lung fitness, it is a serious piece of kit, not a gentle one.
It supports weight loss, with the usual honest caveat
No cardio machine burns fat on its own. Weight loss comes from a sustained calorie deficit – using more energy than you take in, over weeks and months – and a cross trainer contributes to the "use" side of that equation. What it does especially well is let you keep going: the low impact means you can put in longer and more frequent sessions without the joint fatigue that cuts a run short, and consistency is what actually moves the scale. As a rough guide, PureGym estimates something in the region of 175–225 calories in a 30-minute session at a moderate pace, though the real figure depends heavily on your bodyweight and how hard you work. Treat it as a ballpark, not a promise.
It keeps runners fit on the days they can't run
If you run, a cross trainer earns its place as cross-training. It lets you keep your cardiovascular fitness ticking over on the days your legs are too beaten up to pound the pavements, through an injury, or when a wet Sheffield autumn makes the roads uninviting. The stride pattern keeps the hips and legs moving through a running-like range without the impact, which is why so many runners use one to stay fit while a niggle settles down.
There is almost no learning curve
Unlike a rower, which rewards good technique and punishes bad, a cross trainer is close to step-on-and-go. Within a minute you have the rhythm. That low barrier matters more than it sounds, because the machine you find easy to start is the machine you use on a dark January evening when motivation is thin.
What muscles does a cross trainer work?
More than most people assume. A cross trainer is a genuine full-body machine when you use the handles, and the emphasis shifts depending on how you ride it.
In the lower body, the pedalling stride works the quadriceps at the front of the thigh as you push the pedal away, the hamstrings at the back as it comes round, the glutes as you drive down and back, and the calves through the balls of your feet. In the upper body, the moving handles bring in the chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps as you push and pull. Through all of it, your core – the abdominals and obliques – works quietly to keep you upright and stable on a moving platform.
Two small changes redistribute the work. Pedalling in reverse shifts more of the load onto the hamstrings and glutes, which is a useful way to target the back of the legs without changing machines. And letting go of the handles to pump your arms freely, or gripping the fixed central rail instead, throws more of the effort onto your legs and core. The same machine gives you a leg-dominant session or a whole-body one depending on what your hands are doing.
What is a cross trainer good for?
It suits some goals and some people better than others, and being straight about that is more useful than a list of everything it can theoretically do.
A cross trainer is good for low-impact cardiovascular fitness, for people whose joints rule out running, for training the upper and lower body together in one go, and for long, steady sessions you can hold a conversation through or push into intervals when you want to. It suits a beginner building a base, an older trainer protecting their joints, a runner cross-training around a niggle, and anyone in a household or a small studio who wants a hard cardio session without the noise and impact of a treadmill. It is a strong all-rounder – the machine you reach for when you want to work hard without a fuss.
How to use a cross trainer
Getting on and moving is easy; getting the most from it takes a few small habits.
Step on while holding the fixed central rails, get your balance, then take hold of the moving handles. Stand tall – the most common mistake is slumping forward and hanging off the console, which switches your core off and cuts the upper body out of the session. Keep your torso upright, your core lightly braced, your gaze forward, and your whole foot on the pedal rather than rocking onto your toes. Let the arms and legs work together in a smooth, even rhythm rather than fighting the machine.
Control the effort with resistance and, if your machine has it, the ramp – not by gripping the console and heaving. A simple session for most people is a five-minute warm-up at easy resistance, then twenty to thirty minutes of steady work, then a few minutes easy to cool down. If you want more from the same time, alternate a couple of minutes at a moderate effort with a minute harder, and repeat. Throw in a spell of reverse pedalling to hit the hamstrings and glutes. Build the resistance over the weeks as it starts to feel easy – progression is what keeps the machine working for you rather than becoming a place you coast.
The honest trade-offs
No machine is all upside, and a benefits guide that pretends otherwise is not worth reading. There are three things a cross trainer does not do.
First, the stride is fixed by the machine, not by you. It is a set oval rather than your own natural gait, which can feel slightly unnatural at first and means it does not build running-specific fitness the way a treadmill does. If your goal is to run a faster 10k, the cross trainer supports that training but does not replace running itself.
Second, it is not weight-bearing in the way walking and running are. Because the machine carries some of your load through the pedals, a cross trainer does not give you the same bone-loading benefit that comes from bearing your full weight on each step. That is a point worth knowing if maintaining bone density is one of your reasons for training.
Third, it is a tall machine that does not fold away. You stand up on the pedals, which lifts you well off the floor, so headroom matters – a taller person on a cross trainer in a loft conversion or a low-ceilinged flat can be closer to the ceiling than they expect. It wants a permanent spot with clearance above it rather than something you tuck away after each session. The same headroom logic applies to treadmills, and our guide to how much space you actually need at home walks through measuring it properly.
Fitting one into a UK home
A cross trainer is quiet – a smooth mechanical whoosh rather than the belt hum and footfall of a treadmill – which makes it a kinder choice for a first-floor flat in Bristol or a shared house with someone working in the room below. The catch is that it is large and tall, so it needs a settled home with clearance above and around the pedals rather than a corner it shares with the ironing board. Measure the actual spot with a tape, and check the height as well as the floor, before you order.
One thing worth checking on any cross trainer is what it is built to withstand. A machine specified for a few sessions a week in a spare bedroom is a different proposition from one built for continuous, back-to-back use. The cross trainers in the Motion Range collection are commercial-grade – built to take daily use – which also means small commercial buyers such as PT studios, physio clinics and B&B gyms are welcome, not just home owners. If you want the detail on what "commercial-grade" actually means, and the warranty clause that catches small studios out, our guide to commercial-grade or home-grade cardio covers it. And if you are building out a fuller setup with free weights alongside your cardio, our guide to choosing adjustable dumbbells is a sensible next read.
Frequently asked questions
What muscles does a cross trainer work? Both halves of the body. In the legs, the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves; through the moving handles, the chest, back, shoulders and arms; and the core throughout to keep you stable. Pedalling in reverse shifts more onto the hamstrings and glutes.
What is a cross trainer good for? Low-impact cardiovascular fitness, training the upper and lower body together, cross-training for runners, and long steady sessions that protect your joints. It suits beginners, older trainers, and anyone who wants a hard cardio workout without the impact or noise of running.
Is a cross trainer good for weight loss? Yes, as part of a sustained calorie deficit. Its real advantage is that the low impact lets you train longer and more often without joint strain, and that consistency is what drives results. The machine helps; your overall diet and how often you use it decide the outcome.
Does a cross trainer work your stomach? Your core works throughout to keep you upright and stable on the moving pedals, so your abdominals and obliques are engaged, but a cross trainer is a cardiovascular machine rather than a dedicated ab workout. Standing tall rather than leaning on the console is what keeps the core involved.
How long should I use a cross trainer for? For general fitness, twenty to forty minutes a few times a week is a sensible range. Beginners can start shorter and build up; if you are short on time, a harder interval session in fifteen to twenty minutes does plenty.
Are cross trainers good for bad knees? They are one of the gentler options, because your feet stay planted and there is no impact at the point where a runner lands. Many people who can no longer run comfortably can use a cross trainer without trouble, but if you have a specific injury it is worth checking with a physio first.
Choosing yours
The cross trainer's appeal is simple: a hard, full-body cardio session that goes easy on your joints and asks almost nothing of your technique. It will not build running-specific fitness or load your bones the way weight-bearing exercise does, and it needs headroom to live in – but for low-impact fitness that brings your whole body into the work, few machines match it.
If you would like a hand choosing one, you can browse our cross trainers or speak to an expert before you buy on 0333 880 7174 – we would rather help you choose the right machine once than sell you the wrong one twice.
