Curious

Hey Everyone,

 New to the group. *waves. :)

This is probably a very stupid question but I noticed the elliptical has the regular moving handle bars and then in the middle two little non moving bars that you can just grab and mostly work your legs..now here's the question:

When you use the moving bars are you burning more calories? It would seem like you are since you have your arms moving, however I find it easier this way as well because your arms kind of help move the leg part down below. So in a sense I feel like I'm cheating. Heh. When I use the middle non moving ones I noticed I have to really use the strength of my legs.

Can anyone give me any insight on this? Sorry, like I said this is probably generally a really stupid question. :P

I do not claim to be an expert but when I use my arms, my heart goes up (I use a monitor). 

Thank you. :)

It's all about heart-rate, and if your heart-rate goes up using the arms, then yes, you will burn more calories. Having one's arms above the heart during exercise forces the heart to beat harder to get the blood to your finger tips. Plus, using the arms works both your triceps and biceps. Many of us concentrate on using our arms to keep us going in order to build muscle mass. My forearms, triceps, and biceps aren't huge, but they certainly feel toned. I have done nothing but the elliptical and walking for the past year, so I blame my machine for it