What Benefits Will I Get From Using an Air Walker?

If you've wandered through a thrift store or maybe the land of late-night infomercials and found yourself facing an X- or A-shaped frame with two independently swinging pedals attached, congratulations: You've sighted an example of the relatively rare "air walker" family of exercise machines. Essentially a poor man's elliptical trainer, these machines were marketed as a solution for very low-impact cardio workouts, and they do deliver. But they also have some very definite limits.

Often marketed under brand names such as the Gazelle, the Air Walker or the Gravity Walker exercise machine, the biggest benefit of using air walker machines is that they offer a low-impact cardiovascular workout.

It may be tempting to associate cardio with weight loss — and it is definitely helpful for that. But regular cardiovascular workouts also offer a number of proven health benefits, including reduced risk of chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes; reduced pain and improved mobility for those with arthritis; improved mood; a better cholesterol profile; and a boost to your immune system.

As recommended in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020, to maintain your health, you should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio per week. You'll get even more health benefits if you can exceed that amount.

Read more: 7 Reasons to Do Moderate-Intensity Exercise More Often

Another great feature of air walkers is their low-impact nature, which places less stress on your joints and musculoskeletal system than high-impact workouts like running. As long as you do it to the proper intensity, this type of low-impact workout still offers the cardiovascular benefits of a high-impact workout — it just puts less stress on your joints during the process.

Read more: 10 Types of Low-Impact Exercise That Keep You Fit

Although air walkers do pack some definite benefits, one of the things they don't do is offer much resistance. That might not be an issue at first if you're new to exercising, but many of the benefits of cardiovascular exercise are predicated on the intensity of your workouts.

If you become fit enough that using your air walker at the highest resistance level doesn't make you break a sweat and get out of breath enough that you can't sing, you've fallen below the threshold for a moderate-intensity workout.

That said, some cardio (of any intensity) is still better than none, and some air walkers offer enough resistance options that they can continue challenging you for quite a while. So this isn't so much an automatic deal breaker as something to be aware of.

There are two other quirks of the air walker machine type to be aware of. First, some of them have relatively lightweight construction and low weight limits. If you're close to the air walker's upper weight limit and unsure of its build quality, it's better to be safe than sorry and look for a sturdier model, if only because it'll make for a more stable exercise experience.

The other quirk of air walkers is that because the bulk of their motion focuses on the hip joint, they don't work all the muscles of your lower body through a full range of motion the way that a treadmill or elliptical trainer would. But any cardio workout that you enjoy enough to do regularly is a good thing, so that's not necessarily a complete deal breaker either.