Nowadays, there are several machines that you can use to burn calories and have a toned body. One of the most popular fitness machines today are ellipticals.
Cross trainers or ellipticals are the ideal exercise machines to give people the total cardiovascular workout. According to various studies, exercising for at least 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer burns between 270 and 400 calories. These numbers can go up or down, depending on the person’s body weight.
If you own this exercise machine or use one regularly at the gym, there are some tips you can follow to make the elliptical machine even more effective in helping you achieve your weight loss goals. These tips include the following:
Make sure the elliptical trainer you will be using has the correct settings. If he’s going to work out at the gym, ask a trainer to help you set up the machine to meet his personal needs and abilities. If you will be using your own personal machine, make sure the stride length of the equipment meets your physical requirements.
Know the minimum amount of time you need to exercise each week. Use this machine for at least 75 minutes a week if you are working at a high intensity. However, if you train at a low or moderate pace, 150 minutes is sufficient. According to fitness experts, these specific minutes are the amount of aerobic training needed for people to experience health and weight loss benefits.
Divide the time you need to train into three separate workouts. If this is your first time using an elliptical machine, you may find it too difficult to try to fit all of your weekly training time in just one or two workouts. However, by breaking your workout into shorter sessions, you’ll be able to work harder in each one and burn more calories in the process.
Lastly, try doing HIIT on your elliptical workout. HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is better than steady-state cardio for weight loss and fat burning. To perform HIIT on an elliptical, start by warming up for five minutes, then go as fast as you can for 30 seconds before returning to a steady pace for 90 seconds. Repeat this process eight times, and then cool for five minutes. You should also add an extra sprint each session. Once you’re able to do 12 sprints, increase your work to rest ratio to 40:80. Also, to get the most out of your workouts, alternate a HIIT session with a steady state session.