If you are planning to buy an elliptical machine for weight loss, you may be wondering how many calories can you burn when working out on an elliptical trainer. According to manufacturers of elliptical equipment one can burn up to 720 calories per hour of workout with an elliptical trainer.
It is difficult to say exactly how many calories you will burn, because that depends on different factors, such as:
- How long is your workout
- Which elliptical tension settings you are using
- Your body composition (muscle to fat ratio)
- Your fitness level (whether you exercise often or are new to exercise)
- Your body weight (if you weight more, you will burn more calories)
- Your sex
- Upper body and arm usage
Here are several tips to increase the number of calories burned when working out on your elliptical:
Build in Intervals
Interval training is a type of physical training that involves bursts of high intensity work. This high intensity work is alternated with periods of rest or low activity (the intervals in interval training). Many fitness experts believe that this method of training is more effective at increasing fat loss than simply training at a moderate intensity level for the same duration. This type of training is very effective because of its effectiveness in cardiovascular build-up – providing great conditioning for your the heart and lungs.
Almost all elliptical workout machines provide incline and/or tension that you can increase or decrease while exercising. Try building in 30 second incline intervals every couple of minutes into your routine.
This will not only provide more challenging workout and burn more calories- but it can also increase your calorie burn for up to 24 hours after exercising.
Elliptical exercise machines: How many calories can you burn?
Use Your Arms
One big advantage of ellipticals over stationary bikes or treadmills is that they provide upper body arm bars that can be used to build your arms muscles into your routine. The more muscles worked = more calories burned. Another option is to just get a couple of 2 – 5 pounds hand weights and swing your arms while working out.
Switch Your Routine Going Forward and Backward
Using more muscles (and one you may not have used before) also ups your calorie burn, even after your workout. So take advantage of the fact that most ellipticals allow you to go forward and backward. Switch up your routine every few minutes to up your calorie burn.
Exercise More Often
It turns out that two short workouts may be even better than 1 long workout as far as calories burned. Why is that? Any vigorous physical activity will have the effect of temporarily revving up your metabolism – so if you can work out 15 – 20 minutes in the morning, and 15 – 20 minutes in the evening, your metabolism will stay charged up for a longer time. (But if you can’t do this, don’t worry – remember that a 30 minute workout will still burn more calories than a 15 minute workout!)
If you are wondering how many calories you burn during your day – whether exercising or doing your daily tasks – you can find many interactive tools on the Internet that will help you estimate your daily calorie expenditure. A cool tool to have is also a Bodybugg or its cheaper alternative, Gowear Fit, which is a calorie calculating armband device. These tools have become popular since the appearance on the Biggest Loser tv series.
If you are wondering which elliptical trainer to buy, read my other posts Buying Elliptical Exercise Equipment and Elliptical Trainers Benefits: Should You Be Buying an Elliptical Machine? If you have made up your mind, then you can Buy an elliptical machine here.
The best way to burn calories is constant exercise even if you are at a slower rate. This will help your metabolism staying pumping well after you have stopped working out.
I’ve never thought about your arm movement having an effect on how many calories you are burning. But its so true. Your arm movement is such a small thing that can make a huge difference.
I find that the elliptical is a very versatile and easy to use machine. I like that you can do many different styles of workouts on it fairly easily because it offers easy to use settings. For instance, most machines allow you to choose between fat burning, circuit training, and pure cardio endurance workouts, depending on what your personal focus is. I don’t use the elliptical that often, but it is a nice option on those days when I can’t make my group class.