Elliptical trainers are an excellent way to improve your health. This fitness machine can improve cardiovascular function, increase fitness, strengthen muscles, and build bone density. One of the most sought after benefits of exercise is to burn calories. How many calories you burn on an elliptical depends on a number of factors, as this machine allows the user a variety of workout routines that can have a significant impact on how many calories you burn off during that workout.
Basically, the amount of calories you burn when exercising on an elliptical trainer depends on 3 things, your weight, the intensity of the workout, and the duration of your workout.
Your weight - The amount of calories you expend during exercise depends on how big you are. Harvard Medical School says that, in general, during a half hour workout on an elliptical trainer, you will burn 270 calories if you weigh 125, 335 calories if you weigh 155, and 400 calories if you weigh 185. These are very basic statistics that have been generalized. The amount of calories expended can vary greatly depending on the intensity of the elliptical workout.
Intensity of Your Workout - Elliptical trainers have a number of features that allow you to vary the intensity of your workout. You can increase the intensity by moving the pedals faster which increases your strides per minute. The higher end models will count and display strides per minute for you. You can also increase the intensity by setting the resistance at
a higher level. An elliptical with moving handlebars will allow you to work your upper body as well, making you expend more energy and burn more calories. Some machines allow you to vary the incline, and increasing the incline will also cause you to burn more calories per hour. Interval training will ramp up the intensity of your workout considerably.
Instead of staying at one speed throughout your workout, increase the resistance setting for 30 to 60 seconds, recover at a lower setting for 30 to 60 seconds and repeat this cycle for 10 to 20 minutes or longer depending on your level of fitness. Interval workouts challenge your heart and muscles to work harder for short bursts, which causes your body to
work harder and burn more calories. You can get an idea of how intensity affects calories burned by going to caloriesperhour.com. According to this website a 150 pound person who does 60 strides a minute with a resistance of 4 (out of 20) will burn about 200 calories in an hour. That same 150 pound person will burn 382 calories an hour by increasing their strides per minute to 70 and the resistance to 10.
Duration Of Your Workout - This is pretty simple, the longer the workout the more calories you burn. So if you double the length of your workout you will burn twice as many calories.
If you are looking for an exercise routine to burn calories you should try an elliptical workout. A higher end new or used elliptical has all the features you need to design a workout that can maximize calorie burn based on your fitness level.
Consider purchasing a health club quality used arc trainer or elliptical trainer that has been professionally refurbished from [http://www.ellipticaltrainersdepot.com]. Purchasing a refurbished elliptical or arc trainer can save you 50% or more off the price of a new machine, which makes it more affordable for you to own the top brands such as a used Precor elliptical, refurbished Life Fitness, or a Cybex arc trainer.
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