When using ellipticals for 30 minutes correctly, you can burn 200 to 400 calories on average, depending on your weight and speed. You can feel the change after using it consistently for three to four weeks.
However, the visible changes can happen after six to eight weeks of working with an elliptical trainer. Along with the workouts, your intensity and daily intake play a major role in helping you lose weight. Also, maintaining the right posture and adjusting the resistance are necessary.
If you understand the rule of 80% nutrition and 20% sports activities, it is not difficult to put this cardio machine into action to gain fitness in a short period.
People with more weight burn more calories during exercise as this machine uses body weight for resistance.
Especially if your weight comprises more muscle mass, it offers higher metabolism than fat tissue. Greater resistance levels enhance the intensity of your workout and give you optimal results if you include proper intervals with a vigorous motion.
Quoting the Harvard Medical School, for a 30-minute workout on an elliptical, you get to burn 2.16 calories approximately for every pound of your body weight.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Working Out on an Elliptical Machine
Elliptical training benefits-improved breathing, stamina, stronger heart muscles, and a toned body.
Since these workouts eliminate the cellulite present in your body and develop your muscles, they will be a good addition to your slimming diet.
They also improve your physical condition quickly, which most fitness enthusiasts appreciate. Though an elliptical trainer does not support spot reduction of fat, it does strengthen your hamstrings which can trim your fat down.
- It supports the strengthening of various muscle groups, which helps in fat loss.
- Enhances cardiovascular endurance by providing aerobic exercise
- Tones your upper body such as the chest, back, biceps, shoulders, and triceps
- Targets various lower body muscles such as hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, hip flexors, and glutes
- It helps to maintain better body balance by strengthening your core
How Much Time Does It Take to See Results on an Elliptical Machine?
Consistent training is important for getting results while using any fitness equipment. The same is the case with an elliptical trainer.
To burn excess fat and increase muscle mass, you need patience, as you require several sessions before seeing the results.
You should not be discouraged when you cannot find any change in a short time. You need to give at least three to four weeks for initial results, and within 6 to 8 weeks, everyone will start noticing changes in your body.
This depends on the intensity of your workout and your body type. The first transformation is physical, and as you continue to train, you will see improvement in endurance.
However, if you measure your weight loss on scales, you might be confused as the weight fluctuates.
Since ellipticals help you gain muscle mass in the place of fat tissue, you might not see a weight change initially. As you continue training and gain muscle mass, it helps you lose weight due to higher metabolism. You can easily lose 1 to 2 kgs of fat per week if you do at least three sessions.
How Often Should You Use An Elliptical?
The simple answer is every day! Yes, ellipticals are low-impact machines that do not hurt your joints. So, it is safe to use them every day and are more effective than traditional running.
Depending on your needs, you can choose to train for 150 minutes or 250 minutes a week.
The minimum recommendation is 150 minutes a week which typically breaks down into 30-minute sessions for five days a week.
This helps you maintain the weight, but if you are planning for weight loss, you need to work out for 45 minutes to an hour, making it at least 250 minutes a week.
If you’re working out every day on an elliptical, you need to alter it with long, high-intensity sessions for a few days and short lower, intensity sessions for the rest of the week.
This way, you can allow your body to rest and gain the benefits of a workout without straining your body.
How to Get Accelerating Results With an Elliptical Trainer Effectively?
You can see accelerated results using an elliptical trainer when you optimize your workout. If you are a beginner, you need to take it slow by introducing three sessions a week and then gradually increasing to four or five.
A 10-minute warmup session followed by 30 minutes of practice is required for long-term results.
If you can work out for 45 minutes to one hour, as you improve your endurance, your body will gain greater metabolism, which burns fat even in sleep.
The trick here is to move slowly and work for longer periods rather than moving fast and tiring yourself quickly.
Similarly, consistency is also important, along with the intensity. Like any other physical activity, you need to drink plenty of water while working with an elliptical trainer.
How to Speed Up Weight Loss With an Elliptical Machine?
Along with the acceleration tactics mentioned above, you can achieve quick weight loss if you club the HIIT exercises with your elliptical trainer once or twice a week.
HIIT training programs boost your stamina effectively and are used by many professional sportspersons to keep them fit.
This repetitive training with fixed intervals efficiently improves both aerobic and anaerobic levels. It is reputed to burn fat for 24 hours after the workout and is also responsible for releasing belly fat melting hormones.
Also, remember to up your resistance as you develop endurance to a certain level. This will help you challenge your body and push it to greater limits to achieve better results.
Tips for Using an Elliptical Machine to Get Better Fitness and Weight Loss Results
It would be a balanced diet when you obtain 30 to 35% of your calories from protein, 15 to 20% of them from fat, and 55 to 60% from carbs. This division is important as a nutrient-filled meal gives you sufficient energy required for your physical activity.
This is a basic meal plan, and the rest is based on your goals. All you need to remember is your body needs proper food to energize itself and replenish. You should also take note of the calorie intake and make sure that it is lesser than what you burn while exercising.
For instance, if you’re planning to lose weight, you need to include a little more carbohydrates than what is mentioned above. On the contrary, if you aim to bulk up, you need to alter between higher and lower calories, usually called bulking and cutting.
By including strength training exercises, you can strengthen specific muscles activated by an elliptical. Your body can burn more calories and get stronger by switching between elliptical and strength training exercises.
Stretching your body using light warmup exercises before and after an intense workout is important in preventing injury and relaxing your muscles.
Moves such as Pike stretch, trunk rotations, and lunges are great for warm-up and chest stretch, seated glute stretch, and cat-cow stretch are the best cool-down exercises.
When you combine these tips and your elliptical workout, you can easily achieve great weight loss results and better fitness in no time. Never neglect the warm-up and cool-down exercises, as they play a major role in easing your muscles and keeping your body safe during exercise.
Conclusion: How Long Does It Take to Get Results on Elliptical Machines?
Along with different weights, each individual has a different metabolic rate which influences how quickly or slowly you’ll see the results. Each person responds differently based on several aspects. So, you cannot conclude that a single thing works for all.
Similarly, each person has different goals and is motivated for various reasons. It also depends on how consistent you are and how many sessions per week you can accomplish. Also, there are the intensity and resistance parameters.
A balanced diet and proper calorie intake are also deciding factors. When you combine all of these efficiently and work out with determination, you can see results in a few weeks. As you develop endurance and improve your metabolism, you will see better results.
So, it is a long process, and you need to keep yourself motivated with the exercises you can follow through. The fitness you gain through working with an elliptical trainer positively impacts your productivity and your physical and mental health.
In short, it can be said that 4 to 6 weeks is an approximate period you need to work out before you enjoy the benefits. Again, remember it depends on many other factors and a proper way of workout to see these results.
