Among much excellent fitness equipment, elliptical exercise machine may be the first choice for most people to exercise. Elliptical trainer has many benefits, it is beginner friendly, low impact and ideal for burning a lot of calories. But as we get busier and busier at work, time constraints often get in the way of our fitness goals. But please don't be discouraged! Your body will be happy if you can at least spare 20 minutes a day on the elliptical exercise machine. A 20-minute elliptical exercise machine session can burn about 150 calories, depending on your weight and exercise intensity. If you do this regularly along with a balanced diet, it’s a good workout for better health and performance. However, this fitness routine is not enough for most people, especially those aiming to lose weight. But 20 minutes of elliptical exercise machine workout is still good, because you can follow an elliptical exercise machine workout routine that optimizes your 20 minutes for maximum benefits. Read on to learn how to do this and progress from a beginner to a seasoned elliptical rider.
What can 20-minute a day on the elliptical exercise machine do for you?
20 minutes on an elliptical exercise machine is not a lot. Your body will barely be warmed up at that point. High-speed and intense elliptical machine workouts let you burn up to 150 calories. If you prefer moderate-intensity exercises, you’ll be burning about 112 calories. It’s a good starting point if you’re a fitness beginner or want to shift from a sedentary lifestyle to a more active one. And exercising regularly for 20 minutes positively affects your overall health and performance. But note that this is not enough to make you lose weight effectively. If you exercise for 20 minutes five days weekly, that’s a total of 100 minutes of physical activity. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults like you need at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week. That means regular elliptical exercise machine training of at least 30 minutes is best for your cardiovascular health and weight. But if you have very limited time, 20 minutes is much better than doing nothing. There will be positive effects on your health, endurance, weight, etc. It’s just that it’s not quite enough for the average person to be healthy, especially if you’ve got an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.
How should you exercise for 20-minute on the elliptical exercise machine?
Now, not all of us can stretch our exercise time. And if you can only allocate 20 minutes of your day on the elliptical exercise machine, it’s best to make every minute count. Here are some workout ideas you can try. When you’re ready to progress, check out my suggestions on how you can improve your 20-minute workout.
1. 20-minute beginner elliptical exercise machine workout
The following is an exercise sample. First, set your elliptical cross trainer at a low resistance level. Start warming up at a relaxed pace (5 minutes). Then, increase the resistance to about 1 to 4 levels higher than your warm-up mode. You should still be able to carry on a conversation at this point (3 minutes). Then, increase the resistance again until you are working a bit more than your baseline mode (2 minutes). Then, decrease the resistance, going back to the baseline mode (3 minutes). Next, increase the resistance back to a moderate pace (2 minutes). Finally, decrease the resistance back to starting level. Spend the remaining minutes bringing down your heart rate to normal (5 minutes).
So, how to progress with a beginner elliptical exercise machine workout? You can stick to this 20-minute elliptical trainer routine for five days on the first week of your fitness plan. In the second week, add 3 minutes more to step 4, then 2 minutes more to step 5. From the third week onwards, perform a regular 30-minute exercise with 3 minutes added to step 2, then 2 minutes more to step 3. This workout should be enough to meet the CDC’s minimum requirement. Throughout your entire workout, incorporate these helpful tips as well:
- Avoid slouching. Maintain an upright posture to keep your core muscles engaged and prevent body pains or risk of injury.
- Push and pull the elliptical exercise machine handles or pump your arms. Keep your entire body moving to make more muscle groups work. Exercising the upper body muscles boosts calorie burn within your limited workout time.
- Try pedaling backwards. Exercise variations like this are crucial in avoiding a fitness plateau. In the case of an elliptical exercise machine, pedaling forward and back lets you target different muscles, too.
- Adjust the ramp incline. If your exercise equipment has an adjustable incline feature, use it to take your workout up a notch. Start at whichever level is comfortable for you, then gradually increase it to progress.
2. 20-minute HIIT elliptical exercise machine workout
The following is an exercise sample. First, set your elliptical exercise machine at resistance and incline levels of 1 to 3. Start warming up at a relaxed pace, equal to a jogging motion (2 minutes). Then, increase the resistance and incline to 4 to 5 levels higher than your warm-up mode. This stage should feel like you are sprinting (30 seconds). Then, decrease the resistance and incline to a slightly comfortable level. Your movement should be equal to a run (1 minute). Keep doing the sprinting and running moves 9 more times, until you reach the 17-minute mark. Finally, decrease the resistance back to starting level. Spend the remaining minutes bringing down your heart rate to normal. As you reach the final minute, lower your settings further, as if you’re going into slow motion.
So, how to design a HIIT elliptical exercise machine workout? High-intensity interval training (HIIT) comprises short periods of vigorous activity followed by lower-intensity exercises or rest periods. The goal is to reach a maximum heart rate of 70-90%, then bring it down to 55-65% during recovery. It will be easy to stay within your ideal rate by wearing a heart monitor. Now, my sample workout is a good starter. But later on, you might want to create a different interval workout plan or add other variations to your 20-minute elliptical machine routine. When you do this, keep these components in mind:
- Warm-up. Allocate about 2 to 5 minutes of warm-up time for your HIIT plan, depending on your total elliptical exercise machine training duration. Its intensity should be enough to make you break into a sweat or feel clammy. Sweating increases your temperature, circulation and body fat utilization, allowing you to exercise harder and longer.
- Length. HIIT involves doing intense and moderate exercises alternately. You can do this by adjusting the resistance, incline or speed. Allocate 5 seconds to 4 minutes for each move, depending on your capacity and preference.
- Interval. Breaking up your total HIIT time into intervals is up to you. If you’re a beginner, you can start with a 1:2 ratio for work and rest. Later, shift to a 1:1 work-to-rest distribution. Then challenge yourself further by doing more work than rest.
- Recovery. Give your heart ample time to recover and clear the by-products of metabolism. And when we say recovery period, keep it active. You can do this by dialing an intense resistance or incline level a few notches down.
