An elliptical workout is a great choice for beginner to start their fitness journey. This type of workout is categorized as cardiovascular exercise. Often you will find elliptical machines stand side-by-side with a row of treadmills at your local gym. This is because both of them are two of the most favorite cardiovascular training machines. This article will show you some elliptical workout training and guides to help you start your cardio ability right away.
Benefits of an Elliptical Workout
The great thing about cardiovascular workout machines is that each machine gives you different benefits and workout habits, even though they have the same goal: better cardio capability. As for elliptical machines, some benefits you can get are:
- Great for Heart and Lower Body Training – Elliptical workout relies mostly on parts of your lower body, especially legs, knees, and hips. Therefore, this workout is also another great alternative to train your lower body and improve your heart rate at the same time.
- You Can Also Train Your Upper Body – While it is optional, you can also train your upper body if you use an elliptical machine that comes with handles, especially your arms and chest.
- Build up Your Stamina – As part of cardio training, one of the main goals of an elliptical workout is to help you improve your stamina over time. The best part is that you can easily do this with less stress put into your joints. But, you need to do this routine regularly for it to show significant changes to your body.
- Improve Bones Strength – It is the same when you take a stroll or an afternoon run at the park. This workout is also healthy for your bones, especially your knees and legs. You can also increase the effect by having a healthy diet.
- Maintain Physical Health – Like any other fitness exercise, keep your body in shape by working out regularly. Make sure to not over-push yourself, or you will easily feel sore and tired instead of feeling more fit.
Step by Step of How to Start Your Exercises
- Don’t Forget to Warm up – Always start your exercise routine with warm-ups. For this workout, you can prepare your body for the hard work by doing hamstring stretch, quadriceps stretch, and any other thighs and legs stretch.
- Assign Your Sets and Reps – If you have done this workout several times, perhaps you already know your sets and reps. But, if you are new to this, you can follow the following steps below as a starter.
- Keep a Good Body Posture – Any fitness exercise requires you to have a good body posture when working out to give you the optimal effects. Make sure you stand or sit in your upright position and have balanced coordination between your legs and arms, between push and pull.
- Start With a Slow Pace – This phase is also known as resistance level 1-5. Stay in this phase for about 5 minutes to prepare your body or as a warm-up.
- Increase The Pace – Increase your resistance level to a moderate level (5-10) and stay in this phase for around 3 minutes.
- Raise to The Maximum – Now that you have the tempo, increase the level one last time to the top level (10-15) for around 2 minutes. This phase aims to pump your heart rate faster to increase your endurance and resistance.
- Slow Down – After that, go back to the slow pace level 1-5 for around 5 minutes to catch your breath and keep your heart rate stable. Stay in this phase for about 3 minutes.
- Increase The Pace Again – Increase the resistance level back to the moderate level (5-10) for 2 minutes to pump back your heart rate up.
- Go Back to The Baseline – This is the final phase of your elliptical exercise routine. Go back to the slow pace resistance level (1-5) and stay in this phase for around 5 minutes. This phase aims to keep your heart rate balanced.
- End With a Cool-Down – After the workout, it would be best if you finish it with some stretches again. This will help prevent incoming body soreness and make sure that your body doesn’t shut down right after an intense workout.
As guided above, the total time you need to do an elliptical exercise is around 20 minutes per session. The guide above is usually more than enough for beginners to improve their stamina, resistance, and physical endurance.
Some Ways to Improve Your Elliptical Workout Routine
- Avoid overdoing yourself in the short term. Improving your stamina and endurance can’t be done just in one night. Don’t do this workout too intense. Instead, give your body a moment to rest and to grow over time.
- Pay attention to your heart rate when you exercise. If you just keep pushing yourself and do not pay attention to your heart rate, there is a chance that you will experience heart failure while doing cardio exercise. This exercise aims to improve your stamina, but it doesn’t mean the harder the training, the better the result will be.
- Combine between slow and fast pace. Apply intervals into your workout. Alternate between slow and fast pace every time will train your heart to pump the blood properly without risking overdoing it.
- Use an elliptical machine that has handles. As stated before, if you use an elliptical machine with handles, you can also train the upper part of your body, including your arms and chest.
- Watch some workout videos. If you feel that your routine is too mundane, you can always watch some workout videos online as complementary. Sometimes some videos will also show you some tricks to vary your elliptical workout while still gaining the same benefits.
In the end, many people may argue that an elliptical workout is too easy and is underrated. But in reality, this workout also gives a significant amount of benefits if you are persistent enough and exercise regularly. Of course, the effect will not show in just one night, but you will slowly notice the change in your stamina. Also, remember to stay hydrated at all times when doing cardio exercises.
