A great elliptical workout is one that keeps your heart rate in the target zone and at the same time is focusing on toning the right parts of your body. An elliptical workout can be a fun and stress free way to burn calories and zone out at the gym. Because of the advantages the elliptical workout machine provides it has become one of the more popular machines across Americas fitness centers.
In order for any elliptical workout to be considered a success it needs to keep your heart rate in the fat burning zone because that is what the machine is designed to do. If you are trying to condition your legs for a triathlon or a long run you need to get them on the treadmill. So the elliptical machine is desinged to reduce impact to your joints and to get your body into a fat burning heart rate. For most people you can subtract (your age * 2) from 200. So if I were 35, my target heart rate would be 130 to be in a fat burning zone.
The secondary goal of any elliptical workout is to get your legs into a more toned condition and this is done by adding varying levels of resistance to the elliptical workout equipment and its settings. You can work your upper thigh and glute by raising the incline to the maximum and this is what my husband does before he goes to the free weights. It gets his blood flowing and he tries to target his ass.
I had a friend once in high school who just had a goal of keeping one of the elliptical machine metrics above 3,000. It was the steps per minute measurement that is displayed as you run. To give you some context I played varsity basketball in high school and could not keep that pace for more than a few minutes while she would keep that pace for her elliptical workout for over 30 minutes.
The largest advantage to the elliptical is the lower to zero impact on your joints. This makes the machine a more popular choice among those coming back to the gym from a hiatus or for older men and women. The problem is that all ladies of all ages like the machine because of the resistance workout it provides their lower body. This is why there is always a line at my gym.
In any event the best elliptical workout plan is one that helps you stay on the machine for more than 30 minutes and keeps your heart rate in the targeted area.
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