Is Elliptical Good for Weight Loss and Burning Fat?

The elliptical is one of the safest and most effective exercise equipment you can find. In this article, we’ll learn why the elliptical is good for weight loss and also, look at some elliptical models!

First and foremost, you should know that elliptical offers a full-body workout experience. You won’t be neglecting your upper body unlike you would on an exercise bike or a treadmill; you’ll be able to train your entire body. Exercising your upper body is important for you to tone your arms and also lose that belly fat. While you are using the elliptical, make sure that you engage your core properly.

Second, besides offering full-body workouts; elliptical is also low impact, which means your knees and joints have a lower chance of injury. For example, a treadmill is high-impact exercise equipment. So, if you are overweight or have weak joints; you may put way too much stress on them by running on a treadmill.

Getting injured while exercising sucks, a lot. So, choosing low-impact exercise equipment is better if you are more likely to get injured compared to regular people.

How Much Work is Needed to Lose Fat?

Before we determine how much work you need to do based on your goals and current situation; let’s talk about something important.

To lose weight; you need to master your diet no matter what. So, that means the elliptical on its own can’t solve your weight problem.

However, don’t get weight loss complicated by for example stressing about your daily sodium consumption. Keep it simple, focus on your macros (Protein, carbs, and fat) and eat less. We don’t mean only for a day or a week; you should understand that a diet is not something you should drop off easily. Always lookout for new ways to optimize your diet and keep it interesting enough, so, you can stay faithful to it.

Still, don’t get it twisted. Just, learn your fundamentals and don’t give up. Stay persistent and you’ll see how far you’ve come. If you try to sprint on this marathon; you’ll fail and your spirits will get broken. Valuable things in life take time.

Check our articles on diet, supplements, and weight loss to get a better idea of exactly what you need:

How to Lose Weight with Protein Powder? 9 Versatile Choices!

27 Super Foods for Weight Loss That Will Make You Lose Belly Fat Quickly!

If you master your diet and by doing half an hour of moderate-intensity exercising on your elliptical; you can lose 1 to 2 pounds each week.

Okay, so how much work do you need to put in?

It depends on various factors like, for example; your bodyweight. If you are a 140-pound individual, that means in half an hour of exercising on the elliptical; you can lose up to 300 calories.

But, keep in mind that, that’s not enough to estimate your possible calorie burn. If you are not focusing on your exercise and don’t put in enough effort, then yeah, you can lose significantly less.

So, how can we know if we are giving enough effort? By taking a look at your heart rate. It needs to be at the optimal level for weight loss. To find out your optimal heart rate for weight loss; subtract your age from 220. That’s your maximum heart rate.

For moderate-intensity exercises, your target heart rate needs to be 50 to 70 percent. However, for high-intensity exercises such as HIIT; it needs to be in 70 to 85 percent. Let’s continue with an example.

So, let’s assume that you are a 30-year-old, which means your max heart rate is 190. Your heart rate needs to be at least 100 while you are exercising and for high-intensity training; it needs to be close to 150 to 170.

Benefits of Elliptical

So, the elliptical is good for weight loss, what else? Well, let’s take a look at its benefits one by one:

• As we’ve mentioned; it’s low-impact. Your knees and joints may not ache yet, but if you put too much stress on your joints; all that wear and tear will eventually come back and haunt you.
• Due to being low-impact on your joints; your bones will be stronger. You won’t be losing minerals in your bones.
• Besides exercising your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves; it also exercises your upper body muscles. Such as your pecs, lats, biceps, and triceps.
• Just by incorporating half an hour of elliptical exercising 5 times a week, you can improve your health significantly. Your cardiovascular development is essential for your entire body and bodily functions.
• It improves your mood and reduces your stress levels. If you lead a stressful life; exercising can change up a lot of things. Just give regular exercising a chance.
• Also, the elliptical can help you improve your immune system and reduce the risk of weight-related diseases.
• Adjusting the resistance and incline can help you exercise your body more efficiently. The elliptical is one of the best exercising equipment for versatile workouts.

Tips on Elliptical

There are some things you need to be aware of while you do your workout on the elliptical. You should know that these small changes can make your workout more efficient.

• Be sure to exercise your upper body and lower body evenly. So, don’t focus on your leg movement only, also control your upper body movement. Due to that, you’ll be able to lose weight more efficiently.
• Keep your posture upright. Keep your head up, your shoulders back and chest out.
• Always breathe properly, if you mess up your breathing; you’ll run out of breath before you burn enough calories.
• Your feet positioning is super important, make sure that your feet are flat on the pedal. Don’t tiptoe while pedaling like most do because you shouldn’t put unnecessary stress on your joints. Also, by using your heel; you’ll activate more muscles on your legs.
• Use enough resistance to burn a lot of calories. Don’t try to make your workouts feel easy by keeping the resistance levels low. Elliptical is good for weight loss as long as you capitalize on resistance.
• Pull and push the handlebars to increase your intensity while you pedal. All your movements should be controlled, don’t push and pull without focusing on the movement. Properly pull the handlebar to feel your lats and push to feel your pecs.

Budget-Friendly Elliptical

First, let’s take a look at a budget-friendly elliptical.

The Nautilus^® E616 Elliptical Trainer

E616 brings budget-friendliness and effectiveness together. There are lots of workout programs and resistance levels in it compared to cheaper options. You can sync your workout data from fitness apps to maximize your weight loss. Also, there is an amazing app called “Explore the World” which you’ll love.

What does this app do exactly? Well, thanks to this free app; you can run through 19 different real-world locations and 27 routes at the same time with real people all over the world! There are lots of high-definition routes you can choose from Japan or Scottish Highlands or even Prague!

There are in total of 29 programs; 12 profile, 9 heart rate control, 4 custom made, 2 fitness level tests, a recovery test, and a quick start option. Also, there are 25 levels of resistance levels for beginners and advanced users.

You can track your data through the DualTrack-LCDs. Knowing how much time you spend, your distance, and the amount of calories your burned are important to optimize your workouts.

20 inches’ dual stride rails are great for providing stabilization, balance, and overall smoothness in movement.

There are cheaper options on the market, however, we believe that if you give your money to a crappy elliptical just because it’s cheap; it will break down before you see real results. Investing in the Nautilus E616 is a great choice for many years to come.

Check it Out

High-End Elliptical

Before we end our article on “Is elliptical good for weight loss?”. Let’s take a look at one of the finest elliptical you can find.

LifeSpan E5i Commercial Elliptical Trainer

Cardio training has never been this efficient. There are 21 interactive programs created by exercise physiologists for various fitness goals.

There is an interesting feature on LifeSpan E5i. It can literally generate its own power! So, even though it’s much more expensive than the previous elliptical, in the long run; you’ll be saving money! There is no need to stress on the power bill anymore. Also, that means you can place your elliptical wherever you want without it being close to an outlet.

Check it Out

Conclusion

So, in this article besides learning why the elliptical is good for weight loss; we also found out how much you should exercise, important benefits, and tips on the elliptical and finally checked two superb options.

Don’t forget to clean up your diet and stay disciplined throughout your exercise routines.

We hope that this article has been helpful to you. If you want to see a more comprehensive guide on the elliptical, check Best Elliptical for Home 2021 – The Ultimate Guide

Let us know in the comments, what’s your favorite elliptical benefit?

Thank you for reading.

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