Elliptical Training 101

Elliptical Exercise and Stairclimber machines are a great way to burn calories, pump up your heart rate, and work the quads, hamstrings, and butt. It is also a good exercise to take the pressure off your knees from running. Most Elliptical exercise machines feature an interactive display that shows you how long you’ve been stepping, how many calories you’ve expended, and your level of intensity. Stairclimbers will send your feet marching up and down, while elliptical exercise machines move your feet in a pattern of a flattened-out circle.

The Routine:
Here’s how to get more out of your stepping or climbing workout.

-Start slowly. It’s best to step or climb for 30 minutes and work up from there.

-Position your feet well. Users may feel their toes become numb and tingly before the end of the session. If you’re getting weird messages from your southernmost reaches, you’re probably putting too much pressure on the balls of your feet, pinching off blood circulation to your toes.

Move your feet forward or back on the foot pads until you find a position the lets them feel normal. Also wiggle your toes periodically to ward off the tingles.

-Step away from the arm rest
You’ll get more work out of your workout when you don’t lean heavily on the armrest. For starters, you’ll be bearing and moving around more of your own weight, and burning more calories as a result. Second, when you stand up straight, you give your abs a better workout because they have to support you during exercise. You can also burn more calories, add your arms to the action, pumping them as you would during a run. You can burn up to 30% more calories by not using the armrest, which makes the workout more efficient.
-Warmup and Cooldown:

Be sure to ease into your workout to allow your muscles to warm up, and slow down at the end of the session to cool down. You’ll probably find that your machine has warmups and cooldowns built into its workouts.

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