Will The Elliptical Machine Make My Butt Smaller?

An elliptical machine is a workout device that has two hand-held poles and two foot platforms. While exercising on the elliptical, you move back and forth in a cross country skiing motion. One of the main advantages of elliptical trainers is they cause a very low level of stress on the spine and other joints and bones, according to Spine-Health.com. Before you spend a lot of time on the elliptical, it is a good idea to know if it helps slim down your butt.

Misconceptions

Spot reduction is the idea that you can reduce weight in one area of your body by doing an exercise repeatedly. This is a myth. If you want to lose weight in one area, such as the butt, you need to lose it throughout your entire body. Being that the elliptical trainer promotes full-body weight loss, it does in fact make your butt smaller.

Time Frame

When you work out on the elliptical, you are doing cardiovascular exercise, which burns calories efficiently. To get the best results from your workouts, you need to exercise long enough. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 60 to 90 minutes of cardio to lose weight. If you are pressed for time, perform multiple bouts of exercise throughout the course of the day. Accumulated exercise is just as effective as long-duration. Work out four or five days a week to make the best progress.

Effects

When you push and pull the handles and glide back and forth with your legs, you are engaging multiple upper and lower body muscles. This exercise targets the glutes, or butt muscles, along with the quadriceps, hamstrings, biceps, deltoids and triceps. Your glutes get worked when you move your leg into hip extension. This takes place when you kick backwards. Whenever you build muscle, you increase your resting metabolism. A single pound of muscle burns 30 to 50 calories per day just to maintain itself according to the University of Michigan Health System. This, in turn, can help you to reduce your butt size even faster.

Potential

Interval training is a way of working out that causes you to expend a higher amount of calories, according to MayoClinic.com. Start out with a light warm-up, then alternate your intensity back and forth from high to low for the rest of your workout. Elliptical machines come equipped with a resistance adjustment and incline feature. When doing your high-intensity intervals, use these adjustments or just simply glide at a faster pace.

Considerations

If you burn a lot of calories with elliptical training, but feast on burgers and fries, you will compromise your butt-toning results. Cut back on your calories and eat foods that are high in nutrients like fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, lean meats and whole grains. Also make sure to see your doctor before starting a new workout routine.