Elliptical trainers offer smooth, easy impact to lessen the stress of walking or running that you typically experience when exercising on hard surfaces or outdoors. You may find you can raise the intensity of your workout when you use an elliptical with its gentler effect on your bones and joints. Elliptical trainers offer more calorie burn as you increase intensity. Keep track of your calories burned by monitoring your machine's computerized console.
Significance
Elliptical trainers offer a varying amount of workouts to assist you with burning a smaller to larger amount of calories. These exercise machines also track the amount of calories burned to make it easier for you to keep track of your workout goals.
Most ellipticals have moving handlebars to work your upper body while working your lower body. With automatic features such as incline and resistance adjustments, you can increase the intensity of the workout and burn more calories. Most ellipticals also allow you to pedal in reverse to exercise more muscles.
An elliptical's computerized console features several programs with varying resistance, the ability to change the resistance automatically and with verbal prompts encouraging you to vary your pedaling pace.
How Calories Are Tracked
Some elliptical trainers track calories burned based on the workout chosen and average calories burned for most users for the length and intensity of the workout. Other elliptical trainers require you to enter your weight before starting a workout program to more accurately track the amount of calories burned.
Once you press the "On" button to start the elliptical, a button most likely labeled "Program" allows you to pick from the various program options. Once you select the program, you may be prompted to enter your weight and age so the console can track calories burned appropriately.
Some elliptical consoles also provide a fan to keep you cool while you burn calories.
Variances
Calories burned depend on a person's weight, amount of time spent on the machine and the intensity of the workout. Some elliptical trainers have a power ramp to increase the incline or several resistance levels; all of these features affect the amount of calories you burn.
Calories Burned
A person weighing 100 lbs. who exercises moderately on an elliptical trainer for 30 minutes will burn approximately 155 calories; if she exercises vigorously she will burn approximately 185 calories. Someone who weighs 150 lbs. will burn about 230 calories if he exercises moderately or 275 calories if exercising at a higher intensity. A person who weighs 200 lbs. will burn about 300 calories when exercising at a moderate level or about 370 calories if using the elliptical at a higher intensity.
Considerations
Calories burned as displayed on the elliptical trainer may not be a completely accurate estimate. The true number may vary as much as 25 percent from the estimated number. An elliptical trainer cannot take into account all of the variables that influence calories burned.
Selecting a preset workout gives you greater options to select the approximate amount of calories you would like to burn. It offers varying resistance levels to give you a greater workout. If you use the manual mode, you must select your own resistance and may not choose a resistance high enough to maximize calorie burn.
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