Maintaining a healthy lifestyle involves not only eating healthfully but also being physically active. Physical activity is anything that gets your body moving, such as walking, running or dancing. In addition, you may choose to use exercise equipment such as a stair climbing machine or an elliptical trainer. An elliptical trainer simulates the motion of running in the air and has poles for you to work your upper body at the same time. Elliptical machines have options that allow you to adjust the resistance, monitor your time, distance and calories burned.
Elliptical Machines
There are many manufacturers of elliptical trainers. One popular brand is the ProForm elliptical. This elliptical has an adjustable stride and up to 20 different resistance levels depending on the model. Depending on whether you are just starting your exercise program or looking for a physically grueling workout, there is a level of resistance right for you.
Determining Factors
Working out on an elliptical trainer provides a full-body workout and can burn a lot of calories. The number of calories you burn during a workout will depend on the pace and resistance level you choose. In addition, height and weight play a factor in calories burned per hour. Someone who is tall and weighs a little more will burn more calories in an hour than a shorter person who weighs less.
How Many Calories?
The elliptical will prompt you to enter your weight before starting your workout, this will help the calculator provide an estimate of calories burned at the end of your workout. However, provides a rough estimate as the amount of calories you burn as it does not account for your gender, age, physical fitness and body fat percentage. For example, at a resistance of 5, a 175-lb. woman will burn 450 calories per hour; a 150-lb. woman will burn 411 calories and a 125-lb. woman will burn 363 calories. At a resistance of 10, the calories burned will be 595, 535 and 415, respectively.
Physical Activity Guidelines
You need to do two types of physical activity each week to improve your health, these are aerobic exercise and muscle-strengthening exercise, according to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, produced by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The elliptical trainer can be used to meet your aerobic exercise needs. For adults, two hours and 30 minutes of moderate activity or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity per week is recommended. According to the guidelines, this can be broken up into workouts as small as 10 minutes in duration.
Member Comments