Calories Burned

• If you are looking for a workout to burn the most calories, you have a couple of choices. Your first choice is to do a long workout at a moderate pace. This will burn many calories and will be sustainable. However, your metabolic rate returns to normal rather quickly after this type of workout.
  
  Another choice is to do a high intensity interval training (HIIT) style workout. These workouts take less time but are more intense.
  
  There have been numerous studies that indicate that HIIT workouts are more efficient in producing fat loss in subjects. A study by A. Tremblay, J. Simoneau, and C. Bouchard concluded that "this study gives more evidence to support the idea that high-intensity interval training is a more optimal program for fat loss than moderate-intensity, continuous endurance exercise. The HIIT group in this study lost nine times more body fat than the ET group for each MJ of energy expended during training, indicating HIIT is much more efficient and effective."
  
  An article by James Krieger cites many more studies on HIIT, and why it seems to work so well at burning calories and reducing weight: "First, a large body of evidence shows that high-intensity protocols, notably intermittent protocols, result in significantly greater post-exercise energy expenditure and fat utilization than low- or moderate-intensity protocols... Finally, a number of studies have found high-intensity exercise to suppress appetite more than lower intensities and reduce saturated fat intake."
  
  To perform a HIIT workout on an elliptical machine, you can either increase the resistance greatly to where you can only sustain roughly 10 to 30 seconds of working at that level, or you can pick up the speed for a sprint of 10 to 30 seconds. Always begin with a few minutes of warm up at a moderate pace. With HIIT you should be going all out, so you may not even be able to last for 10 seconds. After your sprint interval, rest for 30 seconds to a minute (or until you feel you've recovered enough to continue), then immediately begin your next sprint. Repeat for six to nine cycles of sprint and recovery, then do a moderate to slow-paced cool down.
  For steady state cardio, simply pick one of the elliptical's programs or use the manual setting and complete your workout for the desired amount of time. You should feel like you are working, but not going all out. The body cannot sustain an all-out pace for an extended period of time.
  
  

Cardiovascular

• Elliptical machines are a great low-impact option for cardiovascular fitness. To get into the target heart rate zone for cardiovascular fitness, you can do a manual program, hills, or random.
  
  The heart rate zone suggested for cardiovascular benefits is anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. Sustained effort over a longer exercise session (30 minutes or more) can be performed in the 50 to 80 percent range. Anything more than that will be too difficult to maintain for more than a short period of time, at least without recovery periods included.
  
  The key to a good cardiovascular workout is challenging yourself and keeping it interesting. A few ways to do this with an elliptical workout are to vary your resistance, pace, and direction. Try going forward for five minutes, then switching to a backward movement for five minutes. This gives you something to focus on rather than just watching the time go by.
  
  Or you can add resistance for one minute, then back off for a minute, then add resistance again, but this time more than before. You can repeat this until you reach the point where you can't go to a higher resistance level. Within a few weeks, you will notice that you are able to handle more resistance as your muscle tone and endurance improves.
  
  

Safety

• Working out on an elliptical machine is a relatively safe and easy exercise choice, but you should still take precautions. Make sure the machine is working properly before beginning your workout. Don't let your clothes or fingers get too close to moving parts that they might get caught.
  
  Drink water during your workout, and if you begin to feel dizzy or lightheaded, take a break. Your endurance will build over time. Don't feel like you have to go all out on your first workout, or at every workout for that matter. Lower intensity workouts still provide cardiovascular benefits and burn calories. You can become burned out or develop overuse injuries if you try to do high intensity workouts during every session.