Calories Burned on Elliptical Machine

An elliptical machine, also called a cross trainer, is a stationary exercise equipment. It allows for low impact cardiovascular exercise which is easier on the joints. It can vary from low to high intensity depending on the duration, speed, and settings chosen by the user.

Calories Burnt Using An Elliptical Machine For 10 Min, 20 Min, 30 Min, And 60 Min.

The elliptical is proven to burn between 450 to 540 kcal in an hour! This is 2 to 4 times more than the amount of calories one burns while walking. The specific calories burned will also depend on the body type and weight of the person using it but the elliptical can help burn an incredible 58.3 calories per 10 minutes. And in 20 minutes, most people tend to burn around 115 calories.

Keep in mind that your body weight and the machine’s setting also have a role to play. For example, an 82 kg person burns 420 calories per hour at resistance level 5.

A 165-pound person will burn 196 calories in 30 minutes of exercising on elliptical machine at moderate effort. This means that he will burn approximately 392 calories on elliptical per hour.

30 to 60 minutes is the recommended amount of daily cardio exercise that is recommended for adults to lose weight and keep the body fit and toned. The elliptical, which has several settings such as incline, resistance, and targets both the upper and lower body can significantly increase the benefits reaped from the cardio workout.

Elliptical trainer calories burned

(moderate effort)

How Can Elliptical Machine Be Used In A Workout?

The elliptical is a good option to consider for your cardiovascular workout as well as for targeting your legs and strengthening your leg muscles.

Using it for increasing amounts of time can help you build your stamina and cardio capacity. Many people use the elliptical trainer for steady-state cardio. This is more ideal for losing weight over building muscle. However, it can also help build muscle when used for shorter durations on a faster speed and higher resistance. This will cause your muscles to stretch and have micro-tears. When the body heals these tears, it causes the muscle to become bigger and stronger. Thus the elliptical can be used by people who want to lose weight as well as those who want to gain muscle.

You can also include an under desk elliptical into your schedule. These are smaller versions of the elliptical trainer which can be put near your chair and allows you to get some exercise while working or sitting. This is great for those who have desk jobs. While its impact and fat burning is less than the regular elliptical machine, it is still a good option to add to your daily workout.

How To Burn 500 Calories On The Elliptical Machine?

The elliptical trainer is a great piece of equipment for cardio exercise. It targets the legs, behind, arms, and torso, and so provides a well rounded workout.

If you are aiming to burn a certain amount of calories instead of aiming to workout for a certain period of time, it may be beneficial for you to consider increasing the speed and resistance during the exercise. This leads the body to burn more calories than at low resistance.

The formula for Calories Burned Per Minute = (MET x body weight in Kg x 3.5) ÷ 200, where MET stands for resistance. At resistance level 2, the MET is 4.6, resistance level 5 MET is 4.9 and so on.

A person of 85kg can burn 437 calories on the elliptical in 60 minutes at resistance level 5. At resistance level 8, the same person can burn 509 calories in that same 60 minutes!

An easy thing to keep in mind is that the best way to burn calories on the elliptical is simply to do the exercise on the maximum resistance that your body is capable of, and try to slowly build up strength to go to the next level of resistance.

How Can You Burn 1 Pound Of Fat Through The Elliptical Machine? Time? Effort?

Most of us have specific goals in mind when we decide to start exercising. You should try to keep your goals clear in your mind and understand the best way to achieve them.

If your goal is weight loss, then you have probably wondered how long it will take you to lose certain amounts of fat.

Well, 1 pound (1lb / 0.45kg) of fat is roughly 3500 calories. This sounds like a lot to burn, doesn’t it?On the elliptical trainer, it doesn’t have to be!

If an average person, let’s say who weighs 80kg, was to workout on the elliptical at resistance level 5 (moderate effort), he would burn 412 calories in one hour. If he does this everyday, then in 9 days he will burn 1 pound of fat! If the person works out at resistance level 8, which is high effort, then he will burn 479 calories in one day and will burn 1 pound of fat in simply one week!

This is also with the body toning that the elliptical provides as it works out your upper and lower body. The elliptical is a good choice to burn fat quickly and with customisable levels of effort.

Is Losing Weight Using The Elliptical Machine Faster Than Treadmill/ Stationary Bike?

The treadmill is the machine that closest follows the natural movement of a person while running or walking. The elliptical, however, allows for the same kind of cardio exercise while being less hard on the user’s joints.

Running at 8mph on a treadmill for 20 minutes may help burn between 200 to 300 calories, depending on the speed and incline.

On the elliptical, it may take 30 minutes to burn the same. However a treadmill works only the lower body, and is hard on the joints. While the incline treadmill might burn general calories a small time faster, the elliptical is more beneficial if you want to work out your full body.

The stationary bike is also a cardio exercise machine which targets muscles in your legs and your glutes. It is a great machine to burn fat and lose weight.

However, an elliptical trainer is proven to burn 4% more calories than the stationary bike(51-89 watts) in the same duration of exercise, with the additional benefit of engaging your arms and torso.

The difference between the three lie in which parts of the body they target and come with a small difference in duration of workout to get the same result, but all three are good options for cardiovascular exercise.

Here’s a list of amount of calories burned in 30 minutes of different exercise workouts (A 165-pound person)

Elliptical Machine: 196 calories;

Jumping Jacks : 314 Calories;

Running on Treadmill 6 mph : 495 calories;

Jumping ropes: 463 calories;

Rowing Machine: 210 calories;

Calories burned estimation from elliptical machine is not accurate

Elliptical machines appear to overestimate caloric expenditure by a large number of calories.
Some people who are looking for weight-loss strategy are dependent upon amount of calories burned which are estimated and provide by elliptical machines, and make nutritional intake decisions. Therefore,accurately estimating calories burned on elliptical machine is very important.
These devices claim to provide an accurate estimation picture of the current body related stats and its capacity to burn calories.

These devices tend to use an algorithm which estimates the energy expenditure by any individual, based on his pedal rate and steps per second. However, oftentimes people resorting to these measurements fail to achieve their desired weight.

These devices, as such, fail to provide an accurate caloric expenditure estimated value when you exercse on elliptical machines.

But we all know that the caloric expenditure estimates obtained from exercise equipment are not accurate.
In recent years, many experiments have proved this point.

Below are some of the experiments from the past which have proved them wrong using detailed surveys.

Precor and Life fitness elliptical exercise trainers are quite popular when it comes to measuring heart rate, distance travelled and calories burnt.
A study in 2015, some experts estimated energy Expenditure while exercising on elliptical machine through a research and experiment.
3 men and 3 women performed on both the trainers for 2 bouts per day. The order was randomised and post workout results were recorded. According to the experiment, the PRECOR model EFX 556i overestimated the energy expenditure, while the Life Fitness EFX 556i overestimated the energy expended.

Another study was conducted to compare EE estimates of an elliptical trainer from open circuit spirometry. These were recorded at different resistance levels and pedal speed. 10 male and 10 females volunteered for the study. A 3 times 15 minutes session of training on the elliptical trainer was conducted by each of them with a 24 hour gap between bouts.
Pedal rates were capped at 50, 60 and 70 RPM and resistance was increased at a uniform rate of 5 every 5 minutes. The modulations were completed in a randomised order between participants. Heart rate, distance and EE was measured every minute.
Linear regression models were used to measure the precision of these trainers. The result greatly varied as there was a bias to overestimated EE. Health professionals suggesting these trainers to their clients should be aware if the default in the measurements that these devices can produce.

Another study in 2018 was aimed at comparing the difference between caloric estimation between an elliptical machine and a calorimetry device.
20 females and 14 males volunteered for this study. The measurements from each device regarding calorie expenditure was recorded. There was a major difference in overall calorie expenditure. The difference does tend to be greater for females.
Individuals should enter as much data as possible when using cardiovascular exercise equipment as this should serve to decrease the overestimation of caloric expenditure.
The difference in estimation methods of calorie expenditure between males and females was not very substantive. However, the study concluded that too much dependence on elliptical machines for calorie measurement can lead to inaccurate pictures.

Based on this study, amount of calories burned on elliptical machine in 30 mintues of exercise at moderate intensity maybe overestimated up to approximate 100 calories.

Caution should be taken while using such devices for energy expenditure estimates.