Some find elliptical trainers fascinating enough to use every day, and few individuals believe only if they work out daily will they achieve their fitness quickly. Another set of individuals think that they have invested a lot into an elliptical, and they need to extract their money’s worth as soon as possible.
Whatever might be their reason to work out every day, this article focuses on giving you the proper idea of how often you can use an elliptical. Let us bust the myths and beliefs by knowing how many days a week you can use and not use an elliptical.
Most people prefer ellipticals for their ease of use, cardio workout, and low-impact exercise they offer. It is also easy to lose weight when using them consistently. Coming to the main point, yes, you can use an elliptical every day, but you should not use it daily if you want optimal gain and avoid fatigue.
Moreover, it would help if you altered your workout too intense training on a few days and low-intensity training on the rest. But if you want to continue intense exercises every day for strength building and to lose weight, you need to give a break at least for a day each week.
When you work out, your body is subjected to micro-tears in its muscles, and it requires time to heal. So, when you give a gap, your body automatically finds time to heal itself and recovers well in no time. Otherwise, these minor injuries become larger issues as time goes by and makes you feel burnt out.
Discomfort due to soreness and fatigue are bodily disadvantages of over-exercising, while it can also affect the mind by causing depression. There is no straightforward way of telling if you should use the elliptical daily or not, but we can lay out your options to help you decide on how to use it effectively.
What Happens If You Use Elliptical Every Day?
If you use the elliptical every day for intensity training or strength training, it will cause burnout in a few days. You need to stop for a day or two every week before resuming your next week’s training to avoid fatigue, leading to bigger issues.
When you feel sore all day, simple activities seem like a big chore leading to excessive stress that produces elevated cortisol levels, which leaves you feeling stressed all day. This mental activity can lead to anxiety or depression, which will affect your daily productivity.
Exercising will produce adrenaline and is beneficial in moderate amounts. However, if you exercise more than necessary, the leftover adrenaline does not allow you to fall asleep, leading to insomnia.
Though exercising on an elliptical is good for your heart health, people with pre-existing heart conditions should not train for more than five days a week. Also, care should be taken to use this machine at low or medium intensity and under the doctor’s supervision in this case.
It is not safe for such people to work on high intensity or continuously for the week. When you use this machine with caution and proper guidance, you can improve your heart health. However, you should not use it without professional guidance.
What Is the Ideal Usage for an Elliptical?
As already mentioned, five days a week of the workout is optimal for both your fitness and allows your body to recover from the minute tears it gets during this period of workout. If you want to exercise, you can try some relaxing workouts that do not strain your body but still help you be active.
Just remember that you should not strain yourself these two days whatever you do. Also, opting for different exercises two days a week will help you to improve your balance, activates your other muscles, increase bone density, and enhance your stamina.
What Effect Does an Elliptical Have When Used at Low-Intensity Setting Daily?
Do not be in a misconception that using the elliptical at a low setting means you can use it every day for lengthy periods. When you use an elliptical like this, you develop muscle memory laziness, and your muscles will not get activated even when you work out.
It means that despite your workout, you will not lose any weight. In other words, your muscles develop muscle memory laziness due to the repetitive action, allowing your body to adapt to the stress, making the workouts seem easy.
This results in lesser calorie burn. You cannot burn more calories unless you exert yourself during the exercise, even for five days a week. It implies that you need not work hard for all seven days of the week in a low-intensity setting but work for at least five days a week on a challenging level.
Is There an Ideal Elliptical Session Time?
Now that you have learned about the days you need to work every week and the intensity for an ideal workout, let us check out the time you need to work out each day. If you are a beginner, you can start with 10 minutes to 15 minutes and gradually increase the time until you reach 30 minutes.
However, if you are an avid trainer, you can work out for 30 to 50 minutes per session and anywhere between 4 to 6 days a week, accounting for 150 minutes to 250 minutes a week. Make sure that you exert yourself well to gain optimal benefit; otherwise, consider upping the resistance.
Which Intensity Gives What Effect?
You can adjust the intensity gradually once you reach the stamina of working for the maximum ideal time. When working at a low intensity, you can easily work for as long as 30 minutes to one hour in a session as elliptical mimics walking and does not seem too strenuous at this level.
If you use the elliptical often and do not feel enough burn, you can switch the intensity to the medium level. However, at a high intensity, you should only work after a maximum of 30 minutes by breaking this session into shorter intervals.
It helps you from burning yourself out and allows you to give a short recovery time to your body. Few machines come with inbuilt interval exercises, making it easier to perform high-intensity exercises ranging from 15 to 50 minutes without worrying about setting intervals.
Tips for Efficient Use of an Elliptical
You should know a few more things apart from those mentioned above to gain the maximum advantage of your elliptical. When incorporated into your routine for strength training, these tips and tricks will not only burn more calories but also save you from the monotony of workouts.
- Ensure to keep your feet flat while pedaling the elliptical so that you do not favor your toes or heels that can strain certain parts of your feet and legs.
- Keeping your knees bent while moving your legs will help you avoid unnecessary strain on them.
- You keep changing your speed and intensity, but also consider changing the direction by using the backward movement, which activates different muscles from the forward movement.
- While the reverse moment helps reach out to the inactive muscles, you should do the action with a lot of ease as an increase in speed can strain your knees.
- Stationary elliptical handles will improve your posture and benefit your spine.
- Moving elliptical handles will work your abdominal core muscles and your upper body, along with improving your balance.
Do’s and Don’ts While Using an Elliptical
Remember to keep your feet flat and not to walk on your toes. Also, keep your knees bent and not straighten them during the workout. Coming to the back, keep it straight and do not lean forward or slouch.
Use both forward and backward motion and do not stick with forwarding motion as reverse motion can work small lower muscles, which can be activated using regular motion—similarly, alternate between using the handles and not using them to enjoy a total body workout.
Do not be passive or distracted, but focus on your breathing and pay attention to your core and posture. Mix up the routines and try different workouts such as climb, sprint, go backward, and indifferent timed intervals for variety and for activating various muscles.
Does Reaping Benefits From an Elliptical Require Using It Daily?
You need not use the elliptical every day to gain optimal benefits but use it consistently to improve the functioning of your heart, lungs, and muscles. A regular workout also helps you gain better stamina and endurance while having less impact on your hips, back, and knees than running or jogging.
Benefits of Using the Elliptical Consistently for Few Days
Using the elliptical based on the optimal gain information regulates the blood pressure and releases serotonin that improves your mood. The increased blood circulation supports better oxygen binding and boosts immunity which keeps you safe from illnesses.
It also helps in reducing inflammation and relieving stress when used at medium to low intensity. As you use your weight to push the pedals, it comes under weight-bearing exercises that help maintain your bone health by improving bone density.
Just remember that you need not use this machine every day to get all these benefits but use it tactically, as mentioned above, to gain maximum physical and mental health benefits.