Elliptical Workout Benefits – Is This Cardio Machine Too Easy?

The elliptical trainer is a cardio machine that is made fun of in many fitness circles.

The main criticism is that it’s simply too easy.

To me, this is the greatest strength of this machine.

You don’t necessarily want every exercise you do in the gym to be as intense as possible.

I think of it mainly as a mellow way to burn fat.

Doing cardio on an elliptical machine the closest thing to getting a massage while burning calories.

If I have tons of energy and really want to work up a sweat I’ll use a different cardio machine.

Or…

I’ll split my cardio between 15-20 minutes on the stair climber and maybe 15-20 minutes on the Elliptical.

There is a time for less intense training.

Especially if the early part of your workout routine looks anything crazy like this.

(I’m not going to lie, I’d be extremely polite to this dude and the guy “spotting” him. You want these guys on your side in case of a zombie apocalypse.)

Anyway…

Working out isn’t all about making every set, rep and exercise as intense as possible.

You have to know when to back off… and elliptical cardio is perfect for this.

You can do intervals on the Elliptical to make it more intense, but it is hard to make them as challenging as some of the other cardio machines.

I like to think of the Elliptical Trainer as an easy-to-medium machine.

Here’s a beginner-friendly interval cardio workout.

Stay at each level for 30 seconds.

Adjust the starting level so that it is easy (8 in this case) and so that the peak level (level 12 in this case) is slightly challenging.

Work from easy to slightly hard…

Then work back down from slightly hard to easy.

Repeat this until you reach your desired workout time (it only takes 4.5 minutes, so repeat this at least 4-5 times).

I think I’m going to call this the “Smooth Operator Cardio Workout”.

So…

Don’t discount the Elliptical.

It has a place in a well-constructed cardio workout routine.