You may not be a runner, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be working on your cardio. A good cardio routine can help you burn fat, improve your cardiovascular health and strength, and even help keep your brain healthy.

Orbitrek is one of the best ways to get this kind of exercise—it’s low impact and easy on the joints, so it’s perfect for people who have trouble with running or other more intense cardio workouts. It also works out different muscle groups than most forms of exercise do, so you’ll be getting a full-body workout every time you go.

Right here on Buy and Slay, you are privy to a litany of relevant information on benefits of an elliptical machine workout, and so much more. Take out time to visit our catalog for more information on similar topics.

Orbitrek Workout For Weight Loss

When you think about an elliptical workout machine or a cross-trainer aerobic exercise equipment, Orbitrek Elite is the word that comes naturally to your minds. Thanks to the popular telebrands TV program!

Orbitrek Elite is an elliptical aerobic exercise machine vouched by millions all over the world. It works on multiple muscle groups of your body. Not just that, it is one of the best cardio workout machine preferred by many doctors including me.

I have been using this wonderful machine for the past 1 year. I was extremely satisfied with the results I achieved with the help of Orbitrek Elite. That is why I have written a detailed review on the Orbitrek Elite.

In this article, I am sharing my Orbitrek workout routine. We shall also learn how the Orbitrek Elite can be used to sculpt your muscles, to do proper cardio and to reduce weight! If you are someone who has recently purchased an aerobic elliptical workout machine and is unsure of how to use it properly, this article might help you.

The Preparation for the Orbitrek Elite workout

First of all, I drink a glass of water and I recommend you to do the same. After that, I connect the boAt Rockerz BlueTooth headphones to my iPhone and start playing my favorite playlist. Believe me, when I say this, music will help you immensely in staying focussed and motivated.

Then I hop into my workout clothes and shoes.

It is recommended to do the workout for at least 20 minutes a day. An ideal workout session should last for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Each workout session has to pass through the following 3 phases :

Warm-up

This is a very important phase of any kind of exercise. Some of the simple warm-up stretching exercises that can be done include side bends, forward bends, the plank position, the bridge, the semi-bridge position, etc. Each stretch should be held for about 30 seconds.

Warming up a bit helps in the blood flow to all parts of the body. This also makes the muscles to work the right way. It also reduces the risk of muscle cramps and subsequent injuries.

Burn it

This phase starts when I step on to the Orbitrek Elite. This should last for a minimum of 15 minutes.

Start the exercise at the lowest resistance level and gradually increase it. It is important to keep a steady rate after you reach the level that you can tolerate.

Reverse movement should also be done maintaining the same resistance level.

Positioning your grip on the handles in different ways helps to work different groups of forearm muscles.

Always remember to breathe in through the nose for each round that you do.

Do not test your body’s potential by overdoing the workout.

Instead of glaring at the digital display on the machine, I continue this phase for the length of 4 songs!

If you experience dizziness, nausea, chest pain or any other abnormal symptoms, stop the workout at once and consult your physician immediately.

Wind up

Slow down the tempo and continue the workout at lower resistance for at least 5 minutes. After completing this phase, step down from the Orbitrek Elite. Then, repeat the stretching exercises that you did in the initial warm-up phase for about 2 minutes.

After a few weeks, you will be able to train longer and harder. It is advisable to train at least 3 to 5 times a week. If possible, try to space out the workout sessions throughout the week.

How to tone your muscles using Orbitrek Elite?

The Orbitrek Elite is not only an excellent cardio workout machine, but it can also even help bulk up and tone your flabby muscles. But, in order to do so, you will need to have the resistance set quite high. This will put more strain on your leg muscles and hence you may not be able to train for as long as you would like to in the initial days.

The trick is to carry out the warm-up and wind up phases as normal, but towards the end of the “burn it” phase, you should increase the resistance to make your legs and arms work harder than normal. During this phase, you should reduce the speed to keep your heart rate in the normal target zone.

Similarly, by focussing more on the pushing and pulling of the handles, you can work for the arm, shoulder & forearm muscle groups.

How to lose the extra weight with Orbitrek Elite?

Our busy and sedentary lifestyle is the easiest road to many diseases. It can even make us overweight and obese.

Guess what? In addition to improving your overall physical fitness and helping you tone the muscles, Orbitrek Elite can be used to reduce your extra weight. The important factor here is the amount of effort you are willing to put in. The mantra is simple :

“The harder and longer you work, the more calories you burn”

If you can keep doing the workout 5 times a week for 2 months, you will definitely lose the extra fat!

But, this alone is not enough if you are looking to cut down your weight. Adopting a healthy balanced diet and adhering to good eating habits goes a long way in helping you meet your goal.

UPDATE : The Orbitrek Elite is a proper cardio workout machine. You can also use it to tone your large muscles. I’ve learned recently that any exercise session should include some strengthening type of workouts too. That means you should do some push ups, crunches, sit-ups, pull-ups, presses, etc in addition to the cardio workouts.

These type of exercises helps to strengthen your main muscle groups. So, the mantra is —> “aerobic + strengthening” exercises.

Benefits Of Exercising On Orbitrek

  1. Non Impact Workout

Most people keep away from doing workouts in gym because they suffer from bone and joint conditions such as osteoporosis, arthritis or have weak ligaments and they fear that their condition may get worse if they perform exercises. But when you exercise on Orbitrek, you can ensure that your joints are completely safe as it does not have impact on them. In fact, it provides the same kind of workout as jogging but without causing wear and tear of your joints. When you have regularly jogged for some time and that too without a proper pair of sneakers, then you must have noticed acute pain in joints, back, knees and ankles.

The best part about working out on Orbitrek is that your feet will be firmly placed on the gliding platform ensuring that your feet moves along with it. This is therefore, a safer exercise option for people who are elderly or are obese as they fear of weakening their joints further.

  1. Enhanced Aerobic Capacity

Aerobic capacity is defined as the maximum amount of oxygen used by the body within a given time frame during intense workouts. In fitness trainings, experts have laid much importance to the aerobic capacity. It is said that if the aerobic capacity is low, then you will soon find yourself tired and will be unable to workout for a long time. On the contrary, if it is high, then you will have the endurance to exercise for long periods without finding yourself getting out of breath. When you workout on Orbitrek, your rate of heart beat will increase and you will sweat out more. This will gradually help you in enhancing your aerobic capacity. If you workout on Orbitrek for around 4 days a week for 20 minutes, then it is enough for augmenting your aerobic capacity.

  1. Complete Body Workout

When you start running outside or on the treadmill, you tend to have complete body workout at the cost of strained legs. You may even experience cramp on legs and even if you properly run on treadmill, then you will have not have significant effect on your upper body. But when you workout on Orbitrek, then you will enjoy a complete body workout as it works on the upper and lower body at the same time. It effectively helps in toning the legs, chest, shoulders, arms and back. It is said that if you don’t hold the bars while exercising on Orbitrek, then you will find your abs are working harder while stabilizing your body. In all, nothing can give you the results of a complete body workout as better as Orbitrek, in matter of just 20 minutes.

  1. Effective Lower Body Exercise

People mostly want to strengthen their leg muscles and joints while toning them. Since the target part are legs, Orbitrek makes you use the leg muscles a lot while working out. If you want to use Orbitrek for effectively toning and strengthening your legs, then you need to workout on Orbitrek by placing your hands on the hand bars and just use your legs to move the pedals. If you want to have a variation while using the Orbitrek, then you need to just reverse the direction of the pedals and you will notice that your legs are working more intensively.

  1. High Calorie Burning Capacity

Many studies have claimed that Orbitrek has the capacity to burn high amount of calories in comparison to running outside or on treadmill. As per a health publication, depending upon your weight, you can burn around 400 calories in just 30 minutes of exercising on Orbitrek machine. It has been studied that the more weight you have, more will the calories burnt. Even the intensity levels play a major role in burning of calories. So you need to play with the intensity levels at frequent intervals during these 30 minutes so that you burn calories optimally.

  1. Highly Comfortable

You don’t need to adjust yourself for the Orbitrek. It is an equipment that can be comfortably used to maintain your physical fitness if you don’t want to exert more energy. Moreover, when you stop, the machine automatically stops. You can determine your own speed by your movements. Also, if you are thinking of purchasing the Orbitrek machine for your home gym, then you must know that it consume very less electricity and is economical to use. Since the impact is less, there are hardly any chances of wear and tear of the machine and this saved cost of maintenance gives Orbitrek an advantage over the treadmill.

Benefits Of An Elliptical Machine Workout

If you find yourself waiting in line to use your gym’s elliptical machine during peak workout hours, you’re not alone. The elliptical trainer is often one of the most sought-after cardio machines at fitness centers. It’s also a top choice for home exercise equipment.

So what is it about this low impact machine that makes it so popular? Check out these 10 benefits and decide for yourself.

1. Boosts your stamina and cardio capacity

Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio, is a key part of a balanced exercise routine. When you do aerobic exercise, your heart and lungs need to work harder to provide your muscles with more blood and oxygen.

The elliptical machine allows you to get a good aerobic workout, which can strengthen your heart, lungs, and muscles. This, in turn, can help build your stamina and endurance.

On an elliptical machine, you can perform both high intensity interval training and steady-state cardio workouts.

2. Burns a lot of calories

If you’re looking for a way to crush your calorie burn in a short amount of time, jump on the elliptical.

Depending on how much you weigh, this cardio machine can burn about 270–400 calories in 30 minutes.

The lower end of the range represents a person weighing 125 pounds (56.7 kg) while the higher end is for someone weighing 185 pounds (83.9 kg).

Burning more calories than you consume can help you lose weight. To boost your calorie burn, consider increasing the intensity of your elliptical workouts.

3. Puts less stress on your joints

When the elliptical hit the cardio machine scene back in the 1990s, runners with achy joints and overuse injuries rejoiced at the thought of being able to train their cardiovascular system while relieving some of the pressure on their joints.

Your knees, ankles, hips, and other joints can take a beating when running or doing other high impact cardio exercises. Since your feet never lift off of the pedals with an elliptical, this machine offers a low impact cardio workout.

A 2014 study showed that an elliptical workout is significantly less weight-bearing than other cardio exercises like running, jogging, and similar workouts.

In other words, with an elliptical, you can continue training without the wear and tear that comes with high impact exercise.

4. Serves as both an upper and lower body workout

An elliptical machine with handles is one of the few cardio machines that can provide you with both an upper and lower body workout.

The key to maximizing its upper body benefits is to distribute your weight and resistance evenly. In other words, pump your arms just as fast as you’re moving your legs.

When done correctly, the elliptical can target your glutes, hamstrings, quads, chest, back, biceps, triceps, and core muscles.

5. Burns body fat

Given that the calorie burn associated with an elliptical is higher than that of some other cardio machines like the stationary bike, it can help you lose body fat in a shorter amount of time. This is especially true if you focus on interval work.

To maximize fat burning, try to focus on the intensity and duration of your workouts. One study found that while both high and medium intensity workouts helped with fat loss, high intensity intervals allowed you to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time.

Consider adding interval training to your elliptical workouts with a 2-to-1 ratio, e.g., 30 seconds of high intensity work followed by 15 seconds of recovery, or 60 seconds of high intensity work followed by 30 seconds of recovery.

Do not stop moving your legs during the recovery periods. Continue to move the pedals, albeit at a slower pace.

6. Targets specific leg muscles

You can change both the resistance and incline of the foot pedals on an elliptical. By doing this, you can target different muscles in your lower body, including your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

By increasing the incline, you may feel the backside of your lower body more. If you adjust the foot pedals lower, you may feel your quads working harder.

Plus, since the foot pedals also move in reverse, you can change the direction of your stride and focus more on your hamstrings and glutes.

7. Improves your balance

Weight-bearing exercise can not only help strengthen your bones but also improve your balance. If you stand up straight and let go of the elliptical handles, you can target your core muscles and work on your balance.

Just ensure that the resistance and incline are set at manageable levels so you can use the elliptical machine safely without using the handles.

8. Maintains fitness after injury

If you’re nursing an injury and can’t participate in your regular physical activities, working out on an elliptical can be a great way to build or maintain your fitness.

Since it’s a low impact exercise, the elliptical puts less stress on your joints than high impact workouts like running, jogging, or jumping.

Working out on an elliptical after an injury may help you regain full range of motion. It can also help strengthen your muscles and joints while taking the stress off of the injured area.

9. Provides a variety of options

Elliptical machines usually offer a variety of preprogrammed exercise routines that mimic hill climbing, interval training, and other customizable options that help you get the type of workout you want.

10. Straightforward to use

One of the advantages of an elliptical is that it doesn’t take long to learn how to use it. Although the learning curve with this machine is fairly easy, you may want to ask a personal trainer for guidance if you haven’t used one before.

A trainer can give you tips on how to use it correctly and the type of workout that may be best for your fitness goals.

When first getting started on the elliptical, you may want to only use the foot pedals. Once you get used to the movement of the machine, you can add the handles.

Is elliptical as good as running?

If you’re looking for an alternative to running, the elliptical is a great option. Not only is it easier on your joints, but you can also adjust the incline and resistance to mimic a running workout.

That said, most avid runners will tell you that it’s not the same as a good old-fashioned run.

Hitting the pavement or trails requires your feet to leave the ground and forces your body to adapt to inconsistent conditions. You might be stepping on uneven surfaces or going up and down hills.

This means you’ll recruit your lower body muscles to a greater degree and need more force to propel yourself forward.

Plus, pumping your arms boosts your heart rate, increases calorie burning, and uses some key upper body muscles like the biceps, triceps, chest, and upper back.

Many ellipticals come with handlebars that allow you to push and pull against resistance, but unlike the arm movements you perform continuously while running, this motion is optional with an elliptical. Also, the machine will do some of the work for you.

Although you should engage your core muscles when performing any aerobic workout, it’s easier to let these critical muscles relax when exercising on the elliptical, making running a better workout for your core.

One way to get the best of both worlds is to incorporate the elliptical into a running routine. For example, replace one outdoor or treadmill running day with a 30–45-minute workout on the elliptical.

Use this time to work on intervals and heart rate training. As a result, you’ll focus less on the impact and more on your cardiovascular system.

Is elliptical as good as cycling?

Both cycling and the elliptical machine are considered low impact cardiovascular activities.

Since your feet are in contact with the pedals during the entire workout, both cycling and elliptical training are easier on the joints than running or other high intensity workouts.

If you’re using an upright or recumbent bike, you can regulate the resistance to get a cardiovascular workout and calorie burn similar to those of the elliptical.

However, comparing outdoor cycling with an elliptical is a little more challenging.

There are more variables like hills, uneven terrain, trails, and traffic when you head outdoors. This often results in a workout that’s more interval-based than a consistent, moderate intensity session on an elliptical.

Outdoor cycling also requires your body to adjust to varying conditions. In that sense, cycling may be a better workout, especially if you’re looking for a more functional workout that replicates the movement patterns you do more regularly.

Plus, findings from self-reported data show that ditching motorized transportation in favor of cycling to work may result in less weight gain over time.

How long should I use the elliptical?

The amount of time you should spend on the elliptical depends on your overall goals. In general, you should aim for a minimum of 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week, with the upper end being 300 minutes.

This translates to 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week to hit the 150-minute goal. If you don’t have 30 minutes to spare, up the intensity and do 20 minutes instead.

Working out at a higher intensity is a time-efficient method for improving your cardiovascular health and boosting your calorie burn.

Can the elliptical help with belly fat?

Elliptical machines are designed for cardiovascular or aerobic workouts. Many people use the elliptical to increase their heart rate, burn calories, and lose body fat.

While aerobic exercise can aid weight loss, it’s not a magical cure for belly fat. That said, combining exercise and a low calorie, high protein diet as part of an overall weight loss program can result in both subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat, according to research.

Drawbacks of the elliptical machine

With all of the pros that come with using the elliptical, there are some cons to keep in mind.

“The motion on the elliptical is slightly different than running or walking, so leg and core muscles are activated differently,” says John M. Martinez, MD, primary care sports medicine physician at Pain Free Running.

“This difference in muscle activation may potentially lead to injury if the body doesn’t adapt to the new muscle-firing and movement patterns.”

Also, if you aren’t consciously trying to keep your legs aligned properly, you may feel pain associated with improper tracking of the feet and legs, especially because your foot often remains in a fixed position on the elliptical machine.

He also points out that since the elliptical is lower impact than running or walking, you may see fewer gains in leg strength due to less stress being placed on the legs.

Because of this lower impact, Dr. Martinez says you may also see less improvement in bone density compared with running or weightlifting. This is because higher loads or impact tend to increase bone density in the lower body.

The bottom line

Including the elliptical machine in your fitness routine can help strengthen your heart, lungs, and muscles, all while boosting your stamina, improving your balance, and burning a lot of calories.

It’s also a great option if you have joint issues or want to build or maintain your fitness after an injury.

While this low impact piece of equipment is a great choice for most fitness levels, it’s important to include other exercises in your routine if you’re looking to strengthen your legs and build bone density. There’s not a perfect workout to accomplish every goal.

Nevertheless, the elliptical machine is a great choice for almost anyone, and its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks.

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