Most people connect high-intensity interval training (or HIIT) workouts with running on a treadmill, cycling, or sprinting outside. But what about a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) elliptical workout? Include HIIT in your elliptical exercises to take them to the next level. When it comes to getting in your interval workouts, the elliptical is a terrific alternative that offers a few advantages that the other options don’t. In this article, we’ll cover how to do an Elltiptical HIIT workout that gets results.
The Pros and Cons of Elliptical HIIT Workout
Benefits of Elliptical HIIT Workout
The Elliptical HIIT Workout comes with a number of benefits. It is low in impact and non-weight bearing, which is a major bonus for folks who have constraints that prevent them from running or doing a high-impact HIIT workout.
However, cardio queens who just need a break from the repeated stress of jogging or hundreds of burpee and squat jump repeats can use the machine instead without compromising cardiovascular advantages. The beauty of the elliptical is that you can vary the resistance and slope to assist you to achieve your peak intensities effectively, allowing you to get the most out of your workout.
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Here are some of the advantages of Elliptical HIIT Workout:
- Low-impact exercise
The elliptical machine allows you to simulate jogging without the harsh effect on your joints that a treadmill does. This is one of its main advantages.
- Ability to Cross-Train
Most elliptical trainers include moveable handles that allow you to work out both your upper and lower body at the same time. This will help you get a more intense HIIT elliptical exercise.
- Reverse Stride
Most ellipticals enable you to stride backwards, which may train various muscle groups and place more stress on your quadriceps, as well as provide customizable diversity in the middle of your exercise. For added efficacy, power-incline ellipticals may train multiple muscle areas.
- Lower Perceived Exertion
When people exercise on an elliptical, studies reveal that they work harder than they think. When exercising on an elliptical, participants were asked to assess their perceived output. The bulk of studies found that people overestimate their real production based on their heart rate. As a result, the elliptical may burn almost the same number of calories while exerting less effort. While HIIT workouts may not be ideal for all fitness levels, you may work your way up to including them in your training regimen a couple of times per week.
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Drawbacks of Elliptical HIIT Workout
There are a few disadvantages to this, including the discomfort that occurs when the equipment and your body do not work together properly.
One of the disadvantages of completing an elliptical HIIT exercise is that you miss out on the potential benefits of your body adapting and reacting to the strain on your muscles and joints. The ankles, knees, hips, and pelvis, as well as the bones that link them, are all stressed greater by impact. Some amount of impact is necessary for bone health when done properly, with the appropriate form, and in moderation.
Multiple planes of motion training, such as frontal and transverse motions, help to level out your body’s strength and keep ailments at bay.
How to design your Elliptical HIIT workout
A HIIT workout consists of brief bursts of high-intensity activity followed by intervals of lower-intensity recuperation. Ranking your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) on a scale of 1 (very easy/little to moderate effort) to 10 (very difficult/maximum effort) is one of the simplest methods to determine the intensity of an exercise. You should work out at an RPE of nine or 10 throughout your short work sessions.
Warm-up
Warming up is important for any workout, but it’s especially important for this one because you’re going to put in an all-out effort. Warm-ups should take eight to twelve minutes and include a progressive rise in intensity such that your RPE reaches a seven out of ten at the end of the warm-up. That implies you could (but probably won’t) strike up a conversation, and you’ve undoubtedly begun to sweat. This will help you work out longer and harder by increasing your body temperature, blood flow, and fat utilisation. To prepare your body for the real workout, follow your warm-up with a two- to five-minute recuperation break.
Time duration
In terms of how long your HIIT workout should last, a minimum of 10 minutes, not including the warm-up, is recommended. This may be divided into segments as long as four minutes and as short as five to ten seconds.
Intervals
When it comes to intervals, a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio—that is, 30 seconds of labour followed by 30 seconds of rest—is a decent place to start. However, depending on your level of fitness, you may wish to change that ratio. If you’re a novice, you may need to reduce the amount of labour and increase the rest intervals to achieve a 1:2 ratio (i.e. 30 seconds of work followed by one minute of rest). You can opt to perform more work with less rest if you want to push yourself (i.e. one minute of work with 30 seconds of recovery).
Recuperation
Don’t skip or cut corners on your recovery time! If you’re really pushing it and reaching an RPE of 9-10 during your work intervals, reduce your RPE to 6-7 (or even lower) during the rest periods. This allows your heart rate to drop and your body to remove metabolic waste products like carbon dioxide and lactate, allowing you to return to the high intensity you were just pounding.
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Different Elliptical HIIT workouts
Try one of these elliptical HIIT workouts below, or use them as a starting point to create your own. The greatest thing is that because these HIIT routines are centred on RPE (rather than inclination or resistance level), you can simply adapt them to various cardio equipment like a rower or treadmill.
35-Minute Elliptical HIIT Workout
Here, we have mentioned how to do a 35-Minute Pyramid Elliptical HIIT Workout. You may change the inclination and resistance as needed to obtain the ideal RPE from 1 to 10. (with 10 being the maximum effort).
Warm-up (10 minutes):
- 2 minutes: RPE of 3
- 2 minutes: RPE of 4
- 2 minutes: RPE of 5
- 2 minutes: RPE of 6
- 2 minutes: RPE of 7
Recovery: 5 minutes, RPE of 3-4
HIIT Workout (20 minutes, work to rest ratio of 1:1):
- 1 minute: RPE of 9-10 out of 10
- 1 minute (recovery): RPE of 3-4 out of 10
Repeat 10 times
45-Minute Pyramid Elliptical HIIT Workout
You’re still working in a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio, but you’re challenging your body to tolerate longer amounts of ‘on’ time to build stamina by varying the interval timing. Read how to do a 45-Minute Pyramid Elliptical HIIT Workout.
Warm-up (10 minutes):
- 2 minutes: RPE of 3
- 2 minutes: RPE of 4
- 2 minutes: RPE of 5
- 2 minutes: RPE of 6
- 2 minutes: RPE of 7
Recovery: 5 minutes, RPE of 3-4
HIIT Workout (30 minutes):
- 1:00 on / 1:00 off
- 2:00 on / 2:00 off
- 3:00 on / 3:00 off
- 4:00 on / 4:00 off
- 5:00 on / 5:00 off
We hope you found this article on Elliptical HIIT workout helpful.
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