HIIT Elliptical Workout Routine – Burn More Fat in Less Time

What is High Intensity Interval Training?

High Intensity Intervel Training or HIIT for short is a combination of moderate intensity output, be it running, swimming or ellipticalling (new word). Followed by high exertions of intensity (sprinting). The idea is that the high-low combo allows you to burn more calories than if you stuck to a constant jog or brisk pace. It is also a big time saver as you can burn through a lot more distance and calories in a shorter duration of time.

But don’t think high Intensity Intervel Training is just for athletes or fitness buffs. Practically everyone can integrate HIIT into their fitness regiments to further increase their cardiovascular conditioning and fat-burning efficiency. HIIT can be performed on almost anything. In this article we are going to be showing you how to implement an HIIT elliptical workout routine into your fat burning arsenal.

 

 

HIIT Elliptical Workout Routine:

 

Objective:      Fat Burning / Cardiovascular Training / Anaerobic Exercise
Method:         HIIT Elliptical Workout
Equipment:   Elliptical Machine
Duration:       2-6 rounds

 

Phase 1: The Warmup:

Pedal the elliptical machine at a low intensity for five minutes. Your speed should be roughly at 3 miles per hour or whatever you feel comfortable with. Remember the idea is just to get some blood flow going. You should always properly warmup before exercising, especially when doing HIIT as it requires you to be at a high intensity. Failure to properly warm up could cause an injury.

 

Phase 2:  Time to Get Intense

Increase both your speed and resistance level to a point that you feel you could only maintain for 30 seconds. The idea here is to mimic how you would be if you were being chased by a crazed lunatic with a hockey mask and a chainsaw (i’m aware thats two different films).

 

Phase 3:  Some Relief

Now that your thirty seconds are up and you’re ready to keel over, its time too slow down a bit. Proceed to pedal at a moderate-intensity for now because the fun starts again in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Remember the idea here is not too reduce yourself to a crawl but to go into more of a jog like pace.

 

Phase 4: Rinse

Increase your speed and resistance again back to your high intensity zone for 30 seconds.

 

Phase 5: Repeat

Lower your speed again back your low-moderate intensity zone for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

 

Phase 6: Cool Down

Lower your speed and resistance to mimic a walking-like intensity. This is the final stage of HIIT and is known as the “cool down”. Do this for 5 minutes and you have successfully finished your HIIT elliptical workout.

For a beginners first time doing an HIIT elliptical routine, excluding the warmup and cool down periods, anywhere from 10-20 minutes of workout time is sufficient. The great thing about High Intensity Interval Training is that you can tailor it specifically to your needs. Remember if it starts to get too easy you can either further increase your intensity, increase your total rounds, or increase your time high-intensity mode from 30 seconds to a minute.