Elliptical Question

I know elliptical machines are all made different and all put out different calories burned than others and even distance traveled. But does anyone know a good set average for how many calories elliptical's burn? And how many minutes, I dont know if getting a higher heart burns more calories either?....But I do know that since I have been doing a half hour of elliptical at a very hard rate, it has gotten me in excellent shape.

Hi bretthaid,

I count 200 calories for 20 minutes of elliptical machine training. Almost daily, I train between the 20-30 minutes on an intensive level. I agree that a higher  heart rate (within acceptable levels) will burn more calories. I keep my heart rate around 180 bpm.

Currently, I increase the intensity/resistance level on the machine every other week.  You need to challenge your body for an optimal calorie burn. If I don't challenge my body, I believe that through time, I will burn less calories since my body gets trained. No pain = no gain as the cliche goes.

Through my own experience, I burn more calories with a 20-30 minute interval training than a long duration training (60 minute session).

Yes, the elliptical machine is a wonderful piece of equipment when used frequently.

Hi bretthaid,

The best way to know how many calories your burning is to invest in a heartrate moniter.  I had a trainer tell me that most if not all cardio machines are not a 100% accurate. She suggested a heart rate moniter. I noticed that after I did the elliptical for an hour the machine said I burned a 100 more calories then I realy did.  Having a heartrate moniter has realy helped my workouts alot. I highly recamend one. Polor is great.