5 Advanced Elliptical Workouts for Weight Loss

Warning: advanced elliptical workouts ahead!

While beginner routines are great for getting into the groove, advanced elliptical workouts can push you past plateaus and accelerate weight loss. Adding intensity, variety, and new challenges to your cardio routine will rev up your metabolism and turn your body into a calorie-burning machine. These advanced workouts also engage more muscles, helping you tone up while torching fat.

Advanced elliptical workouts aren’t just about cranking up the resistance. They incorporate interval training, longer sessions, and full-body engagement. This combination helps you shed pounds faster while building endurance and muscle. And let’s be honest—doing the same routine every time can get boring. Advanced workouts spice things up, keeping your body guessing and your mind engaged.

Ready to kick your workouts up a notch? I have five advanced elliptical workouts to help you push toward a leaner, fitter body. Whether you’re looking to boost your cardio endurance or melt away stubborn fat, these workouts challenge you in the best way possible.

The Benefits of Advanced Elliptical Workouts for Weight Loss

Elliptical workouts are well-known for providing a low-impact cardio option, making them ideal for people who want to burn calories without the strain that running or jumping can put on their joints. But when you elevate your elliptical routine to an advanced level, the benefits go far beyond the basics of calorie burning.

Advanced elliptical workouts challenge your body in new ways, helping you tap into your full fat-burning potential by incorporating intensity, variation, and strategic resistance. These challenging workouts are perfect for breaking through plateaus and accelerating your weight-loss journey.

One of the key advantages of advanced elliptical workouts is the ability to combine high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with sustained endurance exercises. HIIT workouts, in particular, are renowned for boosting your metabolism and increasing calorie burn even after your workout, a phenomenon known as the afterburn effect or EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption).

By alternating between intense bursts of speed and resistance with periods of recovery, your body works harder to return to its resting state, leading to a prolonged fat-burning phase. This means you continue to shed pounds long after you’ve stepped off the elliptical.

Beyond the metabolic boost, advanced elliptical workouts engage more muscle groups than traditional cardio exercises. With dual-action handlebars, ellipticals allow you to activate your upper-body muscles while your legs power through the workout. This full-body engagement enhances muscle tone and definition, particularly in your arms, shoulders, chest, back, glutes, quads, and hamstrings.

As a result, your body becomes more efficient at burning calories, and you build lean muscle mass, which helps in weight loss by increasing your resting metabolic rate. By consistently challenging yourself with these advanced routines, you’ll improve cardiovascular endurance, strengthen your muscles, and burn fat more effectively, making your workouts time-efficient and results-driven.

5 Advanced Elliptical Workouts for Weight Loss

Now for the good stuff.

These workouts are perfect for experienced fitness enthusiasts who want to maximize their time on the elliptical. Whether your goal is shedding those last few stubborn pounds, breaking through a weight-loss plateau, or simply ramping up your fitness routine, this guide has you covered.

Not only will these advanced elliptical workouts help you lose weight, but they’ll also enhance your strength, endurance, and overall cardiovascular health.

Workout 1: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Blast

What you need: Your elliptical and 20 to 30 minutes. This workout alternates between intense bursts of effort and short recovery periods to spike your heart rate and burn fat fast.

The Routine:

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of moderate pace on the elliptical
• HIIT intervals: 30 seconds of all-out effort (high resistance and speed) followed by 30 seconds of slow recovery. Repeat for 10 rounds.
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of a steady, easy pace

Directions:

1. Warm up with 5 minutes of moderate pace on the elliptical.
2. Go all-out for 30 seconds—this means high resistance and as fast as possible.
3. Slow down for a 30-second recovery.
4. Repeat this cycle for 10 rounds.
5. Finish with a 5-minute cool-down to let your heart rate gradually decrease.

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Workout 2: Endurance Challenge

What you need: Your elliptical and 45 to 60 minutes. This workout builds endurance and stamina, perfect for long-term weight loss.

The Routine:

• Warm-up: 5 minutes at an easy pace
• Endurance intervals: 10 minutes at a moderate-to-high resistance and speed, followed by 2 minutes at a low resistance and slower pace. Repeat four rounds.
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of light resistance and steady pace.

Directions:

1. Warm up for 5 minutes
2. Increase the resistance and speed for a 10-minute push.
3. Allow your body to recover for 2 minutes at a low resistance and slower pace.
4. Repeat this pattern for 4 rounds.
5. End with a cool-down—5 minutes of light resistance and steady pace.

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Workout 3: Pyramid Interval Training

What you need: An elliptical and 30 to 40 minutes. Pyramid training gradually increases and then decreases the intensity to keep your heart rate elevated and metabolism revved up.

The Routine:

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of moderate effort.
• Pyramid intervals: Start with 1 minute of intense effort followed by 1 minute of recovery. Increase the work time by 1 minute each interval until you reach 5 minutes of work, then decrease by 1 minute each round until you’re back to 1 minute.
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of light intensity.

Directions:

1. Warm up for 5 minutes at moderate effort.
2. Begin with 1 minute of intense effort, then recover for 1 minute.
3. Increase your work intervals by 1 minute until you reach 5 minutes, then reverse the pattern to 1 minute.
4. Finish with a cool-down—5 minutes of light intensity.

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Workout 4: Resistance Hill Climb

What you need: Your elliptical and 30 minutes. This workout focuses on resistance, simulating a hill climb to build muscle while burning fat.

The Routine:

• Warm-up: 5 minutes at a low resistance.
• Hill intervals: 3 minutes at high resistance, moderate speed, followed by 1 minute at low resistance, slow speed. Repeat for 8 rounds.
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of light resistance.

Directions:

1. Warm up for 5 minutes at a low resistance.
2. Increase the resistance to simulate a steep hill. Push through 3 minutes of climbing, then recover with 1 minute of lower resistance.
3. Repeat this cycle for eight rounds.
4. Finish with a cool-down—5 minutes of light resistance.

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Workout 5: Speed Endurance Drills

What you need: An elliptical and 25 to 35 minutes. This workout combines speed and endurance drills to challenge your cardio capacity and boost weight loss.

The Routine:

• Warm-up: 5 minutes at a steady pace.
• Speed drills: 1-minute maximum speed at low resistance, followed by 1 minute of slow recovery. Repeat for ten rounds.
• Endurance push: 10 minutes at a moderate resistance and steady pace.
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of light intensity.

Directions:

1. Start with 1 minute of maximum speed at a low resistance, followed by 1 minute of slow recovery.
2. Repeat for 10 rounds.
3. Push through a steady 10-minute endurance segment.
4. Finish with a 5-minute, light-intensity cool-down.

Jarrod Nobbe, MA, CSCS