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One of the most frequently asked questions is do the use of elliptical trainers help me burn calories compared to other cardio machines?

With our busy schedules it is completely understandable that you want to get the most results for the time you spend working out.

As you may know how many calories burned during a workout will vary depending upon your weight. A 150 pound woman may only burn 387 calories while a 180 pound man may burn 500 calories on the same machine for the same length of time.

Many elliptical trainer companies say you can burn around 800 calories per hour of elliptical training workout. The following factors dictate how many calories you will actually burn during your workout:

- Workout Duration - This is simply how much time you spend on the specific workout. It is usually recommended that you do it for a half hour to an hour.

- Interval Training - Taking small breaks, followed by a cool down period is recommended for extended workouts.

- Elliptical Tension Settings - These tension settings help you control the intensity of the workout. Using a higher intensity can improve the effects of the workout.

- Current weight - as stated earlier a heavier person will burn more calories than a smaller person.

Are you interested in a few more tips to burn more calories with your elliptical trainer? Below are a few suggestions you can follow to burn more calories.

- Built in interval settings:

Nearly all elliptical trainers offer an incline and or even tension that you are able to increase or even lessen while workout out.

Midway through your workout try increasing the tension or incline to give you an extra push at burning more calories. This can also help raise your calorie burn for a few hours after your workout.

- Utilize Upper Body Arms

Many ellipticals offer you upper body arm blocks that you are able to utilize to build your arms muscles into your workout. Even more muscles worked = even more calories burned. If there are no upper body arms, grab a few of two - five pounds handweights and swing your arms while striding.

-Split your work outs:

Experts are today telling us that two smaller "mini-workouts" can even be better than one long workout as far as how many calories are burned.

Exercise with speed up your metabolism, doing one workout in the morning and one in the evening will give you two metabolism "boosts."

All in all an elliptical trainer is a great way to burn a ton of calories.