Today, there are various machines that you can use to burn calories and have a toner body. One or the most popular fitness machines today are cross trainers.

Cross or elliptical trainers are the ideal fitness machines for giving individuals the total cardio workout. According to various studies, working out for at least 30 minutes on the cross trainer burns between 270 and 400 calories. These numbers can go higher or lower, depending on the person’s body weight.

If you own this fitness machine or regularly use one at the gym, there are some tips you can follow to make the cross trainer even more effective in helping you achieve your weight loss goals. These tips include the following:

Make sure the cross trainer you will use have the right settings. If you will be working out at the gym, ask a trainer to assist you in setting up the machine to meet your personal needs and capabilities. If you will be using your own personal machine, make sure the equipment’s stride length meets your physical requirements.

Know the minimum amount of time you need to work out each week. Use this machine for at least 75 minutes a week if you’re working at a high intensity. However, if you train at low to moderate pace, 150 minutes is enough. According to fitness experts, these specified minutes are the amount of aerobic training needed for people to experience health and weight loss benefits.

Divide the time you need to train into three separate workouts. If you’re new to using a cross trainer, you may find that trying to do your whole weekly training time in just one or two workouts can be too hard. However, by splitting your workout into shorter sessions, you will be able to work harder in each and burn more calories in the process.

Lastly, try doing HIIT on your cross trainer workout. HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is better than steady-state cardio for weight loss and fat burning. To perform HIIT on a cross trainer, start by warming up for five minutes then go as fast as you can for 30 seconds before returning to a steady pace for 90 seconds. Repeat this process eight times, and then cool down for five minutes. You should also aim to add an extra sprint every session. Once you are capable of doing 12 sprints, increase the work to rest ratio to 40:80. Also, to get the most out of your workouts, alternate an HIIT session with a steady-state one.