Cross trainer at home: workouts on a cross trainer
Having your own cross trainer at home can make a significant difference when it comes to your home fitness. It lets you work out without having to leave your home and ensures that you are building muscles and burning calories along the process. However, you need to make sure that you are also doing the right cross trainer workout routines. That way, you can maximize your use of this machine.
To give you an idea, here are some tips on making the most out of your workouts in the cross-trainer:
Start from the beginning and progress from there
If you are still new to using a cross-trainer, then make it a point to follow a good beginner’s workout first. Avoid jumping to an advanced level as it may only result in injuries. The best beginner’s workout using your cross-trainer is to start at the lowest resistance and do it for around ten minutes. You can then slowly build it up by increasing your sessions by up to thirty minutes.
As a beginner, the basic guideline for your home workout using your cross-trainer is:
- 5-minute warm-up at level 3
- 20-minute main workout, which requires you to alternate levels 5 and 7 every couple of minutes
- 5-minute cool down at level 3
Upon noticing your fitness level building up, increase the resistance by at least seven to promote more calorie-burning while boosting muscle endurance. The goal is to burn around 200 calories for half an hour using moderate speed.
Perform a full-body workout
If your cross trainer has dual-action handlebars, then you will find it useful in getting a full-body workout. Just pump such handles back and forth, so you can tone your arms, back, shoulders, and chest. You may also want to release the handles if you want to target your mid-section more. This is helpful in toning your torso and retaining your balance.
Target your lower leg muscles
What’s great about using a cross-trainer is that it gives you the opportunity to target your lower leg muscles. With that, a cross-trainer workout is definitely a big help in strengthening and shaping your legs. You can also use the foot pedals. Just pedal backward, thereby giving your glutes a good workout.
Monitor the RPE
Also called perceived rate of exertion, the RPE is a vital factor if you are still a beginner in elliptical or cross-trainer workouts. It serves as the way for you to measure whether or not you have a good workout. It measures the level of intensity of your chosen activity depending on how challenged your body is upon working out. The measurement is on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the easiest and 10 requiring your maximum effort.
For beginners, the ideal RPE is 4. It should let you move while still holding conversations comfortably. If you feel like you are already out of breath within just ten minutes, then the RPE may be so tough, so you need to dial back the incline. You can increase the speed and level based on what you can comfortably handle so you can avoid possible injuries.
