Adding Incline to Your Elliptical Machine & an Incline Elliptical Workout

We may be a little biased here at EllipticalCoupons.com, but we believe elliptical machines to be one of the best low-impact cardio blasting machines around. And when you add incline, also called ramp on elliptical machines, to your workout it makes for an even better workout. Adding incline causes you to incorporate different muscles, thus increasing your calorie burn.

Here is the step by step approach on How To Change Inline On Elliptical from Livestrong.com:

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Step 1

Start pedaling to begin your workout on the elliptical and set the machine to your desired workout, such as manual, speed or fat burn. Most elliptical machines require that you begin pedaling before you are able to set any controls.

Step 2

Locate the incline controls on the console of your elliptical. Most often, the incline controls come in one of two formats — either up and down arrows or on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the steepest slope.

Step 3

Set the incline at 5, or whatever is midway, or under to target your quadriceps more than your hamstrings and calves. All slopes will work the entirety of your lower body, but the more parallel the incline is, the more it will evenly hit all of the muscles in your legs.

Step 4

Raise the incline to 8, 9 or 10 to focus on strengthening the back of your legs, which includes your glutes, hamstrings and calves. The motion at this steep of a slope is similar to running uphill and will affect your muscles in much the same way.

Step 5

Vary the slope during your workout by pressing the appropriate control every three to five minutes. Altering the incline during the course of your session can allow you to evenly work all of the muscles in your lower body while also keeping your muscles guessing, and therefore increasing your calorie burn.

Here is an elliptical workout from blogger RunningChickago.com which adds incline (cross ramp) and resistance to burn tons of calories:

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Try it out and let us know what you think!

Have you ever added incline to your elliptical workouts? Are you a fan if you have?!