How Often & Long Should I Use a Cross Trainer For To Workout With?

Getting some cardio every week is essential to having a healthy balanced lifestyle, helping you maintain or lose weight, as well as stay fit.

Everyone knows that jumping on your cross trainer 3-5 times a week is a great amount to meet your fitness goals, but you might be wondering just how long these workout sessions need to be on your trainer so as they can be effective for your body.

To figure out how long you should be spending on your cross trainer during one of your workout sessions, you need to take into account your goals and the type of workouts your doing, but on average, spending 30 minutes to an hour working out on your trainer is generally recommended.

So as we can understand how long we need to be using a cross-trainer to meet our goals and what different factors will affect this, we have gone into some more detail below to help you determine the right amount of time to be spending on your cross-trainer.

The Right Amount Of Time You Should Be Spending On Your Cross Trainer

The time you spend working out on your cross trainer will most likely be influenced by your goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, you might be doing 5x cross-training sessions a week for around an hour long each, but if you want to save time, you could be doing 20-minute sessions 3x a week HIIT style instead.

On average, it is recommended you are doing 150 minutes of exercise a week, so you could split this down into 30-minute cross-trainer sessions 5 times a week or 3 times a week with cross trainer sessions of an hour.

When you are doing HIIT workouts on your cross trainer you may only need to be doing 3x 25 minute HIIT sessions with rest days in between for your body to recover.

How Long Should I Be Training As a Beginner?

If 3-5 times a week sounds daunting to you as a beginner cross-trainer, then why not start with 10 minutes three times a week then work up from there, there are also some great beginner HIIT workouts to try on your trainer if you are short on time.

Are HIIT Sessions Better Than Normal Cardio?

Both cardio and HIIT are great for your body, HIIT, in particular, tends to be the best option if your short on time and still want to burn a good amount of calories, regular cardio, on the other hand, is best for fat burning but will take up longer sessions of 30 minutes to an hour.

If you are going to be doing short and intense HIIT sessions on your cross trainer then you need to make sure you factor in rest days, also avoid doing these workouts if you have bad joints or heart problems as they are very high intensity.

The Benefits Of Working Out With a Cross Trainer Regularly

Making sure you are doing 150 minutes of cross-training a week has a huge number of health benefits that you may not have considered such as muscle toning and weight loss.

We have listed several of them out below and explained how they benefit you to inspire you to get on that cross trainer 5 times a week for 30 minutes!

• They give a full-body workout – Cross trainers don’t only work your lower body but also your upper body due to the handlebars on the machine. Allowing you to burn fat all over and develop muscle.
• Tone your muscles – As we mentioned above, a cross-trainer uses your whole body which means that it can tone your upper body muscles such as your triceps and biceps as well as your thighs and glutes.
• Can help with weight loss – Combined with a healthy diet and consistency, cross-training three or five times a week can help you lose weight as it burns calories and excess fat.
• Protects your joints – One of the best factors about a cross-trainer in comparison to a treadmill is that they are very low-impact and a great choice for people with joint issues who want to burn some calories and get fit.
• Gives better heart & lung health – Cross-training gets your heart pumping and can help improve the health of your lungs by sending more oxygen to your muscles during a workout.
• Improved mood – Working out on a cross-trainer for 150 minutes a week can increase a happy chemical in your brain called endorphins which will give you a mood boost and make you more productive.

How To Use a Cross Trainer The Right Way

If you are planning to make cross-training part of your daily workout routine then you need to ensure you know how to use it correctly so as you can have the most effective workout possible.

We have listed out some of our best tips for using a cross-trainer the right way below.

• Wear the right shoes – It is very important to wear shoes with a good grip when cross-training, failure to do so could cause your shoes to slip from the cross trainer and result in an injury.
• Avoid locking your knees – When performing the circular pedalling motion on your trainer you should be keeping your knees slightly bent, locking them could result in knee injury eventually.
• Set the incline & resistance – Make use of the incline and resistance settings on your trainer, these can be great ways to challenge yourself and make your workout more intense and exciting.
• Put your weight on your heels – When you pedal forwards on the cross-trainer never be tempted to put your weight on your toes rather than on your heels.
• Stay hydrated – Being dehydrated as you cross-train can cause you to underperform and feel lazy, keep a bottle with you at all times when you are training on the machine.
• Make use of the handles – Don’t forget about the handles on your trainer, these can help you keep balance and also give your triceps and biceps a great workout as you push the handlebars on the machine back and forth when pedalling.
• Keep the right posture – Avoid slouching and keep a good posture with your core tight as you balance on the trainer.
• Try pedalling backwards – Pedalling backwards on your trainer can be a great way to test your muscles differently and will help to engage your glutes too.

Signs You Are Burnt Out From Cardio

Exercise burnout is a real thing and can happen easily if you over train on your cross trainer every day and forget to take some breaks now and then in between for your body to rest and repair.

We have listed out some typical signs below which might indicate you are burning out from overexercising on your cross-trainer.

• You are in a bad mood – A tired body can make you tired of everything else and snappy towards the rest of the world, a good way to fix this is by doing something else which can make your body feel good like going to a spa day.
• The thought of training is bad – If you normally like exercise and how it makes you feel, and not even the endorphins can persuade you to get moving, have a break.
• You keep putting it off – Stalling your training can be a sure sign you are burnt out, if a long training session makes you feel sick, then trying just doing a 10-minute session instead then calling it a day.
• Exhaustion – Mental and physical fatigue can happen if you have been exercising too much, to fix this you should allow yourself to have 1-3 rest days then try exercising again, you will likely feel the world of a difference if you do this.

Frequently Asked Questions About How Long You Should Spend On a Cross-Trainer

Can I workout with a cross-trainer every day? 

Yes, you can but it is recommended to have at least 1-2 day rest days a week where you do more low-intensity exercise such as walking instead of cross-training.

If I want to lose weight how often should I spend working out on a cross-trainer? 

Around five times a week is a great start to kick off your weight loss journey, you could integrate some HIIT sessions too if you want to cut down on the duration of your sessions.

How many times a week should I use my cross trainer?

Depending on your goal and duration of your cross-training sessions you should be spending 3-5 times a week working out on your machine.

Final Words

To conclude, how often and how long you spend working out on your cross trainer will ultimatley depend on your individual fitness goals and stamina. For weight loss, you may spend longer on a trainer and for general health, the time of your sessions could be shorter.

As long as you are getting in 150 minutes of exercise a week with your cross trainer, you should be maintaining a healthy lifestyle, however.