Elliptical machines are becoming more popular by the day. People worldwide use this terrific gym equipment to gain strength, develop endurance, and lose weight.
But does the elliptical work your glutes?
Let’s review the science behind that question and see how you can build glutes everyone will envy.
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Are Ellipticals Good for Glutes?
Elliptical machines target your booty, making it firm and sculpted. Here’s how they work:
If you’ve used an elliptical before, you know that you’re going to hop on and make an oval motion with your feet and hands. That sort of pedaling engages your buttocks.
And as you know, more muscle engagement equals, well, more muscles.
As you’re strengthening and increasing your muscle mass, your butt looks shapelier. Besides, you’re also decreasing the fat tissue in the area.
As a result, your butt will look rounder and more lifted.
Related: 7 Best Exercise Machines for Bigger Glutes
How to Use Elliptical for Glutes
Now you know that the elliptical’s circular movement can strengthen your glutes. But here’s how to take more advantage of your elliptical:
Keep the Right Form
Pedal with your back straight shoulders down and contracted abs. This posture ensures that your back doesn’t support your body weight. Instead, much of that force your body creates is supported by your glutes.
And if you think about it, that’s the exact definition of resistance training.
The more weight your glutes will have to support, the more sculpted they’ll get. Besides, this posture guarantees an optimal range of motion to ensure all your butt muscles work hard.
Posture is not just about defining your booty, though. It’s also about avoiding back injury.
Exercise Smarter
Don’t exhaust yourself pedaling for hours on that machine. You won’t see more results; in fact, chances are you’ll see less.
Experts generally advise people to use their ellipticals for up to 60 minutes/day, although 30 minutes/day is enough too. Three times per week is all it takes to see good results.
Pro tip: Diversify your routine to ensure your body doesn’t get used to just one motion.
According to some studies, sprucing up your workouts ensures that your muscles are targeted from all directions. As such, they can get bigger and stronger.
Increase the Resistance
A flywheel activates your elliptical machine. A heavier flywheel created stronger resistance. Besides, you can also turn a knob to tighten the band and create more resistance.
As a result, your thighs and glutes will have to push harder to make the elliptical move.
That means you’ll gain more muscles in your lower body: calves, thighs, and glutes. It’s essential to focus on your legs too. After all, strong legs support buttocks better and, therefore, lift your butt.
Pro tip: Don’t give up if you notice you’re losing speed. Pushing against a more considerable force works your glutes considerably more than fast motions.
Press through Your Heels
You have to press through your heels instead of your toes to see better results for your glutes. This strategy activates your glutes more, allowing them to work harder.
There’s another benefit to consider:
When you’re pressing through your toes, your knees will have to take more pressure. As such, you can strain your joints too much and get injured.
Reverse Directions
Pedaling from back to front targets your buttocks from another direction. Thus, you’ll contract your glutes on an up-down axis instead of the down-to-up direction.
These changes in your routine keep your muscles guessing.
By contrast, repeating the same movements means your body gets used to them and, thus, works less hard. You can see this proof in people’s before and after photos/videos.
Increase the Weight on Your Glutes
If your elliptical doesn’t have a high enough resistance for your needs, you can increase the weight on your glutes using three other strategies:
- Work out from a quarter squat. If you push your hips back and bend your knees, your buttocks will have to support more of your weight. As such, your booty works against more force to become stronger.
- Warning: Your knees can take a significant toll if you keep them bent too much. Don’t work out from this position for the entire session! Limit this position to 30-45 seconds, five times through, with 10-15 seconds rest in between.
- Squeeze. Keep your buttocks squeezed for most of your workout to create higher resistance. That way, you’ll increase the force that activates those glutes.
- Wear a weighted vest. This vest ensures your legs and glutes will have to move a more significant weight without putting pressure on your back. This strategy blends aerobic and weighted exercise, allowing you to work smarter. That’s because aerobic exercise raises calorie burn, while the strength part of the job increases leg and butt muscles.
In Conclusion. Does Elliptical Tone Your Bum?
Your elliptical machine does wonders for total-body sculpting, from head to toe – glutes included. After a few weeks of constant exercise, you’ll notice that your butt looks shapely and firm.
Don’t slack off, though.
Keep working out regularly, three times/week, in up to 30-60-minute sessions. Also, remember to follow the advice above. And purchase an elliptical machine that has enough resistance and various strength-building programs.
Mary advocates for one powerful idea: fitness is about challenging yourself, but it’s not a race against the clock. She wants people to understand that the best fitness equipment doesn’t have to be expensive or very popular. The best workouts and machines should always fit your style and needs, not the other way around. So, Mary’s dedication and hard work are the engines that keep this website going.
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