Yenny Polanco

A personal trainer superstar, Figure and Fitness champion, NPC Team Universe Fitness championships 2009 and qualitifed for Olympia in her first IFBB show!

Here is a Post-Holiday and a New Year’s cardiovascular -Yenny original-workout on the Elliptical machine to help you lose weight and tone up your entire body!

Elliptical training is an aerobic and cardiovascular exercise, which involves the large muscles; legs and arms. It is a cardiovascular exercise (called “cardio” for short), which tones up your entire body.

Strengthens heart and lungs, and helps to prevent heart disease; burns fat and calories; Increases our cardio endurance and stamina, allowing us to be faster, stronger and able to do more physically!

You can lose weight, and tone up your entire body on the Elliptical exercise machine! If you don’t use an Elliptical properly, however, you’ll be wasting your precious time, and failing to reap its weight loss and cardiovascular benefits.

You can use the Elliptical to tone up and burn calories without wasting away lean muscles!

Unlike running, which can reduce muscle mass, the elliptical will preserve it! Yup! It is my number one choice for cardiovascular exercise when I want to zap calories and burn fat while retaining as much muscle as possible.
 

Experience has taught me to combine resistance (pedaling against it), speed (miles per hour: going as fast as you can against resistance), and time (going for as long as you can against the resistance level)…at a high enough intensity to cause exertion! And this gives optimum results!

At a low enough, or no resistance setting, anyone can pedal fast and for a longer amount of time on the Elliptical machine.
And that is what I call “pedaling on air!” And this gives little or no results.

Gradually increasing resistance, speed and time on the elliptical machine will result in a more efficient and more powerful cardio session.

And since my own personal motto is TO BE MY MY BEST AND to TRY MY HARDEST! I am going to try my best to help you train right, and get fast results from exercising on the Elliptical machine!

 
The Elliptical RST combination: using speed vs. resistance vs. time!

The best way to train on the Elliptical for optimum results! The RST system I’ve created is an intense combination of resistance, speed and time to help you burn fat and tone up fast!

The Elliptical RST- how to:

Resistance: Let’s say you start at resistance level #5: Try to go as fast as you can and maintain that speed for the entire time on that level!

Speed: Try to maintain your speed at either the same level from start, or even gradually increase throughout your entire workout. Make sure that you increase the resistance level every 10-15 minutes or so, and finish hard on current resistance and speed!

Time: Try to go for as long as you can (do at least 30 minutes) at a challenging speed and resistance level!

The key to successfully use my Elliptical RST training system is to: Never reduce the resistance level, speed, or time once increased!

Sample workout: Yenny’s own elliptical training routine!

To better help you understand my Elliptical training guidance I am going to use myself as the ‘model’ of elliptical training done right!

First I start by pressing QUICK START (To me quick start is best if you want to control your own intensity, and to best manage your progress yourself!)

I start on RESISTANCE level 7 and at a speed of 12-14 mph for the first 5-10 minutes depending on how energetic and motivated I am feeling on a particular day.

I increase to level #8 after 10 minutes, and keep my speed at 13-14 mph.

I move up to level #9 after 20-30 minutes, and I finish my 45 minutes on level 9 or 10, and at a speed of 14 mph or higher!

It takes me 45 minutes to do ten miles on the Elliptical, but keep in mind of course that machines vary. Your resistance level may convert to my machine’s level 4 or 6 for instance. The elliptical machine I train on is and older model and the resistance is quite intense.

The key is to exert yourself! And let me tell you the energizer bunny would run out of fuel and be left behind before I am completely exhausted, and finished with my 45 minutes of Elliptical cardio fat burn out!

Train right for your fitness level
Don’t be disappointed if at first you have to start on level 2, pedaling at a speed of 9 mph or less, and only going for as long as 15-20 minutes. Getting optimum results requires effort, persistence, and determination.

Use my example as a guide to help yourself to a better workout on the elliptical.
Keep in mind though that everyone is at a different fitness level, and the weaker your cardio endurance (a result of too little of cardiovascular exercise, and not having challenged yourself enough to have built a base of stamina and endurance) the lower your Elliptical training intensity will have to be as you begin your training.

Tip: Challenge yourself to increase at least one of the three components of your RST combo at each successive training session. The resistance, speed, and duration of your workout must be intense enough to cause exertion!

Don’t be afraid to sweat it out!
Whoever says “I don’t sweat” is surely a person not training to the best of his or her capabilities! If this sounds familiar, I urge you to pay close attention to this article.

Now let’s get to the heart of things!
In order to train to the best of your abilities and capabilities, we must know our Maximum Heart Rate, and determine our Target Heart Rate Zone! Combine these with my Elliptical RST training guidance for Optimum results!
 

And what is your maximum heart rate? It is the maximum number of beats your heart can generate per minute!
Referred as BPM.

Calculation to determine your maximum heart rate (mhr):
For women it is 226 – age. For men it is 220 – age.

*Note that MHR varies from person to person, and this formula just is a fairly accurate estimate.

FOR EX: I am 34 years old, ( hush! Don’t tell anyone!) And 226 – 34= 192. And this is my maximum heart rate.

What is your target heart rate zone?

It’s between 50% and 85% of your maximum heart rate, and represents the rate at which the body uses its stored fat (as opposed to sugar) as its primary energy source.

To determine your target heart rate zone: 

Multiply your MHR by .5, or .6, 0r .7, or .8 (This will give you heart rate numbers between 50-85% of your
Maximum Heart Rate calculated above). The lower number (.5) is the lower end of your target zone, and the
highest number being the upper end of your zone.

The higher the percentage, the more intense the workout!

Example: Calculating the Target Heart Rate Zone - using my MHR of 192:

I train at very high intensity, and use the 85% end of the scale (163 BPM) as my goal. This is the upper limit of your target heart rate zone.

192 x .85 = 163.20

This is an example of exercising to maximum exertion! And most often during my intense cardio sessions this number is much higher! My cardiovascular system can handle it, since I am an elite athlete, and am used to high intensity training and to exerting myself to complete exhaustion!

If you are able to push yourself a bit more, then I suggest training at the higher end of your calculated Target Heart Rate Zone! It is when we challenge ourselves that we get the best results!

Efficient fat burning occurs when you exercise at a higher intensity level (upper end of target zone), and the more dramatic will be the results you’ll experience.

Cardiovascular exercise on the elliptical machine: For optimum fat burning results when doing any type of cardio - in this case on the elliptical machine – you need to maintain your heart rate within your target heart rate zone for the duration of the exercise!

You can measure your amount of exertion by monitoring your heart rate by wearing a heart rate monitor! Most cardio machines nowadays do have heart rate sensor bars though….I just go with my intuition…how heavy I am breathing, how exerted I am feeling, and how much I am sweating! Works for me!

Challenge yourself to a better workout, and a tighter, slimmer body! There is no need to
‘fly blind’ when you have Yenny on your side! Count your blessings, and Happy New Year!

All the best! Yenny.