To start with, how long should i use the cross trainer/elliptical?

Question

I have just bought a cross trainer, I will admit I am quite unfit! I am slim, but just need to tone up rather than lose weight. At the moment, i can only do 10 minutes on the cross trainer at the same level, no hills etc! how do i increase this slowly? will it be doing my body any good, even if it's only ten minutes?

Answer 1

Do as much as you can and then build onto that. If you can only do ten minutes right now then keep doing 10 until it feels like a breeze and move to 20. Once you can do 20 you'll know that it's doing your body good because you'll be improving... :D

I was gonna say start with 20 minutes but if you can't then 10 would be fine.

Answer 2

put it on a staggered training method like in resistance level terms

20 ,40 ,60 ,20 ,50 ,30 ,25 ,30 ,40 ,60 ,20

Answer 3

Ten minutes is a good start. You probably will want to try to work up to 20-30 minutes and also work on increasing the resistance. since your only doing it for toning instead of losing weight that amount of time should be plenty. You'll have to decide how many days a week you also want to do it. I would suggest 3-4 and then on other days do some kind of weight training. The cross trainer will be great for toning increasing muscle in your legs.

Answer 4

Just slowly increase each day. Maybe you can do 10 minutes for 2 days, and then 12 minutes for 2 days, followed by 15 minutes for 2 days. Within a couple of weeks you'll be doing a solid 30 minutes.  And yes, 10 minutes of working out is much better than none at all!