Blast Fat in 20 Minutes

By Jeanine Detz

Tone your entire body and torch more than 200 calories with this speedy routine.

Your mission

Turn the elliptical into a total-body firmer. You know you burn more calories when you use your arms during cardio, but sometimes letting your arms rest makes other parts of your body work harder, which is exactly what happens in this routine. During every recovery period, you’ll jog without holding the arm levers, which forces your core muscles to engage to keep you balanced, says Jim Ryno, owner of Lift, a personal-training studio in Ramsey, New Jersey, who created this routine. Then you’ll grab the levers, which makes you more stable and gives you extra leverage—key for the high-intensity intervals you’ll be doing. If you’re not crunched for time, repeat this plan and blast double the calories.

How it works

During the first 5 minutes, pump your arms forward and back, as if you were running. Then grab the levers and increase the level and incline. Let go of the levers again whenever you decrease the level to 1 or 2. Adjust the incline and the level throughout the workout to meet the rate of perceived exertion (RPE*). Cool down, then try the must-do move.

workout intensity moderate to high machine needed an elliptical with moving handles and an adjustable level and incline total time 20 minutes calories burned 234**

**Calorie burn is based on a 145-pound woman.

Originally published on January 1, 2008