Cardio machines and cals burnt

[jayl19]

Hey, basically I don’t think the cals burnt are right on the cardio machines we use at the gym, does any one agree?

Ill give you an example Iv just done 55mins on the stair master (level 6) and I’m destroyed, the amount of sweat that came off me was disgusting even 30 mins after getting off the machine it’s still pissing out of me, hardest cardio session iv ever done BUT the machine says I only burnt 480 cals?? Wtf

1h on incline treadmill power walk for me does 450

1h on exercise bike on low setting does 450

This can’t be right surely

 

[IronLion2]

these dont factor in EPOC, but 500ish cals an hour is probably close still

 

[Maelstrom]

They are inaccurate yes - you'll see huge variation between different types of machines/brands. I use a treadmill at home and a treadmill at the gym, that give wildly different calories burnt. And both show a lot more calories burnt than my AirDyne for the same perceived level of effort.

 

[suppdude]

Don't even look at those numbers. Very inaccurate.

 

[Deleted member 121863]

60-75% of your total calories burned every day is just being alive, not from your actual activity. The other 25-40% (for the avg person) is basic movement, walking around, lifting a beer up to the pie hole, etc. 500 calories in an hour is gonna be close but it does not include EPOC calories burned. I think that can be up to 20% more calories burned.

 

[rmtt]

I never count cardio or weight training calories"supposedly" burnt against my caloric intake for the day.

I know some people add these calories back in when trying to gain or lose weight.....but I treat them as they were never done.

Just keeps it simpler. As long as your getting it in for heart health....or are losing weight.....to me that's all that matters at the end of the day.

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[old timer]

I was surprised to read that the calorie estimate was too low, because the recurring criticism for those machines IMO is that the estimate is usually too high.

Like RMTT, I never count those calories as more food that I can eat that day, but I do occasionally estimate the calories burned just for the heck of it.

Did you enter your weight? If not, there's no way that it could estimate the calories burned because a 200# person will burn more calories walking up "stairs" as a 150# person. But unless you weigh 125# or so I think 480 is too low too.

 

[johnjuanb1]

Don't even look at those numbers. Very inaccurate.

Exactly! We all burn calories at a different rate based on our metabolism. I had one friend with a slow metabolism who would bike for 3-4 hours and not drop weight. I lose it so fast it’s ridiculous with my skinny genetics. There’s no way that calorie counter would be accurate with a 400Lb Guy vs. a 150Lb Guy. They burn calories at a different rate. Right? Just my assumption.

 

[jayl19]

Yeah I wasn’t going to add more food according to cals burnt or anything just wanted to know which machine was the most productive for 1 hour, basically which machine burns the most fat, they all about the same according to the machine but I don’t believe it, as some one just said they never ask me my weight and this is a massive veriable on a stair master

I don’t like the rower at all
I don’t like the stepper either
Epilator is ok but would rather not use
Treadmill I can only power walk on incline, can’t run as shin splints is too painful and I also get bad chaffing so some times have to give the treadmill a break an let my groin heal
Bike feels like I’m working my quads out too much an hindering recovery and maybe sacrificing leg size
This is why I gave the stair master a try, was a killer but was expecting like 750 cals burnt the effort I put in

 

[brutus69]

they're generic numbers.
u want more accuracy, get yr max heart rate figured out.
then check yr heart rate during cardio, do a 10 second count, every so often, see how many beats u average per minute during the session. then go here.

Fitness and Exercise Calculators

u can input yr numbers and come closer to the real burn.
once u do that u can put different heart rate numbers in the formula so when u work out hard or easy u can kind of guess the calorie burn better at different avg. heart rates.
tis what i do.

 

[buck]

If you program your weight into the machine it doesn't know how much muscle that is. So amount of muscle would change the amount of calorie burn. I only use the calorie count on macines to beat my previous total. But I only compare the count against the same machine or model.

 

[Deleted member 121863]

Yeah I wasn’t going to add more food according to cals burnt or anything just wanted to know which machine was the most productive for 1 hour, basically which machine burns the most fat, they all about the same according to the machine but I don’t believe it, as some one just said they never ask me my weight and this is a massive veriable on a stair master

If your asking which burns more fat, that`s much more complicated. I think you just mean total calories burned. Which machine burns more fat is one of those age old debates that will never be agreed on. You`ve got different machines AND different intensities/time you can do. At rest or LISS your body will burn more fat calories vs carbs but less overall calories than at higher intensity. This can be checked by doing a respiratory exchange rate test (RER). You do cardio with a mask on and the metabolic cart measures your co2 output and determines all that. .7 your burning all fat, 1.0 your burning all carbs, over 1.0 your using lactate as energy, recycled back into the krebs cycle. High intensity will create a greater EPOC, burning more calories after the cardio is done, so some people say that`s better. Your getting in a shit ton of cardio, busting your ass, that`s all the matters.

 

[beastmode121]

Never count those calories. Means nothing to me.
I go by speed. If I’m doing 3.2 speed and I need to burn more if my progress stopped; I bump to 3.6 and so on


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[jasong]

Similar to what Buck stated above, I just use the markers step climbed, calories burned as a guide to make sure I'm not starting to slack as energy levels start to decline.

The arc trainer I use will say 900+ calories in an hour while the stairs will show around 700+. I'm working way harder on the stairs and they are both most likely way off.

 

[digbick]

i have used the heart rate monitor(the one strapped to your chest) while using treadmill...the machine always counted around 10% less than the hrm i am wearing...

 

[jayl19]

i have used the heart rate monitor(the one strapped to your chest) while using treadmill...the machine always counted around 10% less than the hrm i am wearing...

No but I always use the heart rate handles

Treadmill is about 118
Stair master was about 125

Off topic here:

Are these number normal? Honestly I’m on clen too and my heart rate always seems low compared to my gym mates, one guy is pushing 190HR the other 160HR and they are putting it a lot less work then me, they are both 280+ lbs tho, when I’m not on clen the above numbers are 20 less so around 100, always thought this was odd as I’m sweating and gasping like fuck

 

[timt53]

There is no way the numbers are accurate. I use both the stair stepper and the rotating stairs both by matrix. I plug in my weight on both. 60 minutes on the stepper I register 1500 calories burned and a total of 7500 steps going up to level 20. On the rotating stairs for 60 minutes I burn 800 calories and a total of 4000 steps only going to level 15 for the last 5 minutes. I work way harder on the rotating stairs, I am totally fried so why the big difference? Just know I get a hell of a cardio workout either way.

 

[someday]

Ask yourself this....would it benefit the manufacturer to have a cardio machine that "burns more calories per minute" than the ones next to it? That alone should tell you how "accurate" they are.

For me, I use total burned on the same machine as a gauge of how hard I am working (or not) as a couple of others have mentioned.

 

[Gunsmith]

They are just as accurate as those hand held body fat meters.

 

[ferraribrad]

If I'm using the same cardio machine that I know well, I will use the cal numbers just for a reference compared to other cardio sessions (i try to get to 400 cals in 30 mins, but I don't trust that as an absolute number)

For all other purposes I train cardio based on time and heart rate. Not calories.