How accurate are these?

[ShawnQ]

How accurate are the calorie counters on the elliptical, stationary bikes, and treadmills at the gym?

It seems like I am burning a LOT more then what they are saying...but I'm not sure? :confused:

For instance - to get myself 'warmed up', I generally stretch, and then hop onto the stationary bike. I ride the bike for 10mins, followed by a 2minute cool down phase. In those 12 minutes, I had a distance of 5.1 miles, which is 25mph (!!!).

That seems unreallistic, IMHO, but that's what the computer said. It also said that I only burned like 70als. The majority of the time, my heart rate was 150+, spiked around 170 (for a short time while sprinting hard). I was holding the RPM's on the bike no lower then 125, and held it at 140 for a full minute and a half.

Just wondering how accurate these things are...I sure feel like I am putting forth a lot more then 70 calories.

Thanks,
SQ

[The Raven]

Any program that factors in age, body weight, and body comp is probably fairly accurate, but alot of these machines just have a basic formula for a certain number of calories per minute, which is highly inaccurate.

[ShawnQ]

Any program that factors in age, body weight, and body comp is probably fairly accurate, but alot of these machines just have a basic formula for a certain number of calories per minute, which is highly inaccurate.

This one just asks for an age and a target heart rate...

The 'default' targer heart rate that it selected for my age (23) was like 138 or something close. I set it to 150, if that matters.

I'm thinking it is inaccurate. Is there a better way to judge the # of calories you're burning?

SQ

[93powerranger]

i had the same question...so if anyone knows post it up..

[The Raven]

This one just asks for an age and a target heart rate...


That's about as accurate as the BMI scale. :rolleyes: A healthy 200lb 25 year old male with a lean mass of 180lbs is going to burn alot more calories in a given time-span than a flabby 25 year old male with 30% bodyfat.

[ELVIS]

25mph?? who the fuck is this lance armstrong??

god bless.

[[CS]ls1haha]

25mph?? who the fuck is this lance armstrong??

god bless.

LMAO, I missed that the first time. That's flying.

[ShawnQ]

lol...I was thinking the same thing.

I was on the bike for an hour last night and my distance was 21.12 miles.

Obviously I'm a little faster in the beginning, but I held a steady pace for the better part of the ride.

Now, I am not sure how to tell if this is accurate or not.

In 1hr of riding, it says I burned 390cals, seem correct for a 1hr/21mile ride? Doesn't add up to me...

BTW, I'm definitely not a bike rider or anything out of the ordinary. I seem to pedal a lot faster then those around, and keep my RPM's up higher than everyone else - but I don't think I could go 25mph on a regular bike. Maybe, but I doubt it, lol

SQ

[poopnut2]

Don't depend on them. I've had elliptical machines say 300+ calories after 20 minutes and some say less than 200.

Go until you're tired. That is my advice.

[ShawnQ]

Don't depend on them. I've had elliptical machines say 300+ calories after 20 minutes and some say less than 200.

Go until you're tired. That is my advice.

Once I hit 30mins, I am in cruise control and feel like I could pedal all night long. The 5-20min mark is the tough part. I really don't get too terribly tired within an hour unless I don't have music to listen to. If I forget my music, I get bored and can't stand much more than 30mins.

All of this is on 'flat' bike riding, no hills or anything. The bike automatically adjusts the resistance to keep my heart rate up though.

SQ

[5111]

Remember that the resistance is not taken into account when it gives you the mileage. Try setting the resistance to 20 and see if you can still do as many miles in the same time period.