✿islandgurl

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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Do the Numbers on Your Gym Equipment Lie?

Do you ever wonder if those 200 calories your elliptical machine says you’ve burned in 30 minutes is truly accurate? If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to know whether or not the amount of calories the cardio equipment at the gym says you burned is really proportional to how much energy you expended.Some cardio machines can overestimate how many calories you burn by up to 15%.

Three factors determine how many calories you’ll burn: your weight, the gym equipment and your level of intensity during a set duration. First, if a machine doesn’t ask you how much you weigh, it probably assumes you weigh 150-160 pounds. But remember, the more you weigh, the more calories you burn, and the less you weigh, the less calories you burn. 


If you’re looking to lose weight, treadmills and elliptical machines tend to burn the most calories, but again, you have to consider the previous factors as well as the time you spend on each machine. Finally, the more intense your workout, the more calories you’ll burn in less time. Increase the resistance on your bike and peddle faster, or set the incline of your treadmill to 5%-10% to challenge your body to work harder. Also, try choosing your workout setting on something other than manual, such as random or hill, and if you’re on a machine with handles, don’t lean on them.

All of these tips will help you to get the most out of your workout, but if you’re still worried about getting an accurate calorie burn, I would suggest investing in a heart rate monitor, which will personalize your calorie burn better than anything else.I personally own a Polar brand monitor that I love. It tracks my heart rate, training time,calories burned, etc.Plus it keeps my weekly workout summary stored which is great so I can go back and up date my training journal with my workout information for that week. Nike also has a great one called "Fuel Band" which I have heard great things about too. If you decide to purchase a personal monitor to have more accuracy then the gym equipment might have, you should research a little and find the best one for your own training. It's a great investment in your fitness training.

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