Your Cardio Machines are LYING To You!

Did you know that your cardio machines are lying to you? In this video, I am going to show you how the cardio machines you are using are incorrectly displaying the number of calories you are burning. In fact, the number of calories displayed may be grossly overestimated. I am also going to show you

You burned 463 calories. You burned 641 calories. You look so handsome. Yes, you, you sexy beast. That beard is ravishing.

What the fuck? So, I got some bad news for  you. This machine right here is lying to you. But it’s not just this one,  so is this one and this one and even this one. See guys is you re using a treadmill or any  cardio machine right now to determine the amount of calories you re burning to help you in your  goal to lose more weight, you’re not getting the right math.

You’re being lied to. The number  of calories that you’re burning are just not accurate. Today I’m going to show you not only the  worst of the worst, but also I’m going to tell you the machines that are maybe better worth your  time than others. It’s time for the truth. But the first truth that needs to be  told is if you’re using your cardio as a way to create your caloric deficit, to  lose weight, you’re making a big mistake.

Because you’re never going to be able to outrun  a bad diet, we talk about it all the time. Even just one slip up in a meal is enough to race an  hour’s worth of effort at the gym. You need to make sure that when you’re trying to lose weight,  your efforts are focused first and foremost on cleaning up the foods that you’re eating  right now. Make your caloric cuts there and use the additional cardio to supplement those efforts. And that’s where the real results will happen.

So, the first thing you have to be on the lookout  for is how these things are actually asking you for the information, because if they’re not asking  for your weight directly, then they’re not giving you an accurate result. Because we know that  cardio machines need to know how much you weigh. A heavier person has to work harder to move their  body through space and therefore can burn more calories. Whereas somebody that’s lighter is going  to burn less calories for the same activity. Well, what happens with these cardio machines  is they calculate that calorie burn based off of something called a MET M-E-T which is a metabolic  equivalent.

And essentially one MET is the value of you sitting on the couch doing nothing. The  calories that you would burn by literally just sitting down watching TV. And anything you  did that increased your activity beyond that is going to be some multiple of that number. So,  if you went for a jog, you could have, let’s say, a three or four MET burn, which is three or  four times harder than sitting on your ass. That being said, it’s always calculated by  one bodyweight number, usually 154 pounds.

So, if you don’t weigh 154 pounds, you’re not  getting an accurate calorie output read back to you. If you weigh less than that, then you’re  actually overestimating how many calories you burn and if you weigh more than that, you’re  actually maybe underestimating by a little bit. But don’t worry, there’s a lot of other  ways that these machines are screwing you. I’m going to show you those, too. Wait, isn’t this your towel?

Oh, that’s disgusting. And one of them is by actually maybe fudging the math intentionally. You see, a lot  of times the number that you read in terms of the caloric burn is based on including something  called the REE or the Resting Energy Expenditure, the calories that you would burn normally at rest. So, let’s say you’re on the treadmill and it tells you that you burned 420 calories. Well, what if  it’s also including the fact that you would have burned 100 calories if you did nothing at all?

Well, that’s just inflating the overall number. You only burn 320 extra calories. You’re already  likely using that number in your base calculation to determine how many calories you need to  burn during the day. It’s just not fair. So, you might be asking yourself, why would they  do such a thing?

Well, maybe to make you think this machine is amazing. And I would love to do  all my workouts on this machine. In a matter of fact, I might want to buy one of these and put it  in my house because it makes me feel good about the number of calories I’m burning. Just throwing  it out there. But let’s not just blame the machines entirely, because if you’re doing what  I’m doing right now, you’re screwing yourself.

If you’ve ever ridden a bike leaning this way,  your posture is creating less caloric burn. How? Because you’re doing less work. Leaning on the  machine, on weighting some of your body weight is costing yourself some calories. Amazingly  so up to 50% less than what you thought you were burning and that causes problems.

You can do it even on a treadmill. You’ve probably seen it a million times or done it  yourself. You hold on with your hands or worse, you lean forward. Or even on a Stairmaster any  attempt at all to try to weight any of your body weight is a good indication that you’re actually  looking for a way out. If you’re going to do your cardio, make sure you stand up straight  and do so with good posture, you’re going to get a lot closer to the number that you actually  thought you were burning in terms of calories.

Can I ask you a question? If you’re going do bicep  curl, do you think you get better results doing this or actually taking it through a full range of  motion all the way down and all the way up? Well, it should come as no surprise the full range  of motion is better. But then why are you doing this when you’re doing cardio, you’re cutting  your range of motion short often. For instance, if you use a Stairmaster, or in this case, a Step  Mill, a lot of us take the option of taking short, choppy steps.

We don’t drive the step all the way  down through full hip extension. What that means is less work being done. And for you, let’s  work means less calories and less calories means less weight loss. And look at even your choices, like the elliptical machine. It’s locking you into  an abbreviated range of motion.

You can’t extend your leg for the back even if you wanted to. And then even this, I’m sure you’ve seen people who stand up while they’re pedaling on a bike. Now, this is not just some fancy peloton trick, it’s increasing the range of motion. You’re  getting more hip extension also on unweighting your body. Remember the more of your body weight  that you’re bearing during the exercise.

You’re doing, the more calories you’re burning and  therefore getting better bang for your buck. So, remember, if it feels easier, it is  easier. Instead, look to make it harder, increase that range of motion. And with that  increased range of motion and work done, you’re going to find better overall success from  your time spent in the gym. All right, so if all these cardio machines are lying to you, are there  at least some that are lying to you less?

And the answer is yes. And it starts with the stationary  bike. It’s the most accurate overestimating by only about 7%. And the reason for this is  oftentimes the way that we calculate the calories burned here is through mathematical formulations  and based off of power output. In other words, watts.

And when we do that and we combine it with  our body weight, which most of these machines will ask for, we get a much more accurate judgment. However, next up on the list is going to be the Stairmaster. Here we’re looking at about  a 12% overestimation on the number of calories that you burn. But you’ve got to make sure, once  again, that you’re not leaning on that machine, like I said, and that you’re taking those nice,  long, full range of motion steps. The next one up down the list in terms of accuracy is going to  be the treadmill, which really isn’t such good news because so many people use this machine.

And the problem here