The BEST and WORST Cardio for Fat Loss (SURPRISE!)

If you are doing cardio to lose fat, there is a good chance you are making the worst cardio mistakes everyone makes for fat loss without even knowing it. In this video, I am going to show you why the treadmill, elliptical, StairMaster, bike, and even your fitness tracker may be lying to you about ho

You burned 463 calories. You burned 641 calories. You look so handsome. Yes, you. You sexy beast.

That beard is ravishing. So, I got some bad news for you. [music] 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.

You see, guys, if you’re using a treadmill or any cardio machine right now [music] 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. The number of calories that you’re burning are just not accurate. It’s time [music] 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. >> [music] >> Because you’re never going to be able to outrun a bad diet.

We talk about it all the time. >> [music] >> Even just one slip-up in a meal is enough to erase 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 [music] your caloric cuts there and use the additional cardio to supplement those efforts, and that’s when the real results will happen. So, the first thing you have to be on the lookout for is [music] how these things are actually asking you for the information.

Because if they’re not asking you 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 [music] 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, [music] what happens with these cardio machines is they calculate that calorie burn based off of something called a MET, [music] M E T, which is a metabolic equivalent.

And essentially, one MET is a 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, [music] 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, [music] it’s always calculated by one body weight number, usually 154 lb.

So, if you don’t weigh 154 lb, 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. If you weigh more than that, you’re actually maybe underestimating by a little bit. But, don’t worry. [music] 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 [music] in terms of the caloric burn is based on including something called the REE, or the resting energy expenditure, [music] 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 [music] 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 burned 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. [music] 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. As 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. [music] 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, unweighting some of your [music] body weight is costing yourself some calories. Amazingly so, up to 50% less than what you thought you were burning, [music] 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’ll hold on with your hands or worse, [music] you lean forward.

Or even on a stair master. Any attempt at all to try to un-weight any of your body weight is a good indication [music] 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?

[music] >> If you’re going to do a bicep curl, do you think you’d get better results doing this or actually taking it through a full range of motion [music] all the way down and all the way up? Well, it should come as no surprise that 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 stair master or in this case a step [music] 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. [music] What that means is less work being done, and for you, less work means less calories, and less calories means >> [music] >> 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. No, this is not just some fancy Peloton trick, it’s increasing [music] the range of motion. You’re getting more hip extension. Also, un-weighting 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, often times it is easier. Instead, look to make it harder. Increase that range of motion, [music] and with that increased range of motion and work done, you’re going to find better overall success for 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, [music] and it starts with the stationary bike.

It’s the most accurate, over estimating by only about 7%. [music] And the reason for this is often times 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 [music] 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.

[music] >> Here, we’re looking at about a 12% overestimation on the number of calories that you burn, but you 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 [music] full range of motion steps. Next one up down the list in terms of accuracy is going to be the treadmill, which really isn’