Digital readings on gym equipment

[greenshamr]

So how accurate are the digital readings on gym equipment...such as treadmills, elipticals, stair climbers etc. Can I really assume that my heart rate, calories burned, miles ran, etc. are all correct?

[shy__anne]

A trainer told me they were fairly accurate as long as you put in the true info. That being said, he also said the treadmill was harder than the elliptical machine which, on the read out, says it burns more calories. If you go to the my plan thing and enter your walking or whatever, it comes up with close to the same calories burned as the read out at the gym.

[Terry-24]

I guess it depends on the equipment: the Life Fitness, Precors treadmills and ellipticals at my Y give calorie readings I can't fathom, but they usually read my heart rate monitor accurately. And they'll often read my monitor for the elderly gent strolling on the treadmill next to me as well, who'll lean over and say, "Look, it says here we're working about the same, and yet you're sweating so much." Definitely a YMMV thing?

Cheers--
Terry-24

[ValerieL]

You know, I wonder about those things. Frankly, I don't believe them. Do they take into account that you burn a certain number of calories just being alive? For example, if one is such a weight that it would take 2400 calories to maintain a certain weight, then you are burning 100 calories an hour just living. So, when the treadmill says I've burned, say 400 calories over an hour of walking, is it 400 *extra* calories? Or just 300 extra and my normal 100 calories from being alive? I think we all assume it's extra calories, but I bet it's not.

[kaypeeoh]

At best they'll give you a general idea but not a super accurate one. My treadmill shows calories burned and calories burned from fat. How does it know that? I think it uses a general formula for something like 20% of calories burned will be from fat. But for someone in ketosis, the body is burning nothing but fat. For someone doing HIIT the body is burning nothing but carbs.

I like that it registers the incline. At 0 incline it says I'm burning 130 calories per mile. At 10% incline I'm burning 800 calories per mile.

[captainemo]

some machines are more accurate than others, the majority use just basic formulas for m/f, age sex, some for build. for more accuracy you need to know your VO2 max score, which is basically yours bodies oxygen efficiency, the higher this number, generally the fitter you are.......many heart rate monitor watches use this in the setup, these give pretty accurate results as calories burned can be related back to heart rate and VO2 max, everyone burns differing calories at differing heart rate outputs, the VO2 max is what allows the monitor to accurately chart your calorie usage,

for example, 1 hour on a life fitness x trainer shows around 1400 kcal on the readout, wheras my monitor which is set up with VO2 max shows around 950kcal, a more accurate reading, the heartrate displays are usually within 1 bpm, they just pick up the heartbeat from the change in electrical resistance when you hold the sensors, or your chest strap bounces it accross............

[AFI]

The machines are calibrated, and over time the lower quality machines tend to get out of calibrated fairly quick. I watched them calibrate the machines the other day in our gym on post here. With that said the most accurate machines are the ones that you can continuously monitor your heart rate like an elliptical, the machines that cant use the formulas like mentioned above that use your weight and age etc. The 5900.00 Ellipticals we have on post are guaranteed to be accurate with in 1% as long as the calibration stays up to date. I think thats close enough.