[0:01] You burned 463 calories.
[0:05] You burned 641 calories.
[0:10] You look so handsome.
[0:14] >> Yes, you. You sexy beast. That beard is
[0:18] ravishing.
[0:23] >> So, I got some bad news for you. This
[0:25] machine right here is lying to you. But
[0:28] it's not just this one. So is this one
[0:31] and this one and even this one. You see
[0:34] guys, if you're using a treadmill or any
[0:36] cardio machine right now to determine
[0:38] the amount of calories you're burning to
[0:39] help you in your goal to lose more
[0:41] weight, you're not getting the right
[0:42] math. The number of calories that you're
[0:44] burning are just not accurate. It's time
[0:46] for the truth. But the first truth that
[0:48] needs to be told is if you're using your
[0:50] cardio as a way to create your caloric
[0:52] deficit to lose weight, you're making a
[0:54] big mistake because you're never going
[0:56] to be able to outrun a bad diet. We talk
[0:59] about it all the time. Even just one
[1:01] slip up in a meal is enough to erase an
[1:03] hour's worth of effort at the gym. You
[1:05] need to make sure that when you're
[1:06] trying to lose weight, your efforts are
[1:08] focused first and foremost on cleaning
[1:10] up the foods that you're eating right
[1:11] now. Make your caloric cuts there and
[1:14] use the additional cardio to supplement
[1:16] those efforts. and that's when the real
[1:17] results will happen. So, the first thing
[1:19] you have to be on the lookout for is how
[1:21] these things are actually asking you for
[1:23] the information because if they're not
[1:25] asking you for your weight directly,
[1:27] then they're not giving you an accurate
[1:28] result. Because we know that cardio
[1:30] machines need to know how much you
[1:32] weigh. A heavier person has to work
[1:34] harder to move their body through space
[1:36] and therefore can burn more calories
[1:37] whereas somebody that's lighter is going
[1:39] to burn less calories for the same
[1:40] activity. Well, what happens with these
[1:42] cardio machines is they calculate that
[1:44] calorie burn based off of something
[1:46] called a MET, me, which is a metabolic
[1:49] equivalent. And essentially, one MET is
[1:51] the value of you sitting on the couch
[1:53] doing nothing. The calories that you
[1:54] would burn by literally just sitting
[1:56] down watching TV. And anything you did
[1:58] that increased your activity beyond that
[1:59] is going to be some multiple of that
[2:01] number. So, if you went for a jog, you
[2:03] could have, let's say, a three or four
[2:05] met burn, which is three or four times
[2:07] harder than sitting on your ass. That
[2:09] being said, it's always calculated by
[2:12] one body weight number, usually 154
[2:15] pounds. So, if you don't weigh 154
[2:17] pounds, you're not getting an accurate
[2:19] calorie output read back to you. If you
[2:21] weigh less than that, then you're
[2:23] actually overestimating how many
[2:24] calories you burn. And if you weigh more
[2:26] than that, you're actually maybe
[2:27] underestimating by a little bit. But
[2:29] don't worry, there's a lot of other ways
[2:30] that these machines are screwing you.
[2:32] I'm going to show you those, too.
[2:34] >> Wait, isn't this your towel? H.
[2:37] >> Oh, that's disgusting. And one of them
[2:40] is by actually maybe fudging the math
[2:42] intentionally. You see, a lot of times
[2:44] the number that you read in terms of the
[2:46] caloric burn is based on including
[2:49] something called the RE or the resting
[2:51] energy expenditure, the calories that
[2:53] you would burn normally at rest. So,
[2:54] let's say you're on the treadmill and it
[2:56] tells you that you burned 420 calories.
[2:58] Well, what if it's also including the
[3:00] fact that you would have burned 100
[3:01] calories if you did nothing at all?
[3:03] Well, that's just inflating the overall
[3:05] number. you only burn 320 extra
[3:07] calories. You're already likely using
[3:09] that number in your base calculation to
[3:12] determine how many calories you need to
[3:13] burn during the day. It's just not fair.
[3:15] So, you might be asking yourself, why
[3:17] would they do such a thing? Well, maybe
[3:19] to make you think, this machine is
[3:21] amazing, and I would love to do all my
[3:23] workouts on this machine. And a matter
[3:24] of fact, I might want to buy one of
[3:26] these and put it in my house because it
[3:27] makes me feel good about the number of
[3:29] calories I'm burning. Just throwing it
[3:30] out there. But let's not just blame the
[3:32] machines entirely. Because if you're
[3:34] doing what I'm doing right now, you're
[3:35] screwing yourself. If you've ever ridden
[3:37] a bike leaning this way, your posture is
[3:40] creating less caloric burn. How? Because
[3:43] you're doing less work. Leaning on the
[3:45] machine, unweing some of your body
[3:47] weight is costing yourself some
[3:48] calories. Amazingly, so up to 50% less
[3:51] than what you thought you were burning.
[3:53] And that causes problems. You could do
[3:55] it even on a treadmill. You've probably
[3:56] seen it a million times or done it
[3:58] yourself. You hold on with your hands or
[4:00] worse, you lean forward or even on a
[4:02] stairmaster. Any attempt at all to try
[4:04] to unweight any of your body weight is a
[4:06] good indication that you're actually
[4:08] looking for a way out. If you're going
[4:09] to do your cardio, make sure you stand
[4:10] up straight and do so with good posture.
[4:12] You're going to get a lot closer to the
[4:14] number that you actually thought you
[4:15] were burning in terms of calories. Can I
[4:17] ask you a question? If you ever do a
[4:18] bicep curl, do you think you get better
[4:20] results doing this or actually taking it
[4:22] through a full range of motion all the
[4:24] way down and all the way up? Well, it
[4:27] should come as no surprise the form
[4:28] range of motion is better. But then why
[4:30] are you doing this when you're doing
[4:31] cardio? You're cutting your range of
[4:32] motion short often. For instance, if you
[4:35] use a stairmaster or in this case a step
[4:37] mill, allow us to take the option of
[4:39] taking short choppy steps. We don't
[4:41] drive the step all the way down through
[4:43] full hip extension. What that means is
[4:45] less work being done. And for you, less
[4:47] work means less calories and less
[4:49] calories means less weight loss. And
[4:51] look at even your choices like the
[4:52] elliptical machine. It's locking you
[4:54] into an abbreviated range of motion. You
[4:56] can't extend your leg further back even
[4:58] if you wanted to. And then even this,
[4:59] I'm sure you've seen people who stand up
[5:01] while they're pedaling on a bike. Now,
[5:03] this is not just some fancy Pelaton
[5:04] trick. It's increasing the range of
[5:07] motion. You're getting more hip
[5:08] extension, also unaweing your body.
[5:11] Remember, the more of your body weight
[5:12] that you're bearing during the exercise
[5:14] you're doing, the more calories you're
[5:15] burning and therefore getting better
[5:16] bang for your buck. So remember, if it
[5:19] feels easier, often times it is easier.
[5:21] Instead, look to make it harder.
[5:23] Increase that range of motion. And with
[5:25] that increased range of motion and work
[5:26] done, you're going to find better
[5:28] overall success from your time spent in
[5:29] the gym. All right. So, if all these
[5:31] cardio machines are lying to you, are
[5:32] there at least some that are lying to
[5:34] you less? And the answer is yes. And it
[5:36] starts with the stationary bike. It's
[5:38] the most accurate, overestimating by
[5:40] only about 7%. And the reason for this
[5:43] is often times the way that we calculate
[5:44] the calories burned here is through
[5:46] mathematical formulations and based off
[5:48] of power output. In other words, watts.
[5:51] And we do that and we combine it with
[5:53] our body weight, which most of these
[5:54] machines will ask for, we get a much
[5:56] more accurate judgment. However, next up
[5:57] on the list is going to be the
[5:59] stairmaster. Here, we're looking at
[6:01] about a 12% overestimation on the number
[6:03] of calories that you burn. But you got
[6:05] to make sure once again that you're not
[6:06] leaning on that machine, like I said,
[6:07] and that you're taking those nice long
[6:09] full range of motion steps. Next one up
[6:11] down the list in terms of accuracy is
[6:13] going to be the treadmill, which really
[6:14] isn't such good news because so many
[6:16] people use this machine. And the problem
[6:18] here is twofold. Number one, the
[6:20] accuracy is now off by 13 to up to 20%.
[6:23] And even if you do what I told you and
[6:24] keep your hands off the handrails,
[6:26] sometimes you're still fighting a losing
[6:27] battle here because the calibration of
[6:29] the machine is a requirement to maintain
[6:31] its accuracy. And most gyms just don't
[6:33] calibrate the machines often enough. So
[6:35] that's something you can't even do
[6:36] anything about. And then finally, the
[6:37] most inaccurate of them all is the
[6:39] elliptical machine. Sometimes off by as
[6:41] much as 42%, mostly due to the fact that
[6:43] the range of motion varies greatly
[6:45] between even different models. Now, to
[6:47] put this all into real world
[6:48] perspective, imagine this. If you spent
[6:50] 30 minutes on an elliptical machine, you
[6:53] might be overestimating the number of
[6:54] calories burned by 130. Now, think about
[6:57] that. If you're trying to create your
[6:59] overall deficit for the day, and you
[7:01] think you burned 130 calories more than
[7:03] you did, therefore, you can eat more
[7:04] food, you're kind of setting yourself up
[7:06] for disaster. Extrapolate this out for
[7:08] the entire year. If you were to take 130
[7:10] calories in extra over your baseline
[7:12] rate every single day, that's a 14 lb
[7:15] weight gain by the end of the year.
[7:17] Let's face it, we need to figure this
[7:18] out. Or do we really? Because there's a
[7:21] few things you can do right now that are
[7:22] actually going to just nullify the
[7:24] inaccuracy of these machines and still
[7:25] help you to get back on track in terms
[7:27] of your weight loss. And the first thing
[7:29] is just to choose a different machine
[7:31] because there's some that are just way
[7:32] better at burning a lot more calories.
[7:34] So even if they're off, you're still be
[7:36] burning a lot more than you are right
[7:37] now. And the main key here is to
[7:39] integrate one that has working arm
[7:42] movement. Not just going along for the
[7:44] ride like on an elliptical, but actually
[7:45] working and working hard. And one of the
[7:47] easiest ways to do this is with an air
[7:49] bike. You could burn about 20 to 25
[7:51] calories for every single minute that
[7:53] you're on this. The other option is to
[7:54] use a rowing machine. Again, resisted
[7:56] upper body movement as well as lower
[7:59] body movement here. Obviously, when you
[8:00] use these guys, you know how much more
[8:02] difficult they are. The difficulty is
[8:04] going to be a dead giveaway in terms of
[8:05] the effectiveness of the exercise. And
[8:07] finally, you could use something like
[8:08] this ski erometer or the ski erg. The
[8:11] point is you have alternatives to the
[8:13] standard cardio options that are
[8:14] ultimately going to do a better job of
[8:16] helping you burn calories. Yeah, I know
[8:18] they're not the most pleasant, but at
[8:19] the end of the day, what matters is the
[8:21] work that you do. And the more work you
[8:22] do, the more calories you burn and
[8:24] ultimately the more weight you'll lose.
[8:25] So, you got to consider it. But even if
[8:27] you decide that you just want to stick
[8:28] to the machine you're using right now,
[8:30] but want to find ways to make it more
[8:31] accurate, what can you do? Well, the
[8:33] first thing, as I mentioned, is to try
[8:34] to find one that at least allows you to
[8:36] input your body weight. Because when you
[8:37] do, you're going to have an infinitely
[8:39] closer accuracy when it comes to the
[8:41] number of calories burned. But the other
[8:42] thing I like to just recommend is throw
[8:44] a towel over it and stop looking at the
[8:46] calories. Instead, go off of your
[8:48] respiratory rate. The more difficult it
[8:49] is for you to carry on a conversation
[8:51] during exercise, the more indicative it
[8:53] is of the amount of effort you're
[8:54] putting forth. So, aim for more
[8:56] breathlessness. In other words, whatever
[8:58] cardio machine you're using right now,
[8:59] if you're more breathless the next time
[9:01] you use it, you're likely working harder
[9:03] and therefore increasing your calorie
[9:04] burn. Or make it easier for yourself and
[9:06] do what I advise my athletes to do.
[9:08] Simply take the output that the machine
[9:10] gives you and divide it in half and use
[9:11] that to calculate your intake amounts
[9:14] for the day. Oh, and by the way, don't
[9:15] rely on the wearable devices to try to
[9:17] improve your reporting on your calorie
[9:19] output. They're actually not much more
[9:21] helpful. As a matter of fact, the best
[9:22] of them has shown only a 20% inaccuracy
[9:25] with the worst one being actually 96%
[9:28] inaccurate. Yeah, even a blind squirrel
[9:31] finds an acorn once in a while. So
[9:32] remember, if you're looking to lose
[9:33] weight and cardio is part of your
[9:34] equation here, at least make sure you're
[9:36] getting the right numbers back. In the
[9:38] meantime, if you're looking for more
[9:39] proof that trying to outrun a bad diet
[9:40] is a bad idea, you're going to want to
[9:42] watch this video right here.
[9:43] >> No, not that video.
[9:44] >> That video right there. If you're
[9:45] looking for a complete program, you can
[9:46] find it over at athletics.com. If you
[9:48] haven't done so, click subscribe. Turn
[9:49] your notifications so you never miss a
[9:51] new video when we put one out.
[9:52] >> Oh, Jeff, can I tell you a lie?
[9:53] >> Sure.
[9:54] >> You're the best boss ever.
[9:55] >> You're so funny, Jesse. I think I love
[9:58] you.