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

[00:01] You burned 463 calories.

[00:05] You burned 641 calories.

[00:10] You look so handsome.

[00:14] >> Yes, you. You sexy beast. That beard is

[00:18] ravishing.

[00:23] >> So, I got some bad news for you. This

[00:25] machine right here is lying to you. But

[00:28] it's not just this one. So is this one

[00:31] and this one and even this one. You see

[00:34] guys, if you're using a treadmill or any

[00:36] cardio machine right now to determine

[00:38] the amount of calories you're burning to

[00:39] help you in your goal to lose more

[00:41] weight, you're not getting the right

[00:42] math. The number of calories that you're

[00:44] burning are just not accurate. It's time

[00:46] for the truth. But the first truth that

[00:48] needs to be told is if you're using your

[00:50] cardio as a way to create your caloric

[00:52] deficit to lose weight, you're making a

[00:54] big mistake because you're never going

[00:56] to be able to outrun a bad diet. We talk

[00:59] about it all the time. Even just one

[01:01] slip up in a meal is enough to erase an

[01:03] hour's worth of effort at the gym. You

[01:05] need to make sure that when you're

[01:06] trying to lose weight, your efforts are

[01:08] focused first and foremost on cleaning

[01:10] up the foods that you're eating right

[01:11] now. Make your caloric cuts there and

[01:14] use the additional cardio to supplement

[01:16] those efforts. and that's when the real

[01:17] results will happen. So, the first thing

[01:19] you have to be on the lookout for is how

[01:21] these things are actually asking you for

[01:23] the information because if they're not

[01:25] asking you for your weight directly,

[01:27] then they're not giving you an accurate

[01:28] result. Because we know that cardio

[01:30] machines need to know how much you

[01:32] weigh. A heavier person has to work

[01:34] harder to move their body through space

[01:36] and therefore can burn more calories

[01:37] whereas somebody that's lighter is going

[01:39] to burn less calories for the same

[01:40] activity. Well, what happens with these

[01:42] cardio machines is they calculate that

[01:44] calorie burn based off of something

[01:46] called a MET, me, which is a metabolic

[01:49] equivalent. And essentially, one MET is

[01:51] the value of you sitting on the couch

[01:53] doing nothing. The calories that you

[01:54] would burn by literally just sitting

[01:56] down watching TV. And anything you did

[01:58] that increased your activity beyond that

[01:59] is going to be some multiple of that

[02:01] number. So, if you went for a jog, you

[02:03] could have, let's say, a three or four

[02:05] met burn, which is three or four times

[02:07] harder than sitting on your ass. That

[02:09] being said, it's always calculated by

[02:12] one body weight number, usually 154

[02:15] pounds. So, if you don't weigh 154

[02:17] pounds, you're not getting an accurate

[02:19] calorie output read back to you. If you

[02:21] weigh less than that, then you're

[02:23] actually overestimating how many

[02:24] calories you burn. And if you weigh more

[02:26] than that, you're actually maybe

[02:27] underestimating by a little bit. But

[02:29] don't worry, there's a lot of other ways

[02:30] that these machines are screwing you.

[02:32] I'm going to show you those, too.

[02:34] >> Wait, isn't this your towel? H.

[02:37] >> Oh, that's disgusting. And one of them

[02:40] is by actually maybe fudging the math

[02:42] intentionally. You see, a lot of times

[02:44] the number that you read in terms of the

[02:46] caloric burn is based on including

[02:49] something called the RE or the resting

[02:51] energy expenditure, the calories that

[02:53] you would burn normally at rest. So,

[02:54] let's say you're on the treadmill and it

[02:56] tells you that you burned 420 calories.

[02:58] Well, what if it's also including the

[03:00] fact that you would have burned 100

[03:01] calories if you did nothing at all?

[03:03] Well, that's just inflating the overall

[03:05] number. you only burn 320 extra

[03:07] calories. You're already likely using

[03:09] that number in your base calculation to

[03:12] determine how many calories you need to

[03:13] burn during the day. It's just not fair.

[03:15] So, you might be asking yourself, why

[03:17] would they do such a thing? Well, maybe

[03:19] to make you think, this machine is

[03:21] amazing, and I would love to do all my

[03:23] workouts on this machine. And a matter

[03:24] of fact, I might want to buy one of

[03:26] these and put it in my house because it

[03:27] makes me feel good about the number of

[03:29] calories I'm burning. Just throwing it

[03:30] out there. But let's not just blame the

[03:32] machines entirely. Because if you're

[03:34] doing what I'm doing right now, you're

[03:35] screwing yourself. If you've ever ridden

[03:37] a bike leaning this way, your posture is

[03:40] creating less caloric burn. How? Because

[03:43] you're doing less work. Leaning on the

[03:45] machine, unweing some of your body

[03:47] weight is costing yourself some

[03:48] calories. Amazingly, so up to 50% less

[03:51] than what you thought you were burning.

[03:53] And that causes problems. You could do

[03:55] it even on a treadmill. You've probably

[03:56] seen it a million times or done it

[03:58] yourself. You hold on with your hands or

[04:00] worse, you lean forward or even on a

[04:02] stairmaster. Any attempt at all to try

[04:04] to unweight any of your body weight is a

[04:06] good indication that you're actually

[04:08] looking for a way out. If you're going

[04:09] to do your cardio, make sure you stand

[04:10] up straight and do so with good posture.

[04:12] You're going to get a lot closer to the

[04:14] number that you actually thought you

[04:15] were burning in terms of calories. Can I

[04:17] ask you a question? If you ever do a

[04:18] bicep curl, do you think you get better

[04:20] results doing this or actually taking it

[04:22] through a full range of motion all the

[04:24] way down and all the way up? Well, it

[04:27] should come as no surprise the form

[04:28] range of motion is better. But then why

[04:30] are you doing this when you're doing

[04:31] cardio? You're cutting your range of

[04:32] motion short often. For instance, if you

[04:35] use a stairmaster or in this case a step

[04:37] mill, allow us to take the option of

[04:39] taking short choppy steps. We don't

[04:41] drive the step all the way down through

[04:43] full hip extension. What that means is

[04:45] less work being done. And for you, less

[04:47] work means less calories and less

[04:49] calories means less weight loss. And

[04:51] look at even your choices like the

[04:52] elliptical machine. It's locking you

[04:54] into an abbreviated range of motion. You

[04:56] can't extend your leg further back even

[04:58] if you wanted to. And then even this,

[04:59] I'm sure you've seen people who stand up

[05:01] while they're pedaling on a bike. Now,

[05:03] this is not just some fancy Pelaton

[05:04] trick. It's increasing the range of

[05:07] motion. You're getting more hip

[05:08] extension, also unaweing your body.

[05:11] Remember, the more of your body weight

[05:12] that you're bearing during the exercise

[05:14] you're doing, the more calories you're

[05:15] burning and therefore getting better

[05:16] bang for your buck. So remember, if it

[05:19] feels easier, often times it is easier.

[05:21] Instead, look to make it harder.

[05:23] Increase that range of motion. And with

[05:25] that increased range of motion and work

[05:26] done, you're going to find better

[05:28] overall success from your time spent in

[05:29] the gym. All right. So, if all these

[05:31] cardio machines are lying to you, are

[05:32] there at least some that are lying to

[05:34] you less? And the answer is yes. And it

[05:36] starts with the stationary bike. It's

[05:38] the most accurate, overestimating by

[05:40] only about 7%. And the reason for this

[05:43] is often times the way that we calculate

[05:44] the calories burned here is through

[05:46] mathematical formulations and based off

[05:48] of power output. In other words, watts.

[05:51] And we do that and we combine it with

[05:53] our body weight, which most of these

[05:54] machines will ask for, we get a much

[05:56] more accurate judgment. However, next up

[05:57] on the list is going to be the

[05:59] stairmaster. Here, we're looking at

[06:01] about a 12% overestimation on the number

[06:03] of calories that you burn. But you got

[06:05] to make sure once again that you're not

[06:06] leaning on that machine, like I said,

[06:07] and that you're taking those nice long

[06:09] full range of motion steps. Next one up

[06:11] down the list in terms of accuracy is

[06:13] going to be the treadmill, which really

[06:14] isn't such good news because so many

[06:16] people use this machine. And the problem

[06:18] here is twofold. Number one, the

[06:20] accuracy is now off by 13 to up to 20%.

[06:23] And even if you do what I told you and

[06:24] keep your hands off the handrails,

[06:26] sometimes you're still fighting a losing

[06:27] battle here because the calibration of

[06:29] the machine is a requirement to maintain

[06:31] its accuracy. And most gyms just don't

[06:33] calibrate the machines often enough. So

[06:35] that's something you can't even do

[06:36] anything about. And then finally, the

[06:37] most inaccurate of them all is the

[06:39] elliptical machine. Sometimes off by as

[06:41] much as 42%, mostly due to the fact that

[06:43] the range of motion varies greatly

[06:45] between even different models. Now, to

[06:47] put this all into real world

[06:48] perspective, imagine this. If you spent

[06:50] 30 minutes on an elliptical machine, you

[06:53] might be overestimating the number of

[06:54] calories burned by 130. Now, think about

[06:57] that. If you're trying to create your

[06:59] overall deficit for the day, and you

[07:01] think you burned 130 calories more than

[07:03] you did, therefore, you can eat more

[07:04] food, you're kind of setting yourself up

[07:06] for disaster. Extrapolate this out for

[07:08] the entire year. If you were to take 130

[07:10] calories in extra over your baseline

[07:12] rate every single day, that's a 14 lb

[07:15] weight gain by the end of the year.

[07:17] Let's face it, we need to figure this

[07:18] out. Or do we really? Because there's a

[07:21] few things you can do right now that are

[07:22] actually going to just nullify the

[07:24] inaccuracy of these machines and still

[07:25] help you to get back on track in terms

[07:27] of your weight loss. And the first thing

[07:29] is just to choose a different machine

[07:31] because there's some that are just way

[07:32] better at burning a lot more calories.

[07:34] So even if they're off, you're still be

[07:36] burning a lot more than you are right

[07:37] now. And the main key here is to

[07:39] integrate one that has working arm

[07:42] movement. Not just going along for the

[07:44] ride like on an elliptical, but actually

[07:45] working and working hard. And one of the

[07:47] easiest ways to do this is with an air

[07:49] bike. You could burn about 20 to 25

[07:51] calories for every single minute that

[07:53] you're on this. The other option is to

[07:54] use a rowing machine. Again, resisted

[07:56] upper body movement as well as lower

[07:59] body movement here. Obviously, when you

[08:00] use these guys, you know how much more

[08:02] difficult they are. The difficulty is

[08:04] going to be a dead giveaway in terms of

[08:05] the effectiveness of the exercise. And

[08:07] finally, you could use something like

[08:08] this ski erometer or the ski erg. The

[08:11] point is you have alternatives to the

[08:13] standard cardio options that are

[08:14] ultimately going to do a better job of

[08:16] helping you burn calories. Yeah, I know

[08:18] they're not the most pleasant, but at

[08:19] the end of the day, what matters is the

[08:21] work that you do. And the more work you

[08:22] do, the more calories you burn and

[08:24] ultimately the more weight you'll lose.

[08:25] So, you got to consider it. But even if

[08:27] you decide that you just want to stick

[08:28] to the machine you're using right now,

[08:30] but want to find ways to make it more

[08:31] accurate, what can you do? Well, the

[08:33] first thing, as I mentioned, is to try

[08:34] to find one that at least allows you to

[08:36] input your body weight. Because when you

[08:37] do, you're going to have an infinitely

[08:39] closer accuracy when it comes to the

[08:41] number of calories burned. But the other

[08:42] thing I like to just recommend is throw

[08:44] a towel over it and stop looking at the

[08:46] calories. Instead, go off of your

[08:48] respiratory rate. The more difficult it

[08:49] is for you to carry on a conversation

[08:51] during exercise, the more indicative it

[08:53] is of the amount of effort you're

[08:54] putting forth. So, aim for more

[08:56] breathlessness. In other words, whatever

[08:58] cardio machine you're using right now,

[08:59] if you're more breathless the next time

[09:01] you use it, you're likely working harder

[09:03] and therefore increasing your calorie

[09:04] burn. Or make it easier for yourself and

[09:06] do what I advise my athletes to do.

[09:08] Simply take the output that the machine

[09:10] gives you and divide it in half and use

[09:11] that to calculate your intake amounts

[09:14] for the day. Oh, and by the way, don't

[09:15] rely on the wearable devices to try to

[09:17] improve your reporting on your calorie

[09:19] output. They're actually not much more

[09:21] helpful. As a matter of fact, the best

[09:22] of them has shown only a 20% inaccuracy

[09:25] with the worst one being actually 96%

[09:28] inaccurate. Yeah, even a blind squirrel

[09:31] finds an acorn once in a while. So

[09:32] remember, if you're looking to lose

[09:33] weight and cardio is part of your

[09:34] equation here, at least make sure you're

[09:36] getting the right numbers back. In the

[09:38] meantime, if you're looking for more

[09:39] proof that trying to outrun a bad diet

[09:40] is a bad idea, you're going to want to

[09:42] watch this video right here.

[09:43] >> No, not that video.

[09:44] >> That video right there. If you're

[09:45] looking for a complete program, you can

[09:46] find it over at athletics.com. If you

[09:48] haven't done so, click subscribe. Turn

[09:49] your notifications so you never miss a

[09:51] new video when we put one out.

[09:52] >> Oh, Jeff, can I tell you a lie?

[09:53] >> Sure.

[09:54] >> You're the best boss ever.

[09:55] >> You're so funny, Jesse. I think I love

[09:58] you.