The Monitor Says You Burned “X” Calories…
The monitor on the exercise machine says you burned 30 calories, is that true?
Probably not.
Unless you and the conditions of training fit a formula.
A common question people have when using exercise machines that display a number of calories is if that equates to calories burned.
Concept2 (popular rowing erg manufacturer) states that their formula for calculating calories on a monitor is based on a 175lb individual.
Are you exactly 175lbs?
Probably not. And that's ok!
It’s also ok to not think of calories when doing a workout. I would encourage that.
Because why do calories need to be a metric of effort? When programming for clients I have largely stopped using them. There are other metrics like distance, time, watts, perceived effort etc. Calories are just another option for a unit of measurement. Sure there can be some different performance outcomes when training using different units of measurements but that's a different discussion.
You do not need to look at “burned” calories to feel successful in your training. This idea can lead to the feeling that you need to “burn” calories to earn the calories you consume. Which is an unfortunate mindset. Because calories aren’t inherently bad.
