Flywheel cals accurate (or other stadium cycling)?

Sktaylor_

Hi,

I've discovered my absolute favorite way to get in exercise is spin class. A place called FlyWheel opened up right by my house, and I go there 3-4x a week. For example, I went today, 2x Sunday, and once on Saturday... But just a couple questions,

1. Do you think that repetitive of an exercise becomes a hindrance at some point? I'm still burning calories from it (MFP says ~351, but their website online says ~630 for my stats), so I'm not really sure at what point I should look into switching up my routine. It's still VERY hard and I am still always dripping sweat after a 45-min session!

2. Do any of you who spin via FlyWheel (or any other stadium cycling studio that puts their stats [total power, torque, RPM, distance, cals] online, I just personally don't know of others to compare to) know if those cals are roughly accurate? I just find their numbers so high! Again, I do work really hard, and am panting and drinking a ton of water, but just am not sure! What FW does is they add up your scores online and give you a low and high # for calories burned... If any other studios do this, please tell me your input!! I know this is a very specific question, but I figured if there were any other cycling fanatics on here, I'd give it a shot!

Thanks!!

KerryBikes

This is quite late from your original post...but yes, I agree that Flywheel's calorie estimates are way, way high.

I cycle quite a bit, outside and inside...and I wear a HR monitor currently.

My calorie burn for a one hour class is around 500, 45 min around 350-400. (I'm 5'7" and approx 145#). They quote some crazy high numbers...

But the classes are pretty fun!

ligniteminer

Go by your heart rate monitor, I have gotten back into mountain bike racing and use studio cycling for my weekday training, usually twice a week. I am 5'8" and weigh in around 170 depending on the day. In a ~55 minute race I burn ~1000 calories with an average heart rate in the mid to low 180s. In class i can usually keep an average heart rate of 170 and my heart rate monitor shows a total of ~800 calories burned in 55 minutes. Much of your calories burned is on effort in regards to heart rate. I'm guessing your flywheel stats show watts, cadence and the like. If it doesn't have a body weight and HRM data the total cals burned will be off. For instance, the calories burned according to the monitor on a treadmill vs my HRM, is usually 10-15% less. Hope this helps.

avispira

1. I have found that FW calorie readouts are high for me, by about 15%, versus my Powercal HRM (this is a little more sophisticated than a general HRM - it has wattage, respiration, etc.).

However, the MFP numbers are low by a bunch, too. From a powerscore perspective, a PS of 300 over a 45 minute class has me @ 715 calories on my PowerCal (vs. 445 on MFP and 831 - 936 on FW), but I also weigh 185. A 1 hour PS of 457 clocked in at 1158 calories on my PowerCal (vs. 594 on MFP and (1296 - 1371 on FW). Keep in mind, though, that my weight helps keep my calorie burn count up. Your weight will also impact the credit you get on MFP, but not FW.

My recommendation is to put your spinning numbers into the Bicycling 14 - 16, or Bicycling 16 - 20 category to get a better idea. When I am cranking it (100 PS points/15 minutes) then I use 16 - 20. On a steady ride/recovery I use 14 - 16. I think that you will get a more accurate representation of calorie burn that way than using the FW numbers (they don't consider weight) or MFP (they grossly underestimate the calorie burn in a high intensity FW class).

2. If you are looking for a "better" way to measure calorie burn, I agree that an HRM is a great way to go. The PowerCal product comes in a ANT+ version (where you need to pay for a receiver, too - I have a watch, which I love) and a Bluetooth version. I am pretty sure that the bluetooth version can pair with most smartphones and syncs with apps (you might need to pay something small for those). While the powercal isn't perfect, it has a ton of algorithms and intelligence that determines data, which goes beyond the average HRM. In the end, I like having a little data, but it is a side note to my training and will (come summertime) drive my food consumption patterns a little bit. However, I only have so much time to spend on this sort of thing. I need exercise to be (mostly) fun.

winchet123

Very late post here.

Flywheel's calories burn number is an estimate that includes the additional burn of calories one should experience throughout the day because of the increase in metabolism due to the class. That is why the burn # is higher than HR Monitors show.