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watts on elliptical

sneekspeete
sneekspeete Posts: 136
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I recently bought a Sole E35 elliptical. Can anyone tell me what watts means? Please

Replies

  • the_journeyman
    the_journeyman Posts: 1,877 Member
    If it's like the ones at my gym, it's the amount of electricity you generate.

    To quote the manual I located with Google:

    "Watts (indication of work level. A reading of 100 watts means
    you are doing enough work to light a 100 watt light bulb)."

    JM
  • sneekspeete
    sneekspeete Posts: 136
    Ok so how does that equal to calories burned? I guess the higher the watts the better
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    Ok so how does that equal to calories burned? I guess the higher the watts the better

    Yup, and that's probably about as scientific a relationship as you're going to get without a lot of math and knowing your body's energy conversion rate, the accuracy of the machine, etc.

    "Watts Generated" is a useful tool to measure your progress on a specific machine or model of elliptical. As you get more fit, you'll be able to sustain higher numbers for longer periods of time. It's an "instant feedback" and encourages you to push yourself.

    Use it for that, take it no more seriously than that, and it's a great tool.

    EDIT: As your body becomes more efficient (which is a natural result of doing cardio), you will burn fewer calories for a given level of watts generated. The only way to estimate calories with any level of certainty is to use a heart rate monitor, which measures the amount of effort your body is expending trying to feed nutrients and oxygen to your muscles, which has a coincidental but pretty predictable ratio to the amount of energy those muscles are actually expending. Five years ago, when I weighed about 40 pounds more than I do today and had never set foot on a cardio machine in my life, I could reach max heartrate and be burning calories at "peak burn" generating about 180 watts. I now burn FEWER calories at 220 watts than I used to at 180 watts. Same person, different fitness levels.
  • sneekspeete
    sneekspeete Posts: 136
    thank u both! I was/am so confused!:blushing:
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    thank u both! I was/am so confused!:blushing:

    If you want fairly accurate numbers on cardio, get a heart rate monitor. Or work with estimates like those of us who don't want to spend the money on a heart rate monitor do. There's such a thing as overthinking these things. I'd prefer to spend the time on the machine working out than fiddling with a heart rate monitor trying to figure out how effective it would be if I was on a machine working out.

    Treat "watts" like a game - try to sustain as many of them as you can as long as you can, and watch yourself get better at it.
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