Interval caloires splits question

[Conniegymrower]

Hi All,

"I am an enthusiast of the Concept2 rowing machine. I've been using the C2 rower for 2-3 months, rowing about 2KM daily to improve cardiovascular health and reduce weight.

Recently, I started focusing on calorie-burning workouts, setting a target of 50 calories per set and completing 4 sets daily. After each session, I convert the data to actual calories burned using my weight information, referencing the Concept2 calorie calculator (https://www.concept2.com/training/calor ... orm=MG0AV3).

However, I noticed a discrepancy: when reviewing my logs, the actual calories burned for a 50CAL target often fall short. That means PM5 split each segment to 10CAL but some of them are less than 10CALs. Is this a bug in the PM5's calorie calculation, or could my monitor be faulty? Could you help explain this?"

Here below is my data:

Target 50CALS Total Time:4:22.7 Meter: 816 CAL/HR: 588 S/M :24 (from website calculation here is 43CAL)

Time Meter CAL/HR S/M
1st 10CAL segment :48.1 164 681 26 (from website calculation here is 9CAL)
2nd 10CAL segment :59.7 169 518 21 (from website calculation here is 9CAL)
3rd 10CAL segment 1:15.2 167 405 17 (from website calculation here is 8CAL)
4th 10CAL segment :41.0. 160 872 32 (from website calculation here is 10CAL)
5th 10CAL segment :38.8 156 926 33 (from website calculation here is 10CAL)


Connie

[Citroen]

Are you reading calories from the performance monitor?

Do you weigh exactly 75kg?
Do you use 300 cals just to go up and down the rail (no rowing)?
Are you an exact match for the dodgy maths that the PM uses?

If you answered NO to any of those questions use a watch to measure calories. It will be a better option.

[jamesg]

At your 80W, it takes about 2 strokes to produce 1 kCal. So to keep it simple just divide your total strokes by two.

In an hour if we pull 20x60 = 1200 strokes, it's about 600kCal. Include your warmup too.

[jamesg]

Some of the WODs are calory intervals. In ergdata you can see your stroke count as well as the kCals.

[Dangerscouse]

Hi Connie, it's obviously up to you, but I'd never recommend doing calories as they're just not reliably produced.

Watts, time, or distance are the only options I'd recommend as these aren't based on rough guesses and general approximations.

[jamesg]

Indeed, work done is Watts x Time and good for C2 that uniquely they show both. Multiply by 4 and we get the heat generated, albeit in kWh/year or any other unit, as we may wish.

[iain]

PM does all kinds of funny averaging. As Cals are not that precise or my target (I am lucky to have a fast metabolism so struggle not to lose weight when training hard), I have not investigated the inconsistencies of the calorie calculation. But KCals per hour = 6/7*4* Watts + 300, so you can convert watts to KCals. Average watts seem to be calculated from the average pace. So if your pace varies the average will be lower and I suspect the Cals will follow. AIUI only distance and time are "measured" and the rest derived (so not actually measuring energy despite being called an "energy meter"!

Re Cals on PM/converter, this ignores the stroke rate or your consistency as well as differences in calories burned losing heat (ie temp / humidity), so at low rates C2 will generally give a proportionally higher reading than actual Cals relative to higher ratings (assuming the stroke length stays similar). While it may not be accurate, it does give an indication of the calories burned, so if this is what motivates you, nothing wrong with paying attention to it. However there are also additional calories burned post workout that are higher and last longer after more intense workouts.

[mjhatten]

FWIW: The two metrics that the Concept2 actually measures are time and distance, Everything else, - watts, calories, pace -- is calculated by formulas and assumptions. Rounding errors can mount up. An extra meter or a second less elapsed time can propagate to a bigger change in one of the derived metrics.