A Nordic Track treadmill provides exercise feedback through its console display. You can get real-time data regarding calorie burn, time and speed while exercising, and other information, depending upon the particular model. If your goal is weight loss, you may wonder how calories are calculated and what is the degree of accuracy. Exercise equipment technology relies on scientific calculations and modeling to derive this information. Development of these equations has a focus of sports fitness research.
Basic Calorie Calculation
Calculating your calorie burn depends upon the distance you have gone as well as other factors, such as your weight, gender and exercise intensity. The distance portion of this equation is straightforward. The length the treadmill belt is finite. Based on the number of revolutions of the belt, distance is a simple mathematical calculation.
Influencing Factors
The most reliable indicator of calorie burn is to measure oxygen consumption in a clinical setting. Short of that, exercise machines such as the Nordic Track treadmill rely on statistical formulas to calculate calorie burn. A 2005 study published in the journal, "Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport," used five variables to calculate a statistical model for oxygen uptake using body mass index, or BMI, gender, age, perceived functional ability, or PFA, and physical activity rating, PA-R. Using these five variables, researchers were able to predict oxygen uptake with a low degree of error when all five variables were taken into account.
Accuracy
Without other information inputted into the calculation, calorie burn provides an average estimate. Nordic Track tests its treadmills extensively to determine how to calibrate the machines for the average user. Nordic Track treadmills do not allow for input of all of the data to customize the calorie calculation for you. Rather, it relies on proprietary technology to derive this information based on testing data. One standard method in the industry uses a model developed by the American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM. A 2004 study by Syracuse University tested the ACSM model using treadmill and track running and walking. The study concluded that models such as that of the ACSM accurately measured calorie burn.
Conclusions
This evidence suggests that Nordic Track technology can calculate calorie burn with some degree of accuracy for the average user. For example, an increase in calorie burn through adding speed or incline is an accurate assessment of the impact of exercise intensity on calorie burn. You can use this information to plan your workouts based on the machine's calorie calculation as a guide, rather than a definitive measure of your calorie burn. As Sally Edward explains in her book, "The Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook to Heart Zone Training," exercise quality, i.e., intensity, overrides other factors in determining the benefits of regular exercise.
References
- "Washington Post"; Lies, Damn Lies and Calorie Counters; John Briley; June 13, 2006
- TheFreeLibrary.com: Regression Analysis for Prediction: Understanding the Process
- "Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport"; An accurate V[O.sub.2] max nonexercise regression model for 18-65-year-old adults; D. Bradshaw, et al.; December 2005
- "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise"; Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running: Comparison with Prediction Equations; C. Hall, et al.; December 2004
- "The Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook to Heart Zone Training"; S. Edwards; 2010
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