Using the workout machines, especially the rower, from Concept2 is often called Erging. A question is how many calories this burns.
By definition, Erging is a unit of energy but these days most people use this term for using one of the machines of the company Concept2.
Their machines come with Performance Monitors (PMs) that measure among other things an estimation of the number of calories burned.
However, as the people at Concept2 say themselves, the formula they use is based on a 175 pound/79.5 kg individual (1). To get a more accurate estimation you can use this number and your own body weight in a calculation.
Besides how to do this conversion, this article will also give estimations on how many calories RowErgs, SkiErgs, and BikeErgs burn, how to burn more calories, and more.
Conversion Performance Monitors to reality
As mentioned before, the Concept2 Performance Monitors do give you an estimation about how many calories you (would) burn per hour with the workout you did.
The downsides of the number they give are that it is based on a 175-pound (79.5 kg) individual and that it is always converted in calories burned per hour.
Luckily, you can still convert this number into a better estimation for your personal weight and workout time. To do this you can use the following formula:
[Calories on the Performance Monitor] – 300 + (1.714 x weight in pounds) = “true” calories burned per hour
After that, you can use the number you get to calculate the number of calories burned for the duration of your own workout by using this formula:
[“True” calories burned per hour] x duration in seconds/3600
Or if you count the duration of your workouts in minutes: “true” calories burned per hour x duration in minutes/60
If these written formulas are a bit too confusing you can also use the Concept2 Conversion Calculator.
Estimations calories burned with Erging
To calculate or predict calories burned during certain exercises you can use a formula with MET values. This also applies to the Concept2 rower, ski machine, and bike Erging machines.
A MET value is an exercise-specific value to indicate how intense a specific type of workout is. This number represents how many times more intense the exercise is compared to sitting still.
You can use this in the following formula: METs x 3.5 x (your body weight in kilograms) / 200 = calories burned per minute
Below you can find charts with the number of calories burned while Erging based on the MET estimations of a stationary rowing ergometer, ski machine, and a 90-100 watts resistance stationary bike for different body weights and time intervals (2).
After that, you can find a chart comparing the difference in the number of calories burned between different rowing intensities to get a better idea of just how much intensity plays a role.
Keep in mind that these are estimations. This formula doesn’t take into account certain important factors that do influence the number of calories burned by Erging.
To put these estimations into perspective, 100 grams of boiled potatoes contains about 87 calories (3).
Calories burned with a RowErg
First of all, there is a chart with the number of calories burned with rowing on the RowErg, the most popular of the Concept2 machines. These estimations are the result of using 6 as a MET estimation (2).
| Time Weight Person | 1 Minute | 15 Minutes | 30 Minutes | 45 Minutes | 60 Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 Pounds (56 kg) | 6 calories | 89 calories | 177 calories | 266 calories | 354 calories |
| 155 Pounds (70 kg) | 7 calories | 110 calories | 220 calories | 330 calories | 439 calories |
| 185 Pounds (83 kg) | 9 calories | 131 calories | 262 calories | 393 calories | 524 calories |
| 215 Pounds (97 kg) | 10 calories | 152 calories | 305 calories | 457 calories | 610 calories |
Calories burned with a SkiErg
Next, there are estimations of the number of calories burned with the ski machine from Concept2, the SkiErg.
| Time Weight Person | 1 Minute | 15 Minutes | 30 Minutes | 45 Minutes | 60 Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 Pounds (56 kg) | 7 calories | 100 calories | 201 calories | 301 calories | 402 calories |
| 155 Pounds (70 kg) | 8 calories | 125 calories | 249 calories | 374 calories | 498 calories |
| 185 Pounds (83 kg) | 10 calories | 149 calories | 297 calories | 446 calories | 594 calories |
| 215 Pounds (97 kg) | 12 calories | 173 calories | 345 calories | 518 calories | 691 calories |
Calories burned with a BikeErg
Lastly, Concept2 also has a stationary bike. For this machine, the MET estimation of a 90-100 watts resistance stationary bike (6.8) will be used (2).
| Time Weight Person | 1 Minute | 15 Minutes | 30 Minutes | 45 Minutes | 60 Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 Pounds (56 kg) | 7 calories | 100 calories | 201 calories | 301 calories | 402 calories |
| 155 Pounds (70 kg) | 8 calories | 125 calories | 249 calories | 374 calories | 498 calories |
| 185 Pounds (83 kg) | 10 calories | 149 calories | 297 calories | 446 calories | 594 calories |
| 215 Pounds (97 kg) | 12 calories | 173 calories | 345 calories | 518 calories | 691 calories |
Calories burned different RowErg intensities
Something that is very important to remember is that the number of calories you burn depends a lot on the intensity of your Erging session.
To make this clear you can find the calorie-burning estimations below for different rowing intensities when doing the workout for 30 minutes.
| Weight Person Stationary Rowing Intensity | 155 Pounds (70 kg) | 185 Pounds (83 kg) | 215 Pounds (97 kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate Effort | 176 calories | 210 calories | 244 calories |
| Ergometer, Vigorous Effort | 220 calories | 262 calories | 305 calories |
| 100 Watts, Moderate Effort | 256 calories | 306 calories | 356 calories |
| 150 Watts, Vigorous Effort | 311 calories | 372 calories | 432 calories |
| 200 Watts, Very Vigorous Effort | 439 calories | 524 calories | 610 calories |
Biggest influences on calories burned
A fact that many people find annoying is that the number of calories you burn while doing something like Erging is hard to predict and measure correctly.
This fact can make things like weight loss feel like a guessing game when you are trying to balance these numbers with the calories in food.
Even so, good estimations for the number of calories burned while Erging can be a helpful starting point. By taking a few important factors into account you can make your estimations more accurate.
Some of the biggest factors that influence how many calories you burn while Erging include:
- Weight: To move around your body needs energy, measured in calories. The more you weigh, the more energy your body needs to fuel its movements.
- Body composition: Body composition is how much of your body weight is made up of different tissue. Two people can weigh the same but for one individual most of the weight can come from fat while the second individual has a lot of muscle. The reason that is important is that the same weight of muscle requires more energy than that weight in fat.
- Intensity: If you’re looking at calories burned per minute of Erging this can vary a lot by moving your body at a fast vs slow speed.
- Resistance setting: The Erging machines from Concept2 have the option to adjust how hard you have to work. The harder the movements are to do, the more energy your body will have to use.
Hidden calorie burning from Erging
There are many other aspects that make it even harder to put how many calories you burn with Erging into an exact number. This includes the fact that the calorie-burning effects of Erging are not limited to during the workout.
As mentioned, how much you weigh plays a relatively big role in how many calories you burn. This doesn’t just apply to your workout, this is also the case during everyday activities.
Some people also build or preserve a little amount of muscle mass by Erging, especially if they turn up the resistance.
This amount of muscle mass will definitely not be as much as something like weight lifting but it does help you burn more calories day in, day out.
It is however extremely hard to put this amount into a number since this muscle mass will be so different from person to person. Individuals more experienced with resistance training will likely not build any muscle by Erging.
Next, doing an activity at high intensities can also cause something called “afterburn”. This is basically having an increased metabolism for a while after you stop doing the exercise.
Lastly, by moving your body more you influence the levels of certain hormones that in turn can benefit your metabolism.
Estimations of the number of calories burned with Erging usually don’t take these effects into account.
How to burn more calories while Erging
How many calories you burn while Erging is certainly not something set in stone. There are a few ways you can increase this amount per time interval.
The challenge for most people is fitting in activities in their busy schedules. They want to burn as many calories in the least amount of time, which means burning more calories per minute of Erging.
If you do have more time, spending more time Erging will generally burn more calories although at some point overtraining may cause the reverse.
A more obvious way to burn more calories while Erging is by doing more intense workouts where you move your body faster. At some intensity point, you also get the added afterburn effect.
The second way to burn more calories while Erging is by making the movements harder to do. This is mainly done by increasing the resistance setting on the machines.
Another method is building some extra muscle mass with other exercises. Because of this extra healthy weight, you will burn more calories per minute.
Can you lose weight with Erging?
All three forms of Erging are workouts that can help you burn a good amount of calories. In combination with good habits in other lifestyle areas, this can lead to weight and fat loss.
One pound of body fat is about 3500 calories (one kg +-8000 calories). How long it takes to see weight loss results from Erging will also depend on the number of calories in your diet.
One person might eat more than the other. This might make it so they need to exercise longer or more intensely to see the same weight loss results. You can even lose weight without exercising so there are many factors that influence it.
Using the RowErg 30 minutes a day could help you burn an extra 2200 calories in 10 days which is about 0.63 pounds of body fat. 30 days, 6600 calories (= +- 1.89 pounds of body fat), and so on…
Keep in mind that losing weight too fast can be suboptimal. In general, a 500 calorie deficit per day is considered to be a healthy weight loss rate.
Should you Erg to burn calories?
As you can see, all three forms of Erging are good workouts that can help you burn a good amount of calories. That being said, there are also other activities that can help you burn more calories in a shorter amount of time.
Whether you should choose Erging as your main form of workout also depends on factors like personal preference.
If calorie burning is your main goal, implementing some exercises in your schedule specifically for building muscle can be helpful.
The extra muscle mass will help you burn more calories day in, day out, including during your Erging sessions.
Also keep in mind that the things you eat stay important no matter what movement routine you’re following. It’s hard to out-exercise a bad diet.
