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I use one type of lateral trainer for thighs for cardio. The gym I go to have two such machines. After each minute or so, one of the machines shows me: 'you've to maintain 280 spm speed' (what's spm in the context of speed, by the way?) and shows a certain amount (say x) of calories being burnt per minute. However, I almost never (unless I push myself extremely hard), can attain 280 spm speed, I stick around 140 spm speed normally, which is just half.

Here's my question: since I'm sticking to a speed which is merely half of 280 spm, the recommended speed, does it mean I'm actually burning half of the calories shown? That is, is it really x/2 calories I'm burning per minute when the machine shows I'm burning x calories per minute?

And what is spm in the context of speed?

Thanks in advance!

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SPM stands for "Strides per minute". And, within the limits of the exercise machine's approximation abilities, it adjusts for what your actual effort is. If it has a pulse-rate monitor, that's actually going to be more useful to you to judge burning of calories, whether you're in that "target zone" for your age and weight.

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  • Thanks Sean, but if it keeps saying 'maintain 280 spm' and I keep using the machine at 140 spm, and still the machine shows that I burn 20 calories per minute (say), in that case am I burning approximatelyly 10 calories per minute?
    – Mathmath
    Jun 1, 2014 at 19:27

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