I recently reached a personal milestone and I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to also tell everyone a few things about me that they probably didn't know.


Earlier today (well technically yesterday now), I burned 5000+ calories in less than 4 hours and 30 minutes. My previous personal record was 5000+ calories in 5 hours. For those who don't workout or don't have a calorie watch, 5000 calories is very hard to pull off. According to this Calorie Chart, 1 hour of hiking would burn 370 calories, 1 hour of Bicycling at 10 MPH would burn 290 calories, 1 hour of walking would burn 280 calories, 1 hour of jogging would burn 590 calories and 1 hour of "vigorous" bicycling would burn 590 calories. That chart is based on a 154 pound man and I'm 180 at 6 feet so it doesn't really apply to me exactly but it gives you an idea. Fun fact: Tour de France riders burn an average of about 6000 calories per a day and they sometimes do well over 100 miles and sometimes even have huge mountains to cycle up (and they do this every day for nearly 23 days straight!).


So how did I pull it off? Well I often start my workouts with a few miles on my treadmill and then I spend the rest of my time exercising on my exercise bike while playing games or watching TV. Running on the treadmill is great at getting my heart rate up and from personal experience, I burn more total calories when I warm up on the treadmill.

According to my calorie watch, I had an average heart rate of 174 and peaked at 202. When I played Boom Boom Rocket, which is an intense music game for the Xbox 360, I probably averaged around 190 but I'm not too sure. I also probably peaked during that game to in the endurance mode where the song keeps getting faster and faster until you fail (and I can usually get to around 315 BPM in 2 songs).

The most recorded calories I've ever burned in a single day was over 6000 calories (I've only had a calorie watch for about 2 years so I'm not sure how many calories I use to do, could be even higher). I think the 6000 calories took me 8 hours to pull off and I highly recommend that no one attempts to do more than 5500 calories because from my personal experience, I tend to wake up with hallucinations if I do 5500 calories or more in a single workout which probably isn't healthy and is kinda scary. I also tend to sleep 9 - 10 1/2 hours after burning that many calories.

My record for the longest cardio exercise was about 4 years ago when I did over 12 hours straight. That was way before I had a calorie watch and I also had a different indoor bike so I have no idea how many calories I did but at that time I put more focus on higher resistance and muscle building while now I put more focus on speed and just losing weight. My wife hated that I'd workout for that long so I eventually went to 10 hours, then to 8 hours and then to 6 hours and now I usually do around 4-6 hours but I try to increase the intensity to make up for the shorter amount of time I work out (and the treadmill definitely helps).


The games I usually play while working out include Boom Boom Rocket (X360), any of the Halo games (X360 & XB1), Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed (X360), Geometry Wars 3 (XB1) and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS). Other games that I've played in the past or sometimes play include Cloudberry Kingdom (X360), Aegis Wing (X360), Raskulls (X360), Outrun (X360), Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (X360), Sonic & SEGA Racing (X360), Halo Spartan Assault (X360), Mario Kart Wii (Wii), Mario Kart 8 (Wii-U), Dead Ops Arcade in Black Ops (X360) and probably a few others I'm forgetting. I usually try to focus on fast paced, non-stop action, adrenaline pumping games to help keep me motivated. Twin Stick shooters, some racing games and some music games are usually the best. Boom Boom Rocket is definitely the game that gets my adrenaline and heart rate going the most. If anyone has any recommendations of games you think would fall within my criteria, feel free to let me know.

The movies I tend to watch include the Rocky movies, Rambo movies, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and other various action packed testosterone pumping movies (and just about anything with Stallone). Out of the Rocky movies, my personal favorite to watch (and also favorite overall) is Rocky IV since that movie is just filled with tons of fighting and training montages (and it's almost like a long music video with all of the awesome music that is played).

I've also watched various TV shows while working out including Biggest Loser (I've seen ever season of it and can't wait for the upcoming) and Band of Brothers (a great mini series). I've also watched a few football games but that gets demotivating when you have to sit through commercials.


As you can probably tell by now, I'm sorta obsessed with cardio exercising and mostly running and cycling and primarily cycling. While I only do it once or twice a week, I usually do it for multiple hours at a time as mentioned above to make up for that. For whatever reason, I get a huge rush out of playing adrenaline pumping games while working out at the same time and it's a thrill that usually helps me relieve stress and gives me overall mental and physical health.

I've considered competing locally but I really don't know how fast I'd be compared to everyone else since my indoor bike doesn't have an accurate speedometer which means I have no idea how fast I'm going or the distance I'm covering. There's actually a big bike racing competition that takes place in my little town (but lots of people from around the area including the Twin Cities compete) every May that I've considered competing in but I'd want to be sure I was a good contender to avoid embarrassing myself. They have a 30, 60 and 100 mile race and I'd most likely aim for the 100 mile race which I know I can easily do 100 miles but the entire race takes place in the country which means there's lots of big steep hills so I'm not sure how well I'd do, that'd drain my energy fast, even if I do a lot of outdoor hill climbing during the summer. The other issue is that most of these athletes are a lot lighter than me and probably by 30-50 pounds and that's a huge disadvantage for me to have more weight to haul, especially when going up hills. Another issue is that most of these athletes have bikes that literally cost $1000s while my bike only cost around $650 and a high end bike makes a massive difference so I'd probably have to find a bike rental service and rent a high end bike a few times.

Some of you probably knew about my addiction to running (I made a marathon training thread years ago) but I've never really gone into detail about the indoor (and sometimes outdoor) cycling that I do. Anyways, I just thought I'd share with you guys one of my many passions that I've never really talked much about. If I'm ever able to burn 5000 calories in 4 hours (which probably could only be done with 4 hours of Boom Boom Rocket), I'll be probably make a thread about it.

I've never really paid much attention to calories I burn.

The literal only time I've even seen how many calories I've lost was when I was using a treadmill when I was a member of a gym.

As someone who has very little body-weight, I do not lose many calories when I'm working out, as compared to someone who is a healthy weight. I only recently jumped up to 150 pounds (I was roughly 140 when I did these workouts, and I'm roughly 6'2"), and still have trouble maintaining even a slightly healthy weight.

That said, I often do 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off workouts on treadmills, and repeat this for anywhere between an hour and 90 minutes, and often lose in the neighborhood of 1,000 calories when I do so (I lose most of the calories obviously on the "on", which I can do pretty quickly).

I don't often do things while running though, I tend to make it all about the exercise. I might have the Red Sox game on if it's the middle of summer, but for the most part, I am just working out.

As far as competitions go, just go for it. I know there's a lot to be said about not embarrassing yourself, but you can't know how good you are until you do it. If you know the route, you should do a practice route on it, and give yourself a gauge for how difficult the trial will be for you.

If you do not have time for that, I'd recommend doing the 60 mile component instead, for your first attempt. Don't worry about potential embarrassment, make it less about the competition (I know, easier said than done) and more about you. Think of it as challenging yourself, rather than trying to beat other people.

When I was in Cross Country, my coach often stressed that "It doesn't matter how far you run, how fast you move, or where you place. What does matter is you gave it your 110%, and showed your indomitable human spirit."

It's really corny, but this applies to all things in life, not just cross country. Often, just the will to drive yourself and challenge yourself to do something that may be out of your wheelhouse (you cite that you have a weight disadvantage, for example) is enough to prove your "worth" as a competitor.

I've competed against a lot of great athletes, many far better than me (I used to run with a teammate who recently signed with Nike, his name is Will Geoghegan), and many who didn't beat me in the race, but impressed me with their drive and determination.

I don't want to go off on a tangent, but the competitors I respect the most are the ones who aren't gifted with strong legs, great lungs, infinite endurance, or any of that (although the work to build all that up is definitely respect worthy!). The competitors I personally respect most are the ones who decided one day that they'd go out of their comfort zone, and just say "f*** it, let's give this a shot."

Whenever I see a 50 year old man running his first 5k, a 12 year old kid (all hyper and enthusiastic for a "big" race), or someone running with a baby in a stroller (in the same race), nothing gets me more excited, and more proud to be part of something. It's the people who decided they'd choose today to be there that get me hyped for the race.

Obviously, with a 30, 60, or 100 mile bike race, you are going to get more dedicated athletes than for a 5k road race, but I think the general feeling is the same. The only way you can feel embarrassed is if you let yourself be embarrassed. Most everyone there is focused on their own result. I don't know what time the 50 year old man, 12 year old kid, or woman in her stroller got, because it doesn't matter. What matters is going out and having fun.

And hearing you speak about these passions, I think it's clear you would have fun with it, no matter your result.

I think you should go for it. If for no other reason than to remember, that we only get one life on this earth, and that in these small moments that can feel like a lifetime, we build the memories that we will be able to ultimately look back on and feel proud we were part of, when we are no longer able to do these things.

We don't stay young forever.

Wow dude, that's motivation. I could never do that, the best I ever did was probably like 1000 calories in a day since I joined the gym last week. I usually do an hour on the bikes at the gym while watching tv or playing my vita.

A high BPM is bad though so you need to keep an eye out for that, but other than that, keep doing what you're doing.

That is quite amazing that you have burned out 5,000 calories, and to a lot of people, 5,000 is like 2-3 times the normal amount of calories that an average person burns. I'm not too good with health and all that, but burning 5,000 calories would be around 15-20 pounds, but like I said, I am not good with health and body, that number could be higher or lower.

Still, keep up the good work David.

legacyme3 : Interval workouts are some of the best workouts to do. Any time you do an intensive workout right before an easy workout, you'll still be burning more than the usual amount of calories during that easy workout. Running then walking, running then walking, etc; works very well.

Yeah I wouldn't expect anyone to do anything while running since it requires more concentration and focus. I've attempted to game while running but it just doesn't work out. I usually just settle with watching something or listening to something.

I agree that seeing people going against the odds is definitely inspirational. Even though Rocky is fictional, seeing him go against the odds in almost all of the movies is what motivates me.

I do need to make the decision within the next 1 or 2 years to try out competing since the average male peaks at around my age. I guess I'd hate to regret it years from now when I'm older and less capable of doing well. My other concern is that these types of athletes usually have bikes that are $1000s of dollars and my bike was only around $650 and having a really expensive bike makes a huge difference. What I suppose I could do is fine a bike rental service and rent a high end bike a few times to practice and if I'm satisfied with my own performance, rent the same bike again if I compete.


zanderlex : If you're just starting, 1000 calories is really great. Most people probably call it a workout after only burning just a few hundred calories.

When I got my first indoor bike and started using it, I don't remember how long I'd go for but I do remember having troubles walking up and down our stairs after working out. I haven't had that problem in years though since my leg muscles have toughened up a lot since. I just takes time but it's better to start getting yourself in good shape at a young age than an old age because the older you get, the harder it is to get into shape.


IgorBird122 : Actually 3500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound. I also didn't take in a lot of calories yesterday (was too busy) so based on that, I probably lost 2 pounds most likely. A person actually continues to lose calories even hours after working out so if I were to factor that in, then my total calorie burn for the entire day would be much higher than 5000 calories.

Davideo7 : My leg muscles are probably my strongest, way back in high school I was able to squat like 200, plus I walk a lot, 5-10 miles per day. (Actually made a thread recently about entering next years NYC Marathon)

The hardest part of working out is not getting bored and giving up. It's also hard to lose the calories that you have already taken in during a day.

zanderlex : I've still never been able to pull off a marathon. Actually I've never attempted it but the longest distance I've ever ran was about 13 miles and that was on a road with lots of hills. I may begin doing marathon training again someday because I would love to do a marathon, even if it's just a personal marathon with no competitors, I'd just love to be able to say that I was able to run the distance of 26.2 miles. I'll be very impressed if you're able to pull it off.

"I guess I'd hate to regret it years from now when I'm older and less capable of doing well."

This alone should be enough to tell you it's time to just take the leap and give it a shot.

You'd be a winner in my book, just for trying. Even if you don't do very well, you did better than anyone who didn't sign up or try.

He who dares, wins.

Davideo7 : Like I said, I'm not a doctor, you lost a little less than I guessed, but still lost quite a bit.

Still, losing a few pounds is really great. Keeping your body healthy and fit is what makes your body happy. I do some exercises here and there, but after I injured my calf bone back in 2009, my leg hasn't really been the same, but that doesn't stop me from walking or jogging, just not as much than I have, pre-injury and post-injury has a difference.

If you focus on your workout goal without interference, you'll accomplish them.