# METS during cycling?



## Oldteen (Sep 7, 2005)

I'm trying to communicate the intensity of club cycling to my Internist. He's focused on treadmill METS, and seems to think that cycling is "moderate" (not vigorous) exercise. One ref he has lists 12 mph cycling (yes- 12 mph) as 7-8 mets. I'm trying to find literature to show him relating mets to more relevant club rides of 16-18-20 mph. Since he has declined offers to join me on a ride (he doesn't cycle), anybody have a reference I might share with him?


----------



## estone2 (Sep 25, 2005)

Oldteen said:


> I'm trying to communicate the intensity of club cycling to my Internist. He's focused on treadmill METS, and seems to think that cycling is "moderate" (not vigorous) exercise. One ref he has lists 12 mph cycling (yes- 12 mph) as 7-8 mets. I'm trying to find literature to show him relating mets to more relevant club rides of 16-18-20 mph. Since he has declined offers to join me on a ride (he doesn't cycle), anybody have a reference I might share with him?


Tell him that on a club ride I burn between 800 and 950 calories per hour. I'm averaging around 20-22mph for most of the club rides (yeah, we have sick wind here. it slows you down a lot.).
The 950 is for a windless day, 24-25mph ride.


----------



## Cruzer2424 (Feb 8, 2005)

Oldteen said:


> I'm trying to communicate the intensity of club cycling to my Internist. He's focused on treadmill METS, and seems to think that cycling is "moderate" (not vigorous) exercise. One ref he has lists 12 mph cycling (yes- 12 mph) as 7-8 mets. I'm trying to find literature to show him relating mets to more relevant club rides of 16-18-20 mph. Since he has declined offers to join me on a ride (he doesn't cycle), anybody have a reference I might share with him?


are treadmill mets even reliable? Isn't it different per person? does watts work for running too? hmm...

cycling moderate exercise? just tell him to ride harder. Can't you stick him on an exercise bike and say "go."? lol.


----------



## estone2 (Sep 25, 2005)

Cruzer2424 said:


> are treadmill mets even reliable? Isn't it different per person? does watts work for running too? hmm...
> 
> cycling moderate exercise? just tell him to ride harder. Can't you stick him on an exercise bike and say "go."? lol.


Watts work for running too.
A watt is a unit of measurement, riding your bike at 200 watts means that you're putting out 200 joules/second of forward motion.

I can tell you that running on an elliptical trainer, putting out 220 watts sucks.
However, a lot of that's the stride of the elliptical.
The bike's position puts your body in basically the perfect shape for muscular efficiency. As such, you can put out big power, higher than you could running.
-estone2


----------



## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Conversions*



Oldteen said:


> I'm trying to communicate the intensity of club cycling to my Internist. He's focused on treadmill METS, and seems to think that cycling is "moderate" (not vigorous) exercise. One ref he has lists 12 mph cycling (yes- 12 mph) as 7-8 mets. I'm trying to find literature to show him relating mets to more relevant club rides of 16-18-20 mph. Since he has declined offers to join me on a ride (he doesn't cycle), anybody have a reference I might share with him?


12 mph cycling is around 200 calories per hour for a fit rider on a road bike - that's about 50 watts (incredibly easy pace). 18 mph (not drafting) is around 470 calories per hour (120 watts) and 20 mph is around 610 calories per hour (150+ watts). What your internist obviously is clueless about is that the power overcome aerodynamic drag is proportional to the cube of the speed, and so "bicycling" is not "bicycling" unless you know how fast someone is going. As speed increases, not only calories per hour increase, but so do calories per mile. Walking/running for a 150 lb. person is essentially 100 calories per mile. Anyone, including your doctor, who says that "excercise X is Y calories per hour" without qualifying the speed or intensity really has no business advising someone on these matters.


----------



## Oldteen (Sep 7, 2005)

It appears to me that most of medicine is clueless regarding serious (or even semi-serious) cycling. 
BTW- Mets and watts are technically two different measurements. Watts are an objective physical measurement (i.e. work). Mets are a multiple of the individual's basal metabolic state. Thus mets vs watts will vary between individuals, and even in the same individual with different levels of training. What I was looking for was some semi-scientific approximate chart of mets with more intensive cycling efforts. 

FWIW- The US CDCP defines cycling at 10-12 mph as "vigorous exercise" (6+ mets). Their published recommendation for physical fitness is 20 min of "vigorous exercise" 3-4x/wk. This is how poor this nation's physical fitness has become that such little activity is a goal . Unfortunately there appears to be very little data regarding health concerns for those who exercise well beyond that guideline. Perhaps more research effort is needed on the (by community standards) "super-fit" citizens.


----------



## StillRiding (Sep 16, 2006)

A quick Google tells me that "A MET refers to the resting volume oxygen consumption per minute (VO2) for a 70-kg, 40-year-old man. One MET is equivalent to 3.5 mL/min/kg of body weight." Another search shows that on various ergometers 200 watts generally computes to an average of about 9.5 mets. (http://www.fedel.com/mets/)

On-line calculators show us that a 70-kg cyclist riding with hands on the tops at about 18.5 mph is putting out about 200 watts. (http://www.kreuzotter.de)

From all this info, we could conclude that at 18.5 mph on a bike an average guy would be running at about 9.5 METS.


----------



## mprevost (Jul 30, 2005)

*Mets*



Oldteen said:


> I'm trying to communicate the intensity of club cycling to my Internist. He's focused on treadmill METS, and seems to think that cycling is "moderate" (not vigorous) exercise. One ref he has lists 12 mph cycling (yes- 12 mph) as 7-8 mets. I'm trying to find literature to show him relating mets to more relevant club rides of 16-18-20 mph. Since he has declined offers to join me on a ride (he doesn't cycle), anybody have a reference I might share with him?


1 MET = 3.5 ml/kg/min oxygen consumption. You will need to convert METS to Watts. You can find that formula online somewhere I am sure. Try analyticalcycling.com. 

Mike


----------



## Hillen (May 13, 2005)

StillRiding said:


> ... From all this info, we could conclude that at 18.5 mph on a bike an average guy would be running at about 9.5 METS.


FWIW, I'm 165 lbs (about 75 kg) and 5' 11". My FTP is about 300-315W. I do some riding on the stationary bike at the gym as a warm up before weight training. The data displayed by the stationary bike indicates about 9.7 METS for me when I'm putting out an indicated 200W, so the estimate above sounds pretty much right on.


----------



## Oldteen (Sep 7, 2005)

Thanks all for the info!!!


----------

