Tis the season for cardio machines to be full – inspired by new year's resolutions or guilt from holiday splurges. With no time to dissect the motivational or emotional aspects of these efforts, I turn attention to the virtue of honesty. Are cardio machines lying to you when estimating energy expenditure (calories) from a workout? I will focus on treadmills and ellipticals. Prediction Equations: How They Work All cardio machines depend on equations  to 'predict' how...

The latest myth to be brought to my attention is one of the top 10 exercise cheats "that blow your calorie burn." — holding onto the handles while doing the elliptical machine. Since this made the top 10 of all exercise cheats, get ready to see a bunch of people in the gym refusing to hold on to the handles while doing their cardio! The Health.com article, which was re-posted by Yahoo! states: " ...hanging on...