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My partner just got a rowing machine that offered "watts" as a unit of how hard you're going (like "calories" or "mph") and got me wondering if they made rowing

• kkkqkqkqkqlqlql 4mo ago
  Soon enough we will see rowing machines rated in max TFLOPS.
  • alex7o 4mo ago
    We already get TFLOP per watt so you can compute how much flops you are doing while cycling
• smallpipe 4mo ago
  A fairly untrained cyclist is usually able to maintain 200W, so yes this is definitely possible
  • iamacyborg 4mo ago
    And a good sprinter can make some toast!
    • eurekin 4mo ago
      I'm still sour they had only one toast in, in a two slot toaster
      • mech998877 4mo ago
        I've had the same thought and it's been a topic I've been this close to talking about at parties. If I did I'm sure I'd bore everyone to death. Considering the difficulty of sustaining 700 watts vs 350 watts, we could've had some very well-burnt toast if they uninstalled the heating coils for the 2nd piece of bread!
        • deleted 4mo ago
          [deleted]
        • Aachen 4mo ago
          I thought toasters took ~1.6 kW, just like any other resistive heating device (space heater, oil-filled radiator, microwave oven, oven oven, hairdryer, kettle, under-sink water heater: it's allways 1500-1850W!) except for the ones on special circuits (shower, stove). Turns out, our toaster draws 850W! While watching the video, I was wondering how they modified the >1kW device to produce a toasted toast in that short amount of time (I guess you could substitute instantaneous power for time up to a point, but the video wasn't that long), thinking maybe they removed one of the sides' circuits. Now I'm disappointed as well. Thanks xD
      • imoverclocked 4mo ago
        Woah there, gotta watch that waistline! :)
  • markb139 4mo ago
    My best is 980W - for 1 second
    • rootusrootus 4mo ago
      That's solid. If my memory is correct, and my teachers were correct (both of these are suspect) back in high school, a human should be able to momentarily exert about 1 horsepower at maximum effort. We did an experiment on how much power we could output at maximum effort. We tested it by sprinting up some number of flights of stairs, and timing it. As I recall we did conclude that in round numbers the hypothesis was correct. But that was 35 years ago and it was a high school physics experiment meant to be entertaining more than precise.
  • malfist 4mo ago
    An untrained cyclist is not able to maintain 200 watts. For an average untrained male cyclist who is 175lb, they should be able to maintain 1.5-2 w/kg over an hour, or 120-160watts. A beginner cyclist who's been cycling recreationally over over a year should be able to attain 2-2.5w/kg which is 160-200 watts. A recreational cyclist who's be training for several years should be able to maintain 200 watts. Trust me, I'm a cyclist, and I cycle with a power meter.
    • kowbell 4mo ago
      As an average male who is ~175lbs and untrained at cycling, this is hugely validating for my terrible idea; 140 watts is the max charging speed for 16" M5 MacBooks. I can finally stop thinking for myself and have my computer do it all for me, powered by my big beefy legs.
      • kccqzy 4mo ago
        140 watts is the FTP. That means you can do it for an hour, and it will be an extremely exhausting hour and you will want at least two days of rest to recover from this workout before doing it again. If you are not chasing watts, it’s much more sustainable to do 70 watts for two hours. You can probably do this every day.
        • malfist 4mo ago
          This exactly. FTP is functional threshold power, it's the maximum you can physically maintain in zone 4 heart rate for 40-60 minutes and it's physically exhausting. This is hard work, hardest work honestly. If you have gas left in the tank after you could had a higher FTP. I'll get out on the bike and do a zone 4 workout and keep a steady state of 180-200 watts through the first 20-30 minutes, by the end of the hour or hour and a half of my workout, even with breaks to break, reset heart rate, have some water, salt and glucose, I'm down to 120-150 watts at the end of the ride. Basically, you can probably charge your macbook at peek power for an hour every other day, or every day for a short while if you're okay with burning out eventually. Expect to need to eat 400-600 calories and a lot of water each time you do this.
  • kccqzy 4mo ago
    I just rode with an untrained cyclist (new to cycling) yesterday. The person averaged 80W over five hours. It’s about right for an actual untrained cyclist.
• willXare 4mo ago
  [flagged]
  • LPisGood 4mo ago
    Isn’t that a black mirror episode? Anyways, much like the Matrix, using humans for energy is insanely inefficient.
    • thewebguyd 4mo ago
      Yes, Fifteen million merits, one of my favorite episodes.
      • RemingtonDavies 4mo ago
        "What are we powering? Why are we powering it? For what?"
        • fragmede 4mo ago
          To generate pictures of cats driving trains and CRUD apps, apparently.
    • Lwerewolf 4mo ago
      At low effort (i.e. active recovery can-do-this-all-day-every-day) levels, it's quite efficient. That assumes that you're fine with whatever let's say ~120w continuous can get you, which is what the m5 max 16'' mbp peaks at (in my case) during inference (ds4-flash)... so I guess it's quite usable, actually :) Imagine the work(out)station of the future. </s> (or not)
• andy_ppp 4mo ago
  You can get a dynamo hub front wheel for push bikes: https://bikepacking.com/plan/dynamo-hubs-lighting-charging-guide/ https://bikepacking.com/plan/dynamo-hubs-lighting-charging-g... However you can expect around only 3 watts of output at normal speeds and you will need to put in around 5-7 watts of power for the same speed. This is barely enough to trickle charge modern phones.
  • Theodores 4mo ago
    Annoying. Blame the Germans and their lighting laws for bicycles. I want human powered USB-C with enough oomph to power a modest sound system or lights, whilst charging my phone. The allure of USB-C is what interests me, but 3W is not much to work with. Also annoying, no rear dynamo for my bike, so I can't even double up to 6W. I will probably end up with no sound system and just expensive dynamo lights, using a USB speaker that doubles up as a power brick. There is a nice USB battery kit for dynamo that fits in the steerer, so it is soldering iron time for that, so might as well learn how to do USB-C power things. One day there will be structural solar panel batteries that can be 3D printed into lightweight bicycle frames, so maybe I will stick to throwaway lights until then!
    • forlorn_mammoth 4mo ago
      > power a modest sound system please don't inflict your music on everyone around you.
      • a96 4mo ago
        A literally modest system would center around headphones. :)
      • Theodores 4mo ago
        So, 72 decibels in a car is fine, with that just being noise pollution, not even music? And there is you on your high horse telling me this? How patronising!
    • dktoao 4mo ago
• meindnoch 4mo ago
  For reference, this is what 700W cycling looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ
  • beached_whale 4mo ago
    1hp/750W or so sustained is insane power for all but a few and that is still for relatively short time periods.
    • zozbot234 4mo ago
      1HP sustained is not insane for a horse. A human OTOH is a very different matter.
      • bayindirh 4mo ago
        1HP is actually ~5 horses. There was a test trying to measure it. https://youtu.be/7qxTKtlvaVE https://youtu.be/7qxTKtlvaVE
        • beached_whale 4mo ago
          Other way around, a horse does more like 5-15hp
          • bayindirh 4mo ago
            Yes, you’re right. My mind is foggy apparently. Thanks a lot. Unfortunately I can’t edit it anymore.
        • solomonb 4mo ago
          They don't make them like they used to
        • voakbasda 4mo ago
          One horse power is the rate a horse can sustain while working hard all day long.
• mrweasel 4mo ago
  > got me wondering if they made rowing machines that could slowly charge a battery The Concept2 rowing machines can power itself using the power you generate by rowing, so we're partly there.
• toasty228 4mo ago
  > offered "watts" as a unit of how hard you're going (like "calories" or "mph") It's the only unit that makes sense tbh
• kccqzy 4mo ago
  It’s basically well known to cyclists that training with a power meter that tells you “watts” more accurately gauges effort and caloric expenditure. (Heart rate gauges subjective effort however, taking into account stress, caffeine intake, etc.) It’s also interesting that the industry has settled on using watts to mean rate of useful work whereas calories to mean the total work including inefficiencies, despite that calories is just a unit of energy. A rule of thumb for cyclists is that in addition to usual unit conversions, the “calories” figure should be multiplied by four to account for energy expended by the body but not used for rotating the pedals. I don’t use rowing machines but I’m sure they would have a similar conversion factor in order to calculate calories.
• codazoda 4mo ago
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• nic547 4mo ago
  The "Low Tech Magazine" has a guide to building a DIY bike generator https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-a-practical-household-bike-generator/ https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-a-pra... Unfortunately even with the bike it seems like you really need to find one machine that can be repurposed, a rowing machine seems a bit of a stretch.