- Okay so my man Mike just told me about
a little insider tip.
I didn't even know about this.
And I don't know how much there is behind this
but we're gonna test it out for you guys
because this could be a major...
Is this a problem or is this just like a glitch?
What do we call this?
- I would say it's a glitch.
Mike Douglas.
- What do we got?
- So with the rower, put the damper at a zero or one,
I guess the lowest it can go.
Once you have it set there, you will pull
from just regular position.
- Push.
- Yeah, good point.
My apologies.
So you're gonna push as hard as you can.
You're gonna rest for seven seconds,
so until it basically completely dies down.
- So, damper is down at one, the lowest setting.
- Lowest possible setting.
- From a standstill, monitor is zeroed out.
You're gonna take one big stroke.
- Big pull, yep.
- Big push.
- Big push, I'm wrecking this right now.
One big push.
You're gonna rest till the seven-second mark.
- Exactly seven?
- Exactly seven seconds.
If you do it faster than seven seconds,
you will not get the calorie output you would
if you rested the full seven.
- Okay, so the glitch comes in.
- You will then make another pull.
- What's gonna happen on stroke one?
- On stroke one nothing will happen.
Nothing happens.
- So far, no glitch, no problem.
- Stroke two, two calories should pop up.
- When do we take stroke two?
- At the seven-second mark.
- Oh, stroke one.
- Stroke one is from zeroed out, you're going.
- Nothing happens.
Stroke two will be roughly two calories.
I also saw a female do one,
so may not be as big of a glitch for females
as it is males.
Stroke three.
- Seven seconds later.
- Yes, seven seconds.
- So we're going every seven seconds.
7, 14, 21.
- On your monitor.
Okay, so once you hit that 21-second mark,
I pulled one of the rowers.
It gave me four calories.
- Four more?
- Four more calories.
- It gave you four calories in one stroke?
- In one push.
- He's catching on.
- One push.
- One stroke, you got four calories.
And that's on top of the two you got
from stroke number two.
- So I'm at now six calories in...
- Three strokes.
Okay, here's my question.
Do you think Concept 2 knows about this,
do you consider this a glitch, yes or no?
I want to hear about it down in the comments.
Not only are we just gonna talk about this, though.
We're gonna prove whether or not this thing
is actually happening.
This could be like...
- Huge.
- We're like tapping into the matrix with this.
- Huge.
- I mean, I'm not advocating anybody use this
for nefarious purposes,
but I feel like, have any of you guys heard this?
'Cause I have not.
Where did you hear about this?
- I heard it from a buddy of mine.
- And where did he hear about it?
- From a buddy of his.
It's already came through,
good friend of mine from Utah.
And yeah, he had texted me about it,
and then he called me about it, and of course...
- How has nobody told me about this?
- Yeah, I thought you would have already known.
- I would have expected you to tell me.
- I would've figured (mumbles)
Okay, so, I had to test something to obviously see
if it's, the validity of it, of course.
But at first I thought it was BS.
But after doing it, my jaw dropped.
- My jaw's dropping.
Four calories in one stroke is not something
I've ever heard of.
- And so...
- Okay, let's go, let's go test this.
Let's figure out if this thing actually is happening.
Did we just break a Concept 2 machine?
Did we just figure out how to game...
Yeah, did we just figure out how to game the system?
I don't know, let's go find out.
(mid tempo music)
- Damper at zero.
One, damper, one.
- [Man] For reference' sake, let's note
that this is a PM3, not a PM5.
Do we have a PM5?
- [Mike] No, we don't.
- [Man] Ooh, no PM5's to test, okay.
We are set.
We're set to calories, zeroed out on a PM3 monitor.
We don't have a PM5 here,
so I'll have to retest this on a PM5 somewhere,
but PM3, check.
- So we're going to start from the dead position.
- [Man] Okay.
- One big push.
- [Man] Okay, so no calories registered.
- [Mike] Six, seven.
Two calories.
- [Man] Okay, so he just got two calories.
- One...
Six calories.
- [Man] Six calories, shut up, this is happening.
- Two, one...
Nine calories.
- [Man] You just got three more calories.
- 3, 2, 1.
12 calories.
- [Man] You just got 12 calories in five strokes.
12 calories in five strokes.
- [Mike] 15 calories.
- That is unbelievable.
15 calories, 35 seconds, six total strokes.
Guys, we just broke the matrix.
- Crazy.
- What did you just do?
- I broke the code, apparently.
So if I pace it correctly,
1,500 calorie-per-hour pace
would put you at 33.69 seconds for 14 calories.
If I read it correctly, if I remember right.
Okay, so this is, it was at 35 on my last pull.
Push.
So, essentially you're holding about it.
You wouldn't be able to get an outstanding score.
- But good enough.
- But you would give yourself a very competitive score,
and your grip would (mumbles)
- The point just being like,
any workout where calories are involved
(stammers)
Who found this?
Reveal yourself.
What is the origin story of this?
How did this happen?
I don't understand it anymore!
This is insane, guys.
I'm gonna test this for myself.
We just watched it happen,
but we just gotta see, can I replicate this?
Okay.
Damper down to a one.
So far so good.
Monitor, zero.
No trick of the camera here.
That's it, right?
- [Mike] That's it.
- Every seven seconds I'm gonna take a stroke.
Nice and hard.
- [Mike] Do that.
Two in.
Three more.
- I don't even know what to say.
Like, what is there to say?
I feel like my whole life is a sham.
I was just getting almost 2,200 calories an hour
per stroke with like no effort.
Zero effort occurred for that to happen.
I just got 14 calories in like 35 seconds.
Okay, but here's the interesting thing.
Now you didn't mention this before,
he's on the other side of the camera.
The timing actually stopped each time.
So it stopped at six seconds,
and then I would take my next stroke.
And then it would start the clock again.
It was like the run could only last for six seconds.
Therein I think lies whatever this is.
Something about that clock only going for six seconds,
because each time,
like at six, at 13, at 20,
it stopped counting.
This thing actually works.
You can get three calories per stroke,
which I've never been able to accomplish
with all of my 170 mechanics videos
that I've ever put together.
We've basically just like melted the system.
Wow, alright, well, hopefully we'll find
an answer for you.
Maybe I can get Concept 2 on the line and get
an actual response to this.
Thanks, Mike.
Something is broken, something is amiss.
We're not in Kansas anymore.
This is unbelievable.
We're following up on this, guys.
I've grabbed a partner in crime.
Josh Marshall.
So we're gonna test this concept.
I purposely picked Josh because he has zero idea
what we are going to do.
But I feel this needs to be tested
because a lot of people are gonna be saying
what is the efficacy of this?
What is the objective behind it?
Should I be using it?
And is it really like a worthwhile trick, let's call it?
So to explain, somebody just introduced us
to this concept that if you take the damper setting
all the way down to one, zero out the monitor,
and take a stroke every seven seconds,
you can get to the point where the monitor
is going to give you three to four calories per stroke.
- [Josh] So go to...
- So just zero out your monitor.
What we're gonna test right now, guys,
because I think this is important.
This is not like we're just airing dirty laundry here.
We need to test, does this work and is it effective?
So we're both gonna out our damper down at a one,
all the way down.
Josh is also a rower, now a crossfitter.
I was a heavyweight, rowed for University San Diego.
Anyways, so, do you wanna test the single-calorie,
or the single stroke every seven seconds?
Or do you wanna consistently row?
- Do I stroke and then wait for seven seconds?
- Yeah, you take a stroke and then just,
you're gonna sit.
- And then chill?
- And just chill.
And at the seven-second mark,
you're gonna take your next stroke.
- Is it hard or is it like...
- Take like a solid stroke, yeah.
You're not like taking it easy.
So he's gonna take that format,
I'm gonna take just standard rowing.
One minute, max,
let's go up max calories, for one minute.
He's gonna test this theory,
we're gonna see how it turns out.
And I'm gonna test regular rowing,
and we're gonna see what happens.
Monitors are both gonna be zeroed out.
We're using PM5's, so I know when we tested it before
it was a PM3.
So that could play a difference in this as well.
Just row.
Both of our dampers are down to one.
And we're gonna test this thing out.
Let me get set up.
We're gonna hit this.
(mid tempo music)
I got 22 calories in a minute.
Josh got 22 calories in a minute.
Although his minute took longer
because the monitor stops counting at six.
So if there's a slight delay there.
He got to a minute when I was like 105
or something like that.
So we both got 22 calories.
I was cruising at like 1,400 calories an hour.
What were you averaging?
- Started off like 17, 18.
And then the last couple were like 19, 2,000.
- Right, but feeling-wise because he knows
how things feel, did you feel like you were
at 17, 18, 19 calories now on effort?
- No, not at all.
- That's where this gets weird.
- Yeah, it felt easy.
It felt like almost 12, 13.
- Right, okay, so in the interests
of experimentation, let's redo it
and swap roles.
- Okay.
- So you're gonna row one minute.
- Consistent?
- Consistent.
And I'm gonna take hard strokes.
- What were you holding before?
Like 15?
- Yeah.
Okay.
So he's gonna try to hold 15,
and I'm just gonna do what I can.
Alright, here goes effort two.
(mid tempo music)
I just got 25.
How many did you get?
- 23 and I was working way harder.
- He was working 1,500.
Somehow I was averaging 2,000.
- [Josh] Yeah, about.
- Okay, now I really didn't want to actually,
my goal was not to show that this was,
I honestly thought the other,
the consistency was gonna pay off.
Let's have a momentary philosophical discussion
about what this means.
If the workout were actually were for time...
You'd kinda be screwing yourself.
Right?
- Yeah, I mean, I think...
- Because my minute, so while I got more calories,
my minute's taking longer.
- But that much.
Maybe five seconds.
- So I'm losing like a second per round maybe?
- Yeah, but you also gained two calories
going consistently, like that.
- To use this would be wrong.
- Yes.
- We can all agree on that.
If you're competing and you're doing this,
that's not sportsmanship.
It almost seems like cheating.
I mean the numbers are the numbers right now,
so, like, I don't know, I don't know how
or why this is happening, but it is.
And I just got 25 calories and he got 23,
both in a minute.
- Maybe like, the heaviness
of, like, letting the fan relax,
but the damper being so low it spins out.
- Yeah, it's like...
- That's the only thing I can think of.
- I can't, I'm miffed at how I'm getting
2,000 calories an hour.
That part doesn't make any sense.
- And it feels way less effort to do it,
the stroke every seven,
than to be consistent.
- Ooh, boy.
We're both rowers and we're both like...
- I don't like it.
- I mean, I certainly don't like it.
I don't think we're breaking the monitor.
I don't think we're, like, tricking it.
Well, I guess there are ways
in which you can trick the machine,
like it sprint starts...
Where you're like advantageously taking advantage
of how it calculates...
Advantageously taking advantage.
You're taking advantage of that
you're tricking the monitor into giving you
a lower average,
by going hard early because it's constantly measuring
an average.
I consider that like fair game.
Right, you're working with the machine.
In this instance it seems like you're routing
the system.
- It seems like it 'cause, like,
less effort is maybe the monitor is catching
the speed of the fan, but it's slowing down enough
where each stroke, you get that kind of initial
heavy pull like you would at the start.
- Yeah.
(sighs)
I don't know where this leaves us.
Ahh.
I didn't want, I didn't want the results we just got.
Yeah, the results were the results.
We just tested it.
I mean, I would say Josh and I are, like,
within a few seconds of each other
on pretty much any test.
So equivalent fitness-wise,
we're gonna be close, you know,
relatively close to each other.
Your thoughts, let's hear them down below.
I don't think this is a valid,
I don't think it's a valid way of using the machine.
Let's call it a party trick.
I think that's a fair way to put it.
- We can call it that.
- Yeah.
Let's not use it in competition, folks.
- Sounds good.
- Well, we'll see you on the other side.