You could probably get electrical energy that is needed to run a gym (lights, accountant pc, vending machine) if you just install generators in all of this gym's exercise equipment

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Demonstrations like that really emphasize just how much energy a modern lifestyle requires. Switching from human power to fossil fuel power let us scale energy use so high without a second thought, just keeping food cold inside a warm room, nevermind traveling at 400 mph.

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Many of the stationary bikes power their own display. I think thats about all you can do with so little energy.

Otter

I love how the channel is dedicated to just this experiment

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Great idea. As others have pointed out, it wouldn't be enough power on its own, but maybe it could supplement the gym's power and you could award people points for how much power they generate. Then maybe you can use those points to pay for all the things you need for daily living. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits

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Well, exercise equipment makes for terrible generators. The amount of modifications and the added load to the user would make them much larger and more difficult to use.

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Nice demonstration of how much power this actually is

But couldn't they fix the handlebars better or are they this wonky on purpose?

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NAUGHT POINT 21 ~~JIGA~~KILOWATTS!

DankOfAmerica

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And watch all the lights turn off.

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the added load to the user

Isn't that the purpose of a gym?

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Generators have a significant amount of load to make them viable and work best at constant speeds.

Huge amounts of load at the start and then momentum usally makes it more efficient. This is great for endurance training, but you would have to mess with a fair bit of engineering for weight machines to work well.

At that point you might as well just make them preform labour like splitting wood.

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Kilowatt-hours, not kilowatts. And it was 0.021.

He was basically going full blast for just under two minutes, and generated 0.021 kWh.

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70 W is very casual riding, anyone actually taking will be more in the 100-150 W range. My fridge uses 70 W as an example, and only when actively running, with a duty cycle of 40% or so. Obviously this isn't an industrial fridge or freezer.

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The energy used probably wouldn’t even heat the water for the showers though.

Not even close. Someone posted a video of an Olympic cyclist going all out running a 700 Watt toaster for 2 minutes, and he was exhausted after that. A water heater would be like 3000 Watts and would need to run for a long time to heat up an entire tank of water, which would last for just a couple quick showers.

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I’ve considered instead of energy generation which is pretty hard for human biomechanics to do, we could have a gym where you build stuff. Like today’s workout is you have to build a wall.

Carry a bunch of wood around (squat, deadlift, carries ).
Do some sawing (row, push up).
Lift wood overhead (press).

And at the end of the workout you’ve got a wall!

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but if you want the fridge you need five cyclists

Your numbers suggest the fridge uses 5 * (30 to 70), or 150 to 350 watts. Which are reasonable numbers when the compressor is running.

But, the duty cycle of a fridge is typically less than 30%. It only draws a couple watts with the compressor off and the door closed.

In a long enough "race", two cyclists should be able to drive the electric meter backward faster than the fridge drives it forward.

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My first factory job was a workout. I spent all day taking bundles of ice cream products off a conveyor and placing them on skids. I liked that aspect of the job, or any job that involves physical activity.

The first week was brutal with muscle pain, but then my body got used to it.

I do white collar work now but kinda wish I could do that kind of work like one day a week or something.

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It's a tough ask. A bicycle generator will be 70% efficient, and a healthy amateur could do 100w over an hour of effort generating 70w. A treadmill would have a lot more friction, and a rowing machine gets nowhere near the power you can generate from your legs. A linear "foot press" exercise machine is not as efficient as the circular motion of cycling.

Power requirements of a gym might also include music systems, outside lighting. Heat/hot water could come from gas.

It can still be worth adding generators and wiring to exercise machines to offset energy consumption, including batteries to prevent peak TOU rates. But it is a tough ask to disconnect from grid, without solar.

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but a relay team could do 600watts "continuous".

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It would have to be a pretty big relay team. The recovery time for 2 minutes of all-out power exercise is pretty long.

Look at the size of this guy's thighs. He's a freak of nature (in the positive sense of the term) who trains for this specific type of exercise and had to stop after 2 minutes because he was in so much pain. I can't imagine he'd be ready for another all-out run in less than a couple hours, and after two in a day, probably would need a day's rest.