Your 33-year-old client has been instructed by his physician to exercise at 8 METS on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. What should the resistance of the ergometer be set at, following the warm-up?

To determine the appropriate resistance setting on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer for a client instructed to exercise at 8 METs, it is important to understand the relationship between METs and workload. MET, or Metabolic Equivalent of Task, is a unit that estimates the amount of oxygen used by the body while at rest compared to during physical activity.

An intensity of 8 METs correlates to a workload where the body is consuming approximately 28.3 mL of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. For a mechanically braked cycle ergometer, creating a resistance that can produce this workload is critical.

Typically, the workload in watts can be calculated based on the resistance in kilograms multiplied by the pedaling rate (often measured in rpm) and a conversion factor. A common pedaling rate is around 60 rpm. Therefore, for a resistance of 3.0 kg at 60 rpm, this generates enough workload to reach the desired 8 METs.

Setting the ergometer to 3.0 kg ensures that the energy expenditure required from the client during cycling meets the physician's recommendation of maintaining an intensity equivalent to 8 METs. In this context, this resistance setting effectively balances the physiological demands of the exercise