Your TV Choices At The Gym Can Affect Your Workout

Watching sports could help you burn more cals.

Do you tune into "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" when you're sweating on the stairclimber, or do you interval train on the treadmill while answering "Jeopardy" questions?

According to several studies, the type of television you watch during a workout can influence the exercise benefits you reap. Watching physical activity -- whether its Kourtney and Khloe sculpting their abs or the Pats defeating the Chiefs -- can increase your fitness by revving up your body's reaction to what you're seeing on the screen.

A study published in the journal Frontiers in Autonomic Neuroscience showed that when participants watched a video of someone else running, the viewers' blood flow, heart rate, respiration and sweat release all increased.

Of course, if you're into exercising with a "Barefoot Contessa" marathon over anything related to sports, you should keep doing that. You might not maximize your performance, according to the study, but it's better than not working out at all -- and way better than watching TV from the couch. Sitting for too long is linked to diabetes, obesity and some cancers.

Netflix conducted an analysis that calculated how many calories a person could burn by devouring some of its most popular shows while jogging at four miles per hour on the treadmill. Check out the results below -- not bad for a "House of Cards" marathon!

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