Weightlifting as Cardio Exercise on MFP - Do you only count time under load?

MilesAddie

I’m getting close to goal weight and need to tighten up my numbers as I transition into recomp, sooo...,

When inputting weightlifting as a cardio exercise, do I only input the time actively under load / doing repetitions or do I include rest periods.

Don’t know if it matters but typically 2-3 Minutes btwn compound lifts, 45 secs 1 min btwn isolation and I superset resistance band exercises with weighted body weight moves (example banded pull-apart with Weighted pull-ups)

Thanks in advance!

CS

jemhh

I would log the entire time. If you start at 7:00 and are done at 7:45, log 45 minutes.

sgt1372

I log the entire time while lifting (including rest periods) BUT I only log it at 120 cals/hr; MFP allows 215 cals/hr.

I have not had any weight loss or maintenance problems doing it this way.

jjpptt2

There's no good answer here, so as long as you are making a reasonable effort to be reasonable with your estimates, and doing so consistently, then you are probably fine.

If you're only doing time under load, then you can probably get a way with a slightly higher cals burned per minute. If you count the entire training session, then I'd drop your cals/minute estimate pretty significantly. I typically do something like 2-3 cals per minute for an entire session.

MilesAddie

Yeah, MFP did seem a little high, and 2 years ago when I had a Fitbit it said I burned like 1000 calories during a 90 minute session, and I know that couldn’t be right....

Thank you all for your input - I suppose I’ll grab a stopwatch and see what percentage of each session I’m actually really working out as well.

For my Olympic lifting workouts, I suppose I could probably be more aggressive with the calorie count, considering how dynamic the lifts are?

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I count the whole thing. Or generally give myself about 100 calories extra.

I also use the Jefit app and it'll give me estimates of time spent lifting, resting and wasted (but things things like racking weights, moving the bar, etc counts as wasted). My last good lifting session was 45 minutes long, only 8 was actually lifting, 10 min was rest and 20 was "wasted".

sijomial

It's based on the assumption you are having rests between sets of the fairly "standard" duration of 2-4 minutes when strength training and you are supposed to log the entire duration of your workout from start to finish.

And that's exactly what I've done when losing weight and maintaining weight.