Tracking Exercise on My Fitness Pal

joshnewton1976

You can enter strength training as a cardiovascular exercise, and the site will give you an amount of calories burned during that time. However, my question is: when strength training, there is always rest between reps and sets. Is this time calculated as down time burning calories? In other words, if I strength train for 45 minutes, yet every set i do takes about a minute to a minute and a half, then i rest for a minute to a minute and a half- how do i enter that into my fitness pal to accurately track my calories? Do i enter 45 minutes, or do i enter probably somewhere between 19-23 minutes? Anyone have any idea?

hill8570

The cardio portion of strength training more-or-less takes into account the grab-*kitten* time between sets -- that's why the per-minute calorie burn is so low. And you really should knock off your RMR (base burn) from even those numbers. For example, if I do a 60 minute workout, MFP gives me 258 calories for the hour. To keep the numbers simple, I figure my RMR is 100 calories an hour (the calories I'd burn watching Wheel of Fortune or something), so I knock that off -- net burn 158 calories. Yup, not much.

ahoier

strength training logging is gonna be very sketchy.....lol. i do it.....only because i use a heart rate monitor.....i typically take an average of the calorie burn from myfitnesspal, and the calorie burn from my heart rate monitor.....and over-ride mfp's value.....cause mfp is typically 100 calories higher.....than my hrm......gotta figure, the hrm is measuring the calorie burn based on exertion....your heart rate....so yes, during rest, your heart rate drops, and it will adjust down. but yes, i don't totally know for sure what 'algorithm' mfp uses.....for example, to say i burn 251 calories in 60 minutes....

don't let this discourage you from working out with weights though! cause you will see far more body improvements from weight training, than straight cardio all day.....

when i first started mfp.....i started out doing 40 min sessions on the elliptical, with a 5 minute cool down period.....now, 2 years and a couple months later (september 18th....my mfp anniversary) i am down 99 lbs and now stick to 30 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill....then typically 2-3 hours of weight lifting.....

heybales

That Strength Training entry comes from a METS database which is based on studies.
That entry is based on reps of 5-15, sets and rests of 1-3 minutes, for whatever time you do it.

Circuit training is about 1 min rests, 15 plus reps.

Calisthenics is shorter rests, and higher reps, hence the reason usually done with body weight.

That's also the increasing calorie burn.

There used to be 2 entries for Strength training, but now one, which equals vigorous.
because really, if doing 3 lb pink dumbbells for light/moderate - just go home.