Why doesn't my exercise count?

popcorn7225

Also, I wanted to add.....I'm not trying to argue until I win. I'm just trying to understand.

Here4Ponies

Lifelong rider -- gaited, western, trail, huntseat, eventing, dressage -- though I've never obtained upper level anything.

Riding absolutely is exercise and anyone who claims differently has never ridden beyond leadline or guided trails on near-dead horses. And, yes, I would say it IS steady-state cardio. Twenty minutes of posting gets and keeps my heartrate as high as if I was walking briskly on a treadmill.

Personally, I'm not counting calories - food or exercise - right now, in part, because of the variation in what various sites and my HRM claimed I was burning. I am a bit of a control freak; I like things to be concrete. That variation drove me nuts. So, I stopped counting. I focus on the way I feel, the way my clothes fit, and the way I perform in the saddle. To get the results I want, in addition to riding, I lift weights and I walk.

I think what others might be trying to express, though, is that if you're not seeing results doing what you're doing (monitoring food intake and riding), you might want to consider changing something. If you really want to count calories, I suggest picking one method of determining calories and ignoring everything else (including other people). It doesn't matter what you use to measure, as long as you use the same method. (If you're doing cavaletti work, do you take a tape measure and mark off the distances with it or do you pace them off using your own stride length? As long as the striding is consistent and correct for your horse, does it really matter?) Monitor your results for a couple weeks and adjust if you need to make a change

Hornsby

Here4Cookies wrote: »

Personally, I'm not counting calories - food or exercise - right now, in part, because of the variation in what various sites and my HRM claimed I was burning. I am a bit of a control freak; I like things to be concrete. That variation drove me nuts.

Can I ask you which was reading out higher in your variations? The HRM or the online calculators?

Also, were your HRMs consistent ride after ride or did it show substantial variations?

jamebo2

What if you just set your account for highly active? You get more calories.

csman49

its just sitting on a moving chair. Should i get exercise calories for riding my motorcycle?

terar21

You're better off just adjusting your activity level IMO. If you do plan on logging it as exercise while you're at sedentary, only eat half back because MFP is overestimated and your HRM isn't going to be an accurate guide either since you aren't in a steady state cardio. The best way to judge whether or not it's working is to see if your deficit matches up with the weight loss. It's trial and error for all of us.

Also, I'd be careful about judging calories burned based off the ease of doing one exercise compared to the other. Swimming is far easier than running for me. But I burn more calories swimming. Lifting is more physically exhausting for me but I burn more running.

cc3833

I ride hunter/jumper. Yes it is a cardio workout, but when I put it in my tracker for an hour it only burns roughly 300 calories. I do it between 3-5 days a week. And I try to get as many horses as I can. I also work a desk job and pretty much sit for 12 hours a day, plus I'm a part time student.... lots and lots of sitting. I was pretty overweight... 180 lbs (now I am 154 lbs). I was told by my horse's vet I needed to slim down. So that's what I'm doing. I track my food very closely and I try and get to the gym 3-4 days a week. I run intervals and I lift weights. My friend (who is also my gym buddy) has an active job, runs, lifts weights and rides between 4-5 horses 6 days a week, along with watching her food (And she loses MAYBE a pound a week). Some of us ride competitively and my trainer tells us all the time riding isn't enough. The more you run the better it will be for your riding... the more you lift the better it will be for your riding... Yesterday because I couldn't get to the gym I took my stirrups off my saddle for my 30 minute hack. Though I completely agree that riding is cardio it just isn't enough, especially if you are only riding one horse a day. I also find it helps to remind myself that I am doing this for my horse. I want him to be able to be in his best shape... and therefore I must do all that I can to be in my best shape... My friend and I frequently go to the gym after we ride even if it is just for 20-30 minutes instead of our usual 60.

cc3833

csman49 wrote: »

its just sitting on a moving chair. Should i get exercise calories for riding my motorcycle?

LOL! I've never ridden a motorcycle but it is slightly different than a moving chair. You don't have to worry about your chair using its eject button because a plastic bag just flew by! And your motorcycle has a motor and an accelerator. Our gas pedal is our legs and our seat. If you just sit there... well... the horse will just stand there and you won't be going anywhere. I get what your saying but its much more physical than that.

DevilsFan1

popcorn7225 wrote: »

I'm well aware of why there aren't heavy people at the top of the sport and yes....1 is the welfare of the horse and to obtain optimal results and 2 the physical demands keep people thin.

I don't think I was trying to compare riding to steady cardio but I do believe there is def cardio involved for a portion of the ride which doesn't make it a magical high-end exercise that creates super athletes rather I was asking why this form is exercise doesn't count as exercise. I'm not sure that has been answered.

I realize no one is forcing me to do anything I'm simply trying to find some form of exercise that I can do to reach my weight loss goals and while I understand why some would think that it's "just sitting there" I just don't understand why it wouldn't be beneficial to me just as swimming is to a swimmer or biking is to a cycler.

No I haven't spoken to other riders and yes I agree they do (put a fair amount of work into it outside of riding). As do I (maybe not as much as they do bc I work full time at a desk (and they more than likely do this for a living) but there is still a good amount of daily work that goes into it that I'm not even considering as exercise.

Just to be clear.....I'm not so overweight that I'm threatening the welfare of my horse.

Look, no one is saying riding isn't strenous or that it isn't giving you a bit of a cardio workout. I'm sure it's better than sitting in a chair. What we're saying is that there is no way to accurately determine the amount of calories you are burning by riding. Do you weigh all of the food that you eat all the time? If not, you can't possibly quantify how much weight loss is attributable to riding, if any. HRMs won't do you a bit of good. They are tools that give a very rough estimate for specific types of exercise (riding is not one of them).

I don't know how we can make this any clearer to you.

popcorn7225

Ok. I'm just going to thank those of you who contributed in a constructive way and ignore the guy who said it's the same as sitting in a chair. Pretty funny to hear people speak of something they know nothing of.

I've only just started tracking 2 weeks ago. Almost 10lbs down since I've started. I'm not hungry and I feel good. If I eat back any calories it's normally only half as someone above suggested. So far it's working for me. Who knows maybe in a few months I'll have to add more to my routine but for now I'm going to stick with whats working.

Hornsby wrote: »

Here4Cookies wrote: »

Personally, I'm not counting calories - food or exercise - right now, in part, because of the variation in what various sites and my HRM claimed I was burning. I am a bit of a control freak; I like things to be concrete. That variation drove me nuts.

Can I ask you which was reading out higher in your variations? The HRM or the online calculators?

Also, were your HRMs consistent ride after ride or did it show substantial variations?

I can't speak for Here4cookies but the online calculator is way higher than the HRM and the HRM is very consistent depending on how hard I'm working on that particular day. On average it's 500 cal an hr of strenous riding. Today (bc I have a long weekend planned riding) I rode for 30 min and it registered 300. I am only counting 250 just to ease my mind.

Here4cookies: I really appreciate your post. I know exactly what you mean. As long as it's working stick with it.

I don't set my activity level as high bc I'm a control freak and it would drive me nuts. I'd rather see that I'm earning calories.


Terar21: How do you know how many cals you burn swimming?

cc3383: I totally agree. Anything I do outside of riding will def be felt as a benefit in my riding. I'm working on it. It's just time consuming when I'm spending 3hrs at the barn as it is.

cc3833 wrote: »

csman49 wrote: »

its just sitting on a moving chair. Should i get exercise calories for riding my motorcycle?

LOL! I've never ridden a motorcycle but it is slightly different than a moving chair. You don't have to worry about your chair using its eject button because a plastic bag just flew by! And your motorcycle has a motor and an accelerator. Our gas pedal is our legs and our seat. If you just sit there... well... the horse will just stand there and you won't be going anywhere. I get what your saying but its much more physical than that.

Yea it would be similar to riding a motorcycle....... on a trampoline,,,,, with roller skates,...... down a pot hole filled road and people trying to push you off in every direction. Good luck with that csman49.

Yes I weigh my food, yes some weight loss is going to be contributed to riding DevilsFan. And I'm crystal clear. Thanks!

csman49

You know nothing of what kind of motorcycling I do/have done in the past...

There was a hint of British tongue in cheek humour in my post, I'm sorry that didn't translate well.

Trust me, an hour at full whack, in changing conditions, throwing a 190kg (Inc fuel weight, excluding rider weight) bike from side to side against natural gyroscopic forces, with the braking and acceleration forces involved, burns a lot of calories. Couldn't tell ya how many!

Still like sitting on a chair though

popcorn7225

I've ridden motorcycles it's not the same. Holding on with your arms/hands is not the same as using your center of gravity/ balance as your only means of staying mounted. The only similarity is that you are sitting astride. Motorcycles also don't have a mind of their own. Can't say the same for bikes or chairs.

csman49

competitively??

popcorn7225

No. Not competitively. Dirt bikes in the woods.

popcorn7225

For anyone who cares, I came across these. No idea of the accuracy but I thought I'd share.

http://www.horsecollaborative.com/calorie-count-what-did-you-really-burn-at-the-barn-today/

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+does+horseback+riding+compare+to+other+workouts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

popcorn7225

Sorry the second link was just the search. Here is the article

http://www.horsecollaborative.com/how-does-horseback-riding-compare-to-other-workouts/