1,000 Calories in One Workout?

DizzyMissIzzy

Hey guys,

So I've been lifting heavy with a trainer for the past week (I've been lifting for longer but I wanted to buckle down and really get some direction) and we've been doing some pretty intense workouts.

I asked today how many calories he thinks we burn in one 30 minute session and his answer seriously floored me. He told me we burned about 1,000 calories a workout. I had been expecting something like 400-500.

We do weights that are incredibly high for me, as in, my muscles usually end up failing before the end of at least the second set but for sure by the third, and we take little to no break in between the exercises. The exercises are all superset with others or dropsets. I'm dripping with sweat and sore for days. But 1,000 calories, is this possible? If so.... I need to eat more.

Please let me know!

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

I would have fired him there and then as he clearly doesn't know what he is talking about.

DaddieCat

Highly doubtful. Burns for lifting are not very big in general.. but the end results are still pretty darn good.

arditarose

No. I lift heavy as well, power twice per week and hypertrophy twice per week. I assume 100 or so calories burned. I've always been spot on when it comes to losing/maintaining.

jemhh

DizzyMissIzzy wrote: »

Hey guys,

So I've been lifting heavy with a trainer for the past week (I've been lifting for longer but I wanted to buckle down and really get some direction) and we've been doing some pretty intense workouts.

I asked today how many calories he thinks we burn in one 30 minute session and his answer seriously floored me. He told me we burned about 1,000 calories a workout. I had been expecting something like 400-500.

We do weights that are incredibly high for me, as in, my muscles usually end up failing before the end of at least the second set but for sure by the third, and we take little to no break in between the exercises. The exercises are all superset with others or dropsets. I'm dripping with sweat and sore for days. But 1,000 calories, is this possible? If so.... I need to eat more.

Please let me know!

No, I am sure he is wrong. Sorry! I don't know what kind of lifting you're doing but I would say the figure it somewhere between 100 and 200 calories.

Hornsby

More like 150 if your lucky...fire that trainer.

Ninkyou

1,000 calories in half an hour? No way. Probably closer to 100-200.

kyley_ann

I burn about 1,000 calories in one workout--when I run 7 miles!! I can't imagine lifting for an hour is burning those kind of calories.

arditarose

By the way, trainers can be super helpful but it is really good that you question and read about some of the information they give you because well...some obviously don't know their stuff, especially when it comes to nutrition. I do hope he is teaching you proper form though.

ndj1979

Hornsby wrote: »

More like 150 if your lucky...fire that trainer.

this

get a new trainer...asap

JustMissTracy

Those are crazy numbers...he's inflating the burn to get you excited, don't believe him...as people said above, get someone else.

DizzyMissIzzy

Roger that. He's good with the workout and the form, he definitely pushes me, but when he answered that I was so skeptical... I'll see if there is a better one around.

cwolfman13

nobody is burning 1,000 calories in 30 minutes....not even 60 minutes.

i have to cycle in the neighborhood of 30 miles to get there.

DizzyMissIzzy

Lol I texted the manager of the company (who wrote the plan himself and my nutrition stuff and everything) and his guess was 200-300. That's... probably still inflated a little, but much more reasonable.

Ninkyou

cwolfman13 wrote: »

nobody is burning 1,000 calories in 30 minutes....not even 60 minutes.

i have to cycle in the neighborhood of 30 miles to get there.

Ha yeah, it takes me 3 hours of low grade hiking to get anywhere close to 1,000 calories.

DizzyMissIzzy

Thanks for all the input, everyone!

I'm SUPER new to counting anything close to calories from workouts or from food (in the past I've just done what made me feel the best, and I'm not big, but getting super fit takes a lot of dedication as I'm learning!) so I'm definitely still learning!

Good to know my gut was right, bad to know that my trainer is full of it. *sigh*

KaterinaDokuzova94

DizzyMissIzzy wrote: »

Hey guys,

So I've been lifting heavy with a trainer for the past week (I've been lifting for longer but I wanted to buckle down and really get some direction) and we've been doing some pretty intense workouts.

I asked today how many calories he thinks we burn in one 30 minute session and his answer seriously floored me. He told me we burned about 1,000 calories a workout. I had been expecting something like 400-500.

We do weights that are incredibly high for me, as in, my muscles usually end up failing before the end of at least the second set but for sure by the third, and we take little to no break in between the exercises. The exercises are all superset with others or dropsets. I'm dripping with sweat and sore for days. But 1,000 calories, is this possible? If so.... I need to eat more.

Please let me know!

Maybe....If you do a marathon....

SuggaD

I burn around 1,000 cals a day on average. But it requires close 2-3 hours of training. I log around 350 calories for my 2 hour weight sessions.

DizzyMissIzzy

I'm really grateful for you guys! This is such a great and helpful community!

blues4miles

MyFitnessPal has an entry under 'cardiovascular' called 'strength training' that will give you some calories for lifting weight. I usually underestimate the time a little. Like if it took me 40 minutes total, I usually put down 20 minutes since a lot of that time was recovering between lifts. I think mine thinks 20 minutes is 80 calories for me. I just log it to give myself credit for the lifting, not so much to use to eat back.

Michael190lbs

My Crazy workout which I do once a week is non stop one to the other movement working entire body 20 reps per set for 75 min my HR is above 120 BPM the entire workout and I log it as 250 calories but its more than likely 500.

rankinsect

To put it in perspective: Olympic athletes in endurance events typically burn something on the order of 1200 calories per hour. Are you exercising at an intensity that surpasses the best athletes on the planet? Probably not.

lorrpb

DizzyMissIzzy wrote: »

Roger that. He's good with the workout and the form, he definitely pushes me, but when he answered that I was so skeptical... I'll see if there is a better one around.

If you like the workouts then stick ewth him for that and go elsewhere for nutrition advice. I wouldn't dump him over a calorie burn question unless it was affecting your training in some other way.

robertw486

Glad so many people corrected this. I bookmarked and I was wondering how ANY trainer could be that out of touch with realistic calorie counts.

But life would be great if those numbers were true. At 2000 calories per hour burn rates, I could easily eat to my hearts desire at buffets every night, and still control my weight easily. A person could out exercise a crappy diet. What a fantasy!

DizzyMissIzzy

lorrpb wrote: »

DizzyMissIzzy wrote: »

Roger that. He's good with the workout and the form, he definitely pushes me, but when he answered that I was so skeptical... I'll see if there is a better one around.

If you like the workouts then stick ewth him for that and go elsewhere for nutrition advice. I wouldn't dump him over a calorie burn question unless it was affecting your training in some other way.

This is very reasonable, thank you! You guys are all so helpful, it's amazing.

Larissa_NY

lorrpb wrote: »

DizzyMissIzzy wrote: »

Roger that. He's good with the workout and the form, he definitely pushes me, but when he answered that I was so skeptical... I'll see if there is a better one around.

If you like the workouts then stick ewth him for that and go elsewhere for nutrition advice. I wouldn't dump him over a calorie burn question unless it was affecting your training in some other way.

I don't know. A person who tries to sell you a gallon vat of snake oil in one area probably isn't too trustworthy in others.

SingingSingleTracker

robertw486 wrote: »

But life would be great if those numbers were true. At 2000 calories per hour burn rates, I could easily eat to my hearts desire at buffets every night, and still control my weight easily. A person could out exercise a crappy diet. What a fantasy!

This!

We'd all be able to easily out exercise a really crappy diet at that burn rate - that is if we could sustain the effort required for more than 5 minutes.

Heck, even Tour de France racers burn only about 1000 calories per hour x 4 hours each stage for 3 consecutive weeks. And at that rate, they can't eat enough calories to prevent losing weight during the 3 week race (on average, each rider loses 10 pounds during those 3 weeks even though they begin the race already lean and mean).

PAtinCO

You might burn 1000 calories climbing a Colorado 14er, but not lifting for 30 minutes.

Working2BLean

An extra 0 on there!

wilsoncl6

Hold on a sec, before we pass judgment, it depends on what he meant by the 1,000 calories. Was that the 1,000 calories burned during the exercise itself or total extra calories burned then and to be burned later (recovery). There is a good article on what's called EPOC (Excess Post exercise Oxygen Consumption). That's where the body has to expend more energy than normal to repair damage done during intense workout to get back to a complete resting state. The more intense the workout, the more damage done, the more energy required to complete repairs. This can be seen in people that have undergone surgery, recovering from illness or at the highest recorded levels of EPOC, burn victims. However, it is unlikely, even with EPOC, OP would have burned and will burn 1,000 calories as EPOC cannot grant that much of an increase in overall caloric drain in combination with the calories burned during lifting. Is it possible that OP was doing some sort of HIIT routine where the lifts were the break sessions and she was doing some sort of cardio in between? OP: Where you only lifting for the entire 30 minute duration?

DizzyMissIzzy

wilsoncl6 wrote: »

Is it possible that OP was doing some sort of HIIT routine where the lifts were the break sessions and she was doing some sort of cardio in between? OP: Where you only lifting for the entire 30 minute duration?

Thanks for your response.

No, we were lifting continuously with the only break being the time it took to get to the next machine. Every single day we've been going to failure on almost every set, and the weight is way more than I can do on my own (after the first few reps he has to guide the weight) which is extremely taxing, yesterday I think my body was so desperate for recovery I fell asleep on the couch at 5 and every time I woke up I couldn't stay awake so I ended up going to bed and sleeping until 6am... I am still very new and learning a lot about things. I've lost a lot of trust in my trainer now though, which has taken a massive hit on my confidence and motivation in what I'm doing.