Kayaking and calorie burn...

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JohnandCatherinesmom
JohnandCatherinesmom Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My husband and I have been kayaking now for almost a month. Up until today we have done pretty steady paddling to work up a sweat doing an 16-18 minute mile weighing in at just under 300lbs. Today the wind was pretty strong which made it pretty intense when it came to paddling; a couple of times no matter how hard we paddled the wind wouldn't let us move forward. The wind came up strong and fast, it was breezy when we started out but within 10 minutes it was getting rough. So my question is, when you add your exercise to MFP it has kayaking with no variables, how do you get an accurate calorie burn when you don't know if it is for smooth lake kayaking, ocean kayaking or white water kayaking? I have used kayaking for our regular workouts but today's was an exception and I want to count my effort because I know my biceps will be reminding me for a few days how hard we worked to get back to the dock! lol

Replies

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    I would use the regular amount and take anything else as bonus burn! Remember, most of these burns are overstated anyways.
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,031 Member
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    Personally, I see kayaking when starting out more strength training than cardio, so I don't log it.
  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
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    too many vairaibles to be accurate anyhow. Are you on a lake or river with a current? Wind behind you or agianst you? Type of kayak? size of blade?

    It's only going to be an estimate so use the standard and consider a harder workout a bonus.
  • KiyaK
    KiyaK Posts: 519 Member
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    JohnandCatherinesmom wrote: »
    how do you get an accurate calorie burn when you don't know if it is for smooth lake kayaking, ocean kayaking or white water kayaking?

    You don't. Just like every other exercise in the MFP database. When I was teaching Zumba, I'd get the exact same calories "back" whether I killed myself in class or half-assed everything. Like someone said earlier, err on the lower side & take everything else as bonus burn. In the end it doesn't matter what the numbers on MFP say. It matters what actually happened in you body.
    JohnandCatherinesmom wrote: »
    today's was an exception and I want to count my effort because I know my biceps will be reminding me for a few days how hard we worked to get back to the dock! lol

    Again, it doesn't matter if you "count" it in MFP, your body is what tells the truth. Just enjoy the fact that you're doing an activity you love with someone you love & you're getting stronger and better at it too!

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