How many calories does weightlifting burn?

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  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    A good starting point:
    10 calories per minute while actually lifting at 80% of maximal.
    0 while resting between sets.

    Set of heavy squats for example:

    Time to do 3 sets of 5: 30-45 seconds
    rest time: 3 minutes x 5 = 9 minutes
    total burn: 5-10 calories.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    It is listed under "cardio", in your exercise journal.

    It is, but doesn't tell you how many calories are burned.

    How do I convert data from my HRM to calories burned?

    Your HRM doesn't give you cals burned? What brand and model is it?

    That said HRM's will be wildly inaccurate for cals burned from strength training as your HR is elevated for a different reason than the calculation in the HRM assumes it is. In other words, don't use cals burned from a HRM during strength training.
    That blog post that gets quoted over and over here is a prime example of useless bro-science and is mostly a steaming pile of conjecture and speculative drivel.

    Just out of curiosity, why does your HR go up then when lifting weights?

    You HR has nothing to do with how many calories you burn. Your HRM simply uses a formula that utilizes your HR as a reasonable measure of VO2 max to determine calories burned. The formula assumes an aerobic event as an aerobic event is a good measure of VO2 max...an anaerobic event like weight lifting is a really ****ty measure of VO2 max. Therefore the further away from an aerobic event you are, the less accurate a HRM is for estimating calories burned.

    When I was first getting started with all of this and very ignorant, I wore my HRM all day to see how many calories I burn...I had a very high RHR at the time...around 110...my HRM told me I burned almost 6000 calories in about 8 hours which is utter and complete bull****. Moral of the story...a HRM is only RELATIVELY accurate for an aerobic event...even then, it can be off by as much as 20-30%.
  • mnapier3
    mnapier3 Posts: 30
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    Was this recently? I have been wondering how many cals I'm burning and was advised to wear my HRM. I own a polar ft4, so pretty basic, and 60 minutes of leg exercises with about a minute rest between came out to 503 calories. I was skeptical so I went with what MFP says (193).

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