Average cardio session burn - what's yours?

extrafast

Hey people, I find that I usually burn ~700Kcal per hour when doing a cardio session - so says my polar ft80 and the machines at the gym.

How much do you guys burn?
Should I bring it down if I want to tone my body and increase muscle mass?

Just trying to get a feel for where I am and where I should be.

J

SingingSingleTracker

Hey people, I find that I usually burn ~700Kcal per hour when doing a cardio session - so says my polar ft80 and the machines at the gym.

How much do you guys burn?
Should I bring it down if I want to tone my body and increase muscle mass?

Just trying to get a feel for where I am and where I should be.

J

That's about right. Depending on what HR Zone or Power Zone, the calorie burn is usually in the 650-725 range for me in what I call Zone 2 (can still carry on a conversation and ride the spin bike at that pace for hours). If I bump up the HR and Power to the next Zone for an hour or do some good hard intervals for 6, 8 or 10 minutes - the calorie burn will be higher. If I drop down into Zone 1 HR, 60 minutes on the bike will be about 425 - 475 for me.

SingingSingleTracker

Delete - Double Post

geebusuk

Probably averaging about 1000 now - mid week running sessions a bit under, but been doing some longer runs at the end weekends for around 1750.
However, occasionally do a punch bag session to burn a few more calories, which is usually 200 or so, maybe.

'Tone' merely means having low fat and enough muscle to be seen.

If you want to grow muscle effectively, you really need to be eating surplus calories.
If you want to lose fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit.

Too extended bouts of cardio does give the worry of burning muscle - I try and take some food with me as well as having some prior to the run for longer ones to keep energy levels up. Though forgot to eat my baby jellies on the run at the weekend .
Cardio does have some other benefits too for various bits, but for me I mostly do cardio to... improve my cardiovascular fitness .

MeanderingMammal

How much do you guys burn?
Should I bring it down if I want to tone my body and increase muscle mass?

Between 600-800 for my weekday runs and 1200-1500 for my long run at the weekends

In terms of the other question, I do five runs per week and two bodyweight resistance sessions, so I've seen a significant reduction in bodyfat and decent retention of lean mass even though I'm eating in calorie deficit.

My objectives are around my 10Km time and increasing mileage with a view to moving towards half marathon distance.

SaintGiff

300 to 450 depending on the cardio. I only do 20 minutes of cardio per workout, at the end of my weight training, so I have to make the cardio fairly intense.

Hornsby

HRM tells me 1800 or so for 2.5 hours of cycling. Seems awfully high to me though.

geebusuk

720 an hour doesn't seem too excessive if you're putting a decent bit of effort in.
I could certainly do that on a half hour cycle ride - and suspect I could keep that pace going for a good chunk more.
Have only been using the bike for getting from A to B recently, so not monitored any.

Hornsby

720 an hour doesn't seem too excessive if you're putting a decent bit of effort in.
I could certainly do that on a half hour cycle ride - and suspect I could keep that pace going for a good chunk more.
Have only been using the bike for getting from A to B recently, so not monitored any.

Yea, i don't know. I enjoy it so much that my 'effort' may seem a bit less than it actually is in my head. I don't know. It's balls out for those 2.5 hours. Just seems kinda crazy for some of numbers I get.

MeanderingMammal

HRM tells me 1800 or so for 2.5 hours of cycling. Seems awfully high to me though.

Depends what kind, for a road session it's not out of the question, I generally find that I burn less on a cross country ride than I do on the road bike.

Timshel_

I am right around 700cal per hour, give or take my pace and intensity.

GetSoda

if you want to grow muscle mass, forget about the steady state cardio. you need to gain weight, son.

Hornsby

HRM tells me 1800 or so for 2.5 hours of cycling. Seems awfully high to me though.

Depends what kind, for a road session it's not out of the question, I generally find that I burn less on a cross country ride than I do on the road bike.

Always on a road bike for about 40-50 miles.

dbmata

I have an hour of intervals tonight, if I leave it all there like I did last time I did this workout, I'm probably at about 900 for the hour.

My Zone 2 stuff is right around 6-700 an hour.

cwolfman13

400-500...if I ride for a couple hours on the weekend it's around 1000. My HRM tells me almost 1400 for a two hour road ride at around 15 MPH...I figure it's actually about 70-75% or that or so.

geebusuk

That sounds reasonable for 40-50 miles.
Doubt I could do 40-50 miles in that time and pretty sure I'd burn at least that.

MeanderingMammal

HRM tells me 1800 or so for 2.5 hours of cycling. Seems awfully high to me though.

Depends what kind, for a road session it's not out of the question, I generally find that I burn less on a cross country ride than I do on the road bike.

Always on a road bike for about 40-50 miles.

I'm a bit slower than that on the road bike for those distances, but it seems comparable in terms of expenditure. Looking at my log my MTB is about 10% down in terms of energy use.

qtgonewild

i do the elliptical, or the treadmill or the bike for cardio for an hour and burn around 450 according to my ft7. im a big girl and i feel like im putting in major effort. but apparently i need to step it up to get to 700.

extrafast

Alright, got pretty good feedback. Tks!

I just got my Polar fitness gadget and it tells me I've spending ~70% of the time on Zone 3 as well - pls comment but I suspect it isn't very well calibrated as of yet because I truly feel I can hold a conversation at that level.

Not trying to hijack the topic but for me this is all part of the same problem:
My ultimate goal is to go down to ~13% body fat. I've recently been pushing a 50-50% cardio-strength ratio at the gym. I started at 75-35% and I came down from 24% to currently 17~18% - I lost strength. I'll never cut cardio out from my workouts because the benefits are awesome but I do have a goal.

I now want to help the fat burning by training my metabolism with strength exercises - it's a great way to work out in Zone 2 as well.
Thus opening the topic: am I burning just right? I'm on a ~1900Kcal a day diet.

What you guys think?

geebusuk

What deficit does that give you?

Personally I'd only get worried by Cardio zones when looking at training for cardio reasons.

SingingSingleTracker

Alright, got pretty good feedback. Tks!

I just got my Polar fitness gadget and it tells me I've spending ~70% of the time on Zone 3 as well - pls comment but I suspect it isn't very well calibrated as of yet because I truly feel I can hold a conversation at that level.

Not trying to hijack the topic but for me this is all part of the same problem:
My ultimate goal is to go down to ~13% body fat. I've recently been pushing a 50-50% cardio-strength ratio at the gym. I started at 75-35% and I came down from 24% to currently 17~18% - I lost strength. I'll never cut cardio out from my workouts because the benefits are awesome but I do have a goal.

I now want to help the fat burning by training my metabolism with strength exercises - it's a great way to work out in Zone 2 as well.
Thus opening the topic: am I burning just right? I'm on a ~1900Kcal a day diet.

What you guys think?

We probably need to define or get on the same page with regard to HR Zones and Power Wattage Zones. But yes, in "theory" if you stay in a lower zone for the endurance training to target fat burning you should enjoy the burn. I actually think the best time to do that is in the morning about 45-50 minutes after you wake up. Drink 2 cups of coffee and do your 60 - 90 minutes of cardio at 70% of maxiumum HR, and then eat your breakfast after the session. Fires up the metabolism all day long.

Here's an example of a chart I follow based on a 20 minute test I did on January 6th in terms of HR Zones and the Power Range refers to a measurement called Watts that many use for bicycle training. My HR monitor was on the blink and should have read 186, not 174 for my average HR during the 20 minute test.


Zone Calculator Update #1