Zumba and HRM

chunt87

Hi everyone I was just wondering if you wear a heart rate monitor and do zumba class, I do and the calorie count always differs greatly between what it says on here (700 calories?) and what my HRM usually says (400-500 calories) I am working each hard and very exhausted and sweaty each time I take that class I was just wondering if others had noticed the difference and which measure they feel holds more water in this situation

3dogsrunning

Your ticker shows you are pretty average weight. 700 calories an hour is pretty high for someone of average weight to burn during cardio activity. While I do have my reservations about HRMs and do feel their accuracy is over rated - in this case I think it is a much more reasonable estimate.

For comparasion - running at a 10 minute mile for 6 miles (1 hour) at your weight would burn approximately 600 calories.

Justkeepswimmin

Most zumba classes I will burn 450-550 but if I have the most amazing instructor everrrr then I can get up to 650. That's rare.

VelveteenArabian

Most Zumba I'm burning around 1100 calories per my HRM. I log it around 700 though.

chunt87

My HRM is always a lower estimate than the MFP, maybe its because of the weight difference. I am fairly short, and my bmi is 31 so I really want to get much healthier than I am. I log my HRM calories. I wish I could run a pace like that for that long, that would be epic. So far when I do the C25K on week 6 I get about 400 calories for 45 minutes of really hard work.

VelveteenArabian

I'm not sure what you weigh but I have a fair bit to haul around. A lot of the difference is in HOW you do the steps. Just following the feet is very different from using correct dance form, posture and technique. Every step has to be done with a full body effort, not just hands and feet.

chunt87

I do the moves as best as I can, sometimes I cant handle alot of the jumping for effort because hips hurt and when I do it its sometimes in a double day (run 3 miles or so in the am and then zumba in the pm) I weigh 175-174-177 depending on what my body is doing at the time.

VelveteenArabian

Yeah the jumping really adds intensity. If you have to modify, a lot of the time you can just half jump or do releves. My regular Zumba teacher is very high intensity. We now typically do Zumba with weighted gloves. Our last class had a bunch of regular fitness moves including 2 minutes of maintained squats. It's killer!

hearthwood

Definitely go by what your heart rate monitor says.

I am a Jazzercise addict, my instructor can get 650 calories burned, she's younger, and I can get anywhere from 450 to 500 a class. Yet if I just enter Jazzercise as exercise on MFP sometimes it will give me more and other times even less.

I purchased a Jawbone UP that not only tracks steps, but you can also add in workouts on it, and that syncs with MFP, so you're not having to enter your workouts on MFP. So far it seems to be fairly accurate.

chunt87

Definitely go by what your heart rate monitor says.

I am a Jazzercise addict, my instructor can get 650 calories burned, she's younger, and I can get anywhere from 450 to 500 a class. Yet if I just enter Jazzercise as exercise on MFP sometimes it will give me more and other times even less.

I purchased a Jawbone UP that not only tracks steps, but you can also add in workouts on it, and that syncs with MFP, so you're not having to enter your workouts on MFP. So far it seems to be fairly accurate.

Thats what I have been doing with the fitbit app too. I tried spinning today where they have a workout video machine (sounds weird but it was pretty darn cool) and was able to burn 342 in about 40 minutes without joint pain, I take what I can get lol.

And with the jumping I usually modify and am still wringing sweat