Burning calories while giving a massage

CurvyMama87

I am currently a massage therapy student and when I calculate each 1 hour Swedish massage I use the tai chi exercise.

khianakiwi

Hello! What site did you see that on? I do 3.5 to 6 hours a day of deep tissue massage and its def a work out. My quads and gluttes are huge and full of muscle.

Happyhealthymassagetherapist

I have been practicing massage for 8 years and i average 4-6 clients daily, 5.5 days a week. (2 on saturdays) i do deep and very firm flowing work. I wore a heart rate monitor a few days and it said i averaged 2000-3000+ burned... it was insane. at that moment i realized why i am hungry all the time. i increased my calories from 1200 to 1400-1600...sometimes a bit more. I have lost weight, and every one notices how thin I'm getting. I increased protein but don't add in any calories for doing massage. Someone on another post said, your body gets used to this daily activity, so unless your heart is pumping, don't count it. just add more protein since its a type of strength training, and eat when your hungry but choose smart options. don't carb load and weight loss may start. think more protein, drink a ton of water, and eat 1200-1500 on slower days and increase on busier days at work.

1Missy2

Very interesting totals for calories burned. I have been a massage therapist for over 17yrs. and ALWAYS gain 6-10 lbs. on average when I take a 10 day break! Doing the math - it caculates to approx 2,000 calories per day on average. This has been the case time and time again. Thank goodness it comes back off when I get back to work and catch up with my clients who have been waiting for my return!

pyronymph1

I love how all these people are commenting that GIVING a professional, deep tissue massage isn't work! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! They are obviously NOT massage therapists and have no idea what they're talking about. If you're doing it properly (ie using your whole body, like you should) you should be burning ridiculous calories.

larlab

Agreed I am a massage therapist in training and also a distance runner (1/2 marathon, although I'm not currently training)...I wore my heart rate monitor to a 5 client session at my internship (back to back, moderate to deep tissue work, including changing over tables, walking around clinic etc) over 6 hours, my heart rate averaged 121 beats per minute, and that was a 2000+ calorie burn. Heat rate peaked at 148bpm during a particularly deep session. I've worn my HRM 2x and the results are the same....roughly 300-450 calories per hour- that's all in. Walking, changing tables, and doing deep work.

Feels about right. If you're doing the work right (using full body, working deep tissue) it can be pretty intense. Period.

I think people interpret massage as pretty easy work because, well, they are laying there receiving and snoring, or they equate at home work with deep tissue, Russian/sports or otherwise. I'm glad we make it look easy. It's not always that way.... there's a reason I come home from some shifts and put my hands into a tub of ice water- LOL

heartworth9

I just did 6 hours of chair massage at a marketing gig. I am exhausted and wondering how many calories I burned. I want to err on the side of caution. Any ideas?

furiousjellybean

I agree, whoever is saying that giving a massage isn't exercise has never worked as an LMP!

I think between 200-450 per hour sounds about right, depending on the type of massage given. I mostly do therapy work, deep tissue, and sports massage and I am always sweaty, so I know I'm doing something. Same with chair massage. I actually think chair massage burns /more/, but that could just be in the way I do it.

I think the idea someone posted about eating more protein sounds sensible. I'm going to incorporate that and see how I do.

natescurich

I checked this site and compared an hour of massage work to an hour of Tai Chi and they were about 4 calories apart. I'd say it's pretty accurate!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned_list.asp

How much water to drink per day:
Multiply by 2/3
You want to multiple your weight by 2/3 (or 67%) to determine how much water to drink daily. For example, if you weighed 175 pounds you would multiple that by 2/3 and learn you should be drinking about 117 ounces of water every day.

Also:
128oz = 1 gallon
64oz = 1/2 gallon

Happyhealthymassagetherapist wrote: »

I have been practicing massage for 8 years and i average 4-6 clients daily, 5.5 days a week. (2 on saturdays) i do deep and very firm flowing work. I wore a heart rate monitor a few days and it said i averaged 2000-3000+ burned... it was insane. at that moment i realized why i am hungry all the time. i increased my calories from 1200 to 1400-1600...sometimes a bit more. I have lost weight, and every one notices how thin I'm getting. I increased protein but don't add in any calories for doing massage. Someone on another post said, your body gets used to this daily activity, so unless your heart is pumping, don't count it. just add more protein since its a type of strength training, and eat when your hungry but choose smart options. don't carb load and weight loss may start. think more protein, drink a ton of water, and eat 1200-1500 on slower days and increase on busier days at work.

wychattin

Anyone who thinks massage isn't work has never given one! I too always sweat a fair bit, especially when working on a larger person who has issues. Since no two people are the same, no two massage routines are the same, and my 64 yo body definitely considers it a workout!

Chrisy424

204 per hour. Here you go. I was also curious as a massage student. This site is good for other occupations too. http://calorielab.com/burned/?mo=se&gr=11&ti=Occupation&wt=150&un=lb&kg=68

iamnotfittoliveamongman

i ama new LMT and just started work at a spa. i average 3-5 50 min massage three days a week. i weigh 220 and am 5'1" and a few different online sources says i would burn on average around 328 for a 50 min, ~500 for a two hour. when i track it in my apps though i always deduct 50-100 (easy/hard days) cal from what the calculators say just because everyone diferent, and i want to know im burning the right amount.

for people who say its not a work out. it IS. evening after training for 8 months, you work your quads, glutes, and are moving your whole body to do the work (properly). i work up a sweat depending on work requested. if its deep tissue im practically dripping. that two hr med-deep? I had to keep a towel on me to wipe off sweat!

Sued0nim

So an hours massage is a similar burn to an hours yoga ? Yeah I'd buy that

Remember while it feels like hard work it's not really cardio nor is it actively, consistently engaging the biggest muscles in the body (glutes, legs etc)

Sweat is no determinant of calorie burn

BRMT86

Hey People,

I'm an Aussie Remedial Massage Therapist (CMT in US?) - who is studying Exercise Physiology & is a practising Personal Trainer. I run my own business out of GreenZone Gym.

Long story short - I was tired all the time. Guess why? (Look below - I'm also a Lecturer, forgive me)

Conservative estimate below -

Weight: - 58kg/128lb
Height: 167cm/5"7
Calorie intake: 1500-1800 per day
BMR: 1280 kcal
Total daily calorie burn except BMR:
200-360kcal per client = x6 clients = 1200kcal conservatively
Workout = 500 kcal
Daily movements = 800 kcal

Total Estimated Calories output: 3780 kcal.

No wonder I'm exhausted. So, I made a 6 pack challenge with my housemate as to whom could get the better 6 pack in six weeks. (Note: I wanted to prove that a 6 pack is difficult & painful to maintain - I proved myself wrong, which was a fantastic learning curve. I've been training for years and don't distribute fat around my abdominal, so there are many factors in play here.)

Week 1 = 60kg = 1500kcal per day (23-25% body fat)
Week 2 = 60kg = 1700kcal
Week 3 = 60kg = 1900kcal(20% BF)
Week 4 = 59kg = 2100kcal(19-20% BF)
Week 5 = 59kg = 2300kcal (six pack clearly visible)
Week 6 = 58kg = 2500kcal (18% BF)

I dropped 5% body fat into 18% total, only losing 2kg in total body mass. My strength and vitality overall increased also.

Now I eat an easy 2100kcal per day, eating the same on the weekend off to recover lost energy. Turns out I can put on muscle, sleep better, move better, less brain fog all with just slowly increasing my calories & eating high quality nutrient-dense, low GI food.

I experiment alot with my body, and always trend towards supporting it than judging it. If I'm hungry - I eat. I also do fasted cardio in the morning too.

lorrpb

Zombie 🧟‍♀️ thread 2011

charliwarli

drasr wrote: »

A good HRM can help calculate those calories. But since you are not doing something that elevates your Heart Rate by a significant amount, most likely you won't be burning too many calories. Though you will be building more muscle which may indirectly help.

I'm an LMT with a heart rate monitor. My heart rate goes up to about 125 during a massage, and I bust a sweat every time. Extra deodorant is always necessary, lol. I burn about 3000 calories a day when I'm at work.

charliwarli

Sued0nim wrote: »

So an hours massage is a similar burn to an hours yoga ? Yeah I'd buy that

Remember while it feels like hard work it's not really cardio nor is it actively, consistently engaging the biggest muscles in the body (glutes, legs etc)

Sweat is no determinant of calorie burn

I'm in an active lunge and squats during my treatment sessions, and my heart rate can go up to about 125 for a substantial time while working on each person. I'm also often engaged in sustained pushes while helping clients do passive stretching, where I bear the weight of their limb and take it through its range of motion, and do PNF stretching where they're actually actively pushing against my strength.

AnnPT77

This is a very old thread. There is some bad advice in the old posts, as is often the case with old threads.

Heart rate monitors can tend to over-estimate calories for activities involving strength/strain (internal pressure drives up heart rate, but doesn't as much affect oxygen requirements; it's oxygen demand that correlates with energy expenditure - heart rate is just a proxy), IMU.

The Compendium of Physical Activities**, a science-based site, lists standing massage at 4.0 METS (though this is an estimated rather than research-based number). This is similar to the METS value for power yoga, among other things, so maybe the yoga idea wasn't crazy.

** On this page: https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity-Categories/occupation