Open question for mixed-sports enthusiasts

aj_rock

Just to clarify, by mixed-sports, I mean those sports with both an endurance and a strength component. This includes most team sports, but my question is, how do you track your caloric burn during a given sports workout?

Personally, I play a lot of rugby, but the actual effort that I put in during any given practice and/or game varies widely, depending on time of season, personal energy level, practice focus, game style, etc. MFP estimates 60 minutes of rugby practice at 800 calories, putting me around 1600 for a two hour session, which CANNOT be right.

So how do you tally it? I can't wear any heart rate monitors (they'd get DEMOLISHED in a practice or two), and like I said, perceived effort changes on a daily basis.

If you're wondering why I ask only for mixed sports, it's because sports at either extreme are much easier to estimate. Power lifters won't get much expenditure due to the nature of lifting, and endurance athletes already log their running hours meticulously.

_Ben

Here is what I do:

I do karate, which for 2 hours, would be almost 1500 calories. Obviously I am not doing that much. Where these numbers come from is when you are doing it to the highest inesntiy you possibly can. If I was actually fighting someone for two hours straight, then those numbers would be dead on. You need to factor (I dont know the rules of rugby, so Im gonna do this in terms of american football) every time a whistle is blown, every time you get into a huddle, everytime you are waiting for the quarterback to snap the ball, all that time is cut down. You might instantly go from 1 hour down to only about 20 min of actual extremely intense activity. Normally I guage a number I believe seems fair, and just go with that. Its not an easy thing to do in my opinion. I also do hockey, but I am constantly on and off the ice, switching in an out, or going up to the line for a face off, which all isnt really that physically intensive.

AlSalzman

Actually, that estimate may not be all that crazy. I don't play rugby, but my lacrosse team shared field space with one - their practices could easily surpass 600 cal/hr on the amount of running alone. Once you factor in the strength aspects of the game and any calesthenics you'd do... it's probably not unrealistic. If you're really concerned, only count the calories from aspects you can measure... distance runs or timed runs, sets of sprints, sets of calesthenics, etc. Better to assign a lower value than one that's too high.

As for varying intensity, you're right - some workouts are off the charts, some days are less so. I have the same thing in kickboxing... some days we're insane with volume punching and it's all cardio, some days we work form or go slower to learn new techniques. I just remind myself that MFP is a general accounting of what I've done... not every hour of Muay Thai is exactly 730 calories, but not every 6oz chicken breast is exactly 200 calories, either. And I tend to think the intense days outweigh the light days, but that may just be where I train. But if you think that MFP is giving you too high a value of calories burned, you can always enter a lower time... it will drop the total cal right down.