Need a bowling opinion. Warning: might include math! :)

creeperlegume

I need some help figuring out if I'm guesstimating correctly when logging my weekly bowling adventure. Adventure because while I enjoy it, I'm not very good. I bowl on a league once a week, and we bowl three games. Though it takes a couple of hours to finish, obviously I'm not bowling that entire time, nor am I willing to use a stopwatch. I've been guessing 3 games x 10 frames @ approximately one minute per frame = 30 minutes of bowling...and that's IF I bowl a strike each frame. Clearly, I don't, but I still only give myself credit for 30 minutes of activity.

Does this sound completely ridiculous and off-base? If so, other suggestions for calculating this? (thanks!)

michedarnd

For bowling, I wouldn't even bother counting it except as a few shoulder-swings. I wouldn't bother putting it into my exercise diary, personally. There simply isn't enough sustained activity, and the amount of effort expended to bowl a strike is about 10 seconds, or less. If you keep using heavier and heavier balls, you can count it as strength activity, but I would not bother putting it in as cardio. You are likely to badly overestimate and then, you'll upset your weight-loss goals by reducing your deficit.

AromaticTie0

That's a tough call. Do you know that in the average 3 hour MLB baseball game, the ball is only in motion 2 mins 30 seconds?

A minute per frame seems like a high estimate. Most of that time seems like aiming. I take five steps in my swing. So the actual motion couldn't count more than ten seconds.

However: I think this falls more into the strength training regime, rather than the cardio. I would think it fair to estimate that you're probably burning 250-300 calories in that time frame. Just remember to stay away from lane food and drinks. It adds up quickly.

A heart rate monitor would be a good indicator. Some have calorie counters in them. You could be surprised.

Good Luck!

ninerbuff

I wouldn't count bowling as an exercise unless you were bowling consecutive balls in a row by yourself. The wait time in a league is long and there's not enough sustained action.

wolfchild59

I wear a BodyMedia Fit and when I went bowling recently I burned less calories than my normal Friday nights which are typically spent running errands to three different stores after work and then cooking dinner. So I wouldn't log it as anything.

zorbaru

one game of bowling equals 10 minutes of actuall bowling.

i used to bowl in quite a few leagues and in teams of 4 it would usually take 40 minutes per game to finish.

obviously the better bowler you are, the less exercise you will get.

i remember 2 occasions when i only bowled 12 times for a game (yes im bragging that i hit 12 strikes in a row for a 300 game)

people that are saying that its not cardio activity have obviously not bowled competatively on a regular basis. you can use up a fair bit of energy bowling.

in a social setting not so much as there is a fair bit of mucking around, but a lot of effort went into my bowling action. 10 mins per game is fair.

creeperlegume

Thanks, everyone! All points considered. However, I wonder-- if we shouldn't be counting bowling as exercise, then why does MFP list bowling as an activity under Cardiovascular in their database? Seems that if it should'nt be counted, they wouldn't pre-load that activity, no?

wolfchild59

MFP also has user loaded entries. And some people count dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, shopping, sex and other things like that, doesn't mean they should be counted though. Heck, there's an entry in the database for standing, so just because it's in the database, doesn't mean it's something that should be put towards exercise calories.