Why aren't calories burned for strength training?

JBeansie

I'm a little confused why MFP doesn't count a calorie loss for weight training. I routinely participate in Crossfit and have seen the results; obviously I'm burning calories and becoming stronger. If I'm building muscle I'm also helping to increase my metabolism. So what is the deal?

jennalink807

I was confused about this as well- but if you enter "strength training" into the cardio section, there's an item there for that that counts you burning around 200 calories in an hour. Not as much as one would think you'd be burning, but if you wear an HRM you can always enter the calories manually

JBeansie

Ah ha! Manual entry with a HRM sounds like a way to beat the system. I was hoping for an easier solution though because I'm lazy about inputting workouts, lol.

dad106

They aren't calculated because its a very individual thing... and depending on what kind of strength training you are doing, how many breaks you take, how long the breaks are, etc etc, it can skew the calorie reading a bit.

Also HRM's are not accurate for tracking strength... only accurate for tracking steady state cardio.

JBeansie

I think the HRM would work really well for Crossfit as it is a sustained strength training effort. The whole idea is combining cardio with high-intensity weight lifting. You really maintain your heart rate for the entire exercise set.

dad106

I think the HRM would work really well for Crossfit as it is a sustained strength training effort. The whole idea is combining cardio with high-intensity weight lifting. You really maintain your heart rate for the entire exercise set.

I disagree.

HRM's only take what info you give them(age, weight, height, gender,VO2max and heart rate) and feed it into an equation that is based off of steady state cardio(IE running, walking, etc). The variables of weight lifting(pressure from trying to lift heavy weights, abnormally long breaks, etc) are too hard for the HRM to predict and put into an equation. Plus if it's really hot or cold in the crossfit box, that can also affect the heart rate reading because it is going up due to temp and not because you are actually working hard.

Even when used for steady state cardio, they are only 80% accurate. I can just imagine what the percentage would be for strength.

PinkAndSparkle

I usually log crossfit as circuit training. I don't have a HRM but I think that's the closest estimation.