Walking with weights? How to figure on Exercise database?

dragonfly81

I have been walking 1.2 miles 4 or 5 days a week. I am ready to add arm weights while I walk so I can tone my arms up. We don't have an option for walking with weights (unless you carry a 15 pound infant) so how do I calculate that?

My walk usually takes me 30 minutes if I walk at a lesiurely pace, 28 if I walk briskly.

Poison5119

On the tready, I usually pick up and put down the weights several times during the session so that I have a couple minutes of 'recovery'... I'll walk without them for 4 minutes, with them for two.

I count the cardio walking separately from the weight training, even though I'm doing them simultaneously.

I count the minutes I'm holding the weights, and add that in under 'weight training'.

Azdak

I have been walking 1.2 miles 4 or 5 days a week. I am ready to add arm weights while I walk so I can tone my arms up. We don't have an option for walking with weights (unless you carry a 15 pound infant) so how do I calculate that?

My walk usually takes me 30 minutes if I walk at a lesiurely pace, 28 if I walk briskly.

Don't.

Walking with arm weights adds little to your cardiovascular exertion, almost nothing to your calorie expenditure---and it won't do anything substantial for your arms either.

sindyb9

I go to caloriesperhour, they have tons of activities to go by, but I like this site better. But this is what I got.

Walking - 3 mph
153 calories in 30 min
Carrying - under 25 lb at 3 mph (moderate)
186 calories in 30 min

Hope this helps. :bigsmile:

Brittany_Kayy

How does it not doing anything for your arms?? If I may ask?

So, I'm just curious?
:huh:

I have been walking 1.2 miles 4 or 5 days a week. I am ready to add arm weights while I walk so I can tone my arms up. We don't have an option for walking with weights (unless you carry a 15 pound infant) so how do I calculate that?

My walk usually takes me 30 minutes if I walk at a lesiurely pace, 28 if I walk briskly.

Don't.

Walking with arm weights adds little to your cardiovascular exertion, almost nothing to your calorie expenditure---and it won't do anything substantial for your arms either.

CrystalT

Azdak~ I'm so glad you're around to help us all out. It really is wonderful!

strongandfit

I'm not sure about weights. But I've been on walkertracker.com and it records all your steps automatically.

Azdak

How does it not doing anything for your arms?? If I may ask?

So, I'm just curious?
:huh:

I have been walking 1.2 miles 4 or 5 days a week. I am ready to add arm weights while I walk so I can tone my arms up. We don't have an option for walking with weights (unless you carry a 15 pound infant) so how do I calculate that?

My walk usually takes me 30 minutes if I walk at a lesiurely pace, 28 if I walk briskly.

Don't.

Walking with arm weights adds little to your cardiovascular exertion, almost nothing to your calorie expenditure---and it won't do anything substantial for your arms either.

Sorry, sometimes I get a little flippant.

The general principle of strength training is that, in order to increase strength, muscle size, tone up, whatever you want to call it, you need to work a muscle to "failure" (aka "maximal voluntary contraction) in under 15 reps, preferably under 12. Does that occur when carrying a weight? No. So no strength training from carrying the weight.

How about doing dumbbell curls while walking? Once again, same principle. Are you going to choose a weight to lift 10-12 times, then put it down and continue walking for 1-2 min, pick the weights back up, do another set, etc? Probably not. If the stimulus for improvement is reaching "failure" in 8-12 reps, is lifting weights hundreds of times (w/out reaching failure) over the course of a walk going to provide an adequate stimulus? Again, no.

Exercise training is specific to the type, intensity, muscle group, speed, joint angle, metabolic system, etc, etc. The body will respond to what you ask it to do, but no more. So, an untrained person carrying say 5lb weights or doing arm curls while walking will notice some effect, there will only be enough adaptation to accommodate the *specific* load that is being imposed--ie. walking with 5lb weights. That is only a mild stimulus and the amount of adaptation will be negligible.

You can try this at home. Find an old set of 5 lb dumbbells (or a couple of bags of sugar, etc) and start doing dumbbell curls. Do 100 of them. Will you feel it the next day? Probably. Keep doing it. Will you still feel something after a week, or will you arms be any stronger? Almost certainly not.

Now, can using arm weights (or any weights) increase the overall cardiovascular intensity of the exercise? Maybe.

A study was done 15-20 years ago that outlined this very neatly (thank God for Master Theses!). Subjects walked normally, with arm swings + no weight, arm swing + 3lb, arm swing + 5lb, and arm swing w/10lb hand weights respectively. They also walked with the weights and NO arm swing. Oxygen uptake was measured.

Results: holding hand weights had no effect in improving cardiovascular fitness.

Swinging arms to the point where the thumb was raised to the height of the shoulder: significantly increased aerobic intensity. Intensity increased yet again with the heavier weights, but there are some serious biomechanical issues with trying to do "pumping" arm swings with 10lb weights, so that is not recommended. With the smaller weights, 80% of the increase in aerobic intensity came from the arm swing alone--the effect of the weight was minor.

I don't have details of carrying heavier weights (e.g. weighted vests, backpacks), but my memory of reading those studies is that it took quite a bit of static weight to significantly increase intensity, something most people would find uncomfortable.

I realize that swinging hand weights (thanks to the marketing efforts of Heavy Hands back in the 80s) has achieved an iconic status for many people when they think of fitness activities, but the fact is that it doesn't really do that much, if anything.

If you want toned arms, spend 15-20 min after doing cardio lifting some real weights and you will see much better results.

BTW, the same principle described at the beginning of this comment holds true for other claims of "toning" during cardio exercise as well. Yes,. there will be some initial adaptation to the *specific* demands of the exercise, but it will not occur to the extent promised by the machine manufacturer or the infomercial.

Again, if you are doing 140 steps/ min on a elliptical and doing that for 30-40 minutes, thousands of repetitions without failure, it ain't gonna tone your butt the way the little diagram on the Precor machine suggests. Like the "fat burning' heart rate chart on the Life Fitness machine, that is marketing, not physiology.

ClaudiaRN

go to the exercise database and find how fast you walked and how long, then change the wt to your wt plus the weights that your using. it will calculate how many calories you have burned. now you can manuely put that number into your diary.

dragonfly81

Thanks for the replies, guys. They're all very helpful.

Poison5119

I don't know, I seem to increase my RPE and my HR, significantly, and my arms are great, and yes I supplement this with actual weight training exercises. Whatever works.

Brittany_Kayy

Thank you for the reply back, I didn't want to sound rude, just didnt know how it didn't help! I'm coping your reply and saving it to read over, so thanks again :flowerforyou:

How does it not doing anything for your arms?? If I may ask?

So, I'm just curious?
:huh:

I have been walking 1.2 miles 4 or 5 days a week. I am ready to add arm weights while I walk so I can tone my arms up. We don't have an option for walking with weights (unless you carry a 15 pound infant) so how do I calculate that?

My walk usually takes me 30 minutes if I walk at a lesiurely pace, 28 if I walk briskly.

Don't.

Walking with arm weights adds little to your cardiovascular exertion, almost nothing to your calorie expenditure---and it won't do anything substantial for your arms either.

Sorry, sometimes I get a little flippant.

The general principle of strength training is that, in order to increase strength, muscle size, tone up, whatever you want to call it, you need to work a muscle to "failure" (aka "maximal voluntary contraction) in under 15 reps, preferably under 12. Does that occur when carrying a weight? No. So no strength training from carrying the weight.

How about doing dumbbell curls while walking? Once again, same principle. Are you going to choose a weight to lift 10-12 times, then put it down and continue walking for 1-2 min, pick the weights back up, do another set, etc? Probably not. If the stimulus for improvement is reaching "failure" in 8-12 reps, is lifting weights hundreds of times (w/out reaching failure) over the course of a walk going to provide an adequate stimulus? Again, no.

Exercise training is specific to the type, intensity, muscle group, speed, joint angle, metabolic system, etc, etc. The body will respond to what you ask it to do, but no more. So, an untrained person carrying say 5lb weights or doing arm curls while walking will notice some effect, there will only be enough adaptation to accommodate the *specific* load that is being imposed--ie. walking with 5lb weights. That is only a mild stimulus and the amount of adaptation will be negligible.

You can try this at home. Find an old set of 5 lb dumbbells (or a couple of bags of sugar, etc) and start doing dumbbell curls. Do 100 of them. Will you feel it the next day? Probably. Keep doing it. Will you still feel something after a week, or will you arms be any stronger? Almost certainly not.

Now, can using arm weights (or any weights) increase the overall cardiovascular intensity of the exercise? Maybe.

A study was done 15-20 years ago that outlined this very neatly (thank God for Master Theses!). Subjects walked normally, with arm swings + no weight, arm swing + 3lb, arm swing + 5lb, and arm swing w/10lb hand weights respectively. They also walked with the weights and NO arm swing. Oxygen uptake was measured.

Results: holding hand weights had no effect in improving cardiovascular fitness.

Swinging arms to the point where the thumb was raised to the height of the shoulder: significantly increased aerobic intensity. Intensity increased yet again with the heavier weights, but there are some serious biomechanical issues with trying to do "pumping" arm swings with 10lb weights, so that is not recommended. With the smaller weights, 80% of the increase in aerobic intensity came from the arm swing alone--the effect of the weight was minor.

I don't have details of carrying heavier weights (e.g. weighted vests, backpacks), but my memory of reading those studies is that it took quite a bit of static weight to significantly increase intensity, something most people would find uncomfortable.

I realize that swinging hand weights (thanks to the marketing efforts of Heavy Hands back in the 80s) has achieved an iconic status for many people when they think of fitness activities, but the fact is that it doesn't really do that much, if anything.

If you want toned arms, spend 15-20 min after doing cardio lifting some real weights and you will see much better results.

BTW, the same principle described at the beginning of this comment holds true for other claims of "toning" during cardio exercise as well. Yes,. there will be some initial adaptation to the *specific* demands of the exercise, but it will not occur to the extent promised by the machine manufacturer or the infomercial.

Again, if you are doing 140 steps/ min on a elliptical and doing that for 30-40 minutes, thousands of repetitions without failure, it ain't gonna tone your butt the way the little diagram on the Precor machine suggests. Like the "fat burning' heart rate chart on the Life Fitness machine, that is marketing, not physiology.

BrendaLee

I notice a difference in my biceps and triceps from doing lots of reps with small weights. No, I'm not building massive muscle, but the definition in my triceps goes away when I haven't used the weights in a while, and my biceps get softer. I get a little annoyed when (generally more athletic) people say that working the muscle to fatigue with light weights does nothing when I look at my own arms and see that it does SOMEthing. Light weights are a great place to start IMHO.

As for walking with the weights- if it's something you enjoy, go ahead and do it. Just carrying them isn't going to do much, but if you do curls and punches, you're bound to increase your cardio expenditure. As for logging it, go by effort. If you walked at a moderate pace, for example, and used your weights the entire time, you could enter the walk as a brisk pace to account for the difference.

alliekat021

I go to caloriesperhour, they have tons of activities to go by, but I like this site better. But this is what I got.

Walking - 3 mph
153 calories in 30 min
Carrying - under 25 lb at 3 mph (moderate)
186 calories in 30 min

Hope this helps. :bigsmile:

How did you figure the calories for that out? I want to the site you suggested but there was no option for
"Carrying - under 25 lb at 3 mph (moderate) " unless it was uphill