How many calories does weight lifting burn?

AuddAlise

So I was at the gym today and my personal trainer off handly said that you burn 500 calories in 20 minutes weight lifting. Is that even close to being true? :huh:

dexter4564

I really doubt it. The only way to determine this is by monitoring your heart rate during the weight lifting process. For me, I burn around 100 calories in a 20 minute session from lifting weights.

seekingstrengthX2

Goodness no. It burns much less than cardio while you are actually doing it.... but the burn continues once the lifting stops. For 20 minutes, working HARD, I would guess maybe 150 or so.

wellbert

It's all a guess. heart rate monitors aren't accurate for it.
and a deadlift burns considerably more energy than a curl, but they take around the same amount of time.
so.

doubleduofa

I'd say I burn 500 calories during an hour of body pump class (like circuit training). 500 in 20 mins is VERY high. Even things like zumba and turbo kickbox only burn ~700-800 cals/hour...if you really turn it up!

Chief_Rocka

5 cals a minute or less would be my guess

Cr01502

It's hard to determine how many calories lifting weights burns as there are too many variables (i,e. how heavy the weights are, rest between sets, etc.) but 500 calories in 20 minutes. That's pretty close to impossible.

AuddAlise

Thank you for your replies. I thought that sounded impossible.

bamazav

If you are doing a very heavy and very intense session for an extended period of time, maybe you can burn 500 calories. I would also argue that a good hour long session will burn more than 100 - 150 calories. There are quite a few variables that make it hard to say you will burn X amount. How heavy did you lift? How much did you rest between sets? How many reps done? How fast were reps done?

The benefit of the weight lifting is that you continue to burn calories after the workout.

shawnaln

I'd say I burn 500 calories during an hour of body pump class (like circuit training). 500 in 20 mins is VERY high. Even things like zumba and turbo kickbox only burn ~700-800 cals/hour...if you really turn it up!

I started wearing a HRM to Body Pump classes and was surprised to find out I only burn about 300 calories in a 60 min session. The Les Mills websites claim you burn over 500 calories but that maybe only works IF you get your heart rate up enough and IF you're lifting heavy AND keeping up with the tempo AND if you have a guy's metabolism. Of course there's the "afterburn" and the fact that muscle burns fat.
Best thing to do is both cardio and weights.

Jynus

I'd say I burn 500 calories during an hour of body pump class (like circuit training). 500 in 20 mins is VERY high. Even things like zumba and turbo kickbox only burn ~700-800 cals/hour...if you really turn it up!

I started wearing a HRM to Body Pump classes and was surprised to find out I only burn about 300 calories in a 60 min session. The Les Mills websites claim you burn over 500 calories but that maybe only works IF you get your heart rate up enough and IF you're lifting heavy AND keeping up with the tempo AND if you have a guy's metabolism. Of course there's the "afterburn" and the fact that muscle burns fat.
Best thing to do is both cardio and weights.

calorie burn from resistance training as nothing to do with heartrate. heartrate is a useless indicator of anything outside of cardio, so ignore it.

alexpell

Guys, this is how you really figure it out.

Formulas available from the Journal of Sports Sciences provide the calorie expenditure calculations for both genders. Men use the equation Calories = [(0.6309 x average heart rate) – (0.09036 x weight) + (0.2017 x age) – 55.0969] x time / 4.184.
Women use the equation Calories = [(0.4472 x average heart rate) – (0.05741 x weight) + (0.074 x age) – 20.4022] x time / 4.184.

jimjamsjet

It depends on the type of lifting. If you are deadlifting your 5rm max you will be burning a lot more than if you are 10 repping bicep curls. Generally compound lifts will burn a lot more calories if you do them at the right weight and intensity.

candiceh3

Using heart rate to estimate calorie burn only works when the oxygen consumption correlates nicely with the work performed. That means that HRM's are weakly accurate for steady state cardio (where you constantly take in a similar amount of oxygen each minute and do a similar amount of work in each minute) but are totally rubbish for lifting (where your heart rate can be elevated while you are resting and doing no work).

For what it's worth, I think you are better off not estimating the calories burned for each individual weight lifting session. Instead, monitor your weight loss over a week or two, and adjust your calorie intake if the weight loss is too great or too little.

7L551

500 calorie in 20 min?? that is waay much more than cardio :O
You probably burn way much more less than that. BUT it also depends on how your heart pumps and how much you sweat + the way you use the weights. Maybe the exercises he gives you are mixed with heavy cardio, I see people using weights in the gym while running or holding it above their heads and lunging, if that what your instructor is making you do then he is correct, depending on the routine and how intense it is, you might be burning that much.

Cait_Sidhe

Interesting choice of necrothreads.

And the answer to the question= No. Unless you are very large it is extremely unlikely to burn 500 calories doing 20 minutes of weightlifting. Hell, I don't even burn 500 calories doing 60 minutes of intense cardio.

sanjagruns

I have found this formula on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule
is said:
One joule in everyday life represents approximately:

the energy required to lift a small apple (with a mass of approximately 100 g) vertically through one meter.

So my conclusion based on that formula is that when I lift a weight of 1Kg on the height of 1m i used 10J (Joules)

Further on there is a saying that said:

1 thermochemical calorie = 4.184 J

Based on that it comes that I have spend :
10J/4.18=2.4 calorie

Is it true that I have spend 2.4 calories lifting 1Kg on the 1m height?

eldamiano

1 calorie per rep I think. Does that sound right/wrong to anyone?

yogicarl

/

raidernewskers

I know this was posted a while ago, but I will give a little insight. First of all, the person who got the closest was the guy with the formula. The only thing wrong with that formula is that we (common folk) report nutritional information and energy expenditure in Kcal, even though it is commonly referred to as calories. So you're off by 1,000 but you were on the right track. Also, that is the definition of work, but your body uses energy in ways other than just lifting perpendicular to the floor. For example, if you were to get on a rowing machine and row for an hour at high resistance, you would have performed zero work, according to its proper definition (anybody who's been on a rowing machine knows that is grossly inaccurate).

To understand calorie burn due to resistance training, you have to understand what is going on. Your body's muscles are literally tearing, microscopically, when you lift. Your body synthesizes protein to rebuild the muscles back to where it was, and then in layman's terms...adds a little more so it will be better next time. Some experts have said that you continue to burn additional calories from a weight-training session up to 36 hours after you're finished. To highlight that point, I suggest you experiment...get on a treadmill and run at a fast pace FOR YOU, whatever that is, for 30 minutes. See how you feel the next day and the day after that. A few days later, target big muscle groups (chest, quads, hamstrings, core) and lift as heavy of a weight as you can for 10 reps, performing 4 sets of 4 different exercises - USE A SPOTTER. After 3 days of rest, see how you feel. You will notice that the effects of the resistance training are MUCH longer-lasting than the cardio. 500 calories in 20 minutes is bogus, BUT...I'm 6'0 220 lb and typically work out for about 45 minutes with somewhat long rest periods in between sets. I can eat over 3,000 calories a day and still cut weight at about a pound a week. The rest of my day is typically sedentary, and I do little to no cardio. So your guy is wrong, but anaerobic exercise can likely be just as beneficial as light to moderate jogging, if you do it the right way.

QuietBloom

But that formula only applies for cardio. Not weight lifting.