How many calories burned with free weights?

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jm14534
jm14534 Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
Do you all think that the exercise calorie counter for lifting free weights on here is accurate? If yes, let me know. If not, please let me know what ratio you use. Thanks!

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  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,565 Member
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    No.

    Shoot for 100cals burned per 20-30 mins.
    Eat up on lift days but you already know that.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    Do you all think that the exercise calorie counter for lifting free weights on here is accurate? If yes, let me know. If not, please let me know what ratio you use. Thanks!

    I personally never track calories burned during weight lifting but that is just me... I only count my cardio and use a Polar FT60 HRM when doing that.... Best of Luck.......
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    I usually burn 750 +/- 100 in roughly an hour of intense compound exercises. With 10 mins of cardio thrown in there too.
  • ZeroWoIf
    ZeroWoIf Posts: 588 Member
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    Do you all think that the exercise calorie counter for lifting free weights on here is accurate? If yes, let me know. If not, please let me know what ratio you use. Thanks!

    I don't think there is a way to measure accurately how many calories you make. The heartbeat calorie burning method is accurate but only for cardio and here is why. The reason why you burn more calories in cardio is because most of your muscle cells are being activated through exercise specially if you are using cardio exercises that use your whole body. The more muscle cells that you have activated the more calories you burn. When you are lifting weights only the muscles cells that you are working out are being activated which means you are burning much less calories. With that in mind, even if your heart beat for example were to somehow stay in the 150 range during weights, you are not burning anything close that you would when you do cardio cause there are way less muscle cells activated during exercise.

    Keeping this in mind? Is it accurate? I honestly think it estimates closely but there is nothing accurate out there that gives you a solid number of how many calories you burned during anaerobic activity.
  • wolfpack77
    wolfpack77 Posts: 655
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    The amount of calories you burn with weight training depends on more than just how long you're doing it. Intensity matters more than time, as does (total) weight lifted. You'll burn more calories doing compound exercises at 85%-90% 1RM (say 5 reps per set) than doing lower weight isolation exercises for same duration of time.

    Since intensity, type of exercise, weight used and duration can all vary from workout to workout, its very difficult to put a static number on it.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    The MFP calculator for strength training under the cardio section has been pretty accurate for me. It gives me 219 calories per hour. On some days I am sure this is not enough but on others it might be to many. I think it all levels out in the ends though. I dont turn my weightlifting into cardio/endurance training and take enough rest between set to be able to perform my next set. On leg day that could be a several minutes. I log total time in the gym including rests.

    Here is a link that has some average calories burns based on weight of the person. Might give you a better number.
    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109
  • ZeroWoIf
    ZeroWoIf Posts: 588 Member
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    The amount of calories you burn with weight training depends on more than just how long you're doing it. Intensity matters more than time, as does (total) weight lifted. You'll burn more calories doing compound exercises at 85%-90% 1RM (say 5 reps per set) than doing lower weight isolation exercises for same duration of time.

    Since intensity, type of exercise, weight used and duration can all vary from workout to workout, its very difficult to put a static number on it.

    Well even a compound exercise is only working those specific muscles still only. I personally don't log the calories that I burn from weight training.
  • porffor
    porffor Posts: 1,212 Member
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    I log mine for my own record on here. I don't eat them back as I've already allowed for them in my macros. If I eat them I don't lose.

    BUT.. I have up'd my calories overall and make sure I'm not under on lifting days and that I eat smaller / frequent meals / protein.
  • Jynus
    Jynus Posts: 519 Member
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    The amount of calories you burn with weight training depends on more than just how long you're doing it. Intensity matters more than time, as does (total) weight lifted. You'll burn more calories doing compound exercises at 85%-90% 1RM (say 5 reps per set) than doing lower weight isolation exercises for same duration of time.

    Since intensity, type of exercise, weight used and duration can all vary from workout to workout, its very difficult to put a static number on it.

    Well even a compound exercise is only working those specific muscles still only. I personally don't log the calories that I burn from weight training.
    which is true, but youre forgetting the calorie burn from repair from overload. It takes energy to rebuild tissue. That energy doesnt come from thin air. Ask anyone trying to gain weight when they can lift heavy.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    No.

    Shoot for 100cals burned per 20-30 mins.
    Eat up on lift days but you already know that.

    That seems *incredibly* low
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    Well.... when I figured my calorie requirements, I used a calculator that included workouts. There was an option for working out "3x a week" which is what I do,. I don't log my workouts on MFP. I like doing it this way because I don't have to worry about how many calories I burned each time.

    This is what I used, although there are many different ones out there on the interwebs:

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    No.

    Shoot for 100cals burned per 20-30 mins.
    Eat up on lift days but you already know that.

    That seems *incredibly* low

    I believe most estimates I've seen are that lifting weights burns an extra 5-6 calories per minute (beyond BMR) which would be 100/120 - 150/180. But honestly, there probably isn't a more volatile activity for calories burned than lifting weights. Wouldn't surprise me at all if the range were actually 2-15 calories per minute depending on a whole lot of factors.
  • Melanie_RS
    Melanie_RS Posts: 417 Member
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    at what exertion level though?
  • Melanie_RS
    Melanie_RS Posts: 417 Member
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    nm, it was answered.
  • Mayafairesta
    Mayafairesta Posts: 3
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    I do compound weight exercises which activate my whole body. I also do isolated exercises. Personally, I think that weightlifting can burn a lot of calories. If you are lifting heavy -let's 80-90% max just doing bench press, squats, rows and presses, then measure pulse regularly. You'll see it spikes near your max heart rate and remains elevated during recovery. That is evidence of systemic stress creating higher metabolic rates. I find doing a work out like that leaves me starving, like I had run two miles worth of wind sprints. Whereas a two mile light jog or walk merely whets my appetite.

    The idea that working out muscle groups sequentially is less arduous then working muscle groups in concert with each other doesn't make sense to me. It's the intensity of the exercise and the brevity of the rest periods that are revving up the metabolism.

    If I were you I would measure your calorie burn rate at various heart rates doing cardio and then use that as a guide doing your weight lifting. The caveat is that you don't apply the calorie burn rate to rest periods. At my gym there are guys who spend 40 minutes on a machine but take five minute rests between relatively light sets -that is giving them a brisk walk kind of work out.
  • michaelmadonna
    michaelmadonna Posts: 105 Member
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    From what I've learned through these forums and other internet research, discussions with fitness professionals etc, is that there is no real way to calculate calories burned for weight lifting. HRM are not made for this and are only good for cardio activities. I've seen in a number of places estimates of 300 calories per hour but it will always depend on intensity and rest between sets/excoercises as well as your own body size and LBM. MFP gives me about 250 calories per hour, I usually only record half or even less of the time lifting - say I spent an hour and fiteen minutes, I'll log 30 minutes weight lifting under cardio for about 130 calories - this way I'm not overestimating the caloric burn of the activity. I also don't usually eat them all back, depends on the day, the meals and how hungry I am.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I do compound weight exercises which activate my whole body. I also do isolated exercises. Personally, I think that weightlifting can burn a lot of calories. If you are lifting heavy -let's 80-90% max just doing bench press, squats, rows and presses, then measure pulse regularly. You'll see it spikes near your max heart rate and remains elevated during recovery. That is evidence of systemic stress creating higher metabolic rates. I find doing a work out like that leaves me starving, like I had run two miles worth of wind sprints. Whereas a two mile light jog or walk merely whets my appetite.

    The idea that working out muscle groups sequentially is less arduous then working muscle groups in concert with each other doesn't make sense to me. It's the intensity of the exercise and the brevity of the rest periods that are revving up the metabolism.

    If I were you I would measure your calorie burn rate at various heart rates doing cardio and then use that as a guide doing your weight lifting. The caveat is that you don't apply the calorie burn rate to rest periods. At my gym there are guys who spend 40 minutes on a machine but take five minute rests between relatively light sets -that is giving them a brisk walk kind of work out.

    Heart rate increases during strength training are only indicative of increased intrathoracic pressure, not "systemic stress".

    The question is not "does lifting weights burn calories". Yes it does--there is just no consistently reliable way to measure it and it varies greatly between individuals.
  • nightworldsky
    nightworldsky Posts: 1 Member
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    This site helped a little http://www.healthdiscovery.net/links/calculators/calorie_calculator.htm

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