Calories burned riding a MOTORCYCLE...

PixiePerry
PixiePerry Posts: 9 Member
edited November 12 in Fitness and Exercise
I've searched google and found several articles supporting the fact that you are indeed burning calories riding a motorcycle.
However, there is no option for "riding a motorcycle" in the diary choices on this site. So I wanted to share this website with other bikers, so you could enter your "riding" into your daily dairy.

> Go to this website: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html
> fill in your weight, and the amount of time spent riding (hrs/minutes)
> click on "ACTIVITY CALCULATOR"
> in the search area, type in "MOTORCYCLE"
> click on where it says, "RIDING SCOOTER OR MOTORCYCLE"
> click "CALCULATE"
** For a person of my weight, I burn 272 calories per HOUR!

Using this calculator, I found out that I actually burned 3,266 calories this weekend on a 2 day trip to the mountains (over 500 miles on the bike). I sweated my rear off in near 90 degree temps, drank tons of water, and "manhandled" a 600 pound bike through the mountains and on the interstate. Yes, I was "riding and sitting" the entire time, but the fact that I was out on the bike and not sitting on the couch makes my weight loss goals much more FUN.

Here's a few articles that lay out the ways that you are burning calories:

http://www.weightlossblogger.org/2010/02/riding-motorcycle-can-burn-calories.html
http://blog.leatherup.com/2010/05/11/motorcycle-riding-burns-calories/
http://www.google.com/search?q=burning+calories+riding+a+motocycle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Hope this helps some other avid bikers out there!!

Pixie
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Replies

  • Gsc122
    Gsc122 Posts: 36
    I'd say that tracking calories from your motor cycle will be difficult thing to get accurate.probably similar to
    Strength training. don't think me being a daisy downer. :)
    I just wanted to make sure you don't substitute it completely
    For a normal work out routine.
  • happybunnysbabe57
    happybunnysbabe57 Posts: 191 Member
    i use that site also to post my riding but i only put 1/3 to half of the time i actually ride because i dont drive i ride bit ch lol so i dont think i burn as many calories sitting on the back but it is still burning something cuz i can feel it in my legs and sides from holding steady and leaning some around bends.
  • titletown
    titletown Posts: 377 Member
    Hmm, mine says 247 calories burned in an hour.

    Good enough reason to get the bike out more often, thanks for sharing ;)

    I don't think I'll count those calories though, just an added bonus if it's true.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Stress burns cals. Hanging off the side of my bike certainly stresses me out from time to time haha

    195cals/hr at 172lbs for me.
  • titletown
    titletown Posts: 377 Member
    Hmm, seems I even burn 33 calories shaving in the morning LOL
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    I ride every day about 80 minutes total. I never log it or count it. If anything, it's a buffer for inaccuracies elsewhere in my logging.
  • freebird240
    freebird240 Posts: 33 Member
    Thanks pixy.... I was riding my bike today too and never thought about it... right on
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Another positive to bike riding is that I can do my hip stretches on the way to mma training instead of when I get there. Can't do that in a car!
  • littlesuzieq
    littlesuzieq Posts: 103
    This is awesome! I probably won't log the calories burned but what an excellent argument to go for a ride. I'll be taking my baby out tonight and getting in some of those "hip stretches" (thanks for the idea chrisdavey!) taming some twisties. I just have to make sure I get in an equal amount of left hand and right hand sweepers. Love it! I'm off to plan my route...

    2 hours = 406 calories for me
  • biggestkahuna
    biggestkahuna Posts: 21 Member
    590 cals burned. Awesom
  • biggestkahuna
    biggestkahuna Posts: 21 Member
    Whenever I ride the tail of the dragon afterwards I feel like I ran a 10k
  • Misdy
    Misdy Posts: 81 Member
    Bahaha that's amusing! I ride a REALLY girly scooter around town, now I learn I'm actually burning calories while doing so? Snap!
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Stress burns cals. Hanging off the side of my bike certainly stresses me out from time to time haha

    195cals/hr at 172lbs for me.

    I have since found out that I burn 85cals/hr doing nothing so it's more like 100ish extra cals per hour.

    ie. I wouldn't go eating back all those bike riding exercise cals.

    I'm going on 7hr road trip on my uncle's BMW this Friday. Can't wait!
  • evanpdixon
    evanpdixon Posts: 20 Member
    Sorry to dig this up from the grave, but I just returned from a weekend trip from Charlotte, NC to Birmingham, AL and back. We rode over 1000 miles in two days, at least 16 hours total riding. Probably more. My food choices were less than optimal but this makes me feel a little better. Although, I find it hard to believe I burned almost 6500 calories just riding (that's what the calculator says for me).
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    What exactly is it that burns the calories whilst sitting on the motorcycle?
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
    I'm a rider too - good to know I'm burning caliries when I ride!

    Whenever I ride the tail of the dragon afterwards I feel like I ran a 10k

    Understandable! I used to live close to there but that was before I learned to ride, and befroe they started catering to bikers.. When I lived there we called "Vomit Road" because everyone but the driver got car sick!
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
    What exactly is it that burns the calories whilst sitting on the motorcycle?
    [/quote

    I'm just guessing, but here would be my ideas...

    - You have to be much more alert on a motorcycle. You're not sitting in a metal cage so you have be a much more of a defensive driver. I know I get a lot more tired riding a bike than I do in a car.

    - You're always adjusting your balance to keep the bike balanced so I'm guessing that it's working the core muscles a bit, especuially riding curves.

    - At every change in speed you're working the gears which means hand work and foot work. And any time you come a complete stop you're putting at least one foot on the ground.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    Seriously, what exertion is it that burns the cals whilst sitting still on a motorbike though?

    Not talking about stress etc, that happens everyday in everyday life to people.

    I will tell you what burns calories, exertion, moving about - physically - not sitting on the seat of a motorbike.

    This borders on the ridiculous. Hold on, I wonder how much I burn when sitting in my car on a motorway. Especially if I am stressed by lorries being either side of me threatening to cut me off at any moment and then of course, waiting in a queue to get through the toll tunnel - do I have the correct change or do I have to go into the queue that has an assistant in it?

    I do realize however, that this thread is just mucking about :)
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    What exactly is it that burns the calories whilst sitting on the motorcycle?
    I'm just guessing, but here would be my ideas...

    - You have to be much more alert on a motorcycle. You're not sitting in a metal cage so you have be a much more of a defensive driver. I know I get a lot more tired riding a bike than I do in a car.

    - You're always adjusting your balance to keep the bike balanced so I'm guessing that it's working the core muscles a bit, especuially riding curves.

    - At every change in speed you're working the gears which means hand work and foot work. And any time you come a complete stop you're putting at least one foot on the ground.

    Moving your feet on the ground?? Keeping balance? ...but 99% of people do these things everyday in day-to-day living, the calories burned would be negligible. Put it this way, they certainly wouldn't burn the amount of calories some of you lot are coming up with LMAO
  • Cpsnisi
    Cpsnisi Posts: 22 Member
    It is definitely more work to ride a motorcycle than to sit in a car. Just keeping yourself upright takes more energy - similar to the difference between sitting on a stability ball and sitting in a recliner. Plus your muscles are constantly working as you lean, adjust, and shift your weight. I'm talking major muscle groups, your back, shoulders, legs, etc., not just moving your wrists, fingers, and ankles to work the controls

    Is it HARD work? No. Is it the equivalent of a workout? Of course not. But you ARE burning more energy than when idle. And as with all exercise, it's the time put in that makes the difference. When you ride for 2 or 4 or 10 hours a day, it really adds up.

    To put it in perspective...
    According to the calculator linked above, I burn 142 calories per hour of riding.
    According to the MFP database, I burn 141 calories per hour of walking at 2mph (a very slow pace).

    Am I working as hard riding my motorcycle as going for a slow, lesiurely walk? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on the roads and conditions. Riding on a straight, flat stretch of highway with no wind is much less work than riding in gusting crosswinds on twisting mountain roads. But that's why it's an estimate.

    Personally, I don't think that calculator is any further off than the MFP database, which is admittedly questionable sometimes. Like anything else, use some common sense if you're going to log it.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    All I need is someone to suggest wearing an HRM while riding and this will be my most favoritiest mfp thread EVAH
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I think the best way to judge if this is accurate would be to wear you HRM while riding to get an accurate calorie burn.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    I think the best way to judge if this is accurate would be to wear you HRM while riding to get an accurate calorie burn.

    That wouldn't work. An HRM needs the heartrate to get above 90bpm in order to get the calorie burn total.
  • tobnrn
    tobnrn Posts: 477 Member
    I think the best way to judge if this is accurate would be to wear you HRM while riding to get an accurate calorie burn.

    That wouldn't work. An HRM needs the heartrate to get above 90bpm in order to get the calorie burn total.

    When your going 165 on the freeway, trust me your heart rate is above 90 even if your riding b*tch
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    I don't ride, but this thread (as any that has people calculating calories burned for seemingly everyday kind of things), made me go take a look at my BodyMedia Fit readouts for the couple of days I rode around Waikiki/Honolulu on a rental. Now, this included in the downtown Waikiki area in the normal daily traffic, along stretches of expressways and out of the main city, on regular streets, but with far less traffic.

    And in comparing the hours that I know I was on the bike vs the hours I know I was walking, I had only slightly less of a caloric burn while on the bike than while walking.

    But I would guess that hours upon hours on a freeway without a lot of lane movement, stop lights, other traffic, etc. would probably drop it even lower. And there were definite dips in the burn, down to just barely above sitting on my couch kind of levels, which I would guess were stop lights or stop signs throughout the cities.

    And I know that people sometimes report weird BMF readings while in cars due to bumps in the road and things like that, but I've never experienced anything like that with mine (I make a lot of road trips between Northern and Southern CA throughout each year and it always records me like I was sitting on my couch for that time - save for the occasional air drum solo) so I wouldn't count that as too large of a error factor.

    TL:DR version - riding a motorcycle could probably be recorded with a caloric burn similar to whatever you'd burn during a leisurely walk, but not more than that.
  • splashangel
    splashangel Posts: 494 Member
    Now come on tobnrn, You know there ain't no dog can run that fast. :wink:
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    I think the best way to judge if this is accurate would be to wear you HRM while riding to get an accurate calorie burn.

    That wouldn't work. An HRM needs the heartrate to get above 90bpm in order to get the calorie burn total.

    When your going 165 on the freeway, trust me your heart rate is above 90 even if your riding b*tch

    but you are not moving about are you.......

    Look, for burn calories that will be of any use to aid in your fitness, weightloss etc etc you need to move about.

    Sitting on a motorbike (I had one myself when I was 18 and my boyfriend at the time had one too), does not substitute the good old calories burns that are gained from walking, running, weights, swimming and all those things that people seem so desperate to get out of and will find many an excuse, namely "Riding my motorcycle burns several hundred calories" (oh goodie that means I don't have to bother with any actual physical workout).
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
    Lighten up, y'all ! Riding is fun! And there are way too few adults in this world who still have fun.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I think the best way to judge if this is accurate would be to wear you HRM while riding to get an accurate calorie burn.

    That wouldn't work. An HRM needs the heartrate to get above 90bpm in order to get the calorie burn total.

    When your going 165 on the freeway, trust me your heart rate is above 90 even if your riding b*tch

    but you are not moving about are you.......

    Look, for burn calories that will be of any use to aid in your fitness, weightloss etc etc you need to move about.

    Sitting on a motorbike (I had one myself when I was 18 and my boyfriend at the time had one too), does not substitute the good old calories burns that are gained from walking, running, weights, swimming and all those things that people seem so desperate to get out of and will find many an excuse, namely "Riding my motorcycle burns several hundred calories" (oh goodie that means I don't have to bother with any actual physical workout).
    Ever hear of NEAT?
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    I think the best way to judge if this is accurate would be to wear you HRM while riding to get an accurate calorie burn.

    That wouldn't work. An HRM needs the heartrate to get above 90bpm in order to get the calorie burn total.

    When your going 165 on the freeway, trust me your heart rate is above 90 even if your riding b*tch

    but you are not moving about are you.......

    Look, for burn calories that will be of any use to aid in your fitness, weightloss etc etc you need to move about.

    Sitting on a motorbike (I had one myself when I was 18 and my boyfriend at the time had one too), does not substitute the good old calories burns that are gained from walking, running, weights, swimming and all those things that people seem so desperate to get out of and will find many an excuse, namely "Riding my motorcycle burns several hundred calories" (oh goodie that means I don't have to bother with any actual physical workout).
    Ever hear of NEAT?

    No, does it involve moving about though? :o)
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