Really, Bowling

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2

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  • MBrown1003
    MBrown1003 Posts: 3 Member
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    Hi, I use the bowling exercise frequently as a calorie burner, but not as it reads from the database. I figure each I am burning calories for about 1 minute per frame when I bowl. Since there are 10 frames, I consider one game of bowling to be 10 minutes of calories burned. I am in a bowling league, and we are collectively bowling for about 2 hours. We play 3 games. At 30 frames, I just calculate the bowling for 30 minutes. That feels a whole lot more realistic to me.
    Have fun at the alleys! :smile:
    Kathy

    Kathy, your logic makes a lot of sense to me. I'm tracking my weekly league (three games) as 30 minutes of bowling.

    (tongue firmly in cheek)
    Those of you big shots with the averages in the stratosphere :-) shouldn't get to count that many calories -- most frames, you only throw one ball. Hackers like me (with my roaring 126 average!) have to work a lot harder, throwing two balls each and every frame.
  • cruise_bone
    cruise_bone Posts: 1
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    Hey all,
    Fairly new here, or new again.

    I am also a competitive bowler. If we want to get really picky, we should add some calories for practice. I am on a 4 man team in a classic league and we get 15 minutes of practice. I usually get 5-10 frames in for practice alone.
  • chandros00
    chandros00 Posts: 1
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    Looking at the statistics. We do need to add in the amount of walking that you do in bowling. Per the USBC, you walk approximately 1 mile for every 3 games that you bowl. Add that to the muscles that you use to bend/lunge, and throw
    the ball down the lane. Most active bowlers will throw a 12-15 lb ball anywhere from 9.5 - 15 miles per hour down the
    lane. Agreed, you would want to only count 10 -15 minutes per game.
  • silvergurl518
    silvergurl518 Posts: 4,123 Member
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    Hi, I use the bowling exercise frequently as a calorie burner, but not as it reads from the database. I figure each I am burning calories for about 1 minute per frame when I bowl. Since there are 10 frames, I consider one game of bowling to be 10 minutes of calories burned. I am in a bowling league, and we are collectively bowling for about 2 hours. We play 3 games. At 30 frames, I just calculate the bowling for 30 minutes. That feels a whole lot more realistic to me.
    Have fun at the alleys! :smile:
    Kathy

    ^ i realize i'm resurrecting another thread (go halloween week!) but this is really helpful :) i'm in a bowling league and always wondered how much i really am burning. we also play 3 games in my league. thanks!
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
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    No doubt bowling is a physical activity that requires coordination and some strength. But there's no way, I don't care what level someone bowls at, that bowling is worth counting as exercise.

    And you definitely don't burn more calories than jogging on the treadmill. MFP is high.
  • zorbaru
    zorbaru Posts: 1,077 Member
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    ive started bowling phantom league this year, where you can bowl at any time during the week by yourself, and submit your scores to the league.

    i bowl 2 games and 5 minute warm up and by the end of it im sweating quite a lot. takes me 20 minutes.

    those that think its easy, think again.

    just like playing golf, even using an electric cart. i wore my HRM last week when i played and even using the cart i burnt 2400 calories in 4:45

    even taking into account what i would have burnt in my regular lifestyle, it was still a big burn.
  • Maryfinello
    Maryfinello Posts: 3 Member
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    If you roll-off it takes about 40 minutes to throw the 3 games by yourself so I always put 40 min for a bowling night of 3 games even though you're there 3 hours
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
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    If you roll-off it takes about 40 minutes to throw the 3 games by yourself so I always put 40 min for a bowling night of 3 games even though you're there 3 hours

    If only we all knew what he logged... 2 years ago. *sigh*


    We'll never know now. Like the pyramids... a damn MYSTERY.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    I plan on going bowling today for a couple hours and as a joke I wanted to check out how many calories is burns. Much to my surprise, I can burn like 900 calories bowling for 2 hours. That seems rather high to me. Considering I can burn about 250 calories for a half hour on the treadmill. I am sure it is because of how much I weigh right now. Do you guys think the bowling number is accurate it is like a strength activity with a little cardio.

    900 calories, my.....

    All that standing around in between bowls, watching your friends....
  • m4yn4rdj4med
    m4yn4rdj4med Posts: 1
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    Well, also, If you go by yourself or with one other person you can get a lot more games in. This could be considered nearly "constant" in my book. In 2 hours, by myself, I imagine I could get 9 to 12 games in.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    If you were truly bowling continuously for the 2 hours, might be so. You must calculate how much time YOU spend bowling-doesn't that make sense????

    This!^

    Other people will be bowling, you're waiting for your ball to come back, your waiting for the pins to reset......you're really not spending that much time actually bowling.
  • nathanialt
    nathanialt Posts: 10 Member
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    I bowled for the first time in several years last night and if I didn't burn calories I certainly am paying today for something. I went by myself and bowled for an hour, 4 games. As I hadn't bowled for quite some time I sucked. In four games I got three strikes so I threw the ball 37 times. Just hefting 16 pounds that many times has to do something. If you look at WII bowling you can see what it is estimated for just the basic motion so add the approach and the barely controlled slinging of a huge rock and you have exercise. And it was a lot more fun than walking around the block. Pretty much the same calories too.
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    No way. Wear an HRM next time you go, to get a more accurate read.
  • stephanne13
    stephanne13 Posts: 212 Member
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    There's no way it burns 900 cal..but, I do believe it's a work out. I go by myself, so I don't have to wait for anyone else to play. I am standing up there waiting for my ball and throwing as continuously as possible. Just getting back into it after an 8 yr hiatus. After about the fourth game, my arm starts giving out...afraid I'm going to lose the ball on the back swing. The first time I went a few weeks ago, I seriously could barely walk the next couple of days. I go on Saturdays when I can't make it to the gym before it closes. I think I burn a little over 200 or so..
  • _Nette_
    _Nette_ Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm a bowler and if you are bowling alone you move much more frequently than you would if you were bowling with a group of people. Bowling is more physical than people who do not bowling with any regularity realize and you use more muscles than it would appear. I wear my telemetry strap and watch almost every time I bowl so that I can see the differences and that IS an accurate representation of bowling activity for that period of time.
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    ScottyNoHotty wrote: »
    DO NOT DRINK BEER!!!!
    C'mon now. What's the point of bowling if you're not going to drink beer?

  • sryan1072
    sryan1072 Posts: 1 Member
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    My local lanes runs a special for $7. You get two lanes and as many games you can play in two hours. At the end of the frame you switch over to the loaded lane. So your wait time is minimal. You can really get groove going. In two hours I can throw 15-18 games. With a 15 lb ball I am wiped out.
  • Rururiri
    Rururiri Posts: 31 Member
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    It's a lot of calories for bowling. Unless, you decided to keep on going back and forth nonstop for 2 hours, and use the heaviest bowling ball. You'll burn a significant amount of cals. However, I don't think it will even come close to 900 calories.
  • deluxmary2000
    deluxmary2000 Posts: 981 Member
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    Wow, did we really need to resurrect a 5-year old thread to talk about bowling?? Must be a slow day. lol
  • stingrayinfl
    stingrayinfl Posts: 284 Member
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    aerobic bowling

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