Lifting- How many calories burned?

Calorie burns for strength training are all over the map. However, in general, the direct number of calories is small. The heavier the weight, the lower the number of calories burned (partly because you spend less time actually lifting). I don't have my literature in front of me, but numbers I have seen range from 2-4 METs for squats @ 2-4 RM (the exertion of a mild to brisk walk), to roughly 5-6 cals for 1 set of bench press @ 90% of 1 RM.

There is a lot of misinformation about the relationship between heart rate and calorie burning. Not all heart rate increases are the same. During cardiovascular exercise, the increased heart rate is due to a VOLUME load--the metabolic demand results in an increased venous return, and increased stroke volume, leading to an increased cardiac output and increased oxygen uptake (VO2).

An increase in heart rate that DOES NOT result in an increase in VO2 will not increase calorie burn, nor will it promote an increase in cardiovascular fitness.

That is what occurs with heavy lifting. The increase in heart rate that occurs during heavy lifting is due to a PRESSURE load, not a volume load. The combination of a full or partial Valsalva maneuver, and the impeding of blood flow due to stronger muscle contractions increases afterload stress on the heart--the heart beats faster, but cardiac output does not increase. Therefore, no increased VO2, no increased calories.

The heart is working hard, but that doesn't mean the "cardiovascular system" is not working nearly as hard. The load on the heart itself can be tremendous--cardiac oxygen demand skyrockets--but the heart is a relatively small organ and it does not affect the entire body.

So shortening rest intervals and moving quickly from exercise to exercise to keep heart rate up and "burn more calories" can be a losing effort. You aren't really increasing calorie expenditure and the shorter rest periods can often erode the quality of the strength workout.

Lumping HIIT and circuit training together with heavy lifting further confuses the issue. Basically, there are few, if any, exercise activities that are either "all aerobic" or "all anaerobic" (In fact there is a significant "aerobic" component even to 100% sprint efforts). So everything is a mix of some sort.

However, a basic rule of thumb is that the aerobic component of an exercise and the resistive component are inversely related. The greater the resistive component, the less the aerobic component--and vice versa. So you should make sure that the workout you are doing is designed to meet your goals.

So, in general, trying to track calories burned during strength training is not going to be very rewarding, IMO. Again, it's not that there are no calories burned, it's just that there is no easy or consistent way to measure them.

And it doesn't mean that strength training is not effective as a weight loss tool -- we all know that it is. As to which one is "best"--don't ask me--I think it is one of the stupidest, most pointless arguments in fitness.

Really? Increasing your hear rate does not increase calorie burn? When your hear works harder, it's to remove toxic carbon dioxide from your muscles, so it's doing the same procedure for cardio as it is for weight training. I think you need to do some research because weight training done in the right way can burn just as many, if not more, calories as traditional cardiovascular activity. Sure, someone that waits 5 minutes between sets is not going to burn as many calories as somone on a treadmill but I can get my heartrate into the fat burning zone with weight training and keep it there pretty easily weight training.

Yes really
Calories are burned is determine by the number of muscle cells that are activated to preform your activity
THAT is what uses the energy and uses the oxygen

When weight training you are usually activating a small number of groups, such as your bicep when doing your brocurls

That causes a increase in heart rate to delivery oxygen to those cells, even though the rest of your body did not consume the energy, only a small amount of that oxygen would be consumed

Doing a series of strength training will cause your heart rate to bump up over and over but only consume a small amount of oxygen (which is what we are trying to measure to determine calorie burn)

Ever heard of HIIT cardio training? Basically the same principles of weight training... a period of increased stress followed by a period of low stress/rest.

*EDIT* Also, the first purpose of your heart rate increasing is to remove carbone dioxide (very toxic to muscles). Basic human physiology my friend.

HIIT is nothing like strength training. The physiological loads are completely different. We obviously read different physiology books.

What if you do 2 mins of cardio (like jumping jacks) in between each set? Would that be considered circuit training in the mfp exercise database? I know I'm jumping into a *kitten* show thread here, I'm trying to learn about strength training and legitimately curious.

I think you're missing the overall big picture and confusing the goal (which happens a lot here). Don't change what you're doing to fit the measurement. Just understand that an "accurate" measure of calories burned from strength training is not possible (or at least not practical). The important thing is to choose some estimated amount of burn per minute, use it consistently over time (while also consistently logging food), and then weeks/months from now, make adjustments as necessary to your calories in/calories burned depending on how quickly you are/are not progressing towards your goal. Ultimately, it isn't the number on a website that dictates your success or lack thereof...it's the actual results. Don't fall into the trap of manipulating the measurement at the expense of actual results.

^^this is very good advice. Azdak explains it more technically, but at the end of the day, there is no way to accurately measure - the best way to estimate is to use actual weight loss results and tweak accordingly.

I agree with the posters that say you can and do burn calories when doing circuit training/resistance training - I wear a HRM and I can burn 800+ calories in one session (about an hour and a half). I do cardio 5x/wk and resistance training 4x/wk - I am certainly buring calories when I do my resistance training sessions. I don't take longer than 30-60 second breaks between sets. I am training for a fitness competition and my trainer designs my sessions and my diet, which we change up almost weekly. At the end of every session we both look at my HRM to see what I burned for that session and it's always 500+ and we always high five each other. Cardio is not the only way to burn calories. My HRM is the Polar FT4, btw. Easy to use and you can get one for a good price on Amazon.

Is there any surefire way to count the calories that you burn while lifting?

Every day, I try to do 30 minutes of cardio and then I move onto the weights, working a different muscle group each day. I started doing this about two months ago but I never know how to track the exercises on myfitnesspal.

Anyone else have any advice or are you wondering the same thing?

Please and thank you!

I just use the strength training in the cardio section of MFP and then I never eat them back because none of the calorie burns are correct. When I needed to lose fat I NEVER ate back my calories (because they are not correct, of course you burn something but not near what any of the calculators or HRM's say they are), and now that I'm maintenance I don't really eat the calorie burns, I just judge how I feel and eat 100-200 more calories in the evening if I feel like I need it.

Simple and effective.

Theres no point in trying to count them. Unless your doing circuit weight training it isnt much and even then it isnt much. The advantage is the post calorie burn though. Circuit weight training will keep your metabolic rate up longer. Not to mention the added muscle will increase your resting metabolic rate. In short, dont count calories from lifting.

I'd love to see Haybales wade in here as he is very knowledgeable about the design of HRMs but the bottom line is they are not designed to measure calories burned from anything but steady state cardio. There is nothing else you measure with one that will be accurate at all. Heybales can explain why better than I can but it has to do with factoring the HR to the energy burned in an aerobic actvity. As mulitple posters have pointed out, strength training is an anaerobic activity and HRM are pretty much useless.

Those that want to dispute this, help yourself. You are probably sincere and genuine but you are still sincerely and genuinely wrong . The reasons have been laid out in detail.

Yes, they have been.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/new-hrm-how-to-make-the-calorie-estimate-more-accurate-183102

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/exercise-calories-sometimes-the-cardio-machines-are-more-accurate-404739

How dare you come in here with real information and cool and collected thoughts. Honestly, thank you.

When strength training, I don't worry about calories. I figure that whatever few cal. I may burn while lifting, I just don't get to eat them back. Bonus deficit.

You said ORIGINAL question...Original meaning belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something. so the original post was "Is there any surefire way to count the calories that you burn while lifting?"

Please, Continue your brilliance..."Every day, I try to do 30 minutes of cardio and then I move onto the weights, working a different muscle group each day."

Do you see the Cardio AND lifting....If not, I'll buy you some glasses, because I care.

I see cardio AND lifting, but I fail to see cardio WHILE lifting.

Thank you ^^^^ abbabtlm.

There was no question here about if cardio AND lifting was a good choice. SHE ALREADY KNOWS THAT!!! SHES DOING IT ALREADY!!! My point again...she asked about counting calories while lifting. She simply continued and explained what she is doing. You answered a non existent question playing it off as if you were "bringing the topic back to the origin". Which you did not. Brilliance continued. Thanks for recognizing :blushing:

by the way a question is easily spotted by the "?" at the end of the sentence. if there isn't one there...there is no question.