calculate calorie with strength training?

jolaurenjewell
jolaurenjewell Posts: 4
in Fitness and Exercise
I don't see a way to add calories burned doing strength training...does anyone know a guide to - for example - calculate APPROXIMATE calories during bicep curls?

Replies

  • Maelay
    Maelay Posts: 25 Member
    Bump*. I'm curious too.
  • AshleyS15
    AshleyS15 Posts: 8 Member
    i have been logging strength training by minutes because i use an app. i don't individually put each exercise i do.
  • DoOrDoNotThereIsNoTry1
    DoOrDoNotThereIsNoTry1 Posts: 149 Member
    You would need to get a heart rate monitor and add the exercise to cardiovascular section. You can enter a description, minutes performed and calories burned. Otherwise, the site does not have a way of calculating calories burned during strength training that I am aware of.
  • debdelilah
    debdelilah Posts: 82
    I think your best option is to raise your starting bmr calories, because strength training doesn't burn many calories at the time you are doing it, but raises your resting BMR so that you continue to burn more even after the exercise is over. So if you are doing a lot of strength training exercises most days of the week, you could change your setting from sedentary to lightly active or from lightly active to moderately active.
  • kellensdad
    kellensdad Posts: 27 Member
    if you look under add cardio, you can put strength training and it will give you an estimate of how many calories you burn. I use a hrm, and take only 30 sec between sets and and 90 seconds rest between exercises. (HRM = Heart Rate Monitor)
  • helengetshealthy
    helengetshealthy Posts: 171 Member
    A lot of people without HRMs will log it as cardio under "Weight Training" or "Calisthenics" depending on what yo do (weight training for dumbbell/kettlebells etc, calisthenics as sit ups, squats, etc). Time your overall session and log it under cardio as either of those, then under the Strength Training section you can log what you actually do in your workout, it's more a way of tracking your progress and strength, i.e. how many reps you can do and how that increases over a period of time with your workouts, how heavy you can lift etc.

    I have found that since getting my HRM the results (for me anyway) from MFP have been fairly accurate and matched well with what the HRM reading was.

    Hope this helps :)
  • aross001
    aross001 Posts: 237
    Here's some info:

    " Caloric Burn

    The exact number of calories burned during strength training workouts depends on intensity, time and your body composition. According to the Harvard Medical School, on average, caloric burn ranges from 90 calories per hour of moderate training by a 125-pound person to up to 266 calories per hour of vigorous effort by a 185-pound person. Circuit training burns even more. Christopher Scott, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the University of Southern Maine, began using a modified method to estimate energy expenditure and found that weight training burns up to 71 percent more calories than originally thought. By his calculations, just one circuit of eight exercises taking about eight minutes can expend 159 to 231 calories, or about the same as running at a 6-minute-mile pace.


    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/256854-calories-burned-through-strength-training/#ixzz2Hse3YSDO"
  • srm1960
    srm1960 Posts: 281 Member
    :flowerforyou: I too had that same problem yesterday-Under strength training I just put in arms? & decided what came up-It was a pain I logged every machine I went on-it only added bout 100 cal for 30 min!
  • EOHerrera
    EOHerrera Posts: 45
    if you look under add cardio, you can put strength training and it will give you an estimate of how many calories you burn. I use a hrm, and take only 30 sec between sets and and 90 seconds rest between exercises. (HRM = Heart Rate Monitor)

    KELLENSDAD - THANK YOU!! I had the same question as the post and this took care of crediting for my calories burned!!
  • jolaurenjewell
    jolaurenjewell Posts: 4
    Thanks so much for sharing...this was VERY helpful!
  • Jwilliams57
    Jwilliams57 Posts: 16 Member
    I go under the Exercise tab, Add Cardio, and in the search box I put Strengh Training and search. Then you can put in the number of minutes that you did and it will show the calories burned. Hope this helps.
  • catherinewoodard
    catherinewoodard Posts: 1
    I discovered that if you go to the Cardiovascular tab and put in "curls" - curling will pop up as an option. I tend to use the cardio tab when I'm looking for stuff because the strength training tab doesn't seem to offer much. I sometimes use "low impact cardio" as an option too because when I'm strength training at a relatively fast pace I'm breaking a sweat and know my heart rate is up so I know I'm buring calories. It may not be exact but it's a good estimation - which is exactly what MFP's numbers are if you find the exact exercise you did in their database. Hope that helps.
  • algebravoodoo
    algebravoodoo Posts: 776 Member
    Thank you for this post!! This explains why I am starving today!

    Also, I have always read that the calorie burn is extended for several hours into the recovery period, meaning we burn extra calories as our muscles work to repair themselves after traing. Can anyone here expand on this?
  • helengetshealthy
    helengetshealthy Posts: 171 Member
    I discovered that if you go to the Cardiovascular tab and put in "curls" - curling will pop up as an option. I tend to use the cardio tab when I'm looking for stuff because the strength training tab doesn't seem to offer much. I sometimes use "low impact cardio" as an option too because when I'm strength training at a relatively fast pace I'm breaking a sweat and know my heart rate is up so I know I'm buring calories. It may not be exact but it's a good estimation - which is exactly what MFP's numbers are if you find the exact exercise you did in their database. Hope that helps.

    Actually, the 'curling' it refers to is NOT bicep curls! It's an actual sport, sort of like bowls but with sticks. Please don't use it for your strength training anymore as it's not at all accurate!!!!! :)
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    HRM's are not at all accurate for burns with strength. They are useless for this. They are designed to measure changes in heart rate for steady state cardio exercise that is aerobic. Strength training is anearobic.

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