Strength training--does it burn calories?

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writer_chick
writer_chick Posts: 27 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'd think it did, but when I added it to my exercise diary, MFP doesn't add those calories burned to my daily goals. Anyone know why? Does it just not burn enough?
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  • jimmie65
    jimmie65 Posts: 655 Member
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    Heavy lifting is probably the best calorie burning activity you can do. And MFP has a category under Cardio for "Weight training / Weight lifting".
  • jcasebolt84
    jcasebolt84 Posts: 22 Member
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    Lifting most certainly burns calories, but it's difficult to guage how many. There are so many variable that need to be looked at when it comes to lifting that can affect caloric expenditure. Your intensity, your volume, your metabolic rate, and the list goes on and on. I'd say a more accurate way is the buy some sort of heart rate monitor that gives you an estimate on calories burned; there are many on the market right now.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    The idea of strength training isn't to get calorie burns from the actual lifting but to build muscle which in turn burns more in just every day life. Most strength training doesn't raise your heart rate enough to cause a lot of calorie burn like cardio does at the time of the activity.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Lifting most certainly burns calories, but it's difficult to guage how many. There are so many variable that need to be looked at when it comes to lifting that can affect caloric expenditure. Your intensity, your volume, your metabolic rate, and the list goes on and on. I'd say a more accurate way is the buy some sort of heart rate monitor that gives you an estimate on calories burned; there are many on the market right now.

    HRM's are not accurate for lifting because there isn't a significant HR increase.
  • Guamybear
    Guamybear Posts: 1,061 Member
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    Burns lots of calories and keeps burning even when your done working out.

    I don't even bother logging when I lift.. only cardio.. just make sure you eat more when your lifting weights.
  • writer_chick
    writer_chick Posts: 27 Member
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    The idea of strength training isn't to get calorie burns from the actual lifting but to build muscle which in turn burns more in just every day life. Most strength training doesn't raise your heart rate enough to cause a lot of calorie burn like cardio does at the time of the activity.

    I wondered if it was something like this. Makes sense! It'd be nice to know how many I burned, simply because I'm in competition with myself. Hehe. :D
  • jrompola
    jrompola Posts: 153 Member
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    I don't use a heart rate monitor, but when I do my workouts specifically strength training I put in calisthenics(pushups & pullups) for say 35 minutes If I'm lifting for 40-50 minutes. It always ends up burning more calories than cardio type exercises.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Lifting most certainly burns calories, but it's difficult to guage how many. There are so many variable that need to be looked at when it comes to lifting that can affect caloric expenditure. Your intensity, your volume, your metabolic rate, and the list goes on and on. I'd say a more accurate way is the buy some sort of heart rate monitor that gives you an estimate on calories burned; there are many on the market right now.

    Wrong. HRMs are terribly INeffecitve for measuring calorie burns when lifting.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Lifting most certainly burns calories, but it's difficult to guage how many. There are so many variable that need to be looked at when it comes to lifting that can affect caloric expenditure. Your intensity, your volume, your metabolic rate, and the list goes on and on. I'd say a more accurate way is the buy some sort of heart rate monitor that gives you an estimate on calories burned; there are many on the market right now.

    HRM's are not accurate for lifting because there isn't a significant HR increase.

    It's actually because there isn't a significant change in O2 exchange. Some people see dramatic increases in HR, but HR isn't what burns cals.
  • jhc7324
    jhc7324 Posts: 200 Member
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    Lifting most certainly burns calories, but it's difficult to guage how many. There are so many variable that need to be looked at when it comes to lifting that can affect caloric expenditure. Your intensity, your volume, your metabolic rate, and the list goes on and on. I'd say a more accurate way is the buy some sort of heart rate monitor that gives you an estimate on calories burned; there are many on the market right now.

    HRM's are not accurate for lifting because there isn't a significant HR increase.
    I've always heard this, but I've just recently started lifting and that's definitely not the case for me. I'm using a starting strength program, and during a 55 minute lifting workout yesterday my HRM logged a 688 calorie burn.

    That's pretty comparable to what I was burning using the same HRM during a 40 minute Insanity workout not long before.

    When I'm really hitting it on the heavy sets my heart rate will jump up around 170, even though I'm not doing any kind of cardio exercises. Yes, it drops pretty quickly and I'm not all that convinced that the calorie burn is accurate, but my HR definitely has a significant increase when I'm lifting.
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
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    Burns lots of calories and keeps burning even when your done working out.

    This, my doctor said its the best thing I can do PERIOD.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I'd think it did, but when I added it to my exercise diary, MFP doesn't add those calories burned to my daily goals. Anyone know why? Does it just not burn enough?

    Yes, it does. The problem is that it's almost impossible to gauge how many. MFP's strength training section is for tracking progress (lifts, sets, reps, weight, etc) - not for tracking calorie burn. If you want to track calorie burn, log it as "strength training" (or something similar) under cardiovascular exercise.

    IMO, if you are that concerned about burning cals for your deficit, do cardio. If you want to change how you look, then lift and focus on your diet. If you want both, then do both, but do them on separate days (cardio one day, lifting the next).
  • sandradev1
    sandradev1 Posts: 786 Member
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    The idea of strength training isn't to get calorie burns from the actual lifting but to build muscle which in turn burns more in just every day life. Most strength training doesn't raise your heart rate enough to cause a lot of calorie burn like cardio does at the time of the activity.

    I wondered if it was something like this. Makes sense! It'd be nice to know how many I burned, simply because I'm in competition with myself. Hehe. :D

    The competition side of you can be satisfied through the progression in weight.
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
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    Don't know how scientific it is, but I have been using a HRM and then knocking off about 20% of what the calculations say. But then I am extremely out of shape yet and I am panting and sweating like a wildebeast being chased down by predators in South Africa.

    And the reason I am trying to log calories burned is to make sure I am at a rather small or nonexistent deficit on strength days.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Don't know how scientific it is, but I have been using a HRM and then knocking off about 20% of what the calculations say. But then I am extremely out of shape yet and I am panting and sweating like a wildebeast being chased down by predators in South Africa.

    And the reason I am trying to log calories burned is to make sure I am at a rather small or nonexistent deficit on strength days.

    You may end up with an approximation but it would only be by chance. As jacksonPT said, HRMs are designed to measure aerobic activities with oxygen exchange. Strength training is utilizing the anaerobic energy system and an HRM, using Heart Rate as it measurement, will usually substantially overestimate the calories burned. The amount allocated when you log strength training under cardio is about as good an estimate as your going to get. I would not use an HRM in any way for strength training.

    PS: Sweating and breathing hard are sign of exertion but don't correlate to a calories burn as much as to current fitness level.
  • Phrakman
    Phrakman Posts: 113
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    Weight lifting probably burns somewhere between 5-7 calories a minute. Since most of it is spent resting.
  • jimmie65
    jimmie65 Posts: 655 Member
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    Weight lifting probably burns somewhere between 5-7 calories a minute. Since most of it is spent resting.

    Yep, because when I knock out 10 reps of 300 lb squats, my heart completely stops working during that 2 minute rest.
  • nguk123
    nguk123 Posts: 223
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    nice sarcarsm, but heart isnt the be all and end all of calorie burning (as has already been said on the thread)
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Weight lifting probably burns somewhere between 5-7 calories a minute. Since most of it is spent resting.

    Yep, because when I knock out 10 reps of 300 lb squats, my heart completely stops working during that 2 minute rest.
    It doesn't matter what you're heart is doing. It matters what your cells are doing.
  • devrinator
    devrinator Posts: 79 Member
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    I don't know, but the pointers on my "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" Xbox game (LOL) say that dieters who incorporate strength training into their workouts typically lose 40 percent more fat than those who don't.

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