Strength training--does it burn calories?

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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Replies

  • jimmie65
    jimmie65 Posts: 655 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Weight lifting probably burns somewhere between 5-7 calories a minute. Since most of it is spent resting.
  • jimmie65
    jimmie65 Posts: 655 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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.
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    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.

    Forgot to post the other half of that which is that I am using a heart rate monitor in the first place because I am quite out of shape and so am trying to make sure I am not pegging out my heart rate so to speak, which I was. Gotta start somewhere though :)
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    My weight lifting instructor has said that strength training burns calories for up to 48 hours.
  • nguk123
    nguk123 Posts: 223
    If your fitness instructor didn't tell you how many calories it burned over 48hours, what good did he do you?
    Would it matter to you if the number was in the 10's rather than the 100's ?
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    If your fitness instructor didn't tell you how many calories it burned over 48hours, what good did he do you?
    Would it matter to you if the number was in the 10's rather than the 100's ?

    Number doesn't matter to me.
    She was sharing the different benefits from different types of exercise.
    Cardio burns more initially.
    I do the two consecutively when I work out so in my mind I am getting the benefits of both.
    Not here to argue, just add my two cents :smile:
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    If your fitness instructor didn't tell you how many calories it burned over 48hours, what good did he do you?
    Would it matter to you if the number was in the 10's rather than the 100's ?

    Number doesn't matter to me.
    She was sharing the different benefits from different types of exercise.
    Cardio burns more initially.
    I do the two consecutively when I work out so in my mind I am getting the benefits of both.
    Not here to argue, just add my two cents :smile:
    There is no clear data on this but there is some EPOC effect. 48 hours is likely stretching it though. Maybe 18 to 24 hours on a diminishing curve but not likely 48.
  • jrompola
    jrompola Posts: 153 Member
    Lifting weights gives you an increase in burned calories after your workout which cardio does not. This happens bc your body is trying to repair your muscles. I'd say the rough % is 15-30% burned. So if you burn 300 calories lifting weights you'd additionally burn 60 or so calories. None of this is exact and it varies based upon intensity of working out which is why you want to mix weight lifting and cardio.
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    If your fitness instructor didn't tell you how many calories it burned over 48hours, what good did he do you?
    Would it matter to you if the number was in the 10's rather than the 100's ?

    Number doesn't matter to me.
    She was sharing the different benefits from different types of exercise.
    Cardio burns more initially.
    I do the two consecutively when I work out so in my mind I am getting the benefits of both.
    Not here to argue, just add my two cents :smile:
    There is no clear data on this but there is some EPOC effect. 48 hours is likely stretching it though. Maybe 18 to 24 hours on a diminishing curve but not likely 48.

    EPOC?
  • jrompola
    jrompola Posts: 153 Member
    in layman's terms its the after burn of a workout

    basically its the body trying to re-balance itself back to its state before a workout
  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    in layman's terms its the after burn of a workout

    basically its the body trying to re-balance itself back to its state before a workout

    Buring energy to re-build muscle or to re-balance or both?
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
    no

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