On the day we did karen my HR got up up to 191, with the warmup and cool down that day I burned over 600. If it's strictly a lifting day, of course my burns are much lower but you'd be surprised, I burned 500 on friday and we did grace. Yes it's just lifting but your HR gets pretty high when you are going as fast as possible and exerting yourself.

Worthwhile read: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/normal-weight-men-and-women-overestimate-energy-expenditure-research-review.html

Why does the CF community dislike people wearing HRMs?????

Great question. One reason is that there are variables other than activity that can cause changes in heart rate such as anxiety and adrenaline. Also, there is a lot to be said about relying on perceived exertion. The other day I had someone in class that was busting out the WOD then looked down at her HRM and made a comment about her heart rate being too high and took a rest. It makes me think she was selling herself short. Secondly, I think that going by the numbers can be deceiving and discouraging. I would be willing to bet that an hour on the treadmill, bike or elliptical would show more calories burned in an hour than wearing an HRM for an hour long Crossfit class. But would you really be changing your body composition faster or to the degree that Crossfit does? Not from what I have seen. We get runners and cyclist with thick bellies in our gym all the time and after years and years of lots of cardio, a few months in the Crossfit gym and they are leaner than ever with some muscles too. There is a big hole missing in the technology of HRM training for calorie burn. It does not account for the increased metabolism that occurs around the clock from adding more lean muscle mass. Nor does it take into account the hormonal changes like increases in testosterone and human growth hormone that come about from Crossfit training.

That is part of the reason but I think that bigger reason is cultural. Crossfit exploded because of a world of fitness and nutrition that didn't work. Crossfit went viral because there was a gaping vacuum. The typical fitness paradigms have been body building with isolation equipment and steady state cardio. It's been like that for decades. Crossfit initially rebelled hard against those worlds of fitness with harsh statements and tee shirts like the one with the woman on the elliptical that says "fail" and has a woman with a barbell on the front that says "win". There was a lot of intolerance and Crossfit elitism especially in the early years but it now seems to be tempered somewhat. HRM's are another symbol of that universe of fitness that wasn't working. I am not saying I agree, I am just giving a little Crossfit history from my perspective.

As for logging, seeing that most people fail to burn off fat because they overestimate activity and underestimate how much they eat, I just enter my WODs as circuit training which does not give many calories. My body composition keeps moving in the desired direction and all is well.

I wear a HRM and just put it under strength training

I didn't know about Strength Training under the cardio tab. Thanks!