HRM with Weightlifting?

acrowder99
acrowder99 Posts: 63 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am having trouble determining how many calories I am burning during weightlifting & I am considering getting an HRM. Right now it's not too difficult because I am only doing body pump classes at our gym so I just use the average burn listed for that class. Seems to be working as the weight is coming off at about 1.5 pounds a week & I am stronger.

Soon I am going to switch to NROL4W & I am going to have no idea what the burn is. Will a HRM be helpful with that at all or is that more of a cardio tool? I stick to 1600-2000 calories before exercise now & I want to make sure that I am getting the biggest bang for my buck - eating enough or eating too much.

Thanks for any advice!

Replies

  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    No, HRM are not great for weightlifting, yes, they are a cardio tool. They will obviously monitor your heart rate accurately for both but the equations they use to convert heart rate to calories are only accurate during cardio. Lifting doesn't actually burn that many calories (that's not why we do it). Using MFP's numbers would be a better estimate than an HRM.
  • jeolds
    jeolds Posts: 104 Member
    I use a heart rate monitor with my weight lifting, but the routines are those in P90X are closer to what I think they call circuit training. Basically going from one exercise to the next so the heart rate gets up. I was surprised at how many calories I burn doing that.
  • acrowder99
    acrowder99 Posts: 63 Member
    jeolds - yes that kind of what the body pump classes are at the gym - more circuit training with lighter weights and some people in the class wear the HRMs.

    BusyLady - I am thinking that weightlifting probably burns no more than 200-300 but I want to count them so I can eat them back :) It's my own little motivator. I will check out the MFP numbers. I always get a little nervous using them because I think they are put in by users & I would think they vary based on the person's size and intensity of workout. Do you know if they are all entered by users or does MFP staff have some they put in?

    I cycle & I haven't decided if I am going to keep that in the plan. If I do then I will probably invest in one anyway.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    jeolds - yes that kind of what the body pump classes are at the gym - more circuit training with lighter weights and some people in the class wear the HRMs.

    BusyLady - I am thinking that weightlifting probably burns no more than 200-300 but I want to count them so I can eat them back :) It's my own little motivator. I will check out the MFP numbers. I always get a little nervous using them because I think they are put in by users & I would think they vary based on the person's size and intensity of workout. Do you know if they are all entered by users or does MFP staff have some they put in?

    I cycle & I haven't decided if I am going to keep that in the plan. If I do then I will probably invest in one anyway.

    No, I don't think think they are input by users. They are somewhat inaccurate for a lot of things but for lifting they seem okay. They do take size into consideration but and some have different intensity levels you can select. If you google weight lifting calories burned you can find some other calculators.
  • acrowder99
    acrowder99 Posts: 63 Member
    No, I don't think think they are input by users. They are somewhat inaccurate for a lot of things but for lifting they seem okay. They do take size into consideration but and some have different intensity levels you can select. If you google weight lifting calories burned you can find some other calculators.

    Good idea - googling for the calculators. Thanks for the ideas.

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