Strength Training

There are WAY too many variables to be exact or even close. How long do you rest between sets? How much exertion involved? How much weight? etc......That's why, as Jody said, you can "log" it and it's under cardiovascular, but it's not all that accurate because it can't be really.

There are WAY too many variables to be exact or even close. How long do you rest between sets? How much exertion involved? How much weight? etc......That's why, as Jody said, you can "log" it and it's under cardiovascular, but it's not all that accurate because it can't be really.

Yep, you're right about that. I use a HRM and record the calorie burn from that. But even that is not 100% accurate.

what they said.. but i will tell you, i used an HRM in the past, and it said i burned almost 500, when mfp was underestimating my calories burned.. just depends on the person i guess

Yep, you're right about that. I use a HRM and record the calorie burn from that. But even that is not 100% accurate.

It's worse than not 100% accurate. It's wildly inaccurate.

HRMs are used to measure the volume load placed on your heart during aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is when oxygen is combined with fat to create fuel. Your heart rate increases as the volume of oxygen required increases. In aerobic exercise your muscles are rapidly and rhythmically contracting. Think about running. Lots of muscles contracting frequently.

Weight lifting is an anaerobic exercise. It uses glycogen as the fuel source. Your elevated HR is responding to a pressure load, not a volume load. When lifting weights there is a sustained contraction of a muscle group. It's a much slower process than aerobics. To control blood flow, vessels will constrict to non-working muscles, creating a rise in blood pressure. There is no corresponding uptake in oxygen consumption.

As further evidence, I will point out that the amount of energy needed to lift a weight is well understood. It's 4.184 calories (that's .004184 Calories) per kilogram per meter. So to burn 1 Calorie that we track on mfp (technically a kilocalorie) you need to move about 250 kilograms (550 lbs) a meter (3.2 feet). Average weight motion is about half that, so you need to move 1100 pounds total, or 11 reps with a 100 lb weight.

Of course, your body is terribly inefficient and so requires a lot more calories to apply 4.184 calories per kilogram per meter. But as you can see, it's nowhere near as many calories as your HRM would indicate.

where did you copy, and paste this from? lol

Yep, you're right about that. I use a HRM and record the calorie burn from that. But even that is not 100% accurate.

It's worse than not 100% accurate. It's wildly inaccurate.

HRMs are used to measure the volume load placed on your heart during aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is when oxygen is combined with fat to create fuel. Your heart rate increases as the volume of oxygen required increases. In aerobic exercise your muscles are rapidly and rhythmically contracting. Think about running. Lots of muscles contracting frequently.

Weight lifting is an anaerobic exercise. It uses glycogen as the fuel source. Your elevated HR is responding to a pressure load, not a volume load. When lifting weights there is a sustained contraction of a muscle group. It's a much slower process than aerobics. To control blood flow, vessels will constrict to non-working muscles, creating a rise in blood pressure. There is no corresponding uptake in oxygen consumption.

As further evidence, I will point out that the amount of energy needed to lift a weight is well understood. It's 4.184 calories (that's .004184 Calories) per kilogram per meter. So to burn 1 Calorie that we track on mfp (technically a kilocalorie) you need to move about 250 kilograms (550 lbs) a meter (3.2 feet). Average weight motion is about half that, so you need to move 1100 pounds total, or 11 reps with a 100 lb weight.

Of course, your body is terribly inefficient and so requires a lot more calories to apply 4.184 calories per kilogram per meter. But as you can see, it's nowhere near as many calories as your HRM would indicate.

where did you copy, and paste this from? lol

The calories to lift is copied from another post I made. But I did all of this with research. You know, so I don't sound like a complete idiot when I open my mouth.

So I'm gonna start with the basic stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule - A joule is the SI measurement of lifting a weight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie - The page that shows a small calorie is equal to approx 4.2 joules
I'm assuming from there you can follow along with the basic math I already provided to end up with what you need to lift. This is actual science. The science and math shows the amount of energy needed to lift a given weight. And it's far, far, far less than that shown by a HRM.

Next is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise and which type weight lifting is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_exercise
http://www.livestrong.com/article/376844-anaerobic-vs-aerobic-exercise-weight-loss/

Here's a page that shows how to calculate calories burned during aerobic exercise with a known VO2 Max. Since the amount of oxygen being processed is an important factor in aerobic exercise, we can logically deduce that when oxygen is not a factor the same formula will no longer be accurate.
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

Of course, people always ask why the HR goes up while lifting weights:
http://askville.amazon.com/relationship-blood-pressure-pulse-rate/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=392865

And another page that shows the incredible calorie burn differences between lifting weights and cardio. If your HR were usuable, this difference would be so much smaller:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/295718-does-lifting-weights-burn-more-calories-than-cardio/

Here's a page that explains the fairly obvious notion that HR doesn't burn calories, it's activated cells that burn calories. And weight lifting is activating far fewer cells:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=75

I mean, I could go on all day posting links. But really it's pretty simple:
Aerobic exercise = fat + oxygen
Anaerobic exercise = glycogen
HRMs measure Aerobic exercise.
Weight lifting is anaerobic exercise.
QED

Yep, you're right about that. I use a HRM and record the calorie burn from that. But even that is not 100% accurate.

It's worse than not 100% accurate. It's wildly inaccurate.

HRMs are used to measure the volume load placed on your heart during aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is when oxygen is combined with fat to create fuel. Your heart rate increases as the volume of oxygen required increases. In aerobic exercise your muscles are rapidly and rhythmically contracting. Think about running. Lots of muscles contracting frequently.

Weight lifting is an anaerobic exercise. It uses glycogen as the fuel source. Your elevated HR is responding to a pressure load, not a volume load. When lifting weights there is a sustained contraction of a muscle group. It's a much slower process than aerobics. To control blood flow, vessels will constrict to non-working muscles, creating a rise in blood pressure. There is no corresponding uptake in oxygen consumption.

As further evidence, I will point out that the amount of energy needed to lift a weight is well understood. It's 4.184 calories (that's .004184 Calories) per kilogram per meter. So to burn 1 Calorie that we track on mfp (technically a kilocalorie) you need to move about 250 kilograms (550 lbs) a meter (3.2 feet). Average weight motion is about half that, so you need to move 1100 pounds total, or 11 reps with a 100 lb weight.

Of course, your body is terribly inefficient and so requires a lot more calories to apply 4.184 calories per kilogram per meter. But as you can see, it's nowhere near as many calories as your HRM would indicate.

where did you copy, and paste this from? lol

The calories to lift is copied from another post I made. But I did all of this with research. You know, so I don't sound like a complete idiot when I open my mouth.

So I'm gonna start with the basic stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule - A joule is the SI measurement of lifting a weight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie - The page that shows a small calorie is equal to approx 4.2 joules
I'm assuming from there you can follow along with the basic math I already provided to end up with what you need to lift. This is actual science. The science and math shows the amount of energy needed to lift a given weight. And it's far, far, far less than that shown by a HRM.

Next is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise and which type weight lifting is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_exercise
http://www.livestrong.com/article/376844-anaerobic-vs-aerobic-exercise-weight-loss/

Here's a page that shows how to calculate calories burned during aerobic exercise with a known VO2 Max. Since the amount of oxygen being processed is an important factor in aerobic exercise, we can logically deduce that when oxygen is not a factor the same formula will no longer be accurate.
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

Of course, people always ask why the HR goes up while lifting weights:
http://askville.amazon.com/relationship-blood-pressure-pulse-rate/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=392865

And another page that shows the incredible calorie burn differences between lifting weights and cardio. If your HR were usuable, this difference would be so much smaller:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/295718-does-lifting-weights-burn-more-calories-than-cardio/

Here's a page that explains the fairly obvious notion that HR doesn't burn calories, it's activated cells that burn calories. And weight lifting is activating far fewer cells:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=75

I mean, I could go on all day posting links. But really it's pretty simple:
Aerobic exercise = fat + oxygen
Anaerobic exercise = glycogen
HRMs measure Aerobic exercise.
Weight lifting is anaerobic exercise.
QED

Looks to me like Dustin just got SCHOOLED!