No calories earned for strength training??

Rgriffithpsl
Rgriffithpsl Posts: 2
edited September 21 in Fitness and Exercise
Today I started working with a personal trainer. He nearly killed me :-). I was so excited and eager to plug the numbers into my fitness diary....only to discover that I would recieve no caloric credit for this. (I did recieve 33 calorie credits for the 5 minute warm up I did on the treadmill prior to the strength training...). Anyone have a good reason for this? I have a hard time believing that I didnt burn any calories in there today!!

Replies

  • Brady_
    Brady_ Posts: 108 Member
    ofcourse you burned cals, probably lots! i just am not sure why they dont count when you post them on here. its really annoying cause i do a lot of strengh and resistance training and stuff but i have a hard time keep track of it n all. but know you are burning though!!
  • LilynEdensmom
    LilynEdensmom Posts: 612 Member
    Good question I've wondered the same thing myself.
  • blumuse
    blumuse Posts: 52 Member
    They answer that question in the FAQs under the HELP section of this site:

    Q. Doesn't strength training burn calories? Why don't you show any calories burned for strength training?

    A. Estimating the calories burned from strength training is very difficult because it depends on a variety of factors: how much weight you lifted per repetition, how vigorously you performed that exercise, how much rest you took between sets, etc. Because of this, we do not automatically calculate how many calories you burned from strength training exercises.

    However, if you'd like, you can add "Strength training" as a cardio exercise to get a rough estimate of how many calories you burned. Please be aware though that this is definitely a rough estimate and can be fairly inaccurate.
    I do what they suggested, you can select "Strength Training" under cardio exercise and it will give you a basic number of calories burned for the time you spend. I tend to think it's a little low for what I'm doing - (same as you, working out with a trainer who kicks my butt!) but I'd rather under estimate than over.
  • DanOhh
    DanOhh Posts: 1,806 Member
    The do count you just have to mark them under 'Cardiovascular' to make them count.
  • ArchyJill
    ArchyJill Posts: 548 Member
    I would wear a heart rate monitor next time around and calculate your calories from there...that approach is very accurate.
  • ohmohner
    ohmohner Posts: 29 Member
    if you log them as "circuit training" then you will get calories :smile:
  • fit2sit
    fit2sit Posts: 82 Member
    I posted a thread about this same thing. If you have a minute, check it out. Calories burned by strength training will be mnimal at best, probably in the ballpark of 1.5-2.5 Calories per minute. Unless you are doing circuit training on machines with little to no rest. Again, something not studied in depth and not well understood scientifically. Use your HRM and get the calculation from MFP, along with the data from the study. That should give you a good ballpark.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/122359-calories-burned-by-lifting-weights
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