weight lifting and calorie burning

eideet
eideet Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
I am just wondering why every time I enter weight lifting activities nothing is recorded in the calorie burning category. I am pretty sure that my twice a week résistance training sessions burn something. Some of the exercises get my heart pumping and get my tired. So why am I not burning calories according to this site?

Replies

  • obsidianwings
    obsidianwings Posts: 1,237 Member
    Calorie burns are small. But you can list it under cardio if you want and that will give you an estimate
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Cardiovascular exercise is easy to calculate based on time and intensity spent doing the cardio. Resistance training on the other hand is extremely difficult to calculate calories burned because different people lift with different intensities. Resistance training in general burns much fewer calories than cardio, but it is not done for the calorie burn, it is done to build/preserve muscle mass to increase strength, and in the long run increase BMR
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    Aside from what AJ-G said, you will find the option to record for calories under Cardio>Strength Training.
  • Anth73
    Anth73 Posts: 5
    Weights training requires an entirely different approach to the usual cardio-based weight loss you see on MFP. For one thing if you are weight training, your focus should be on supplying sufficient protein to your muscles to enable you to gain muscle mass.

    Successful weights training means putting on weight, without increasing your % body fat. Your skin fold tests become much more important than your body weight.

    You can record calories from a weights session by using a heart rate monitor. However if your goal is to burn calories while also doing some resistance to build muscle, you will need to superset to lift your heart rate, or mix in some cardio with some weights in each session.

    I find that I can maintain a reasonably high heart rate by supersetting my upper-body weights with exercises like box jumps, plyometric pushups, burpees, jump squats and jump lunges. Any of these will lift your heart rate between resistance sets. Then, if you are lifting heavy enough, the challenge of lifting will prevent your heart rate from settling down to resting levels. It will drop, but not too far, then you kick it up again with the next superset of cardio-type exercises.

    Another option, one which has supporters and detractors, is to use a tabata regime: 20 seconds of high intensity work, 10 seconds of rest. That will maintain your heart rate, but there is a tendency to use lighter weights (thus robbing yourself of muscle gains), and to use bad form (which can lead to injuries). So you need to be careful.

    I love MFP, but if you are serious about weights as a training regime, there are other websites out there much more focused on muscle gain, whereas MFP is mainly about weight loss.

    May the Force be with You.

    Anthony
  • eideet
    eideet Posts: 2
    Thank you all for your answers. I know that the calorie burn is less with strength training than with cardio, but being able to account for it just gives you a little mental boost. I am trying to lose weight and to keep toned, an unfortunately the older you are, the harder and slower it gets. Every little bit helps to stay focused. (especially around this time of year) :smile:

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