Weight traning calories

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eabrego67
eabrego67 Posts: 10
in Fitness and Exercise
I have noticed that when i put my cardio in MFP it will show the calories burned. But when I add the weight training I do their are no calories burned associated with it. Can somebody please let me knwo how or where i can find weight trainging to calories burned ratiosS

thanks
EA

Replies

  • lbewley3
    lbewley3 Posts: 96 Member
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    Strength training under cardio exercises
  • eabrego67
    eabrego67 Posts: 10
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    thanks lbewley3 but i have tried that and it does not show calories it leaves that space blank, where above in the cardio area it shows calories burned? Any help is appreciated.

    EA
  • FAKECED
    FAKECED Posts: 61
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    Just buy a heart monitor and wear that while lifting
  • watkinsc
    watkinsc Posts: 177 Member
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    I have been reading up on this, and it seems the concensus is to NOT to count any calories burned by strength training. I've seen various rationale for this. But the one that sticks most with me is the fact that unlike cardio, we don't get the the heartrate up and going when strength training. I'd be very interested in hearing other thoughts on this as well...
  • eabrego67
    eabrego67 Posts: 10
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    Thanks watkinsc I will keep researching as well and update this thread.

    EA
  • tinyttaylor
    tinyttaylor Posts: 2 Member
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    I use my heart rate monitor that shows the number of calories burned during the time that I have it on. Although I don't burn as many calories as when I am doing an aerobic activity, I burn alot more calories than not being active. I can burn anywhere between 100-200 calories when weigt training, So I count them.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    The reasoning why you can't just record calories from weight training like you can from cardio is a little bit complicated, but it boils down to this:

    First, because of the isometric stresses placed on the body when working with weights, heart rate can be artificially elevated without corresponding oxygen consumption (like when you try to hold in a sneeze, heart rate goes up, but you're really not doing any extra work) and because an HRM works by electrical pulse monitoring (the heart produces an electrical pulse when it beats) this can throw off calorie burn.

    Secondly, even if you could track calories accurately from Weight training, because of the way weight training stresses muscles, you would need to track the elevated work levels until the muscle is fully recovered from the workout. I.E. when you weight train, you push your muscles to a point where micro tears are created in the muscle fiber, to repair and grow muscles after takes extra work, and thus extra calorie burn, this can last from anywhere between 8 hours to 48 hours after the exercise is completed.

    Thus you can't accurately estimate calorie burn from weight training.

    If you're really worried about the extra calories, I'd throw in about 250 per hour of workout if you work out at a moderate level (I.E. you work at about 75% Max weight and rest for 2 minutes between sets and work THE WHOLE TIME, I.E. no chat breaks with friends.) Or about 350 for heavy sessions (hyper trophic training) or circuits with less than 1 minute between sets. It's not an awesome way to record calories, but it's not going to ruin your plan either.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    What Banks said. I usually just take 250 kcal, for weight session regardless of length.

    Some stuff I've read indicates that most muscle reapirs occurs while sleeping. So essentially weight training helps you burn more calories when you are asleep. This also why you should be getting 8 hours of sleep if you're going to work out....well you should get that much anyway...but especially if you're going to weight train.

    How cool is that? It's the work out that keeps on giving.
  • mideon_696
    mideon_696 Posts: 770 Member
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    hrrrm. very interesting and difficult topic of discussion this one.

    Hard to measure yes.
    There can be a huge burn of real calories during from a strength workout.

    Take squats for example. the king of exercises.

    Do 20 of them with 60-70 % max weight on the bar.
    Tell me how you feel afterwards. Heart rate will be flying in a desperate attempt to get oxygen etc to the muscle in question.

    This is burning calories like nothing else will, lol. And as said previously can last for hours...

    If your working hard, with a heavy weight on any of the big 6 or so compound movements (squats, deadlifts, bench, military press, dips, pupllups etc) for one hour, you'll probably burb more than this i think.


    I'd be comfortable with taking 250 kcal's per hour or strenght stuff.

    To not count them could be detrimental to recovery and overall health if trying to lose fat.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    hrrrm. very interesting and difficult topic of discussion this one.

    Hard to measure yes.
    There can be a huge burn of real calories during from a strength workout.

    Take squats for example. the king of exercises.

    Do 20 of them with 60-70 % max weight on the bar.
    Tell me how you feel afterwards. Heart rate will be flying in a desperate attempt to get oxygen etc to the muscle in question.

    This is burning calories like nothing else will, lol. And as said previously can last for hours...

    If your working hard, with a heavy weight on any of the big 6 or so compound movements (squats, deadlifts, bench, military press, dips, pupllups etc) for one hour, you'll probably burb more than this i think.


    I'd be comfortable with taking 250 kcal's per hour or strenght stuff.

    To not count them could be detrimental to recovery and overall health if trying to lose fat.

    I don't know that 60 to 70% on squats will burn much. That's considered light/moderate weight training. For squats, I'd say 80 to 85% max would be what you want to shoot for.

    For instance, my max on squats is about 340 or so, and I usually work out with about 250 to 270 depending on the day. 3 sets of 8 although I rarely get to 8 on the last set, especially if I'm at 270, I can usually barely get to 6 on that last set usually. Then again, I work to technical failure when I work out. Please note, 340 for my weight is considered an advanced amount of weight for a male my size and age, you should always have a spotter when doing squats, but if you're going to failure, it's SUPER important to do so! Form is everything with squats, you can really hurt your back if you do them wrong.

    Side note, I started screaming at the TV watching the Biggest Loser this week (guilty pleasure, sorry), Bob allowed someone (one of the guys, I forget who, he was on the end of the line) to do a totally horrible squat, it was plain ugly. He was bending at the waist, I was like, "WTF, correct his form before he hurts himself you *kitten*!".

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