How does strength training count against calories?

I tried looking it up once and the most useful thing I could find was to use an average of burning 4 calories per minute so that's what I use now

I use my heart rate monitor when I strength train. If you don't have one, I guess it is better to underestimate than over estimate. But yes, you can log it as exercise under the cardio section. There is an entry for it.

I've read a lot of differing views on the subject. Some people say it doesn't burn a lot of calories and some say it is akin to cardio. My heart rate is always up to where it is when I run so I definitely feel I'm getting every bit of the calorie burn in.

It's probably still better to underestimate and go over your calories and know it than overestimate, just to see that green in your diary and then wonder why your weight went up. If you have the HRM though, go with it.

Does it even count against calories? I'm guessing that you've got to be burning something by lifting and such, but I noticed that MFP doesn't count anything towards calories for it? Can you count calories burned from strength training as actual calories burned?

Don't. Especially using MFP to estimate calories burned, because MFP way over-estimates.

Put in the work and calculate your calories seperately.

I think if you time your actual working time you can use the MFP estimation. But you have to stop and start your watch every time you are actually lifting and stopping it in rest periods. Your heart rate is up in rest periods, but you aren't burning calories.

If you enter exercise as cardio and then search for strength training (under cardio) you will find strength training (weight training). Choose that exercise and enter the time spent and it will add the calories to your exercise burn.

Then if you want to track which strength exercises you did by exercise, you can enter them in the weight training exercise section - they do not count as calorie burn in myfitnesspal except when entered as a "cardio" exercsie.

I track my weight lifting by exercise, sets, reps, weight in the weight training exercise section. Then in the cardio section I add in total time strength training and it gives me an approx calorie burn......hope that helps

it depends on your avg heart rate....i burn about 500-600 doing 24 sets with 1 min break between. Deadlifts and Squats get my heart rate up higher than other lifts. my avg heart rate is usually between 125-130.

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Take the burn rate the app gives you or don't bother with it at all........either way - are you getting the RESULTS you are looking for.
If yes, then keep on keeping on and don't get hung up on how much the system says your burned or didn't burn.
80% of the equation is what and when you eat, not so much did you burn 400 calories or was it 476 calories.

of course it burns calories...everything burns calories...just being alive burns an *kitten* load of them.

That said, it is very difficult to determine calorie burn from anaerobic activities like weight lifting...there are just too many variables. This is one of the big reasons I switched from the MFP method to the TDEE method. By the time I really got into lifting, my routines was pretty consistent...MFP's method was very helpful for me when I was first getting back into fitness...but once my routine became habit and I became consistent, the TDEE method just made more sense and I didn't have to worry about logging and eating back calories...everything just netted out over the course of the week.

To be honest I only really count general activity and cardio calories for logging exercise but then again I eat a set amount and don't aim to eat back exercise calories. Tbh the only real way to get a handle on your ACTUAL calorie expenditure is to work it out from your weight fluctuations over a long period of time. Everything else, hrm's included is simply an estimation. It's why I actually disagree quite strongly with the "eat back your exercise calories" approach. As it lends itself to uncertainty.