Crossfit and Tracking

A know most crossift is just some form of calisthenics, but on the workouts that involve actual weight training (weight less than 20 rep max), a heart rate monitor is all but useless for calculating calorie burns. Also, keep in mind, HRMs are assuming steady state aerobics, such as using an elliptical or treadmill. If you are starting/stopping/resting then the accuracy drops off pretty heavily as well. This is because of the well-known fact that a beating heart doesn't burn a lot of calories.

msangsterm wrote: »

I read somewhere that it is about 11 calories a minute. That's what I use

There was a study that suggested 12 calories a minute for women and around 20 calories per minute for men.

It is important to note that the study was done on two workouts, both of which are very short, very intense workouts. The total calories burned were
"Still, researchers found that males burned an average of 169.6 calories for Workout 1 (completing the workout in an average time of 8 minutes, 23 seconds) and 112.5 calories for Workout 2 (average time: 5:52). Meanwhile females averaged 117.2 calories for Workout 1 (average time: 9:08) and 63.9 calories for Workout 2 (average time: 5:52). "

The more intense a workout is, the higher the calories burned, but it is at an intensity that you won't be able to hold for longer periods of time. I wouldn't expect to burn 12 calories a minute for 20 minute WODs.

Also second the point about HRMs not being accurate.

This is reasonably easy to figure out. Since a mainstay of most CF gyms is "Row for Calories" you should have an idea of the perceived effort it takes to burn, say 15 calories in one minute (.75 calories per rep). Many CF exercises are about the same in terms of cal/rep: AAB, Burpee (weight dependent) Light weightlifting for instance. Some are easier (sit-up, push-up etc.). Some are harder (heavy deadlift, pull-up with weight vest, etc.). So using row as your baseline, you could guess that if you do 20 reps per minute, your Fight Gone Bad Score of 300 will translate to 300 calories burned in 15 minutes, or 1200 calories per hour. If you are a beginner and are getting 150 Rx it will be half that. Some of the briefer more intense WODs will have and insane cal per hour rate if you are any good. Let's say you can hit "Fran" Rx in 5:00. I would guestimate 1.25 cal per rep, so 90 reps times 1.25 cal = 135 cal in 5:00 or 2700 calories per hour. Of course the whole point is you cannot keep this up. On the other hand, Murph with a weight vest is sustainable for around an hour if you are decent. Probably 600 calories for the reps and another 300 for the runs, so 900 calories per hour and 900 calories actually burned. Hope this helps.

But what about your body weight, I don't think you guys take in consideration ( effort X body weight X duration ),
I explain myself, 10 push up for a 300 lbs guy done in 10 sec, is not the same then, 10 push up done by an 180 lbs guy in 15 sec, and if you bench 100 lbs or200 lbs is not the same either, a calorie is a measure of heat, you can convert to joules or BTU, the effort is a matter of physic, the distance of a deadlift and the weight matter in the equation, in reality, the perfect calculation is so advance, you guys should aim for Avg, at the end of the week is an average vs result in that matter, if any of you guys ever see my reflection!