Do you still burn calories when weight training?

kmab1985
kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
edited November 15 in Getting Started
Hi All

I know to some people this is a very silly question but I only joined the Gym after xmas so am still learning a lot about muscles, nutrition etc etc.

I just have one (silly) question! Today I did a 2k run which worked out at buring 246 calories but then for the 2nd half of my session I did some weight training (arms, legs, shoulders) ranging from 30kg to 70kg at approx 15 reps per weights but do you still burn calories doing weights even though your heart rate is not like it would be if your doing cardio etc...

I'm new to Fitness Pal too :-)

Thanks, Kel

Replies

  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Yes. If you want to log those calories, log weight training under cardio rather than weights and it will give you "credit".
  • mikevandewetering
    mikevandewetering Posts: 155 Member
    Yes you do, but it is hard to give it an exact number
  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
    Ah right OK then, thank you very much for your quick response...
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Yes but the calorie burn from weight training is quite low compared to cardio.

    The easiest way to log it is as "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" under the cardiovascular section of the exercise diary.
  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
    Maybe I could leave off the weights then on my tracker and just take comfort that I will be burning some calories....
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    kmab1985 wrote: »
    Maybe I could leave off the weights then on my tracker and just take comfort that I will be burning some calories....

    Some folks leave it off, and use those calories as their margin of error in logging.
  • There are no silly or stupid question when searching for knowledge!
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Yes but the calorie burn from weight training is quite low compared to cardio.

    The easiest way to log it is as "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" under the cardiovascular section of the exercise diary.

    That's not true, the site logs it as a low number but the actual calorie burn from lifting weights is better then carido.

    Carido just burns calories for that time period IE your 30 min run. Where lifting weights will burn calories all day long as your body tries to repair it's self.

    OP: Log it and just go by what the website gives you, you don't need a heart rate montior or a fitbit they're all a huge waste of money.
  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
    Ah right OK then, thanks very much! Thats helpful!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Yes but the calorie burn from weight training is quite low compared to cardio.

    The easiest way to log it is as "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" under the cardiovascular section of the exercise diary.

    That's not true, the site logs it as a low number but the actual calorie burn from lifting weights is better then carido.

    Carido just burns calories for that time period IE your 30 min run. Where lifting weights will burn calories all day long as your body tries to repair it's self.

    OP: Log it and just go by what the website gives you, you don't need a heart rate montior or a fitbit they're all a huge waste of money.
    In YOUR opinion they are a waste of money.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Yes but the calorie burn from weight training is quite low compared to cardio.

    The easiest way to log it is as "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" under the cardiovascular section of the exercise diary.

    That's not true, the site logs it as a low number but the actual calorie burn from lifting weights is better then carido.

    Carido just burns calories for that time period IE your 30 min run. Where lifting weights will burn calories all day long as your body tries to repair it's self.

    OP: Log it and just go by what the website gives you, you don't need a heart rate montior or a fitbit they're all a huge waste of money.

    It does, but still compared to cardio is not as much.

    OP, If you strength training 3 or more times/week you could also just change your activity level to light active from sedentary, that way you get more cals every day which helps with the direct burn, and recovery on non lifting days
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    That's not true, the site logs it as a low number but the actual calorie burn from lifting weights is better then carido.

    Carido just burns calories for that time period IE your 30 min run. Where lifting weights will burn calories all day long as your body tries to repair it's self.

    Noooooo, not going to burn more weightlifting than doing a cardio session unless its a really heavy lifting session and a really light cardio session. Also, are you saying your muscles don't have to repair post cardio? Interesting.....


    OP: Log it and just go by what the website gives you, you don't need a heart rate montior or a fitbit they're all a huge waste of money.

    HRM and fitbits are not good for measuring burns from lifting but they can be useful in their own way; HRM for steady state cardio and fitbit for step based activity. The "waste of money" all depends on what you are looking for in a device.

  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
    Oooh OK then, I have a sit down job so I selected not very active and its given me 1270 calories per day to have - does this sound about right, I do 2x bodypump classes and alternate between 2x 4k runs and a 5k crosstrainer and am starting to do a bit of weighttraining after my runs/cross trainer....I don;t go to the gym at the weekend.
  • dieselbyte
    dieselbyte Posts: 733 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Yes but the calorie burn from weight training is quite low compared to cardio.

    The easiest way to log it is as "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" under the cardiovascular section of the exercise diary.

    That's not true, the site logs it as a low number but the actual calorie burn from lifting weights is better then carido.

    Carido just burns calories for that time period IE your 30 min run. Where lifting weights will burn calories all day long as your body tries to repair it's self.

    OP: Log it and just go by what the website gives you, you don't need a heart rate montior or a fitbit they're all a huge waste of money.

    Someone has never heard of EPOC...

  • michelle_816
    michelle_816 Posts: 621 Member
    I'd leave your settings where they are, but I also suggest eating back almost all your exercise calories.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    I give myself 25 calories burned for every half hour of lifting.
  • mls100771
    mls100771 Posts: 125 Member
    Both resistance training and cardiovascular training burn calories, but then again, so does sitting around watching TV.

    As far as the number of calories burned during exercise, we could go on and on discussing the variables contributing to that total number, which will be different person to person.

    The key is to train with intensity, no matter what type of exercise you are performing. Keep that heart rate elevated and if you're not sweating you need to kick it up a notch.

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    mls100771 wrote: »
    Both resistance training and cardiovascular training burn calories, but then again, so does sitting around watching TV.

    As far as the number of calories burned during exercise, we could go on and on discussing the variables contributing to that total number, which will be different person to person.

    The key is to train with intensity, no matter what type of exercise you are performing. Keep that heart rate elevated and if you're not sweating you need to kick it up a notch.

    For strength training you do not need an elevated HR. If you are doing "real" strength training you should wait until your HR is almost back to normal before the next set in order to be fully recovered before starting again.

    Calories burned should not be the reason on does strength training, the benefits include: getting stronger, increase muscle mass (surplus), limit muscle loss (deficit), increase bone density, etc
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Yes but the calorie burn from weight training is quite low compared to cardio.

    The easiest way to log it is as "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)" under the cardiovascular section of the exercise diary.

    That's not true, the site logs it as a low number but the actual calorie burn from lifting weights is better then carido.

    Carido just burns calories for that time period IE your 30 min run. Where lifting weights will burn calories all day long as your body tries to repair it's self.

    Please do some research as what you are posting is completely wrong and you are misleading people.
    By the way there is also an EPOC effect from cardio, not as high as weights but still there.
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