Couple quick questions

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albone
albone Posts: 21 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been working out for about a year now but I only really upped my intensity in the last couple of months. What I mean by that is that before I did the same ol' routines with the same ol weight. Now, with each workout, I try to up my reps or up the weight.

I started a new 4 day a week-split routine shy of 3 weeks ago and true to form, I've been increasing weight and reps every week. However, my heart monitor says that I've also been burning LESS calories with every week. Do I need to worry about these diminishing returns?

One other quick question, my work has a gym and it's great. The Leg Press machine has 20 plates on it, and you adjust the weight with a rod. I can't tell how much weight each plate is and the internet is no help. Is there any consensus for how much weight 20 plates equals?

Thanks!

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Question #1 - your HRM is not reliable for calories burned while lifting weights. It's meant to be used for steady state cardio, from my understanding of HRMs.

    Question #2 - I have no idea. Never used a leg press machine.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    edited May 2015
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    1. HRMs aren't reliable at all for figuring calories burned while lifting (or doing any other exercise that isn't steady cardio). I wouldn't worry about it, but do be careful not to overestimate your burn while lifting. It is depressingly low, and it is easy to overeat because you think you burned more than you actually did. Look up some reliable sources online and then estimate on the low side. Or you can skip counting it altogether.

    2. There is no way for us to know this, since we don't know what brand the machine or the plates are. You should be able to ask one of the employees at your gym though.
  • Upstate_Dunadan
    Upstate_Dunadan Posts: 435 Member
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    Progressive overload is how you get stronger and build muscle - each workout try to up the weight you are lifting, reps performed, or rest between sets.

    HRM and calories burned while working out always leads to a "fun" discussion on the forums. Suffice to say, your calories are probably not accurate and are over-inflated. However, the "Error" should stay consistent from workout to workout, so if they are reported twice actual, then that's what you should expect each workout. So, if your calories are going down per the HRM, and you are using it the same way, then while it's probably not accurate to the calorie, you are most likely burning less calories. Make sense?

    Are you resting more between sets? If you are, you're letting your HR stabalize which will impact the HRM calorie burn.

    Do you need to be worried? That depends on what your goal is. If your goal is to get stronger, then it appears it's working and I would not be overly worried. If you'd like to get stronger and build in some cardio-type benefits at the same time, then you might want to try to reduce rest between sets, since that's the only way I can think you'd be lifting more weight but showing a lower calorie burn.

    How long are you resting? I try to rest 1 minute between sets (90 seconds between big compound movements like squat, deadlift, and presses) to keep my HR elevated through entire workout.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    sm4astan wrote: »
    Progressive overload is how you get stronger and build muscle - each workout try to up the weight you are lifting, reps performed, or rest between sets.

    HRM and calories burned while working out always leads to a "fun" discussion on the forums. Suffice to say, your calories are probably not accurate and are over-inflated. However, the "Error" should stay consistent from workout to workout, so if they are reported twice actual, then that's what you should expect each workout. So, if your calories are going down per the HRM, and you are using it the same way, then while it's probably not accurate to the calorie, you are most likely burning less calories. Make sense?

    Are you resting more between sets? If you are, you're letting your HR stabalize which will impact the HRM calorie burn.

    Do you need to be worried? That depends on what your goal is. If your goal is to get stronger, then it appears it's working and I would not be overly worried. If you'd like to get stronger and build in some cardio-type benefits at the same time, then you might want to try to reduce rest between sets, since that's the only way I can think you'd be lifting more weight but showing a lower calorie burn.

    How long are you resting? I try to rest 1 minute between sets (90 seconds between big compound movements like squat, deadlift, and presses) to keep my HR elevated through entire workout.

    It isn't a matter of being off by X amount each time. HRMs configure calories burned through an algorithm than assumes steady rates (within a certain fluctuation). Each HRM has a certain number of times per minute that it pulls your HR for the data. Every time your HRM takes a reading and gets a very different number from the previous couple, it skews the data farther off. Sure, if you perform the same workout at the same heartrate every time, you will theoretically get somewhat consistent data, but that is very hard to do with progressive weight training.

    It's completely possible that increasing the weight load is causing OP to work at a lower heart rate because he is performing each lift slower. But the point is that using a HRM to try and figure calories burned has issues, and if you're using those figures to eat back your calories, it can cause trouble in a hurry.
  • albone
    albone Posts: 21 Member
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    Thanks guys. Seeing me burn less calories kicks that competitive edge in myself, like WHAT, WHY ARE YOU BURNING LESS, WORK HARDER. Except, I am working harder. More weight/reps than the last workout. I use the HRM to keep myself honest and if it means accepting less calories on the workout, then so be it.

    My goal is to lose weight and my guiding star is with my time allowed, lifting heavy > cardio. I lift heavy 4X a week with 2 DDP Yoga and 1 rest day. At least, that's how it's been for the last month or so. We'll see going forward.

    I don't usually rest for more than 1 minute. Always less, unless it's something like I'm racking weights or cleaning up from one machine to the next. If possible, I try to keep it to 30 seconds.
  • albone
    albone Posts: 21 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Oh, a quick aside, for better or for worse, I keep the same calorie goal of 2000-2300 every day regardless of how intense the workout, or even if I work out at all. The only thing then is that I'll eat closer to 2000 on days that I don't work out and closer to 2300 on the days that I work out big.

    I've burned 600-1000 calories before and I've never been happy with what happens from eating 2600-3000 calories on those days.

    Unless I've got that wrong?
  • Upstate_Dunadan
    Upstate_Dunadan Posts: 435 Member
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    albone wrote: »
    Oh, a quick aside, for better or for worse, I keep the same calorie goal of 2000-2300 every day regardless of how intense the workout, or even if I work out at all. The only thing then is that I'll eat closer to 2000 on days that I don't work out and closer to 2300 on the days that I work out big.

    I've burned 600-1000 calories before and I've never been happy with what happens from eating 2600-3000 calories on those days.

    Unless I've got that wrong?

    So you basically are using a TDEE type method. Did you use a TDEE calculator to get the 2,000-2,300 range? I use this method. TDEE has me pegged at 2,600 calories a day (that's after I reduced by 20% for max weight loss). On days I don't work out (chuckle) I do lower that on my own, even though strictly speaking I probably shouldn't.

    Also, for the record, I do use a HRM (Microsoft Band) for my gym/cardio workouts, so I've read countless threads on the inaccuracy of HRMs and calories. Go with what you know is working. If the scale is dropped and measurements are going in the right direction with current routine, stick with it. Sounds like you, like me, like tracking calorie burn, but are not relying on it to adjust calories, which is smart.
  • albone
    albone Posts: 21 Member
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    I do use the TDEE method! iirc, I went with a 1000 calorie deficiency which put me at the above range of 2000-2300.

    It definitely works for me, using that method, but it wasn't until I really started using bigger weights/more reps per workout did I really see an improvement. The lower calorie burn was a little weird, and figured it was all good, but glad to get some backup on that. :)
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Honestly, if you're just using the HRM to measure how effective your workout is and not for a specific calorie count, then I'd ditch it for lifting. The majority of the benefits from lifting don't happen WHILE you're lifting and they aren't tied to heart rate or calories. They are things like increased muscle mass that burns more calories at rest, better body recomp from a higher fat burn, increased strength that comes from the repair AFTER lifting, better bone health and stronger connective tissue, increased brain activity, etc. if you're trying to push yourself to get the HRM up then you could be actually hindering yourself instead of helping.

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