Fitness trackers for weight lifting

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PhysicsOnIce
PhysicsOnIce Posts: 46 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been toying with the idea of getting a fitness tracker to keep track of my calories more effectively. However, today at the gym my trainer redesigned my program to be lifting-centric. So, I guess my question is, Do fitness trackers provide accurate calorie expenditures for strength-training?

Also, does anyone have a suggestions on what to get? I can't really afford something really expensive at the moment, but would like to get something reliable.
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Replies

  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    edited June 2015
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    There are no fitness trackers that can provide an accurate calorie burn for strength-training.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    no...sorry...
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
    edited June 2015
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    If you just want it for feedback, the polar A300 and M400 with H7 sensor has a profile for strength training, along with several other profiles, I'm not sure about the accuracy for burning calories. Also the H7 sensor will work with the polar beat app for apple or android.

    http://www.polar.com/beat/us-en/
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
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    Usually this is what is used as a fitness tracker for lifting:

    notebook.jpg
  • PhysicsOnIce
    PhysicsOnIce Posts: 46 Member
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    glevinso wrote: »
    Usually this is what is used as a fitness tracker for lifting:

    notebook.jpg

    Thanks, that's normally how I track my strength process as well, but that's a bit hard to track calories that way....
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    The same reasons why MFP doesn't calculate calories from lifting apply to activity trackers.

    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11170-why-don-t-you-calculate-calories-burned-for-strength-training-
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    brianpperkins wrote: »
    The same reasons why MFP doesn't calculate calories from lifting apply to activity trackers.

    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11170-why-don-t-you-calculate-calories-burned-for-strength-training-

    I guess we just totally missed this line

    "If you know how many calories you have burned via a heart rate monitor or other tracking device, you can add a custom exercise to your personal database."

    My activity tracker has a profile for strength training, during one session of 23.49 mins my max was 124 min 96, average 113, with 175 kcal, but you're saying that this is false information?
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    HRMs cannot, CANNOT, produce accurate estimates for lifting. The exact same variables come into play.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1159044/hrms-cannot-count-calories-during-strength-training
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    I give myself 25 calorie burns for every half hour lifting. I time my rests so there's not doot-doot-doot-ing around on my phone.
  • prestigio
    prestigio Posts: 181 Member
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    When calculating your daily caloric requirement, sometimes the working out 3 times a week is already taken into account.
    However, I find this website quite usefull (it gives me about 300 calories per 60 min of weight lifting, I think it is more like 200 to 250 for me though).
    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/Calories.html
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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    glevinso wrote: »
    Usually this is what is used as a fitness tracker for lifting:

    notebook.jpg

    There are smartphone Apps that will do the same thing is less amount of time.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    brianpperkins wrote: »
    The same reasons why MFP doesn't calculate calories from lifting apply to activity trackers.

    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11170-why-don-t-you-calculate-calories-burned-for-strength-training-

    I guess we just totally missed this line

    "If you know how many calories you have burned via a heart rate monitor or other tracking device, you can add a custom exercise to your personal database."

    My activity tracker has a profile for strength training, during one session of 23.49 mins my max was 124 min 96, average 113, with 175 kcal, but you're saying that this is false information?

    Yes.

    So which part would be false? my actual heart rate, or Kcal?

  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Eileen_S wrote: »
    glevinso wrote: »
    Usually this is what is used as a fitness tracker for lifting:

    notebook.jpg

    There are smartphone Apps that will do the same thing is less amount of time.

    Yeah, but when your smartphone manufacturer goes bust. Or you no longer get updates to your OS. Or the fanboy that writes your app goes travelling in Asia... etc, etc.

    I assure you that that notebook will still be accessible via the built-in tech known as the eyeball in 8 years time. If you're not looking to compare and contrast your training over timescales that tech is not stable across, then by all means trust your data to an app.
  • HaibaneReki
    HaibaneReki Posts: 373 Member
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    I'm going to test my FitBit Charge HR, and see how much it gives me for my usual 1-1,5 crossfit session.. I usually take it 1 scoop of 97% whey protein = 1 session, but it's gonna be fun seeing it's guess..
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 612 Member
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    Okay, I guess I'm miss understanding strength training. since I'm working out alone, my heart rate is usually at a steady state while I'm doing it, so there's usually only 20 sec between sets or moving on to the next machine.

    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    brianpperkins wrote: »
    The same reasons why MFP doesn't calculate calories from lifting apply to activity trackers.

    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11170-why-don-t-you-calculate-calories-burned-for-strength-training-

    I guess we just totally missed this line

    "If you know how many calories you have burned via a heart rate monitor or other tracking device, you can add a custom exercise to your personal database."

    My activity tracker has a profile for strength training, during one session of 23.49 mins my max was 124 min 96, average 113, with 175 kcal, but you're saying that this is false information?

    Yes.

    So which part would be false? my actual heart rate, or Kcal?

    Heart rate is right because that's what it's designed to look at and that's easy...count the beats. The calorie algorithm doesn't work for any activity where you start and stop. Those activity trackers are good for only steady state activity, like running 5 miles. They are pretty good for that. Lifting, they are horrible. Don't believe me though, Google it. There are thousands of articles on that very topic.

  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    Okay, I guess I'm miss understanding strength training. since I'm working out alone, my heart rate is usually at a steady state while I'm doing it, so there's usually only 20 sec between sets or moving on to the next machine.

    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    brianpperkins wrote: »
    The same reasons why MFP doesn't calculate calories from lifting apply to activity trackers.

    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11170-why-don-t-you-calculate-calories-burned-for-strength-training-

    I guess we just totally missed this line

    "If you know how many calories you have burned via a heart rate monitor or other tracking device, you can add a custom exercise to your personal database."

    My activity tracker has a profile for strength training, during one session of 23.49 mins my max was 124 min 96, average 113, with 175 kcal, but you're saying that this is false information?

    Yes.

    So which part would be false? my actual heart rate, or Kcal?

    Heart rate is right because that's what it's designed to look at and that's easy...count the beats. The calorie algorithm doesn't work for any activity where you start and stop. Those activity trackers are good for only steady state activity, like running 5 miles. They are pretty good for that. Lifting, they are horrible. Don't believe me though, Google it. There are thousands of articles on that very topic.

    HR is dissociated from VO2 during strength training. Changes in HR do not reflect increased cardiovascular effort or calorie burn.
  • cyronius
    cyronius Posts: 157 Member
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    jimmmer wrote: »
    I assure you that that notebook will still be accessible via the built-in tech known as the eyeball in 8 years time.

    I have digital data available to me going back further than 8 years. I don't think I could point to a single note I recorded in paper over 4 years ago, let alone 8...

    Admittedly, it's not fitness data, but I haven't been tracking that for 8 years...
    If you're not looking to compare and contrast your training over timescales that tech is not stable across, then by all means trust your data to an app.

    That's why you use apps/sites that offer data export capabilities. Or third party tools that let you archive data from sites that don't normally allow you to export it.

    Pen and paper may work for you, but you can achieve that same long term accessibility you're referring to without touching pen and paper...
  • HaibaneReki
    HaibaneReki Posts: 373 Member
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    So Yesterdays pretty intense cca 38 min crossfit session (kettlebels, pull ups, misc. own weight ex., pushups etc.) cost me 166 kcal according to my FitBit Charge HR - which I'd rate above regular HRMs because it also has the movement sensor - so it knows it's not estimating cardio based on BMP. But yeah I understand crossfit is not exactly heavy weight lifting.. Anyway I'm going with it for the time being.

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