Strength Exercises and my fitness pal

texasladysv
texasladysv Posts: 103 Member
edited November 24 in Fitness and Exercise
So? Strength exercises don't take calories off total day? Or is mine not working? I haven't used journal here much...

Replies

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited September 2015
    Log strength training under cardiovascular to get a calorie burn estimate. Calorie burns for strength training are less than cardio.....you earn far fewer "bonus calories." Be aware that calorie burns are really (really) hard to nail down.
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    Yes, I log mine under the generic "strength training" entry in the cardio section. I don't know how accurate it is.
  • ElPasoMark
    ElPasoMark Posts: 47 Member
    What TeaBea said- Log it as cardio. According to my fitness coordinator, doing a good strength/resistance workout (Weight training) will burn a decent amount of calories and should be done at least twice a week in addition to cardio. Do you use any kind of fitness band/watch? I use a Garmin FR70 to measure calorie burn when doing calisthenics and weights, and a Garmin FR610 to measure calorie burn on my jog/walks & bike rides. I upload the data to the Garmin Connect website and it sync's and sends the data to Map my ride (Which I also use) and My Fitness Pal.

    Cheers,

    Mark
  • mbcieslak87
    mbcieslak87 Posts: 206 Member
    In general I would not use strength training as a way to "earn" extra calories for the day; there is just not an accurate enough way to nail down what you actually burn. Also Heart Rate Monitors are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to strength training, or any activity that stops and starts a lot. And MFP's estimates cannot possibly be correct, even in the cardio section - think about it - they don't take into account what type of lift you're doing or how much you're lifting; obviously a person doing a compound lift like a squat at 150lbs is going to burn a lot more than biceps curls at 20 lbs in each hand... yet the calorie estimator doesn't account for that...

    In terms of calorie burning, cardio is going to torch many more calories and give you that cushion to eat a little more, if that's what you're looking for. I think most of us just accept that lifting is slowly increasing our BMR, but don't use lifting to earn extra daily calories.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    ElPasoMark wrote: »
    What TeaBea said- Log it as cardio. According to my fitness coordinator, doing a good strength/resistance workout (Weight training) will burn a decent amount of calories and should be done at least twice a week in addition to cardio. Do you use any kind of fitness band/watch? I use a Garmin FR70 to measure calorie burn when doing calisthenics and weights, and a Garmin FR610 to measure calorie burn on my jog/walks & bike rides. I upload the data to the Garmin Connect website and it sync's and sends the data to Map my ride (Which I also use) and My Fitness Pal.

    Cheers,

    Mark

    Mmmm......

    Heart rate monitors are designed for steady state cardio. I wouldn't trust one for weights.
  • mbcieslak87
    mbcieslak87 Posts: 206 Member
    Exactly what TeaBea said!
  • _Bropollo_
    _Bropollo_ Posts: 168 Member
    edited September 2015
    Be warned: strength training calories are going to be extremely subjective. Depends on so many variables. You are honestly better off not logging them, or if you do, using a conservative number (less than what MFP gives you) if your goal is weight loss so you are not disappointed.
  • texasladysv
    texasladysv Posts: 103 Member
    Heart rate as if I ran... But thanks everyone... I was just surprised when I logged them... That was a more intense workout than my usual, and no change in cal... Thought maybe it messed up
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    texasladysv wrote: »
    Heart rate as if I ran... But thanks everyone... I was just surprised when I logged them... That was a more intense workout than my usual, and no change in cal... Thought maybe it messed up

    Heart rate when lifting is very little to do with calorie burns.
    Your heart rate can spike to the same numbers doing relatively light weight isolation exercises or lifting ten times the weight in a big compound lift although the energy required actually comes down to the physics of weight & distance moved (primarily).

    The generic MFP entry is fine. Keep it simple.
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