Strength exercises don't count as calories burned - why not?

indybadger
indybadger Posts: 1 Member
edited November 12 in Fitness and Exercise
I've recently started to get back to doing some weight training (a combination of free weights and exercise equipment at the gym). I already do cardio (walking and jogging, exercise bike) 3 times a week, and now I'm adding in some weight lifting.
I usually do weight work for at least a half hour, and definitely burn some calories when I'm doing it.

However, when I record my workout as Strength exercises on MFP, it doesn't record any calories burned. Only cardio exercises are counted that way.

Is there any way that we (the MFP users) could somehow record the calories associated with weight training exercises?

Heaven knows, there are enough books and Internet resources to help up track down the calories burned for a given exercise, sets, reps and weight. I know weight lifting doesn't burn as many calories as a dedicated cardio workout, but if you're doing a combination of upper and lower body exercises for 30-60 minutes, it's got to add up.

I'll still keep going to the gym and working out in the weight room, but I'll have to make a mental note on those days that I will probably exceed my calories for the day since it doesn't deduct the calories burned.

Bill

Replies

  • amy32lynn
    amy32lynn Posts: 157 Member
    just add it under cardio look under strength training weight lifting
  • vettech14
    vettech14 Posts: 28
    I have no idea, I do both also, but I don't record anything because I can't hit my calories as it is... I darn sure don't need any added to it. Good luck trying to figure it out though I know when I was looking through all the work out exercises I thought it was pretty weird, but I guess maybe nobody ever put anything in for it... ????
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Our program currently calculates calories for exercises logged in our "Cardiovascular" section only. Estimating the calories burned from strength training is very difficult because it depends on a variety of factors: how much weight you lifted per repetition, how vigorously you performed that exercise, how much rest you took between sets, etc. Because of this, we do not automatically calculate how many calories you burned from strength training exercises.

    However, if you like, you can search for the same or similar exercise in our "Cardiovascular" database. If you can not find the exercise, you can search for the exercise "Strength training" in the cardiovascular database, but please be aware that this is only a rough estimate, and can be fairly inaccurate.

    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.
    http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/11170-why-don-t-you-calculate-calories-burned-for-strength-training-
  • rea71
    rea71 Posts: 30 Member
    Thank you for the info, I was wondering the same thing.
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