HOW TO DETERMIN CALORIES USE IN STRENGTH TRAINING

JMATCHETT11
JMATCHETT11 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 15 in Fitness and Exercise
I have a workout schedule I use 3 times a week. Will this program suggest calories expanded and how is it done?

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Search for 'strength training' under cardio
  • rt1968
    rt1968 Posts: 8 Member
    Wear a heart strap when you work out.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    rt1968 wrote: »
    Wear a heart strap when you work out.

    don't do this it wont be accurate.


    IMO the best way to determine this is to see where your maintenance lies through calorie and weight manipulation.

    For me, this means i burn about 200 calories extra on the days when i do a heavy lifting workout.
  • CranstonJ2016
    CranstonJ2016 Posts: 142 Member
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    rt1968 wrote: »
    Wear a heart strap when you work out.

    don't do this it wont be accurate.


    IMO the best way to determine this is to see where your maintenance lies through calorie and weight manipulation.

    For me, this means i burn about 200 calories extra on the days when i do a heavy lifting workout.

    Can you give me an example of this? My brain isn't working and I don't quite understand what you mean.

    I'm new to lifting as well and although I don't log my workouts it would still be nice to know how much I'm burning.

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    edited January 2017
    CranstonJ2016 wrote: »
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    rt1968 wrote: »
    Wear a heart strap when you work out.

    don't do this it wont be accurate.


    IMO the best way to determine this is to see where your maintenance lies through calorie and weight manipulation.

    For me, this means i burn about 200 calories extra on the days when i do a heavy lifting workout.

    Can you give me an example of this? My brain isn't working and I don't quite understand what you mean.

    I'm new to lifting as well and although I don't log my workouts it would still be nice to know how much I'm burning.

    Okay, here's the concept. Essentially, a heart rate monitor works by reading your heart rate and estimating how much work you must be doing and how much energy you must be burning based on this information.

    The problem with strength training and why it can't be reasonably measured with these devices (or even step devices/activity trackers) is that you are not constantly moving and burning calories.

    For example, you do a set of 12 heavy squats. Your heart rate jumps up. then you take a 90 second break in-between your sets. Your heart rate is elevated the entire time as it comes back down to baseline and these devices assume (as your heart rate is elevated) that you are doing work this entire time.

    I've worn mine (both polar and garmin) during workouts and i get about 600-700 calories burned in an hour. Let me tell you, when I do an hour of intensive cardio training (sweating, moving vigorously non-stop) or when i'm instructing a cardio class and my energy is 100% i burn roughly 420 calories. There is absolutely NO WAY that I am burning that many calories sitting around on my butt for 50% of the time inbetween sets.

    Here's what i've found to be most accurate.

    1.) Track how much weight you lose vs. how many calories you are eating. This will tell you how much your deficit actually was.

    OR

    2.) Eat at maintenance calories and see if you are losing weight. If so, keep adding calories until you start maintaining (i would say 6 weeks would be sufficient).

    both of these methods will give you a better idea of how many calories you are maintaining on. for me, that ends up being about 1700 calories on non-lifting days and 1900 calories on lifting days. In all actuality, i am only burning around 200 calories more on the days that I lift heavy, not 600 or even 700!

    My point is, you don't want to overestimate how many calories you are burning and over-eat accidentally because you are under the assumption you're burning way more than you actually are. Strength training doesn't actually burn that many calories.

    P.S. It might even be easier for you to just adjust your activity level on myfitnesspal up one and then not count strength training calories at all.
  • CranstonJ2016
    CranstonJ2016 Posts: 142 Member
    Ohhh...ok I see. So, I probably won't do that math then for myself, just because I don't log my workouts anyways, so I never eat those calories back. I've only changed my activity level on MFP to the next highest.

    Thank you for explaining though! That makes a lot of sense!
  • ALG775
    ALG775 Posts: 247 Member
    I log about 200 calories for an hour of lifting- seems to be about right.
  • rt1968
    rt1968 Posts: 8 Member
    Or you can wear a heart strap. Been in the fitness world for 20 years. Bodies behave differently. If you are not body building for a living an d just looking to get fit - don't over complicate it.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    I log it as strength training under cardio but I subtract 20% of what MFP says I burn. That seems to be the most accurate for me
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    CranstonJ2016 wrote: »
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    rt1968 wrote: »
    Wear a heart strap when you work out.

    don't do this it wont be accurate.


    IMO the best way to determine this is to see where your maintenance lies through calorie and weight manipulation.

    For me, this means i burn about 200 calories extra on the days when i do a heavy lifting workout.

    Can you give me an example of this? My brain isn't working and I don't quite understand what you mean.

    I'm new to lifting as well and although I don't log my workouts it would still be nice to know how much I'm burning.

    Okay, here's the concept. Essentially, a heart rate monitor works by reading your heart rate and estimating how much work you must be doing and how much energy you must be burning based on this information.

    The problem with strength training and why it can't be reasonably measured with these devices (or even step devices/activity trackers) is that you are not constantly moving and burning calories.

    For example, you do a set of 12 heavy squats. Your heart rate jumps up. then you take a 90 second break in-between your sets. Your heart rate is elevated the entire time as it comes back down to baseline and these devices assume (as your heart rate is elevated) that you are doing work this entire time.

    I've worn mine (both polar and garmin) during workouts and i get about 600-700 calories burned in an hour. Let me tell you, when I do an hour of intensive cardio training (sweating, moving vigorously non-stop) or when i'm instructing a cardio class and my energy is 100% i burn roughly 420 calories. There is absolutely NO WAY that I am burning that many calories sitting around on my butt for 50% of the time inbetween sets.

    Here's what i've found to be most accurate.

    1.) Track how much weight you lose vs. how many calories you are eating. This will tell you how much your deficit actually was.

    OR

    2.) Eat at maintenance calories and see if you are losing weight. If so, keep adding calories until you start maintaining (i would say 6 weeks would be sufficient).

    both of these methods will give you a better idea of how many calories you are maintaining on. for me, that ends up being about 1700 calories on non-lifting days and 1900 calories on lifting days. In all actuality, i am only burning around 200 calories more on the days that I lift heavy, not 600 or even 700!

    My point is, you don't want to overestimate how many calories you are burning and over-eat accidentally because you are under the assumption you're burning way more than you actually are. Strength training doesn't actually burn that many calories.

    P.S. It might even be easier for you to just adjust your activity level on myfitnesspal up one and then not count strength training calories at all.

    I just need to add that it is not the changes in heart rate that make HRMs inaccurate for strength training. It's the fact that the physiologic mechanism that drives heart rate during strength training is different than the one that drives HR during cardio and cannot be quantified

    It's like trying to tell time with a tape measure.

  • TristaOnTrack
    TristaOnTrack Posts: 64 Member
    I use a heart rate monitor. I got mine on Amazon. It's a Polar watch and it uses the strap you put over your chest. I think I got mine for $45. I think.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    TristaOnTrack wrote: »
    I use a heart rate monitor. I got mine on Amazon. It's a Polar watch and it uses the strap you put over your chest. I think I got mine for $45. I think.

    Hrm were made for steady state cardio not strength training.
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