Calories burned in Karate (beginner)

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bazfitness
bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I started Karate last night. The exercise was fairly intense for me as a fairly unfit person and I was pretty exhausted after it, although I enjoyed it nonetheless. Anyway last night I had a look at the amount of calories I burned and according to myfitnesspal cardiovascular section I would have burned something like 866 calories in 1 hour. :noway:

Now I know the workout was fairly intense for me but that seems a lot. Is that 866 more like someone very advanced going flat out for 60 minutes? - As opposed to me doing a pretty intense workout for a beginner but having gaps during the 1 hour where the instructor was talking.

Anyway trying to get a handle on what I really lost in calories. I'm Male, 5'10", 191 lbs if that helps.

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  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    Heh well, I do Aikido, and I always write down a fraction of the class based on a) how much the instructor was instructing,and b) perceived effort during that time. Sometimes I write down 30 minutes for a 2 hour class and sometimes 90. Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's not like I can wear an HRM so I'm giving it my best guess. I agree w/you that the calories given are someone going flat out for the time period, and I'm not.
  • azwildcatfan94
    azwildcatfan94 Posts: 314 Member
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    I'm having the same issue. It seems like the only cardio intense part of the class is the first 15 minutes. After that, it seems to be a combination of repeating the basics, isometric strengthening, learning new moves and katas. I'm moving the whole time, but I doubt my heart rate is very high.
  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    I've done other forms of Exercise since I posted this using a HRM including Insanity and Kettlebells. Based on that you can start comparing how much and how intense the exercise was in the class and come up with reasonable estimates imo. I don't use the default Karate setting anymore, which estimate syour burn very high imo, I manually add new entries e.g Karate Easy, Karate Hard and add the calories and minutes as I estimate them to be.
    FWIW I got my yellow belt last weekend. :happy:
  • nevertoolate2
    nevertoolate2 Posts: 309 Member
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    @baz - Congrats on your yellow belt - I started this week after my son was awarded his first dan black belt. Couldn't put it off any longer! How have you found your calorie counts have measured up?



    @azwildcat - I bet you would be surprised at your calorie burn following an intense "warm up", following which you don't really stop moving.

    I had the same issue and approached it the same way as Susannahmarie. That said, I don't mind if the calories awarded are fairly generous because I try to be cautious with what I eat back, never eating everything back. That way it doesn't matter if I end the day with a surplus.
  • azwildcatfan94
    azwildcatfan94 Posts: 314 Member
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    Maybe this weekend I'll do an experiment and put on my HRM, and then do the typical warm up and practice my forms and katas for an hour.... Just to see what the calorie burn calculates to. If I do it, I'll post my results.
  • Pedal_Pusher
    Pedal_Pusher Posts: 1,166 Member
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    Get yourself a Garmin device w HRM.........
  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    @stephen Thanks.Cool on starting up. Sort of a weird age group dynamic in our class. There's a lot of teenagers - right up to 19 and i don't think anyone in their 20s, one girl is around 30 I think, and then there's 6 of us in our 40s. Gets me out of the house and defo a lot fitter and lighter than I was when I posted this over 3 months ago. Good luck with it, well worth doing imo.

    Anyway not quiet sure I know what you mean by does my calorie count measure up as I can't really measure it and even factoring in weekly weight loss wouldn't be an exact science. I think I've got a rough handle on how much I'm burning based on my HRM readings for other activities. For instance I burned abbot 570 doing kettlebells for 70 minutes. Now I had lots of stops in this but it was very tough at times. Also have burned over 500 cals in 40 minutes of Insanity. So I had my hardest Karate day yet this Wednesday - our first day back as yellow belts. It felt more like an Insanity workout - very little katas - all squatting punch, kicking rapidly - very tough. I conservatively estimated it at 500 cals based on my perceived exertions which seemed just as tough as doing Insanity at times. Other days when I'm doing a lot of katas - I'v entered about 300 cals for 60 mins. It's just really guessing - but ballpark can't be too far off I reckon!

    @pedal_pusher I'll have to look up this - is it easy to wear in a class? As I'm not allowed afaik to have a watch on in class or probably a strap beneath my suit either.
  • mr_caffeine
    mr_caffeine Posts: 5 Member
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    As anyone actually tried wearing a HRM during Karate?
    If you want to use a Garmin with a HRM, you'll have to leave the Garmin (watch) in your duffel bag and hope the range is long enough. I think I'll try that tonight with my iPhone and Wahoo HRM.
  • kempojoe
    kempojoe Posts: 2 Member
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    While it does vary depending on your effort, Karate is a very high calorie burning activity. First off there is a lot of leg work, Kicking, Stances etc. There are sections of cardio but there is a lot of strength training as well. it would be hard to get an exact number especially if you compared different styles, different levels (Beg, Int, Adv, Black Belt). Kata can be great cardio once you have 10 or more forms and can do them continuously, but for a beginner just learning your not going to have the same workout. BUT keep it up because it is a great Sport!
  • kiki200361
    kiki200361 Posts: 1 Member
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    I use this website to calculate it, probably not exactly accurate but I would say its close enough to have an estimated guess. if I have a 1hour session i'll always put something down along the lines of 45mins instead because of the instructor talking and water breaks. give it a try: https://captaincalculator.com/health/calorie/calories-burned-from-martial-arts-calculator/
  • karatemrrossgamer99
    karatemrrossgamer99 Posts: 1 Member
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    The karate I take is called Pak's Tang Soo do karate. It's a mixed of a Korean karate and a Chinese karate. Did it for 10 years and manage to get my second Dan black belt. I think the calories burn depends on your instuctor. My instuctor is a ex Marine and in the Marines your pushed so hard your body can't physically keep going, but your mind ends up taking over and u able to keep going. That's what he believed in so every single class was like that so I burned on average about 820-900 calories each class. Every class was an hour long and I did 2 classes every single night. So yeah it was my first time and only time that I was shredded and ended up getting abs. Even though I never followed a diet at all. So it just depends whose teaching you
  • Versicolour
    Versicolour Posts: 7,164 Member
    edited August 2019
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    I have stopped logging my karate for this very reason. I don't want to be tempted to eat back more calories than I actually burned (or lulled into a false sense of security). I know I did my karate. My friends who actually know me know I did karate. Mfp doesn't actually care

    Eta: you know, being an app and not an actual caring person in any way
  • Justin_7272
    Justin_7272 Posts: 341 Member
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    866 calories per hour is high; cycling at 75-80%-which is pure cardio-might get you to 600-700 calories per hour. Resistance training (with weights) you'll 150-200 calories an hour max.

    I'd suggest wearing a HRM and riding for an hour to exhaustion; that'll give you a gauge. Then compare how you feel after that to karate.

    My best guess is you're pushing 300 calories an hour max. You're doing something between cardio and body weight resistance training.
  • Basketballandfitness
    Basketballandfitness Posts: 8 Member
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    Hi guys. Is there a website or an App which can tell you how many calories you do during your workout? For example: if I do 4 sets of squats of 10 reps each, how many calories do I burn?
  • jnomadica
    jnomadica Posts: 280 Member
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    Justin_7272 wrote: »
    866 calories per hour is high; cycling at 75-80%-which is pure cardio-might get you to 600-700 calories per hour. Resistance training (with weights) you'll 150-200 calories an hour max.

    I'd suggest wearing a HRM and riding for an hour to exhaustion; that'll give you a gauge. Then compare how you feel after that to karate.

    My best guess is you're pushing 300 calories an hour max. You're doing something between cardio and body weight resistance training.

    It should be higher than 300. I do Krav Maga and per my FitBit burn 300 calories or so during a 60 minute class. But I’m 5’5, 128 pounds, female.
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
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    This is interesting as I start self-defence tomorrow and was wondering the same thing.
  • Butt_Snorkeler
    Butt_Snorkeler Posts: 167 Member
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    Instead of looking for excuses to log calories burned in hopes of eating them back, I would just use weight loss as an indicator. Losing too much? Up the calories. Looking just right? Leave it be.

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