Calculating Calories Burned While Strength Training

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theshow4jsu
theshow4jsu Posts: 380 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was trying to figure out how to calculate calorie burn during strength training. I know there are a lot of factors involved like my weight, metabolism, how much I'm lifting, etc... I'm trying to find maybe a website or android app that will help me since MFP won't calculate calorie burn for weight lifting.

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  • rachelleahsmom
    rachelleahsmom Posts: 442 Member
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    Under the cardio section of the exercise tab, you can put in strength training to get a general estimate. There are other listings, too, like sit ups and push ups. Good luck.
  • jfhaskell
    jfhaskell Posts: 14
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    I agree, I have found that the cardio tab has a heading called "circuit training general" that is pretty accurage at estimating the calorie count for strengh training.
  • anchoredhope
    anchoredhope Posts: 13
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    I've heard people on average burn 8-10 calories per minute of lifting weights. I usually go to the gym and calculate that 75% of my time there was actually spent lifting. Hope that helps :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I've heard people on average burn 8-10 calories per minute of lifting weights. I usually go to the gym and calculate that 75% of my time there was actually spent lifting. Hope that helps :)

    Realy 75% of the time. Most strength training routines have more rest then actual work (1-3 minutes between sets, and sets that take 30 seconds or so to complete), I would be more inclined to go with 25to 33%, or use the circuit training option as circuit training has limited rest periods unlike traditional strength training.
  • Jess22542
    Jess22542 Posts: 66
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    You're best bet is to buy a heart monitor. It will calculate accurately for you. Everything else is an estimate.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    You're best bet is to buy a heart monitor. It will calculate accurately for you. Everything else is an estimate.

    Not for strength training it won't as the calculation assumes you are working the whole time where strength training has a lot of rest periods and the HRM will over estimate you burn during the rest periods. If you pause it between sets it will be under estimated as you still burn between sets, but not as much as when you are lifting.

    HRM's are better at estimating caloric burn during cardio, when you are working out the whole time it is turned on.
  • tbrown1025
    tbrown1025 Posts: 165
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    You're best bet is to buy a heart monitor. It will calculate accurately for you. Everything else is an estimate.

    Not for strength training it won't as the calculation assumes you are working the whole time where strength training has a lot of rest periods and the HRM will over estimate you burn during the rest periods. If you pause it between sets it will be under estimated as you still burn between sets, but not as much as when you are lifting.

    HRM's are better at estimating caloric burn during cardio, when you are working out the whole time it is turned on.

    I'm curious as to how much "overcalculation" is done during the rest. The program I'm following has 1minute rests between sets,and my total rest time during this stage is 14minutes. My workouts generally take about 45-55minutes at this point. I lift heavy and my heart rate stays up during this one minute of rest, so technically my calorie burn during this minute IS higher than if I were just chilling at home on the couch, right?
  • starwhisperer
    starwhisperer Posts: 367
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    I don't rest nearly as much between sets. I do two exercises at a time like curls then straight into pushups. I only take a rest after all three sets of both. This way my momentum stays up, and I am still resting each muscle group in between sets. I think this is actually the purpose of circuit training over just weight lifting.
  • jamie31
    jamie31 Posts: 568 Member
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    Not for strength training it won't as the calculation assumes you are working the whole time where strength training has a lot of rest periods and the HRM will over estimate you burn during the rest periods. If you pause it between sets it will be under estimated as you still burn between sets, but not as much as when you are lifting.

    HRM's are better at estimating caloric burn during cardio, when you are working out the whole time it is turned on.




    What about when you are doing a circuit, with longer lifting periods ( 3 min) and 20 seconds of rest? I do the Insanity Asylum Strength and find myself out of breath almost the whole time. Its more like a cardio lifting workout, rather than just traditional lifting
  • jfhaskell
    jfhaskell Posts: 14
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    Also keep in mind that unlike most traditional cardio training, when you do resistance training you continue to burn calories at an accelerated rate for several hours after stopping the actual exercise. Try not to stress over getting it exact, its just an estimate anyway. If the specific exercise you are doing is not listed in the cardio section then use the "general circuit training" option. If you feel this option over estimates the calorie burn then use Strength Training Option. It is a little more conservative.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    You're best bet is to buy a heart monitor. It will calculate accurately for you. Everything else is an estimate.

    Not for strength training it won't as the calculation assumes you are working the whole time where strength training has a lot of rest periods and the HRM will over estimate you burn during the rest periods. If you pause it between sets it will be under estimated as you still burn between sets, but not as much as when you are lifting.

    HRM's are better at estimating caloric burn during cardio, when you are working out the whole time it is turned on.

    I'm curious as to how much "overcalculation" is done during the rest. The program I'm following has 1minute rests between sets,and my total rest time during this stage is 14minutes. My workouts generally take about 45-55minutes at this point. I lift heavy and my heart rate stays up during this one minute of rest, so technically my calorie burn during this minute IS higher than if I were just chilling at home on the couch, right?

    It's more than just the rest. The increased heart rate during traditional weight lifting is caused by a completely different physiological mechanism than the increased heart rate during cardio. During cardio, the increased heart rate is matched by an increase in oxygen uptake--during strength training it isn't. So, heart rate CANNOT be used as a measure of intensity during strength training.

    The actual direct calorie burn during strength training is fairly low--even for heavy squats, it's only about the equivalent of a light stroll. There is a greater non-aerobic component, but that cannot be measured by the average person.

    Personally, I am not a big fan of actively including exercise calories into an eating plan, but if you do, I would recommend no more than 200-400 depending on size and length of session. You can always play with the amount if it feel like it's too little.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Not for strength training it won't as the calculation assumes you are working the whole time where strength training has a lot of rest periods and the HRM will over estimate you burn during the rest periods. If you pause it between sets it will be under estimated as you still burn between sets, but not as much as when you are lifting.

    HRM's are better at estimating caloric burn during cardio, when you are working out the whole time it is turned on.




    What about when you are doing a circuit, with longer lifting periods ( 3 min) and 20 seconds of rest? I do the Insanity Asylum Strength and find myself out of breath almost the whole time. Its more like a cardio lifting workout, rather than just traditional lifting

    It depends. You have to think of a continuum, with one end being all resistance and zero cardio component (hypothetical of course) and the other end being all cardio with zero resistive component (also hypothetical). For any activity in between, the direct calorie burn (and the accuracy of an HRM) will vary according to its place on the continuum.

    For example, a study looking at a circuit training program with a portion of upper body, overhead strength exercises measured the average heart rate at 85% of maximum. During cardio exercise that would correspond to an oxygen uptake of 70% of maximum. However, the actual oxygen uptake was about 57%. So while that circuit workout definitely had a cardio training component, an HRM would substantially overestimate the calories burned.
  • tbrown1025
    tbrown1025 Posts: 165
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    You're best bet is to buy a heart monitor. It will calculate accurately for you. Everything else is an estimate.

    Not for strength training it won't as the calculation assumes you are working the whole time where strength training has a lot of rest periods and the HRM will over estimate you burn during the rest periods. If you pause it between sets it will be under estimated as you still burn between sets, but not as much as when you are lifting.

    HRM's are better at estimating caloric burn during cardio, when you are working out the whole time it is turned on.

    I'm curious as to how much "overcalculation" is done during the rest. The program I'm following has 1minute rests between sets,and my total rest time during this stage is 14minutes. My workouts generally take about 45-55minutes at this point. I lift heavy and my heart rate stays up during this one minute of rest, so technically my calorie burn during this minute IS higher than if I were just chilling at home on the couch, right?

    It's more than just the rest. The increased heart rate during traditional weight lifting is caused by a completely different physiological mechanism than the increased heart rate during cardio. During cardio, the increased heart rate is matched by an increase in oxygen uptake--during strength training it isn't. So, heart rate CANNOT be used as a measure of intensity during strength training.

    The actual direct calorie burn during strength training is fairly low--even for heavy squats, it's only about the equivalent of a light stroll. There is a greater non-aerobic component, but that cannot be measured by the average person.

    Personally, I am not a big fan of actively including exercise calories into an eating plan, but if you do, I would recommend no more than 200-400 depending on size and length of session. You can always play with the amount if it feel like it's too little.

    Thank you for the explanantion. I like to use the HRM for my own curiosity, but I don't track and eat it back. In fact, I'm using a set calorie guideline so I don't add exercisse in at all - I just eat my set calorie goal each day. Very interesting about the HRM and strength training though, especially in the camp that scream, "calories in versus calories out." Thanks again.

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