Realistic calories burned with kettlebells

3443553
3443553 Posts: 16 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Can anyone help me figure out how many calories you burn doing a kettlebell workout? Because: more food. But my deficit is small, thus I don't want to overdo things.

I do about 40 minutes workouts. Swings, clean and press, squats, etc. When I say 40 minutes then that's the actual workout time without breaks. I'm drenched in sweat afterwards and my muscles feel like jelly despite being quite fit overall. I currently only use an 8kg kettlebell. I'm female 50, 70kg. When I log this as circuit training I get close to 400 calories, which sounds crazy. My Fitbit also gives me crazy burns. When I run 5km in 40 minutes I allow myself around 300 calories. I'm not sure if kettlebell workouts should be more than that.

Any suggestions?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Several things are really poor indicators of actual calorie burns while strength training:
    • Sweating (more to do with getting hot)
    • Muscle fatigue (more to do with being acclimatised to that particular exercise)
    • Heart rate trackers (it's not cardio and being interval in nature makes it even worse)

    I share your feeling that the circuit training entry in the database is very generous.

    I'd be tempted to use the Strength Training entry instead (but you log the entire duration including recovery time between sets as that is how the study that the entry is based on was conducted.)

    BTW - your 5k run is more like 350 net calories.
    https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
  • 3443553
    3443553 Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks a lot. When I use the strength entry I get about 200 calories, which sounds better I think. Thus thanks a lot. I wasn't aware of this entry. Note: I didn't really do a lot of breaks; about 15-20 seconds between sets just to catch my breath and get into position for the next one, and 3 minutes between the three groups of exercises. So I guess it's more like circuit training.

    Oh yes, running is a bit on the low side. I rather err a bit on it. Logging about 85% sounds good to me, and possibly accounts for other logging inaccuracies and the 'bodies are weird' factor. :D
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,004 Member
    Yeah, I think the gentleman whose name I'm simply not able to pronounce/type correctly is giving a good recommendation. I honestly have no idea why some web sources still quote something like 20 calories/minute nowadays. It's totally unrealistic and stupid. No idea how the study this was based on was conducted.

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