Cardio vs. Strength on MFP

ashleygonzalez1
ashleygonzalez1 Posts: 12
in Fitness and Exercise
Forgive me if this topic has been posted before but I have a MFP question. When you log cardio, it adds calories back. When you strength train, it does not. I'm unsure why as sometimes strength training can get your heart rate up (Ie. push ups, dips, step ups, etc).

Generally, I ignore and do not eat the calories that are put back BUT I also know calories are burned in strength training, which is equally as important as cardio.

Do any of you put your strength training under cardio?

Replies

  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/help/faq/91-doesn-t-strength-training-burn-calories-why-don-t-you-show-any-calories-burned-for-strength-training
    Doesn't strength training burn calories? Why don't you show any calories burned for strength training?

    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'd like, you can add "Strength training" as a cardio exercise to get a rough estimate of how many calories you burned. Please be aware though that this is definitely a rough estimate and can be fairly inaccurate.

    I eat back my calories, so I enter minutes of strength training under cardio. But I don't do strength training very often, so I haven't been able to tell if the inaccuracy of the estimate is upping my calories too much.
  • Babygirl928
    Babygirl928 Posts: 378 Member
    I put mine under cardio. MFP numbers are "off" a lil so i refer to this website which seems to be very accurate from what me and Phil have looked over.
    www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc
    I then "add" my own excersize in under cardio. I dont know why it wont show cals burned in MFP under strength training!
    Hope this helped a little :smile:
  • treetop57
    treetop57 Posts: 1,578 Member
    If you're not eating exercise calories, it doesn't really matter if you enter strength training under cardio. You have a complete record if you just enter it under strength.
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
    I usually don't eat my calories back as a habit...but I do record my strength training as Cardio - I mainly do Crossfit for strength training and I manually enter it in under Cardio. I usually estimate my calorie burn based on what the workout is - the days when I am doing basic lifting I skew lower calorie burn...days when it is rounds of things and I work up a sweat I will skew higher. I wear my HRM from time to time just to check in but I feel pretty good about the calories burn I enter...

    Like I said I don't make it a habit to eat back my calories but do count them as the days I do workouts - especially strength I usually choose to have higher carb/sugar fruits and veggies...
  • ashleygonzalez1
    ashleygonzalez1 Posts: 12
    Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only person and thanks for finding that in the FAQ. I usually strength train daily with bursting cardio. I like to keep a log of what I'm doing and how it affects my 'calories in - calories out' ratio. I do a minute of step ups or push ups or anything that would be considered vigorous, then I kind of want to see how that affects the calories in the long run. :)

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