calories burned from weight training seems low

There is no way I am only burning 100 calories average from my intense, burn, push to fatigue resistance training. This calculator seems very off.

Burn Fat with Resistance Training
Boost Metabolism and Lose Weight

Read more: http://weight-loss-methods.suite101.com/article…

I agree. I think that the calories burned are just average numbers for a given exercise and are meant to give an idea of what you are burning.

When I do HIIT training, I get a low calories burned number in running or HIIT lifting and yet I know from how my heart is racing and chest heaving afterwards, that I have burned a lot more calories.

I wonder if there’s a way to take your normal resting heart rate, the time exercised, and what your heart rate averaged while exercising, and get a more accurate idea of calories burned.

The average HR should be enough.

Even slow sets but very high weight, should burn significantly more calories than this calculator is showing.

@daprettyboi,

There isn’t any way for the calculator to know how many calories you actually burn in resistance training. It really depends on you – your fitness level, your strength, the resistance you choose. So it has to assume a lot.

If you want a more accurate number of calories, you should look into getting a heart rate monitor. Most of them will determine calories burned for you, based on your height, weight, and heart rate.

That said, getting an accurate number of calories out of any of your workout calculators isn’t super important. As long as you are eating in the correct calorie range Daily Burn gave you for your average activity level (and be honest when selecting your activity level!), you should lose weight.

I thought the same thing when I saw 100 calories per workout. I wish there was a way to manually enter calories burned for an entire workout and not just per exercise. I think it’s safe to assume 350-400 calories per vigorous weight lifting session. I’d like to see that reflected in my stats.

What if he is trying to gain weight though….

@justrinrowland26, well, since he is in the lose 10 lbs challenge, I assumed he wanted to lose weight. It’s different of course if he is trying to bulk, but then he should be eating in excess of his BMR by enough that a few hundred calories difference shouldn’t matter.

I would like to add that the burning sensation in the muscles and the pain are not good indicators of calorie burn. What you are experiencing is the muscles as limiter of maximum performance. So that’s why it hurts like hell and perhaps you shake all over. But your HR might only be around 150-170, and just for the short duration of the lifts. Then it will fall down to perhaps 120-140, depending on individuals and form.
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Compare that with running. Then you will probably stay at say 150 for the whole duration of the run, perhaps much higher. But you wont experience the sensation of muscle burn or muscle failure.
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During cycling rides I can average a HR of 150 – 155 during a rather aggressive ride, this can perhaps last for just under four hours. But it could just as well last for six hours. During competition you can average much higher HR.
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Why am I talking about running and cycling? I’m just putting things in perspective. Weightlifting can be hardcore mind numbing perspiring madness, but the average HR does not necessarily reflect that.

As a comparison, here is a chart showing how many calories people of various weights will burn doing various activities.

http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist3.htm

In an hour, a person weighing 190 lbs will burn 863 calories doing what I consider to be a moderate, not very stressful run (10 minutes per mile). He’d burn 1380 calories on a more intense run (6 minutes per mile)

That same person will burn only 259 calories doing moderate weight lifting, or 518 calories intense weightlifting. And that weight lifting would have to be continuous – no waiting between sets. I’m assuming it alternates sets between different muscle groups.

So you may be pushing to a burn, but you are probably only burning 1/3 the calories you’d burn doing cardio. In that light, 100 calories burned during your excercise is probably not so far off.

I was just throwing the question out there not specifically saying in this case.

…and he is benching 405 I don’t think it even comes close to running a 10 minute mile.

@justinrowland26, I wasn’t contradicting you. My post was meant more as follow-up to what you were saying. I think you are right in that the original poster assumed that feeling muscle burn meant he was burning a lot of calories.

dianebl very good information. Loose 10 pounds of Fat, yes, but gain 10 pounds of muscle. A more accurate measurement for me and a goal would be body fat 14% cut to 7%. As for calories burned, I have seen conflicting information on this topic, and depending on the focus of the trainer, the data is changed per article. Resistance weight training burns more calories than cardio, it has been proven over and over. For those people over weight, who think they are going to cardio the fat of by running, riding on bike or even using an Elliptical Trainer are sadly mistaken. I equate this to watching over weight people do sit ups, and crunches…. And unlike other forms of exercise that burn calories only while you’re working out, weight lifting keeps on incinerating calories for hours after you stop, experts say. It increases your metabolic activity for the entire day — not only when you are challenging your muscles, but also during the repair process that occurs when you stop working out. Any serious body builder can basically cut cardio out of his routine, and shed fat before a show. I challenge you to look at any body building magazine and fine cardio workouts. As for time versus activity, I suggest a google search of Tabata. That 4 min routine will destroy even the best fit person in 4 min, I am sure you are burning way more calories then the 50 or so that are listed on the the average calories burned per time done chart.

Weight training has the benefit of burning calories for up to 24 hours after activity.

@daprettyboy
I would really like to see those articles that prove that cardio burns less than resistance training.
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Tabata training like any interval training will crush anyone hare enough to push himself enough. So a fit person will just do more than an unfit person, but suffer just as well.
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On Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC): You don’t just get EPOC from lifting weights, you also get it from cardio when it is intense enough. (When I speak of cardio then I include HIIT type of training, and all other intensities).
Here are some interesting links on EPOC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exerci…
http://weighttraining.about.com/b/2009/06/29/do…

Here’s some good articles on how it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/stead…

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/stead…

@ arnthorla, “intense” is your key word. For every person in the gym i see doing cardio, maybe 1/20 are doing “intense” cardio. So your argument is really subjective at best. Furthermore, if you believe in evidence based medicine, articles really don’t “prove” arguments, cases do. Articles are biased towards funding sources.
Lyrica makes a great point, for best results it should be combined, unless your are trying to gain size and strength.
OP is about calories burned and this website calculation being off… any other discussion not really relevant.

@daprettyboi
Yes, Lyrica made the point pretty much for me. :)
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“And unlike other forms of exercise that burn calories only while you’re working out, weight lifting keeps on incinerating calories for hours after you stop, experts say. It increases your metabolic activity for the entire day — not only when you are challenging your muscles, but also during the repair process that occurs when you stop working out.”
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Yes it is about intensity, not just weightlifting.
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And to add to that, there is a limit to how much you can burn with weight lifting + the EPOC. But there is not much limit to the length of a steady state workouts duration. And that will easily tromp weightlifting + the EPOC. Besides EPOC is also affected by duration of cardio session, so you get EPOC there too.
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A bit more scientific stuff about EPOC:
http://www.drlenkravitz.com/Articles/epocarticl…
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About OP. Well you know what you meant by your original post. But you must admit that it lends it self quite logically to this development of topic. Especially considering what you added later about weightlifting in regards to calorie burn is not entirely accurate.

“What you are experiencing is the muscles as limiter of maximum performance.” Someone needs a biochemisty class or two…

Unless you are a certified trainer, I would suggest you keep opinions as that, and not claim them as factual as I am sure there is much debate about this very topic. Any professional athlete that is training in the off season uses weight lifting, and interval training, supplemented with cardio, not the other way around…. Even if you look at movie stars who had to change their body type for certain rolls in movies, Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) , Will Smith (Ali), the actors that trained for 300. As you can read, NONE of these work out regimens centered around cardio….I dare you to suggest otherwise. We can all google the workouts, and the body transformations that took place.
http://munfitnessblog.com/how-to-build-body-lik…
http://www.howcelebritiesloseweight.com/hugh-ja…
http://www.mensfitnessmagazine.co.uk/exercise/o…
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/…
http://munfitnessblog.com/how-to-build-300-warr…

And yes OP was about the web site calculator for calories burned. I can loaf my way through a 60 min cardio workout and this web site, will say i burn 5-6 times more calories than when I lift weights, which is very inaccurate.

@daprettyboi
I’m not sure what you are referring to when you say I need to inform myself in biochemistry. I actually did some in uni. I wont say I am knowledgeable in biochemistry but I know it a little bit. Actually I think you meant to say that I needed a class in physiology. I have no background there, but I know some stuff there too. ;)
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What professional athletes do, depends on the sport and on the individuals. In most cases they do some strength training during the off season. But this has nothing to do with the topic.
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Endurance athletes (there are many other type of sports and many ways to train) train mostly aerobic, and do interval training when it comes close to competitions. There is plenty of threshold work all year around (work close to lactic threshold, to raise it or to keep it from falling). Interval training is used to “peak” the form. You can peak two times a year maximum. I’m not sure where you are going with this.
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I have no idea what holliwood actors do to look good in movies and I don’t really care. The easiest way for them to do what they do is to get a personal trainer and a dietitian, and not least a personal doctor to juice them up properly. – Using movie stars as reference for anything at all is rather misguided in my view.
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I am also a bit curious to know what ‘cardio’ is in your mind. How do you define cardio?
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I’m kind of lost to what you are trying to say in general.

No I said Biochem for a reason…not physio. Now I really know you have no clue.

What is the topic again? Let’s start with the “major” professional sports in America, Football, check…Basketball, check…. Baseball, check…Hockey check….Soccer check…Next?

You have no clue what “hollywood” actors do for body transformation, that is obvious, but I have linked several programs for you. Maybe you should “care” as some of the work they do shows proven results… FYI, “doctors” don’t juice clients for aesthetic reasons….. but you didn’t take biochem so how would you know…..?

“Using movie stars as reference for anything at all is rather misguided in my view.” Mensfitness does it, as well as every other fitness magazine. They might be onto something. But “your” view is all that counts here right?

Lost, read OP….. I burn more calories from weight training, than I do from just doing cardio…. The calculator is off.

@daprettyboi
The calculator is off, it is always off, its nothing new. That is why you should use a HR monitor. You might get 300 – 400 cals. Who knows with EPOC you might get 50 – 100 cals.
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Please explain what exactly you are referring to in biochemistry.

@daprettyboi,

getting back to topic, you’ve acknowledged that part of the calories that weight lifting burns are burned AFTER the workout, right? But the calculator is only showing what was burned DURING the workout. It doesn’t care about after. I’m sure you are burning more after, especially since your body has to repair the damage done to the muscle, but that’s not included in the calories shown.

And since you’ve said things like “seems very off”, and “no way am I burning only 100 calories”, that implies that you are not sure of the exact number you are burning during your workout. You feel it should be more, but you have no evidence yet that it is.

So unless you can get a heart rate monitor to prove what you are actually burning during the workout, there really isn’t a point to discuss this futher, is there?

Why are people coming on this site, making a couple of posts, and them slamming people who have been a part of this community for a much longer time?

@daprettyboi: I agree that the calculator is way off…..WAY OFF! But, I take issue with your statement that people who aren’t certified personal trainers shouldn’t post facts on the forums. If that were the case then their would be no conversations. I also disagree with your assertion that somehow personal trainers are the arbiters of truth in the fitness industry. Personal Training Certifications simply tell me that someone knows enough about fitness that they aren’t likely to hurt someone in the gym. But, it tells me nothing about thier degree of research skills.

EPOC is something that is highly debated in the industry. Some claim that its leading to hundreds of extra calories being burned throughout a day. But, the research can’t confirm that. There are studies that seem to find that effect, some that find the effect but note that its very minimal, and those who seem to show that it doesn’t happen at all. The answer is that we don’t really know how much effect EPOC has. I think its far less than we tend to think that it is. And I’m strongly biased towards weight lifting over cardio.

I agree with your assertions about the people wasting time on treadmills and cardio equipment. But, I can’t argue with the proven fact that intense running burns more calories than any equivalent amount of time spent in the gym.

I agree with alot of the way in which you think. We’d probably enjoy lifting together. But, I can’t comprehend why you feel the need to belittle others on an internet forum.

Because annoying when people talk out of their ass when they don’t really understand what they are talking about. Just because he hasn’t belonged to this “community” as long as other people doesn’t mean he cant defend his opinion.


“But, the research can’t confirm that. There are studies that seem to find that effect, some that find the effect but note that its very minimal, and those who seem to show that it doesn’t happen at all. The answer is that we don’t really know how much effect EPOC has. I think its far less than we tend to think that it is.”
And are you sure about that statement you might want to check your souses on that one again.

Yes sorry, most of my training has been done on pad and paper, call me old school. I ran into this web site on accident, and really didn’t use it until iphone apps were released.

@chaddukes I could care less about post counts….Wrong information is wrong, no disrespect meant… I have been part of bodybuilding.com for over 5 years. Any serious metabolic change, body type change, and real progress comes from resistance training supplemented by cardio, not the other way around…Again I point you to professionals, not sponsored articles. Look at actual cases, results, and develop your own conclusions supported by evidence. “belittle others on an internet forum” not even going there with you….Definitely not my intent

@ dianebl unless you are trying to tell me that this calorie count is accurate, then there is no point in your argument, or continued development of. HR monitor is guess work at best. Back to original post, Estimated calories burned are low, much lower than other predicted values.

In conclusion, if you want a nice body, want to change the way you look, do not rely on cardio….You will not find Marathon runners, Cyclists or Triathletes on the cover of magazines like http://www.mensfitness.com/ unless they use weight training.

http://munfitnessblog.com/how-to-build-body-lik…