So i'm trying to get off these last 10 lbs, and since i'm at my lowest weight (since 6th grade maybe??) it's becoming harder to lose and i really am trying to keep track of my numbers.
That being said, i'm curious as to how many calories i should consider burned during a typical weight lifting class at my gym. For example, tonight I ran 5 miles on the treadmill adn counted that at 450. Afterwards, I took an hour class at my gym called Definitions - think lunges, resistance exercises with weights, ab exercises, etc. However, i have NO idea what to put down as a calorie burn. Ideally, i'd like to put down net calorie burn, as that is what I do with the calories burned during my runs.
I love the weight classes as I do like the definition it gives me, but I know even though it's an hour class, i don't sweat NEARLY as much as I do doing cardio.
I read a good article explaining why cardio trumps resistance training for pure calorie burn. As you noted, you don't sweat nearly as much when doing weights as you do when doing vigorous aerobic exercise. Which means you're burning significantly more calories, minute for minute, doing cardio than weights -- perhaps 500 vs. 300 per hour. Even if the weight training gives you new muscle, the extra calories burned by this muscle are negligible compared to the extra calories burned during an aerobic workout.
I've read a similar article to what freelance mentioned. In fact, some time ago, I posted a link to it in the Exercise section (you may be able to find it by searching using my screen name).
With that said, I definitely would include ST anyway. I like how it tones me. I can see tightness and definition in my arms that I do not believe would be there if I didn't do any ST. So, I do two ST fitness classes a week and the rest cardio.
In New Rules of Lifting for Women it states it a little differently. It explains that during the session you may not burn as much but through out the day you continually burn calories as your muscles heal so in the end it is more beneficial.
Also the weight lifting will make you smaller. What's more important, the number lost or the size you end up'?
If you are super curious to find out, I recommend getting a heart rate monitor. You can input your age, sex, weight, and it will determine your calories burned via your heart rate....
That saying, I did P90x Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, and abripperx...I only burned 246 calories in just over an hour, my heart rate during the lifting never got above 110..which is LOW! Usually when I do the Kenpo I will get in the high 160s which kills calories.
However, just because you don't burn a lot of calories doing anarobic exercise, doesn't mean you don't get a GOOD workout. You need lean muscle to burn more calories while resting. So I know you really wanna kill the calories, but don't omit strength training!
IF anything do strength training, and if you feel you need to burn more calories do 20 mins of hard cardio afterwards!
I wear a heart rate monitor when lifting weights. I was doing the New Rules for Women program and would burn 500 cals in 60 minutes. That's pretty good!! Lifting heavy weights works your heart as well as your muscles and it burns calories! Because there are periods of intense effort followed by rest, it kind of works like high intensity intervals, as well.
When I wore a heart rate monitor, circuit-training style lifting consistently gave me a heart rate at or higher than my typical cardio rate. Now, if you're doing a set of something, sitting and resting, etc, your heartrate won't be that high. But if you keep moving from one exercise to the next, you will definitely get a similar burn to cardio. Then on TOP of that, you get the increased calorie burn after your workout from the muscle repair, and the increased calorie burn from having more muscle overall.
<<In New Rules of Lifting for Women it states it a little differently. It explains that during the session you may not burn as much but through out the day you continually burn calories as your muscles heal so in the end it is more beneficial.>>
The article I mentioned DID address this. Muscle burns 6 calories per pound per day, compared to 2 calories per pound per day for fat. So even if your resistance training leads to a net replacement of 5 pounds of fat with 5 pounds of new muscle (which is a stretch), you'd only be burning an extra 20 calories over the course of the day (6-2 x 5). That's negligible compared to the caloric difference between typical cardio and weight workouts.
For some reason, people have vastly overplayed the caloric benefit of having extra muscle from weight training. As far as I can tell from my research, the real benefit of strength training lies in, well, strength.
At the same time I agree with the poster who noted that a vigorous weight session has an aerobic component as well.
Freelance
Last edited by freelancemomma; 02-23-2012 at 12:52 PM.
calories burned cardio v. weight lifting
