how many calories does lifting weights burn?

[325Ti]

I know this is an almost impossible question as it depends on weight / body fat / level of fitness

but if an average person was to do an hour in the gym - lifting weights - how much could he burn?

take an hour spent on chest - with minimal rest - using medium to high weights for medium to low reps

usual stuff - incline / flat / decline bench press and fly with free weights and then a few machines at the end?

[boothy1987]

250-400

[lawrence567]

If you want fat burn, it's cardio all the way!
Go for a power walk if you don't like running, or something like step-up's with an aerobic step!

[wurumal]

The MyFitnessPal app comes up with 220 calories for 60 mins of 'strength training'. It's pretty subjective though.

[mrmr96]

wurumal said:

The MyFitnessPal app comes up with 220 calories for 60 mins of 'strength training'. It's pretty subjective though.

Interestingly the same 60mins spent walking moderately (3.0mph) it reckons is 346 calories. Still subjective but you'd assume that the calories for different activities on that site are based on some kind of "standard person" so the ratio between activity types should be somewhat valid. (Of course it will depend on your build etc) But still, the point remains that cardio is way better at burning calories than doing weights it seems.

[stew-S160]

It really depends on the intensity of effort expended. A few hundred is a normal guesstimate though.

[wurumal]

mrmr96 said:

... But still, the point remains that cardio is way better at burning calories than doing weights it seems.

I guess it's because you aren't really 'active' the whole time when doing weights - do a set, rest a bit etc.

For losing weight though I would say it's not so simple. Weight training increases muscle mass, so you're burning more calories the rest of the time.

Personally, I'm training to gain weight, so I just make sure to eat 200 odd calories more on the days I'm at the gym!

[325Ti]

the 220 sounds low to me - I would say that I push myself pretty hard for the hour and am wrecked afterwards

I do cardio as well - but then its easy to tell what you burn as the machine tells you

I have also read that the "after burn" effect of weights means the body continues to burn calories afterwards where as cardio is a more short lived effect?

[325Ti]

my overall aim is to keep weight pretty similar - but replace my excess fat with more toned muscle

am 6' 3" and currently weight approx 15.5 stone - and would consider myself pretty broad shoulder wise etc

so as much as being classed "overweight" I dont have a huge amount of excess fat

[mrmr96]

wurumal said:

mrmr96 said:

... But still, the point remains that cardio is way better at burning calories than doing weights it seems.

I guess it's because you aren't really 'active' the whole time when doing weights - do a set, rest a bit etc.

For losing weight though I would say it's not so simple. Weight training increases muscle mass, so you're burning more calories the rest of the time.

I agree.

[anonymous-user]

Even if your primary goal is fat loss/weight loss, adding some weight/strength training into your routine is a good idea for several reasons:

A)as mentioned the actual act of weight training consumes calories in a similar fashion to cardio, but just not in as great an amount.

B)After you finish training for the day, your muscles will still continue to require calories and nutrients for many hours to begin to repar the damage you did, and ultimately grow larger.

C)Even at rest, it takes 13.8 calories a day to support and maintain 1lb of lean muscle mass. This means that increasing your muscle mass even a smaller amount from weight training will cause your body to digest more calories daily, giving less opportunity for those 'spare' calories to be converted to fat.

Or something!

[MocMocaMoc]

I'd suggest the calories burned would be negligible, but the effect on the body, i.e. the anabolic state you'd achieve, would offer some fat burning results...

Also, Obviously a bit of muscle never hurt anyone's appearance!!! (except Jodie Marsh?)

Happy for anyone to call bullsh*t! I'm a part time enthusiast! : )

[Hoofy]

Problem is, me with my 2lb pink dumbbells is going to burn next to nothing compared to Diddly who shoulder presses 4x4s as a warm up.

If you want to burn fat effectively, google "HIIT". If you want to have a weights element thrown in, try kettlebell circuits or HIIT powerlifting with low mass, high reps. This is essentially what the likes of P90X is and can improve body shape.

Increasing muscle mass will increase your calorie burning overall but this takes time to build and the "afterburn" isn't as effective as HIIT. In fact, I've gone from 5 HIIT sessions a week to 1-2 because I was losing too much weight for my liking. I've dropped kettlebells (not literally - I like my floorboards ) and only do the heavy setting on my gym bike to kill the legs.

Edited by Hoofy on Friday 4th January 12:29