Monday, May 21st, 2012

Calories Burned Lifting Weights

Without knowing the proper equations to use to figure out calories burned lifting weights it will be virtually impossible to know how many are lost during a weight lifting routine. Calories are energy producing units of heat that are contained within food. One gram of body fat contains around 9 calories and 1 gram of protein or carbohydrates containe approxiatmately 4 calories. One pound of body fat has about 3500 calories. Not every person’s body contains the same amount of calories per pound or gram of fat, protein or carbohydrates. These numbers are not exact figures for every person but they represent the average amount of calories found within each of these substances contained within the body.

Medical and health experts estimate that the average person will lose about 120 calories for every 3 pounds of muscle that they add onto their frame. This means that 1 pound equals 40 calories burned lifting weights. They also claim that most people will lose an average of 9 calories a minute when they lift weights. Keep in mind that the amount of calories that are being used during a workout will vary among people. Factors such as age, intensity of workout, amount of weight being used, body shape and gender all play a role with determining how many calories a person will lose when a person pumps iron.

A person can figure out how many calories that they will burn off during a workout by using an individualized calculation proces. A useful equation that can be used to determine the amount of calories that are burned off during a workout is RMR x MET. RMR stands for resting metabolic rate and MET is an acronym for metabolic equivalent task.

The first thing a person must do in order to properly use this equation is to calculate their RMR. In order to properly calculate a person’s RMR they must be completely at rest after completing a workout. An equation must be used for this process as well. This equation is as follows 370 + 21.6 x FFM (fat free mass).

Fat free mass is also known as lean body mass and to calculate this figure for the equation a person must figure out their weight in kilograms and figure out their FFM in a percentage. A person must use the services of trained medical personnel in order to accurately determine their FFM. It is virtually impossible to accurately figure out a person’s body fat. This is why an individual must get the help of trained professionals who use various procedures to get a good estimate for fat content withint the body. Once they have this figure they will use the following equation.

Kilograms x (1 – 0.0n) = kilograms. Take the answer from this equation and multiply it by 21.6.

Here is an example of this equation.

A person weighs 90K and has 5% body fat. First calculate the FFM.

90k x (1 -0.05) = 90k x .95 = 85.5.

Next, take 85.5 and plug it into the RMR equation.

370 + 21.6 x 85.5 = 2,216.8.

The answer to this equation will represent the amount of calories that person will burn, while at rest, within a 24 hour time period. Dividing 2,216.8 by 24 (hours in a day) will represent how many calories a person will burn within an hour for each day. For this example, a person with a RMR of 2,216.8 will burn 92.36 calories while at rest for each hour of a day.

The next step is to calculate the MET rate for weight lifting. MET figures are available online or they might be available from health and fitness experts or organizations. Once a person determines the MET number for the type of weight lifting routine that they are engaging in they can multiply this number by their RMR and figure out calories burned lifting weights.
Using the same example, a person with an hourly RMR rate of 92.36 decides to perform a vigourous weight lifting routine. So the MET number for this type of workout will be 6.

The equation is 92.36 (hourly RMR) x 6 (MET rating for a vigourous weight lifting session) = 554.16.

So, for a person who weighs 90 kilograms with a 5% FFM will burn about 554 calories per hour during an intense or vigorous weight lifting session. This equation might seem a bit challenging for some people to figure out but it can be done once people practice and understand the process.

Another thing that a person can do is to contact a medical or health professional and have them determine the amount of calories burned lifting weights.

Keep in mind that people also tend to burn more calories after they have completed a weight lifting session. This is because weight lifting incresaes the metabolism in order to help a person’s body to expend more energy for lifting weights. So, a person will conitue to still lose calories once their weight lifting session has ended.