P90X calories burned estimate?

[sandersonlax05]

Does anyone know/have a rough estimate for how many calories a 170lbs man would lose during each P90X exercise? An hour in a spinning class is anywhere from 900-1100 (so I've heard) so I was just wondering roughly how many you would burn during and hour of P90X.

The first month routine is the following:

Chest & Back
Plyometrics
Shoulders and Arms
Yoga
Legs & Back
Kenpo
Stretch (or Rest)

I wouldn't mind if someone just said "an hour in the gym doing chest and back circuit training (because that's sorta P90X) is roughly ______". I just want a rough estimate. If anyone actually has a body monitor who has an exact calories burned number and did P90X (for any weight) that would be interesting to know too. Thanks guys-

[jwheeler2542]

Does anyone know/have a rough estimate for how many calories a 170lbs man would lose during each P90X exercise? An hour in a spinning class is anywhere from 900-1100 (so I've heard) so I was just wondering roughly how many you would burn during and hour of P90X.

The first month routine is the following:

Chest & Back
Plyometrics
Shoulders and Arms
Yoga
Legs & Back
Kenpo
Stretch (or Rest)

I wouldn't mind if someone just said "an hour in the gym doing chest and back circuit training (because that's sorta P90X) is roughly ______". I just want a rough estimate. If anyone actually has a body monitor who has an exact calories burned number and did P90X (for any weight) that would be interesting to know too. Thanks guys-

The actual thing says it burns about 600 calories so id go ahead and say that. Insanity claims to burn 1000 if thats what youre going for.

[cshannon53]

I'm kinda torn on this question because calorie burning and muscle development are two separate subjects... but I do believe the "average" P90X workout burns about 600calories per hour... most videos are 1hr long +15min abripperX.

However, I am going to say that Plyometrics, KenpoX, and Legs+Back are going to burn way more than 600calories (if you do them seriously) while Shoulders/Tris/Chest + Yoga will burn less than 600 calories.

Now if you compare that to a 30-45minute insanity workout, I agree with the above post, you'll probably burn 1000calories/PER HOUR on average per workout, but different insanity workouts are harder than others, that and in the early stages of insanity you're only doing 30 mins and at the end you're doing 45mins-60mins.

Then there is spinning classes. Yes they burn a ton of calories, but where is the muscle development? I know P90X is more about calorie burning than weight lifting... but there is an aspect of muscle growth - it's just not that big. Cycling has almost zero muscle growth... and circuit training (depending on intensity) could have minimal cardio impact or minimal muscle growth.

TL;DR:

Casual Circuit Training: 500-600 calories/hr
P90X (and getting into it) 550-700 calories/hr (depends on video)
Intense Circuit Training: 600-800 calories/hr (less muscle development)
Insanity (getting into it): 800-1100 calories/hr

[gerryh777]

Does anyone know/have a rough estimate for how many calories a 170lbs man would lose during each P90X exercise? An hour in a spinning class is anywhere from 900-1100 (so I've heard) so I was just wondering roughly how many you would burn during and hour of P90X.

The first month routine is the following:

Chest & Back
Plyometrics
Shoulders and Arms
Yoga
Legs & Back
Kenpo
Stretch (or Rest)

I wouldn't mind if someone just said "an hour in the gym doing chest and back circuit training (because that's sorta P90X) is roughly ______". I just want a rough estimate. If anyone actually has a body monitor who has an exact calories burned number and did P90X (for any weight) that would be interesting to know too. Thanks guys-

I did a full round of P90X...good workout. I think their calories are waaay over estimated at 600 per workout. I always laugh when I go to P90X boards and I hear 150lb people saying their calorie burn watches are saying they burned 900 calories doing Kenpo X.

Consider this: for a medium size man 45 minutes of weighlifting only burns around 250 calories. Running at a good pace for 30 minutes burns around 400 calories. So don't tell me that Kenpo X will burn 900.

A good estimation that worked for me and that I based on the time and level of cardio work was this:

Chest/Back - around 350
Arms & Shoulders - around 300
Legs & Back - around 350
Kenpo X - around 400
Plyometrics - around 600
Yoga - around 400

This provided you follow the program closely and keep your rest times based on the DVD (to keep your heart rate up). If you are trying to lose weight that is what I would calculate. Add that to your maintenance level and then cut 500 calories a day. If you are just trying to get fit, eat around 2400 clean calories and you will lose fat and gain a little muscle.

By the way, one hour of spinning is more like 600 calories.

[PeterGibbons316]

Alright, well I'm a 200 pound guy and here is about what I burn according to my heart rate monitor.....

Sunday (Chest & Back/Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps) - 450/350 calories
Monday (Plyo) - 500 calories
Tuesday (Shoulders & Arms/Back & Biceps) - 400/550 calories
Wednesday (Cardio) - 400 calories
Thursday (Legs & Back) - 550 calories
Friday (Kenpo) - 400 calories

Ab Ripper adds about 100 calories to those numbers.

I never pause the DVDs, do 5-8 reps of pullups during each pullup variant, 10-20 pushups, 20-25lbs x 8-10 reps on curls and tricep extensions, 50 lbs. x 15 reps on lawnmowers, 35 lbs. x 8-10 on rows/presses, and I do 10-12 dips on a dip stand instead of doing the chair dips that they do. It's by no means impressive, but will give you an idea of the kind of weight I am moving.

I have no concept of how well my HRM estimates calories burned but from an intensity level standpoint this makes sense - I work a lot harder and move a lot more weight on back days, cardio is a little more intense than kenpo but only 45 minutes instead of an hour, and plyo of course is the most intense of the cardio days.

Also - every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday I spend 10 minutes doing 5 sets of pullups (30-40 reps total) before I start the P90X routine.

I have had days where I burn 600 calories or more, but those are above average. Hope that helps!

[gerryh777]

Alright, well I'm a 200 pound guy and here is about what I burn according to my heart rate monitor.....

Sunday (Chest & Back/Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps) - 450/350 calories
Monday (Plyo) - 500 calories
Tuesday (Shoulders & Arms/Back & Biceps) - 400/550 calories
Wednesday (Cardio) - 400 calories
Thursday (Legs & Back) - 550 calories
Friday (Kenpo) - 400 calories

Ab Ripper adds about 100 calories to those numbers.

I never pause the DVDs, do 5-8 reps of pullups during each pullup variant, 10-20 pushups, 20-25lbs x 8-10 reps on curls and tricep extensions, 50 lbs. x 15 reps on lawnmowers, 35 lbs. x 8-10 on rows/presses, and I do 10-12 dips on a dip stand instead of doing the chair dips that they do. It's by no means impressive, but will give you an idea of the kind of weight I am moving.

I have no concept of how well my HRM estimates calories burned but from an intensity level standpoint this makes sense - I work a lot harder and move a lot more weight on back days, cardio is a little more intense than kenpo but only 45 minutes instead of an hour, and plyo of course is the most intense of the cardio days.

Also - every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday I spend 10 minutes doing 5 sets of pullups (30-40 reps total) before I start the P90X routine.

I have had days where I burn 600 calories or more, but those are above average. Hope that helps!

I tend to agree with your numbers. They seem about right to me.

[PeterGibbons316]

Also for comparison - I have been running a lot recently training for a mini-marathon and run about a 10 minute mile and burn calories at a rate of about 100 calories/mile. Plyo is the only exercise that even comes close to burning calories as quickly as running does, and certainly the only one that gets my heart rate up and keeps it up for an extended period of time.

[Aspect]

I did a full round of P90X...good workout. I think their calories are waaay over estimated at 600 per workout. I always laugh when I go to P90X boards and I hear 150lb people saying their calorie burn watches are saying they burned 900 calories doing Kenpo X.

Consider this: for a medium size man 45 minutes of weighlifting only burns around 250 calories. Running at a good pace for 30 minutes burns around 400 calories. So don't tell me that Kenpo X will burn 900.

A good estimation that worked for me and that I based on the time and level of cardio work was this:

Chest/Back - around 350
Arms & Shoulders - around 300
Legs & Back - around 350
Kenpo X - around 400
Plyometrics - around 600
Yoga - around 400

This provided you follow the program closely and keep your rest times based on the DVD (to keep your heart rate up). If you are trying to lose weight that is what I would calculate. Add that to your maintenance level and then cut 500 calories a day. If you are just trying to get fit, eat around 2400 clean calories and you will lose fat and gain a little muscle.

By the way, one hour of spinning is more like 600 calories.

I agree with him, this looks pretty accurate. I'm about to complete a round of p90x ans this info looks pretty accurate. The only one id say that burns around 600 is plyo, the rest around 350ish

[Lucharilla0311]

Good rule of thumb in general here guys is to overestimate calories consumed and underestimate any calorie expenditure from training.