How many calories does burned per rep?

[h3358571]

Hi all

am wondering how many calories does weight lifting burn per rep? I heard 3 calories per

rep??! For example, if am lifting 20 kg 20 reps (1 set) in 20 seconds that’s mean

3x20 =60 burned calories?


thanks

[rdferguson]

Depends on the exercise and the intensity (%1RM). Supposedly a 1RM clean and jerk is up to about 15kcal. I'd be willing to bet a strict bicep curl is significantly less.

[alexb650]

You're gonna go crazy trying to calculate at that level of detail. That's like counting each grain of rice.

Try to look at it as cals per hour. For my size, intensity, rest periods, etc, I figure I burn 350 an hour on average. At least that's what I do. But, whatever works for you.

[gomez26]

if you're taking the latest high tech cutting supplements, this goes up to 3.25 cal per rep.

never sell yourself short.

[JOSEF RAKICH]

Not sure if serious..

[Greco-Roman]

It would be highly inaccurate, for multiple reasons to try and calculate this, but you can get a rough estimate, using physics.

Let's say you lift 100kg Let's make it a clean and jerk.

Force of gravity = 9.81m/s^2
(100)(9.81)=981 Newtons of Force lifted.
Now, a clean and jerk moves the weight, like, let's say 2.2 meters?
(981)(2.2)= 2158.2 Joules.
Now that is 515.82218 calories.
Now, human body calories usage is measured in the thousands of calories, so that's really 0.51582218 calories. That is the physical amount of energy required to clean and jerk 100kg 2.2 meters. However, this does not factor in muscle efficiencies, and metabolism changes, and facts like even if you just hold a weight, you are burning calories, however, no actual work is being done. (Like, with physical calculations, holding a weight = 0 joules, it moves 0 meters, so the equation is multiplied by 0. However, it does require energy to just hold something.)

So, it's very hard to accurately tell. Muscles, on average, are about 20% efficient, so that means it requires 5x the energy to move an object, so now 0.51582218*5 = 2.5791109 calories. Now, the only assumption made was about muscles thus far. If we assume that is correct, a clean and jerk of 100kg would require atleast that many calories, as we are not accounting for other things.

[chrsschb]

The cardio/workout trainer I bought for my phone (Cardio Trainer) says 1 hour of medium intensity weightlifting is around 200-250 calories. Sounds good to me

[Tyciol]

OP, the calories burned per exercise rep is something that varies on too many factors, it seems like a waste of time to calculate it to me. Just know that, the more reps you do, or the more resistance you use, you will generally be burning more calories.

There isn't even a formula to tell you how many calories will be burned barbell curling 50lbs for 10 reps. That's because people will burn different amounts depending on their anatomical differences (lever length, tendon attachment sites) as well as their skill in the lift.

[woodstein]

impossible to say for sure bro, because of factors such as your metabolism, intensity of training, exercise in question, weight used etc: too many variables.

You will probably on a good training day be burning somewhere between 15 to 20 calories per pound of body weight, according to a recent issue of Flex magazine or MD or something.

again, this is strongly dependent on all of the factors i have listed above.

[ger2oo5]

There isn't even a formula to tell you how many calories will be burned barbell curling 50lbs for 10 reps. That's because people will burn different amounts depending on their anatomical differences (lever length, tendon attachment sites) as well as their skill in the lift.

I would have thought that total body weight, lean body mass & intensity would be the most important variables when considering calories burnt during any activity?

[rxrocko]

bout tree fiddy OP.

[PeterGibbons316]

You actually can calculate it pretty easily. A calorie is a measure of energy, which is just force times distance, which is just mass times acceleration times distance. So if you lift a 100 kg weight 1 m, thats 980 joules of energy used, which is 0.234 calories.

This is a gross oversimplification. Your body is not 100% efficient, so while the energy required to move the weight is only 0.234 calories, you will actually need to spend much more than that to complete the movement. As you can see, the amount of energy required to actually lift weights is relatively small. The real calorie burn from weight lifting occurs during recovery, when your body uses energy to rebuild and repair the muscle broken down while lifting.

[DJAuto]

There are way too many variables to quantify.

[h3358571]

Thanks all really helpful information ^_*

[tysonclarke]

Dude...thank you.

I've been going crazy trying to figure this out for a few days now.

It makes the most sense to me to work this way. Most exercises are going to be 1 or 2 meters for a person my height, and I used to be a delivery driver and I delivered about 3.5 tonnes per day, a little over 1 meter off the ground. Stayed in pretty good shape.

Right now, I'm not in the greatest shape, but I feel like I get a pretty good workout lifting 3~4 tonnes , 1 meter, per day.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but with the added calories burned post workout, it might be something that works for me.

It would be highly inaccurate, for multiple reasons to try and calculate this, but you can get a rough estimate, using physics.

Let's say you lift 100kg Let's make it a clean and jerk.

Force of gravity = 9.81m/s^2
(100)(9.81)=981 Newtons of Force lifted.
Now, a clean and jerk moves the weight, like, let's say 2.2 meters?
(981)(2.2)= 2158.2 Joules.
Now that is 515.82218 calories.
Now, human body calories usage is measured in the thousands of calories, so that's really 0.51582218 calories. That is the physical amount of energy required to clean and jerk 100kg 2.2 meters. However, this does not factor in muscle efficiencies, and metabolism changes, and facts like even if you just hold a weight, you are burning calories, however, no actual work is being done. (Like, with physical calculations, holding a weight = 0 joules, it moves 0 meters, so the equation is multiplied by 0. However, it does require energy to just hold something.)

So, it's very hard to accurately tell. Muscles, on average, are about 20% efficient, so that means it requires 5x the energy to move an object, so now 0.51582218*5 = 2.5791109 calories. Now, the only assumption made was about muscles thus far. If we assume that is correct, a clean and jerk of 100kg would require atleast that many calories, as we are not accounting for other things.

[fitMarkku]

It would be highly inaccurate, for multiple reasons to try and calculate this, but you can get a rough estimate, using physics.

Let's say you lift 100kg Let's make it a clean and jerk.

Force of gravity = 9.81m/s^2
(100)(9.81)=981 Newtons of Force lifted.
Now, a clean and jerk moves the weight, like, let's say 2.2 meters?
(981)(2.2)= 2158.2 Joules.
Now that is 515.82218 calories.
Now, human body calories usage is measured in the thousands of calories, so that's really 0.51582218 calories. That is the physical amount of energy required to clean and jerk 100kg 2.2 meters. However, this does not factor in muscle efficiencies, and metabolism changes, and facts like even if you just hold a weight, you are burning calories, however, no actual work is being done. (Like, with physical calculations, holding a weight = 0 joules, it moves 0 meters, so the equation is multiplied by 0. However, it does require energy to just hold something.)

So, it's very hard to accurately tell. Muscles, on average, are about 20% efficient, so that means it requires 5x the energy to move an object, so now 0.51582218*5 = 2.5791109 calories. Now, the only assumption made was about muscles thus far. If we assume that is correct, a clean and jerk of 100kg would require atleast that many calories, as we are not accounting for other things.

How about your weight.. don't you also lift yourself up.. and doesn't that take calories too?

[beecherhouse]

You will burn about .10 calories per rep immediately.
Your overall burn per rep including the after burn is .33 calories
This calculation is based on bench press at 25% of you overall body weight.
Increasing the weight is directly proportional to the calculation.
So 50% of your body weight would be .20cals per rep and .66cals with after burn.

So if you weigh 200lbs and you want to burn 200 calories you would lift (bench press) 200 lbs. 151 times.
Or 15 sets of 10 reps.

The calories burned in total when your body tries to heal over the next 3 days would probably triple it.

[17mahmoods]

You will burn about .10 calories per rep immediately.
Your overall burn per rep including the after burn is .33 calories
This calculation is based on bench press at 25% of you overall body weight.
Increasing the weight is directly proportional to the calculation.
So 50% of your body weight would be .20cals per rep and .66cals with after burn.

So if you weigh 200lbs and you want to burn 200 calories you would lift (bench press) 200 lbs. 151 times.
Or 15 sets of 10 reps.

The calories burned in total when your body tries to heal over the next 3 days would probably triple it.

A stupid question with an even more stupid answer. Please don't bump ancient threads, especially one as ridiculous as this one.