Calories Burned Weightlifting

When you're working out, one of the motivations may be to trim your weight. By knowing the number of calories you burn when weightlifting, you can motivate yourself to get to the gym and build muscle that helps to increase your metabolism.

Identification

Weightlifting burns 219 calories per hour for a person weighing 160 lbs. If you weigh 200 pounds, you'll burn more calories -- about 273 in an hour. For a 240-lb. weightlifter, the caloric burn in an hour is significantly more, about 327, according to MayoClinic.com.

Considerations

If you want to increase the calories burned during your weightlifting workout, increase your lifting intensity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that a vigorous weightlifting workout burns 440 calories per hour for a person weighing 154 lbs.

Types

Weightlifting isolates the muscle to increase your muscle mass. You can either lift free weights, such as dumbbells or barbells, or use equipment designed to isolate particular muscle groups, often called Nautilus equipment. The caloric burn figures stated by MayoClinic.com are for both types of weightlifting.

References

• MayoClinic.com: Exercise for Weight Loss: Calories Burned in 1 Hour
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity for a Healthy Weight