Although there are plenty of charts on the Internet that you can consult to try to estimate the calories you burn during a given amount of time while doing a given activity, those numbers are, at best, rough estimates. Larger bodies burn more calories during an equal period of exertion. Beyond that, it's difficult, if not impossible, to accurately gauge the intensity level you put into an exercise. While sports scientists can pinpoint the amount of calories your body burns by administering a VO2max test, it's possible to estimate accurately your caloric burn using a heart monitor if you know your body weight.
Step 1
Weigh yourself before your workout and record your weight in pounds.
Step 2
Warm up for your workout as you usually would, taking the normal time to loosen up and bring up your heart rate to exercise-pace levels.
Step 3
Turn on your heart monitor and exercise as you normally would. Shut off your monitor before your cool-down period. Record your average heart rate.
Step 4
Apply the data you collected into caloric expenditure models to calculate the amount of calories you burned per minute during your workout.
For men: Calories burned per minute = [(0.6309 x average heart rate) + (0.0904 x weight in pounds) + (0.2017 x age in years) -- 55.0969]/4.184
For women: Calories burned per minute = [(0.4472 x average heart rate) + (0.0574 x weight in pounds) + 0.074 x age in years)]/4.184
Step 5
Multiply your calories burned per minute figure by the number of minutes you spent at the peak of your workout to calculate your workout's overall caloric consumption.
Things You'll Need
- Scale
- Electronic heart monitor
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