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How Many Calories Are Burned Weight Lifting? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Can You Burn Meaningful Calories Lifting Weights?

Dear Fitness Nerd,

How many calories are burned during weight lifting? I ask because I lift weight 5-6 days a week, but really hate doing cardio. If I’m trying to keep body fat off, are the calories burned through weight lifting enough? Or do I have to do cardio on top of it? – Adam  (Waco, Texas)

The amount of calories you burn weight lifting depends on your weight, the intensity of your weight training, and the duration (and your age, to some extent, but this is less important.)

A 180 lb male performing 60 minutes of  weight training with vigorous effort (meaning little or no rest periods between sets) and at an intensity that causes your heart rate to remain somewhat elevated during exercise would burn approximately 400-475 calories weight lifting.

If you tend to take long rests between sets and your intensity is lower, the same person can expect to burn around 250 calories weight lifting for one hour.

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Is Cardio Better Before or After Lifting Weights? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

When Is the Best Time To Perform Cardio: Before or After Lifting Weights? Or Does It Even Matter?

Dear Fitness Nerd,

Is it better to do cardio before or after you lift weights? I’ve been following your full body workout routine and love it, but I’d also like to slip in some cardio on top of the weight training. What are your thoughts? Should I lift weights before I do cardio? I’ve searched online and seem to get mixed opinions which is better. Any help would be appreciated. –  Andrew (Chapel Hill, NC)

Andrew, I get this question quite a bit. In fact, it’s probably one of the most frequently asked questions in the comments area on the Answer Fitness full body workout routine.

Whether it’s better to perform your cardio before or after lifting weights really depends on your current conditioning, stamina — and to a certain extent — your mindset. There are also some physiological  and scientific reasons you might preference weight lifting over cardio earlier in your workout — but even here you’ll find some disagreement among trainers, exercise physiologists and even bodybuilders.

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