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Best way to track weightlifting HR and calorie burn?

N

NazgulRR

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 4, 2010
423
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What would you say is the best approach for tracking HR and calorie burn while weighlifting / strenght training using the built in Workout app on the watch?

I was thinking of going with the "other" setting in the app set to "open goal" and then tracking the workout only while doing the sets (i.e., manually pausing the app between the sets during the rest periods).

What do you think?
 
I did this today and it says I burnt close to 500 calories in an hour with avg heart rate of 115
 
Just joined, but I would be interested to hear what you guys think is the best way to use this device when weightlifting as well.
 
If you really got that cardio going (which weightlifting does) than 115bpm seem very low
 
Pair the watch with a Bluetooth heart rate monitor for more consistent and accurate hr readings. The AW hr monitor is good for the provided workouts but has difficulty staying locked on during weight training. Set the "other" workout to whatever goal you want and go to it. No need to pause between sets cause you're burning calories during activity and rest periods. It's accurate. I've been doing it this way and tracking my hr and calories for a couple years now.
 
Set my to “other” and don’t pause between the sets, kinda keeps me from talking to ppl at the gym and when I do supersets it’s nice to see how quick I recover. After all recovery is part of the workout. I usually burn about 250 in an hour or so depending on what I’m doing like leg day burns way more than say chest and back which seems consistent with the previous measurements and estimations I made.
 
NazgulRR said:
... was thinking of going with the "other" setting in the app set to "open goal" and then tracking the workout only while doing the sets (i.e., manually pausing the app between the sets during the rest periods).

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I do this every day I weight train.
 
I would not lift weights with a watch on. I would run are do some cardio but lifting weights are doing any other physical activities with a watch on is crazy.
 
That's the average, so presumably peak heart rate during sets gets up to ~150, but during rests goes back to 100 or so.

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NazgulRR said:
What would you say is the best approach for tracking HR and calorie burn while weighlifting / strenght training using the built in Workout app on the watch?

I was thinking of going with the "other" setting in the app set to "open goal" and then tracking the workout only while doing the sets (i.e., manually pausing the app between the sets during the rest periods).

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I personally just set it on "other" and leave it for the whole session. This is what it looked like for me yesterday. Did 5x5 Squats, 5x5 Bench, 5x5 Row, 3x5 dips, 3x8 curls. My guess is it's overestimating calories burned by 50% or so, but I'm not too worried about it.

EJsm4c9.jpg


The other thing I did for lifting was flip the watch so the crown is away from my wrist. With the crown toward my wrist, the elastic collar on my lifting gloves would constantly press the crown in during reps.
 
Bigboi said:
I would not lift weights with a watch on. I would run are do some cardio but lifting weights are doing any other physical activities with a watch on is crazy.
Click to expand...

The :apple:Watch is designed and optimized to be worn during all awaken hours. If you are not wearing it you are missing calories, standing, movement and.... It is "crazy' not wear it.:D
 
acosmichippo said:
Image
Click to expand...
If you don't mind, can you provide your age and weight? Also, are you a man or woman?

There's a formula that can estimate calories burned if you have the following data.

Gender
Average HR
Duration
Age
Weight

The Nike+iPod app uses this information to estimate calories in an HR workout

Equations for Determination of Calorie Burn if VO2max is Unknown

Male: ((-55.0969 + (0.6309 x HR) + (0.1988 x W) + (0.2017 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T
Female: ((-20.4022 + (0.4472 x HR) - (0.1263 x W) + (0.074 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T
where

HR = Heart rate (in beats/minute)
W = Weight (in kilograms)
A = Age (in years)
T = Exercise duration time (in hours)

HR Calorie Formulas
 
Last edited:
My Fitbit Charge HR generally calculates that I burn about 250 calories during a 40 minute weight lifting sessions (which includes a 7-10 minute treadmill warmup). Avg BPM 130.

(5'10" M, 160lbs)
 
Thanks for all the responses guys! I let the app run constantly today during my workout, without pausing in between breaks.

I am wondering above the following tho:
The "other" setting apparently logs the activity as a brisk walk if the watch cannot get a good HR reading. Any way on how to find out if/when it does that?


ftaok said:
There's a formula that can estimate calories burned if you have the following data.

Gender
Average HR
Duration
Age
Weight

The Nike+iPod app uses this information to estimate calories in an HR workout

The formula for women is [(-20.4022 + (.4472 x heart rate) + (.278 x weight) + (.074 x age)] / 4.184]. For men it is (-55.0969 + (.6309 x heart rate) + (.438 x weight) + (.2017 x age)] / 4.184
Click to expand...

Where's the duration in that formula?

Here's from my today's workout:
Male, 86bpm, 40min, 25 yo, 65.1kg.

Apple Watch estimated 56 resting calories and 156 active calories for a total of 212 calories burned.
 
acosmichippo said:
That's the average, so presumably peak heart rate during sets gets up to ~150, but during rests goes back to 100 or so.

----------



I personally just set it on "other" and leave it for the whole session. This is what it looked like for me yesterday. Did 5x5 Squats, 5x5 Bench, 5x5 Row, 3x5 dips, 3x8 curls. My guess is it's overestimating calories burned by 50% or so, but I'm not too worried about it.

Image

The other thing I did for lifting was flip the watch so the crown is away from my wrist. With the crown toward my wrist, the elastic collar on my lifting gloves would constantly press the crown in during reps.
Click to expand...

have you ever used lifting straps? i stopped the whole glove thing in the first year of working out and switch to those and never looked back. I don't have the watch yet wondering how it will work with these.

----------
Bigboi said:
I would not lift weights with a watch on. I would run are do some cardio but lifting weights are doing any other physical activities with a watch on is crazy.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
And why is that according to you?
 
Julien said:
The :apple:Watch is designed and optimized to be worn during all awaken hours. If you are not wearing it you are missing calories, standing, movement and.... It is "crazy' not wear it.:D
Click to expand...
what about if you play basketball? I don't know about you guys but when I lift weights I don't like anything on my wrist.
 
Bigboi said:
what about if you play basketball? I don't know about you guys but when I lift weights I don't like anything on my wrist.
Click to expand...

If you play basketball, you run the risk of running into people or being knocked down (I had a scar on my elbow that took a couple years to disappear from being knocked over during a basketball game).

Lots of people already wear sports watches and this is true of weight lifting as well. I have been using it since I got it at the gym with no problems.
 
I've been using mine at the gym for a few days now, and it's not very useful for weight lifting. My Mio Alpha isn't perfect for tracking, but it's much better than the Apple watch. The AW will go for considerable periods where it just says "measuring" and the HR grayed out. It will also on occasion show 60bpm after I just did a bunch of box jumps or dead lifts, which seems... unlikely. Lastly, you're not going to be doing anything with kettle bells in the rack position, as it's even worse if you try to use it on the inside of your wrist (as I can do with my Mio).

I have, however, found it to be very good for the exercises that are built in that I've tried: rowing, running, stair climber. Maybe that's why it doesn't show "weight lifting".
 
Just used my Apple Watch for weight lifting circuits. When set to "Other" it wouldn't read my heart rate above ~98bpm when I know I was in the ~150s. Tried setting it to "Indoor Walk" and it then read accurately. Maybe a software bug?
 
x-evil-x said:
have you ever used lifting straps? i stopped the whole glove thing in the first year of working out and switch to those and never looked back. I don't have the watch yet wondering how it will work with these.
Click to expand...

no, haven't tried straps. I'm still a beginner so my lifts haven't gotten heavy enough to necessitate straps. I mainly use gloves to keep callousing down.
 
I've been using the other setting with open goal for my strength lifts as well. The only problem I have noticed as sometimes (about 30-45 minutes into my lift) the HR drops from an accurate 110-120 all the way down to the 60's. This happened during my workout today and I removed the watch, wiped it and my wrist off with a towel and my HR jumped back up to 110 immediatley after...

I first noticed this during an Orange Theory Fitness workout last week. For those of you who haven't heard of this they use a chest strap on each member and constantly monitor HR and Calories burned thought the workout. The apple watch and the strap were basically the exact same for me for the first 30 minutes of the workout, but during the latter I noticed me watch was reading in the 60's, when the strap was reading over 120. I didn't try and clean the watch this time and it continued to give me a reading in the 60's throughout the rest of the workout. I finished burning about 150 less calories via the watch
IMG_7419.jpg

IMG_7420.jpg
 
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