Lifting calorie calculator
Most calculators give weight training a flat per-hour figure. This one works from the mechanical work you actually did — load times reps — blended with a time-based baseline.
Lifting Calorie Calculator
Weight training burns fewer calories per hour than cardio because most of a session is rest. A typical 60-minute session for an 82 kg lifter costs roughly 200 to 300 kcal. This estimate uses the actual mechanical work done, load multiplied by reps, blended with a time-based MET baseline rather than a flat per-hour figure.
Optional — adds the MET baseline for rest periods.
5 760 kg of volume
Method notes (3)
- Hybrid estimate: a MET baseline for the session (metabolism that stays elevated through the sets and rests, plus stabilization/bracing) blended 50/50 with the mechanical work of the load moved (load × reps × bar path), so heavier, higher-volume sessions burn more than light ones of the same length.
- Session minutes are derived from the number of sets (~3 min each, incl. rest), not the clock, so a session left "active" can't inflate the burn. Assumes ~0.5 m average bar path per rep. Expect ±30% individual variance.
- Do NOT subtract from your daily target — activity_level already covers typical training.
Metric or imperial · runs the same code as the app · nothing is sent anywhere
How it works
The mechanical component comes from the work done against gravity: load × reps × bar path × g, converted to kilojoules and then to kilocalories at roughly 25% muscular efficiency, which is why a tonne of volume costs far fewer calories than people expect.
Because lifting is mostly rest, work alone under-counts a session. When you supply a bodyweight the estimate blends in a MET baseline over a session length derived from the set count, which is the figure most people recognise.
Common questions
Does lifting burn fewer calories than cardio?
During the session, usually yes, because the work is brief and most of the hour is rest. The case for lifting is what it does to lean mass and to your maintenance calories over months, not the burn on the day.
What about the afterburn?
Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is real but small, typically well under a hundred calories for a normal session. It is not included here, and it does not change the arithmetic much.
The other calculators
Body composition
What you are made of, and what you could be.
- BMI calculatorBody mass index is weight over height squared.BMI
- Ideal weight calculatorFour classic formulas that predict a target weight from height and sex alone.Ideal weight
- Body fat calculatorThree ways to estimate body fat without a DEXA scan.Body fat
- FFMI / Lean body mass calculatorYour lean body mass (muscle, bone, organs and water), your fat mass, and the fat-free mass index, which scales lean mass to height so that unlike BMI it tracks how much muscle you carry.FFMI / Lean body mass
- Maximum muscular potential calculatorWrist and ankle circumference are proxies for skeletal frame size, and frame size predicts how much muscle you can ultimately carry.Max potential
- Ideal body proportions calculatorClassical proportions scale every girth from the wrist, because wrist size tracks your skeletal frame and barely changes with training or fat.Ideal proportions
- Body shape calculatorClassifies your body shape from a few tape measurements: hourglass, spoon, triangle, rectangle and the rest for women, V-taper to oval for men.Body shape
Energy
What you burn, and what to eat against it.
- TDEE, BMR & macro calculatorYour total daily energy expenditure is what you burn across a whole day, training included.TDEE, BMR & macros
- Calorie deficit calculatorPick a goal weight and a pace.Calorie deficit
- Water intake calculatorA daily drinking target from your bodyweight, with extra for training and hot weather.Water intake
Strength
What you lift, and how it ranks.
- One-rep max calculatorEstimate a maximum from a set you have actually done, without the risk of testing a true single.One-rep max
- RPE calculatorRate of perceived exertion turns how hard a set felt into numbers.RPE
- Strength level calculatorRank any lift against population strength standards for your bodyweight and sex, with an optional age adjustment.Strength level
- Powerlifting score calculatorRaw totals favour heavier lifters, so powerlifting uses coefficients to compare across bodyweight.Wilks & DOTS
- Strength symmetry calculatorComparing raw numbers across different lifts tells you nothing, because a 200 kg deadlift and a 100 kg bench are not equivalent achievements.Symmetry
- Barbell plate calculatorTells you what to hang on each side of the bar for a target weight, and whether the number is reachable at all with standard plates.Plate loading
- Warm-up sets calculatorA ramp from the empty bar to your top set: the weight gets heavier while the reps get fewer, so you arrive warm but not tired.Warm-up sets
- Training volume calculatorEnter up to three exercises with sets, reps and load.Training volume
Cardio & burn
Aerobic fitness and the cost of a session.
- VO₂max & heart rate zone calculatorTwo answers from the same three numbers.VO₂max & HR zones
- Steps to calories calculatorTurns a step count into distance and calories using your stride and bodyweight, and shows how it compares with the daily step range linked to better health at your age.Steps → calories
- Workout calorie calculatorEstimates the energy cost of an activity from its metabolic equivalent, your bodyweight and how long you did it.Activity burn
These numbers are more useful when something tracks them.
The app runs this same maths against your logged weigh-ins, meals and sessions, so the figure updates itself instead of being a one-off.
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