Weight lifting is a type of muscle training that uses resistance from body weight, free weights (barbells and dumbbells), or weight machines to build muscle and strength. It offers many benefits beyond building muscle, including boosting metabolism and burning calories. But exactly how many calories does weight lifting burn? In this complete guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how many calories you can burn during weight-lifting workouts.
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| How Many Calories Does Weight Lifting Burn |
What is weight lifting?
Weight lifting involves performing repeated exercises targeting major muscle groups in the body. Some joint weight-lifting exercises include squats, deadlifts, bench presses, shoulder presses, bicep curls, tricep extensions, rows and lat pulldowns. Weight-lifting exercises can be done using just body weight as resistance. Still, some external resistance is typically used to progressively overload the muscles, such as barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells or weight machines. The goal is to safely exercise with challenging loads to build muscular strength, size, power and endurance over time.
Benefits of weight-lifting
Weight lifting provides many benefits beyond just building bigger muscles. Here are some of the top reasons to add weight-lifting to your regular exercise routine:
Builds muscle and strength
The most obvious benefit is weight lifting builds stronger, larger muscles. It stimulates muscle protein synthesis and gradual muscle fibre hypertrophy over time. Building muscle increases strength for better performance and functional mobility.
Improves bone health
The resistance applied to bones during weight lifting encourages increased bone mineral density. Weight lifting can help prevent osteoporosis and related fractures.
Boosts metabolism
As you build muscle via weight training, your body requires more calories to sustain that new muscle mass. Lifting weights can raise your resting metabolic rate, supporting you burn more calories throughout the day.
Calories burned during weight-lifting
The number of calories you burn during a weight-lifting workout depends on several key factors. Heavier weights, higher reps, less rest time and larger muscle groups worked generally equate to more calories burned. On average, here’s how many calories you can expect to burn per hour doing various weight-lifting exercises:
- Lightweight, high reps: 300-400 calories
- Moderate weight, medium reps: 400-500 calories
- Heavy weight, low reps: over 500 calories
So in a typical 30-minute beginner lifting session, you may burn around 150-250 calories. More advanced lifters completing intense heavy lifting workouts can burn over 250 calories in a half-hour session.
Factors That Influence Calories Burned During Weight Lifting
Many variables impact how many calories you’ll burn during weight-lifting workouts. Here are some of the critical factors:
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| Factors That Influence Calories Burned During Weight Lifting |
Your weight
Heavier individuals generally burn more calories than lighter individuals performing the same lifts. There’s more body mass involved, so the energy expenditure is more significant, moving heavier weight.
Heavier people burn more calories.
For example, a 150-pound person might burn around 112 calories doing three sets of 10 squats with 100 pounds. But a 200-pound person could burn closer to 150 calories doing those same sets and reps with 100 pounds.
Intensity level
Lifting heavier weights for lower reps with good form requires more energy and burns more calories.
Higher intensity burns more calories.
You’ll torch more calories doing three sets of 5 reps at 85% of your one-rep max compared to 3 sets of 15 reps at just 50% of your max effort.
Duration of workout
The longer you lift, the more calories you’ll burn in an exercise session.
Longer workouts burn more calories.
A 5-minute lifting workout might burn around 25 calories, while a 60-minute workout could burn over 400 calories. More sets and more exercises done equals more calories burned.
Rest periods
Taking shorter rest breaks between sets and exercises requires more energy expenditure and spikes metabolism more than long rest periods.
Shorter rest periods increase calories burned.
Resting 60-90 seconds between sets burns more calories. LongLong 2-3 minute rests between sets. Circuits with minimal rest burn the most calories.
Type of exercises
Multi-joint compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and presses burn more calories than isolation moves like bicep curls due to more muscle mass involved.
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| Type of exercises |
Compound exercises burn more calories.
A set of squats will burn more calories than a set of leg extensions or leg curls. Upper body presses burn more calories than tricep extensions.
Approximate Calories Burned Per Exercise
Here’s an overview of how many calories are burned during joint weight-lifting exercises based on a 175-pound person. Heavier individuals burn more calories, and lighter individuals burn fewer calories per exercise.
Calisthenics
Callisthenics uses body weight as resistance to build strength through exercises like push-ups, pull-ups and squats. Here are the approximate calories burned:
Push-ups
- 25 push-ups: 8 calories
- 50 push-ups: 15 calories
- 100 push-ups: 30 calories
Pull-ups
- Five pull-ups: 5 calories
- Ten pull-ups: 10 calories
- 15 pull-ups: 15 calories
Squats
- 25 bodyweight squats: 15 calories
- 50 bodyweight squats: 30 calories
- 100 bodyweight squats: 60 calories
Lunges
- Ten lunges per leg: 5 calories
- 20 lunges per leg: 10 calories
- 30 lunges per leg: 15 calories
Planks
- 30-second plank: 3 calories
- 60-second plank: 6 calories
- 90-second plank: 9 calories
Weight machines
Weight machines guide you through a fixed range of motion and are easy to use. Calories burned on machines include:
Lat pulldown
- Ten reps: 5 calories
- 50 reps: 25 calories
- 100 reps: 50 calories
Chest press
- Ten reps: 8 calories
- 50 reps: 40 calories
- 100 reps: 80 calories
Leg press
- Ten reps: 8 calories
- 50 reps: 40 calories
- 100 reps: 80 calories
Shoulder press
- Ten reps: 8 calories
- 50 reps: 40 calories
- 100 reps: 80 calories
Bicep curl
- Ten reps: 3 calories
- 50 reps: 15 calories
- 100 reps: 30 calories
Free weights
Free weights like barbells and dumbbells involve more stabilizer muscles. Calories burned to do free weight exercises include:
Bench press
- Ten reps: 12 calories
- 50 reps: 60 calories
- 100 reps: 120 calories
Deadlifts
- Ten reps: 20 calories
- 50 reps: 100 calories
- 100 reps: 200 calories
Overhead press
- Ten reps: 10 calories
- 50 reps: 50 calories
- 100 reps: 100 calories
Bent-over row
- Ten reps: 10 calories
- 50 reps: 50 calories
- 100 reps: 100 calories
Goblet squat
- Ten reps: 15 calories
- 50 reps: 75 calories
- 100 reps: 150 calories
Sample Weight Lifting Workouts and Calories Burned
Here are some sample weight lifting workout plans for beginner, intermediate and advanced lifters showing total calories burned:
Beginner full-body workout
This sample beginner weight-lifting workout hits all the major muscles in one session:
Exercises
- Bench press: 3×10
- Squats: 3×10
- Bent-over row: 3×10
- Overhead press: 3×10
- Bicep curls: 2×10
- Lunges: 2×10 each leg
Calories burned
Total calories burned in a workout: ~250 calories
Intermediate upper/lower body split
This split focuses on half the body in each session burning more calories:
Exercises
Upper body:
- Bench press: 4×8
- Incline dumbbell press: 4×8
- Lat pulldown: 4×8
- overhead press: 3×8
- Tricep extension: 3×8
- Bicep curl: 3×8
Lower body:
- Squats: 4×8
- Deadlifts: 3×8
- Lunges: 3×8
- Calf raises: 3×12
Calories burned
Total calories per session: ~300-350
Advanced push/pull/legs split.
It splits muscle groups across three sessions burning maximum calories:
Exercises
Push (chest, shoulders, triceps):
- Bench press: 4×6
- Incline press: 3×6
- Shoulder press: 3×6
- Tricep extension: 3×8-10
Pull (back, biceps):
- Deadlifts: 4×6
- Pulldowns: 3×6
- Rows: 3×6
- Curls: 3×8-10
Legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes):
- Squats: 4×6
- Lunges: 3×8
- Leg press: 3×8
- Leg curls: 2×10
Calories burned
Total per session: 400-500
Tips for Maximizing Calories Burned
Here are some top tips to burn even more calories through your weight-lifting workouts:
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| Tips for Maximizing Calories Burned |
Lift heavier weights
Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with more serious weights and lower reps to torch more calories. Proper form is critical.
Shorten rest periods
Minimize rest between sets to keep the heart rate elevated. Shoot for 30-60 secs rest.
Supersets and circuits
Combine exercises back to back with minimal rest to maximize calorie burn. Or, organize exercises into full-body circuits.
Compound exercises
Stick to compound multi-joint moves like deadlifts, squats and presses, which use more muscle groups.
HIIT weight lifting
Add bursts of high-intensity cardio between sets or combine strength moves with plyometrics.
Conclusion
Summary
Weight lifting is a helpful way to burn calories and lose fat. The total weight lifted, the shorter your rest periods and the more metabolically demanding the exercises, the more calories you’ll burn. Workouts lasting 45-60 minutes can torch 400-600 calories. Combine weight lifting with HIIT cardio and a sound nutrition plan to transform your body.
Final tips
Track your calories burned using a fitness watch or calculator. Increase weight, sets and reps over time. Use compound exercises and supersets. Reduce rest periods as you get in better shape to maximize calorie burn. Consistency with your workouts is critical.
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FAQs About How Many Calories Does Weight Lifting Burn
Here are answers to some common questions related to FAQs About How Many Calories Does Weight Lifting Burn.
Extensive compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and bench presses burn the most calories per exercise. Overhead shoulder presses, bent-over rows and pull-ups also burn many calories due to the large muscle mass involved.
In 30 minutes, a beginner can burn 150-250 calories in weight lifting. Intermediates can burn 250-300 calories. Advanced lifters can burn 300-400 calories lifting hard for a half hour when accounting for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.
The most effective approach for maximum fat loss is combining weight lifting and cardio. Weight lifting helps retain and build calorie-burning muscle, while cardio burns many calories. Together they stoke metabolism.
Aim to lift weights at least three days per week for optimal fat loss, but ideally, 4-5 days. Ensure to space out muscle groups and allow for proper rest. Consistency is key. Combining weight training with 2-3 days of cardio can accelerate results.
Women need specialized nutrition and training for years to bulk up from lifting weights. When losing fat, lifting heavy gives a toned, firm appearance versus getting bulky. Women lack the testosterone levels required to build huge muscles.