weight lifting - fitbit activity question

[garyod68]

when you enter weight lifting into the log, do you cound the entire time spent (including rest periods between sets) or do you just count time spent actually lifting the weight?

part of my trouble is I do some jump rope  and walk a bit inbetween sets.

[WendyB]

If you are jump ropeing and walking between sets then I would count for the entire time.

If you rest at all then I would not count that

[SunsetRunner]

I log the entire time I'm lifting per my hrm. I only rest less than a minute so my heart rate doesn't really drop that far and what little difference it is I figure it's not going to make a big difference overall.

[JenniLacey]

I've logged on Sparkpeople for some time and they give me only a slightly less calorie burn for moderate intensity strength training with rests (they have 3 options) as Fitbit gives me for heavy, powerlifting (two options). I choose the higher intensity option here on Fitbit because most of my training involves powerlifting and my rest periods tend to be short or involve changing heavy weights around. When it comes to strength training it is very difficult to determine how many calories you're actually burning so it really is just a guess. A HRM is *not* a good indication of how many calories you're burning during weight lifting because calories burned during this type of activity cannot be determined by HR:

http://livehealthy.chron.com/can-heart-rate-monitors-measure-calories-weight-lifting-4910.html

You have a few options;

a) you could log it as circuit training

b) if you lift really heavy at maximum intensity during strength training. You could log each circuit seperately. Ex: how many minutes you spend doing cardio (jump rope) and how many minutes you spend lifting at high intensity. This will give you a greater calorie burn I imagine than just "circuit training".

c) You could log the entire thing as high intensity weight lifting/powerlifting

I think option a or b would be your best bet.

[Dominique]

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@JenniLacey wrote:

A HRM is *not* a good indication of how many calories you're burning during weight lifting because calories burned during this type of activity cannot be determined by HR:

http://livehealthy.chron.com/can-heart-rate-monitors-measure-calories-weight-lifting-4910.html

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It's not exactly what the article says (underlining added by me):

"While heart rate monitors can be relatively accurate for calculating calories burned during exercise, they may not be as accurate when used during weightlifting."

If a HRM is found to consistently overestimate calories burned during weight lifting (which is what the article says), why not reduce the value it reports by a suitable factor?