Weight Lifting Calorie Calculator

How many calories does lifting weights burn?

A 155 lb person burns about 246 calories in an hour of general weight training with sets of 8 to 15 reps. Heavy squats and deadlifts push that to about 352, and a vigorous bodybuilding or powerlifting session to about 422. Thirty minutes of general lifting burns about 123. Those figures use the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, which rates general strength training at 3.5 MET and vigorous lifting at 6.0 MET. The values describe a whole session, rests between sets included, so enter the time from your first set to your last.

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Weight lifting calories by style and body weight

Each value is a 60-minute total. Halve it for a 30-minute session.

Shorter rests and heavier multi-joint lifts move you down the table.

Lifting versus cardio for calories

Minute for minute, lifting burns less than steady cardio. In a lab study, 9 recreationally active men each did 30 minutes of weight training at 75% of their one-rep max, 30 minutes of treadmill running and cycling at 70% of maximum heart rate, and 30 minutes of intervals. Lifting burned 8.8 kcal per minute, running 9.5, cycling 9.2, and intervals 12.6.

Those men averaged 87 kg, which is why their numbers run higher than the table. The order matters more than the totals: weights and steady cardio landed close together, and intervals beat both.

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How the calculator works

Calories = MET × body weight in kg × hours.

A MET is the energy cost of an activity as a multiple of resting burn, which is about 1 kcal per kg per hour. Net calories subtract that resting burn to show what the session added.

Worked example: a 180 lb person (81.6 kg) spends 50 minutes on a general routine of presses, rows, and lunges. Calories = 3.5 × 81.6 × 0.833 = about 238 kcal, and net calories are about 170 kcal.

Lifting is hard to measure. A 2024 scoping review of 166 studies found that the anaerobic share of the work makes lab measurement difficult and that reported values varied widely between studies. The authors noted that MET values may be the more practical tool outside the lab, which is the method this calculator uses.

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How to use this calculator

Pick the style that matches most of your session. Straight sets with a minute or two of rest fit the general row. A day built around heavy squats or deadlifts fits the second row. If you pair exercises with almost no rest, choose supersets.

Enter the full session. The Compendium values already account for rest periods, so counting only the seconds under the bar would undercount. Leave out a separate cardio warm-up and log it with its own calculator.

The afterburn from heavy lifting

Hard lifting raises your metabolism for a while after you rack the bar. In one study, 7 men did a 31-minute session of 4 circuits of bench press, power cleans, and squats, each set taken to failure. Oxygen use stayed above baseline immediately after, and again at 14, 19, and 38 hours.

Daily averages for both days after the workout were higher than the baseline day.

The extra burn per hour is small, and the calculator does not add it. Treat it as a bonus on top of the session total.

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What lifting does for fat and muscle

A 2022 meta-analysis of 58 studies in healthy adults found resistance training alone cut body fat by about 1.5 percentage points and fat mass by about 0.55 kg compared with no exercise. Visceral fat, the fat around the organs, also fell.

In adults with overweight or obesity, a 2022 review of 114 trials found resistance training plus a calorie deficit cut body fat by about 3.8 percentage points and fat mass by about 5.3 kg. Lifting alone added about 0.8 kg of lean mass, and lean mass held steady when people also cut calories.

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How much lifting you need

Adults should do muscle-strengthening work for all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. Lifting does not count toward the 150 weekly minutes of aerobic activity unless it keeps your heart rate up the whole time.

A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 cohort studies linked muscle-strengthening activity with a 10% to 17% lower risk of early death, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The largest drop in early death came at about 30 to 60 minutes a week, and the benefit of doing much more was unclear.

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How it works

Calories = MET × body weight (kg) × hours, using 2024 Adult Compendium codes 02054 (3.5 MET), 02052 (5.0), 02060 (5.5), 02055 (5.8), and 02050 (6.0). Net calories remove 1 kcal per kg per hour of resting burn. Rest periods are part of each MET value, so enter the full session.

Practical tips

• Enter the whole session, rests included.
• Shorter rests and big lifts like squats and deadlifts raise the burn.
• Two or more lifting days a week meets the strength guideline.
• About 30 to 60 minutes of lifting a week is linked to the lowest risk of early death.
• Pair lifting with a modest calorie deficit if fat loss is the goal.

Frequently asked questions

• How many calories does lifting weights burn in an hour?For a 155 lb (70 kg) person: about 246 kcal for general training with sets of 8 to 15 reps, 352 kcal for heavy squats and deadlifts, and 422 kcal for a vigorous bodybuilding or powerlifting session. At 125 lb the general figure is about 198 kcal and at 185 lb about 294 kcal.
• How many calories does 30 minutes of weight lifting burn?About 123 kcal for a 155 lb person doing general strength work and about 211 kcal for a hard session with short rests. Heavier lifters burn more in the same time.
• Does lifting weights burn more calories than cardio?Not during the session. In a lab study of 9 men who each trained for 30 minutes, lifting at 75% of their one-rep max burned 8.8 kcal per minute, treadmill running at 70% of maximum heart rate burned 9.5, and interval training burned 12.6. Lifting earns its place through strength and muscle, which cardio does not build as well.
• Do you keep burning calories after lifting?Yes, for a while. In one study, 7 men did 31 minutes of heavy circuits of bench press, power cleans, and squats to failure. Their oxygen use stayed above baseline 38 hours later. The extra burn is small per hour, and the calculator counts only the session itself.
• Does weight training help you lose fat?A little. A 2022 meta-analysis of 58 studies found resistance training alone cut body fat by about 1.5 percentage points and fat mass by about 0.55 kg, including visceral fat. Pairing lifting with a calorie deficit works better for fat loss and helps you keep muscle.
• How much weight training do you need per week?Adults should do muscle-strengthening work for all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. In a pooled analysis of 16 cohort studies, 30 to 60 minutes a week of strength training was tied to the lowest risk of early death.

Related calculators

References

1. Herrmann SD, et al. J Sport Health Sci 2024. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activities
2. Mitchell L, et al. Sports Med 2024. Methods to assess energy expenditure of resistance exercise: a systematic scoping review
3. Falcone PH, et al. J Strength Cond Res 2015. Caloric expenditure of aerobic, resistance, or combined high-intensity interval training using a hydraulic resistance system in healthy men
4. Schuenke MD, et al. Eur J Appl Physiol 2002. Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: implications for body mass management
5. Wewege MA, et al. Sports Med 2022. The effect of resistance training in healthy adults on body fat percentage, fat mass and visceral fat: a systematic review and meta-analysis
6. Lopez P, et al. Obes Rev 2022. Resistance training effectiveness on body composition and body weight outcomes in individuals with overweight and obesity across the lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analysis
7. Momma H, et al. Br J Sports Med 2022. Muscle-strengthening activities are associated with lower risk and mortality in major non-communicable diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies
8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition