Calories Burned Weight Lifting & Bodyweight Exercise Calculator

Calories Burned Weight Lifting & Bodyweight Workout Calculator

Matthew Magnante, ACE
By
Matthew Magnante, ACE
Matthew is an ACE (American Council On Exercise) certified fitness professional who has had a passion for fitness since elementary school and continues to research and...
7 Min Read
Weightlifting And Bodyweight Exercise Calculator
Weightlifting and Bodyweight Exercise Calculator

Weight Lifting & Calisthenics Calories Burned Calculator

Activities and minutes
  • Weight lifting, free weights or machines

How often you do this in a week.

A snack or a drink, for example. We work out how long it takes.

Example: 175 lb, 30 min

250kcal burned

208 kcal from the activity itself, plus 42 kcal your body burns at rest in that time anyway.

Enter your own weight and minutes above to replace this example.

Above resting

208 kcal

What the activity adds

Per hour

500 kcal

8.3 kcal a minute at this pace

To burn off 250 kcal

36 min

Counting calories above resting

3 times a week

750 kcal

624 kcal above resting, in 1 h 30 min

ActivityTimePer hourkcal
Weight lifting, power lifting or bodybuilding, vigorousVigorous, 6.0 MET, Compendium 0205030 min500250

Calories = MET x 3.5 x body weight in kg / 200 x minutes, rounded for each activity. Above resting uses MET minus 1, because 1 MET is what you burn sitting still. METs from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. The Compendium counts 3.5 ml/kg/min of oxygen as the resting rate for every body. Real resting rates vary with age, sex, height, weight and body composition, so treat these figures as an estimate for a typical adult, not a measurement of your own burn.

Related calculators

Estimate how many calories you burn lifting weights and doing bodyweight calisthenics training. 

What Is The Calories Burned Weight Lifting & Bodyweight Exercise Calculator and How Does It Work? 

The weight lifting and bodyweight exercise calculator estimates the number of calories burned while performing a specific exercise or workout (several exercises). 

Aside from approximating total calories burned during a session, it also estimates calories burned per minute. 

How does it estimate how many calories you burn?

Firstly, the calculator determines your metabolic rate or metabolism according to your weight. 

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What does that mean? Keep reading for a more detailed explanation. 

If you take two people, one weighs 150 lbs and the other weighs 210 lbs, the person who weighs less will burn fewer calories during the same exact workout compared to the heavier individual. 

Why is that?

A calorie is a unit of energy and a heavier person requires more energy to move their bodies or to perform activities.

Think of it like how a larger vehicle typically uses up more fuel than a smaller one. Weight affects fuel consumption (the amount of energy used).

But this also means that the heavier person expends more calories in a rested (non-exercising) state aka your metabolism.

The calculator uses a formula to approximate resting calories burned and then it factors in the duration of activity/activities performed to estimate the number of calories burned. 

How To use The Weight Lifting and Bodyweight Exercise Calculator

The weight lifting and bodyweight exercise calculator isn’t quite as simple to use compared to a lot of our other health tools. However, it’s certainly not difficult to navigate if you keep things simple. 

To ensure an easy experience for you, we’ve included step-by-step instructions in detail below. 

Step 1: Enter your weight and choose lb or kg.

Step 2: Choose what you did: weight lifting with free weights or machines (8 to 15 reps, or vigorous power lifting or bodybuilding), squats or deadlifts with weights, a weight training circuit, calisthenics (light, moderate or vigorous), bodyweight exercises (general or high intensity), or bodyweight circuit training.

Step 3: Type in how many minutes you spent on it.

Step 4: Did weights and calisthenics in the same workout? Add each one under “Add an activity” with its own minutes. You can combine any of them to see the calories burned in your whole workout. 

Step 5: Press calculate!

Weight Lifting vs. Bodyweight Exercises/Calisthenics

Bodyweight Pushups
Bodyweight Pushups

We’re going to assume that most people know the difference between weight lifting/training and bodyweight exercises. Lifting weights involves exactly what the name implies, using free weights, machines, cables, or any other similar resistance training tools. 

Calisthenics movements, on the other hand, use your body weight as a form of resistance. The calculator rates the bodyweight exercises below by effort rather than one at a time: they are part of its calisthenics and bodyweight choices. 

Calisthenics Training: A Beginner’s Guide

Does One Form Of Exercise Burn More Calories Than The Other? 

Well, it depends…

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Factors such as body weight, intensity, and duration of exercise determine how many calories you ultimately burn. 

However, according to an article published by the Harvard Medical School, 30 minutes of calisthenics burns more calories than 30 minutes of weightlifting performed at the same intensity (1).

In Harvard’s table, someone who weighs 125 lbs burns roughly 180 calories during 30 minutes of vigorous weight lifting and 240 calories from 30 minutes of vigorous calisthenics. This calculator, which uses the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, gives 179 and 223. 

The Calories Burned By Exercises calculator is a useful tool that anyone can use to determine the number of calories burned during certain exercises and activities. 

How Can The Weight Lifting and Bodyweight Exercises Calculator Help You To Reach Your Goals?

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Calories are the most important variable that determines body weight. Eat more than what your body needs and you’ll gain weight. Take in fewer calories than what your body requires and you’ll lose weight. Consume just enough for your size and you’ll remain the same body weight. 

Of course, your basal metabolic rate, or metabolism, activity level, and other physiological factors determine how many calories you’ll need to lose, gain, or maintain your body weight.

And because you’re doing resistance training, we recommend using our macronutrient calculator to determine how many calories you should consume in the form of protein, fat, and carbs. 

Also be sure to check out our nutrition, workout/training, and supplement sections that are filled with great information to help keep you on the right track. 

Wrapping Up

The weight lifting and bodyweight exercise calculator is a very useful and handy fitness-based tool that anyone can use. 

Whether your goal is to lose, gain, or maintain your body weight, get fitter, or stay motivated, the calculator is one of the many resources that we offer to help you attain your goal physique or fitness level. 

If you have any questions about the calculator, leave your comments below and we’d be more than happy to get back to you. 


If you have any questions or need further clarification about this article, please leave a comment below, and Mag will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Matthew is an ACE (American Council On Exercise) certified fitness professional who has had a passion for fitness since elementary school and continues to research and learn how to build muscle effectively through training and diet. He also loves to help others to achieve their fitness goals and spread the knowledge where needed. Matthew's other passions include learning about mindfulness, strolling through nature, traveling, and always working to improve overall.
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