With the start of group training up at Primal Fitness Pittsburgh, I have been receiving a number of inquiries about how many calories kettlebell and body weight training burn per hour and how many calories you need to eat to keep up with the training at Primal Fitness Pittsburgh and lose weight at the same time. These are all good questions really, so I want to take some time today to discuss what to pay attention to when it comes to the whole eating and exercise thing.
First, lets answer the “how many calories to kettlebell routines burn per hour?” question.
Well, on average kettlebell basic routines that involve lots of swings can burn 400 calories in 20 minutes. The more demanding lifting routines (think push presses, snatches, jerks, etc) can burn anywhere from 600-800 in about the same 20 minute time frame. Considering you are training at Primal Fitness Pittsburgh and the average routines last 45 minutes to an hour, you can burn anywhere from 800-1600 calories in an hour. Train 3-4 times a week on the North Shore and you will be looking good naked in no-time, guaranteed! 😉
Now, I don’t normally like getting hung up on the numbers of how many calories you should be eating per day. By now, you all should know that I do NOT subscribe to the idea that “a calories is a calorie” dogma. If you’d like to know why I believe such things, please listen to this podcast. For the sake of this blog post though, I will be discussing Basal Metabolic Calculations as well as caloric expenditure to put things in perspective for how you need to eat for your training program.
First, let’s talk about the Basal Metabolic Rate. Your basal metabolic rates is the number of calories you burn at rest, which does NOT factor in your training. I call this the bare minimum calories you need to eat per day to let your internal organs function optimally. Your basal metabolic rate is the BARE MINIMUM amount of calories you need to be eating per day. It is not the TOTAL amount of calories you should be eating per day, and that is especially true if you are training.
The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is calculated by the Harris Benedict Equation. It is s a method used to estimate an individual’s BMR and daily caloric requirements. The estimated BMR value is multiplied by a number that corresponds to the individual’s activity level. Below, I have a video posted that shows my current BMR calculation.
Now that we calculated our BMR, let’s talk about total caloric expenditure. Caloric expenditure is the amount of calories you burn per day to keep up with your activity level. The people of Eat to Perform have a great way to calculate your daily caloric needs on their website, so let’s jump on over there and see how we can calculate our daily caloric requirements. Pay attention to the video, as towards the end I will make some suggestions on how to tweak your caloric numbers to lose weight safely.
Now, I am a very active person so individual numbers may vary, but these two videos should serve as a teaching point. I have seen some food logs lately where people are just eating their caloric needs a la the BMR, which IS NOT ENOUGH FOOD! That being said, if you are currently training at Primal Fitness Pittsburgh are are looking to get started at the training facility really soon, you should bare in mind that your caloric needs will change based on your overall activity level. I have an extensive write up over at balancedbites.com about why fueling your performance as an athlete and trainee is important. For more on eating right for athletic performance, visit that post here.
I hope this has been helpful for all you out there looking to train hard here at Primal Fitness Pittsburgh! If you have any further questions on how to eat and train well, please drop me a line at janelle@primalfitnesspittsburgh.com. That’s it for the blog today everyone! Until next time. .
Master your instincts!
