Calorie Burning and Targetting body Parts?

[Kuniku]

Hi!

Some may remember i've started focusing on losing weight and getting fitter again for various reasons - a large driving factor is my jujitsu training.

I've been using a nice app to watch my calorie intake etc, I'm happy with that, and i'm eating less (just need to make sure I eat more on training days)

Now the app in question also wants to put exercise in to work out a net calories for the day etc. makes sense etc. Here in comes the first problem:

"Jujitsu" isn't an available exercise in the app, however there is a Cardio Exercise called "Judo, Karate, Kick Boxing, Tae Kwon Do" which i've been using.

The 'Problem' is that I think it might be saying I'm burning more calories than I am, I do 90-120 mins of jujitsu every training session (including warm up and down etc)

if I put that down as 90 mins of the judo, karate etc it says i've burned 1560 calories, this seems a bit far fetched, and i'm worried that the app is thinking its sort of competition paced sparring etc for the whole time - which is usually 3-5 mins and obviously not 90-120 mins.

so i've been saying that its only an hour of training in the app, as there is a fair bit of standing around watching techniques being taught etc etc.

Is there a way to work out/find out how many calories I do in fact burn on average while training? or could the app be about right?

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Second Point!

years ago i did tae kwondo, and was very flexible, it's been 10 years since i stopped that, and i obviously don't expect to still be as flexible as then, but i can still happily kick head height etc.

this flexibility comes in very handy during ground fighting at jujitsu, but i've found as i've improved my legs are in fact holding me back in many ways.

2 years ago i did a massive charity bike ride, and that combined with the training for it really bulked out the muscles in my legs, especially my thighs, I couldn't give you a thigh measurement off the top of my head, but lets say i often have to buy bigger sized trousers to actually get my legs into them. they're not fat, although not as toned as when i was cycling ALL the time etc.

Is there a way of reducing the size of my legs? with my flexibility i should be able to find many of the more complex leg using chokes (triangles, gogoplatas etc) quite easy to do, but i literally can't triangle most people because their head and arm won't fit inside the triangle gap between my legs!

The immense strength in my legs is certainly handy - not many people can escape my half guard once it is locked in, but I feel the size is holding me back =(

cheers for any help!

P.S. diet and lots of sit up variations to flatten the stomach right?

[Abominator]

Point 1: Most forms of exercise are going to burn 50-250 calories in an hour, maybe higher but I don't think that is realist unless you're near your VO2 max doing HIIT training. If I were you I wouldn't rely on the app too much, it's likely inaccurate. You're far better off googling a basal metabolic rate calculator which will calculate home many calories you need to eat in a day to lose/gain weight will factoring in exercise. Also looking at the labeling on your food or using a website with accurate caloric values is a safe bet to know how many calories you're taking in.

Point 2: Riding a bike isn't going to give you massive strong thighs, maybe slightly above average thighs. Unless you're a Olympic class sprint cyclist who squats 220kg like it's nothing your thighs probably aren't too big. It's more than likely excess fat that you're confusing as muscle, if you aren't massively overweight then you won't have much fat on the front of your thighs, most of it will be on the back and on your glutes. Unless it's rocksolid you've got a bit of weight to lose if you want to change the size of your thighs. Although it may not look like it a lot of our weight is stored in our thighs so in the case of bodybuilders their thighs shrink massively when they lean down.

[jbhasban]

Point 1: Most forms of exercise are going to burn 50-250 calories in an hour, maybe higher but I don't think that is realist unless you're near your VO2 max doing HIIT training. If I were you I wouldn't rely on the app too much, it's likely inaccurate. You're far better off googling a basal metabolic rate calculator which will calculate home many calories you need to eat in a day to lose/gain weight will factoring in exercise. Also looking at the labeling on your food or using a website with accurate caloric values is a safe bet to know how many calories you're taking in.

Point 2: Riding a bike isn't going to give you massive strong thighs, maybe slightly above average thighs. Unless you're a Olympic class sprint cyclist who squats 220kg like it's nothing your thighs probably aren't too big. It's more than likely excess fat that you're confusing as muscle, if you aren't massively overweight then you won't have much fat on the front of your thighs, most of it will be on the back and on your glutes. Unless it's rocksolid you've got a bit of weight to lose if you want to change the size of your thighs. Although it may not look like it a lot of our weight is stored in our thighs so in the case of bodybuilders their thighs shrink massively when they lean down.

Eh, I would guess hes burning 400-500 in an hour. Assuming he is sparring the entire time. That is about what I lose when I wrestle for an hour.

[PhailPally]

No normal exercise in the world would burn 1590 calories in 90 minutes. Unless of course you weigh 250kg and can run at 20km/hour for 90 minutes, assuming your heart dosen't fail.

[Kuniku]

Thanks for the reply, I have already looked up BMR, mine came out at about 2200 2 weeks ago, and I've set 1600 net calories as my target, this should knock off 0.5-1kg a week to get to my target weight.

I tried googling jujitsu calories etc and a fitness forum said while it varies a lot between training sessions a 90-120 training session should still 500-1000 calories depending how hard you go at it.

my charity bike ride had me doing 200-250 miles cycling a day, and in the gym before hand i was able to rep the leg press on its max setting . . . and there is definitely no fat on my glutes, they're like granite ^_^

when i get home from work i shall try and measure them, but you're suggesting that just weight loss will drop my thighs a bit (as they're not as solid as they once were as i originally said)

---------- Post added 2012-10-24 at 02:06 PM ----------

No normal exercise in the world would burn 1590 calories in 90 minutes. Unless of course you weigh 250kg and can run at 20km/hour for 90 minutes, assuming your heart dosen't fail.

thats why i assumed that the entry in the app must have been calibrated for calories burnt in a competition format, which obviously i'm not keeping up for the full 90-120 mins of training

[jbhasban]

No normal exercise in the world would burn 1590 calories in 90 minutes. Unless of course you weigh 250kg and can run at 20km/hour for 90 minutes, assuming your heart dosen't fail.

Actually, 1000 calories an hour is what people burn when they run at a medium speed pace. 7.5 mph running for a 180 lb person burns about 1k an hour.

[ati87]

My tip would be start drinking those sport shakes which focus on preserving muscles. Because even if you do leg training you aren't reducing the mass but changing it into muscles.

Because as far as I know their is no way to target specific body parts for losing weight, you will lose weight as long as you have excess fat. But you also need to prevent losing muscles so those shakes will help you preserve muscles while losing the fat.

Most likley you will first lose upper-body and work your way down when eventually the only fat you have will be in your legs.

[Abominator]

Sounds like your legs are pretty solid then. I would still suggest losing weight as what little fat you have could make a big difference, one pound of fat could reduce the circumference of your thigh by an inch.

My tip would be start drinking those sport shakes which focus on preserving muscles. Because even if you do leg training you aren't reducing the mass but changing it into muscles.

Because as far as I know their is no way to target specific body parts for losing weight, you will lose weight as long as you have excess fat. But you also need to prevent losing muscles so those shakes will help you preserve muscles while losing the fat.

Most likley you will first lose upper-body and work your way down when eventually the only fat you have will be in your legs.

There are no sports shakes that "preserve muscle" unless they have steroids in them. Sports shakes just have protein in them, your body doesn't go catabolic and begin eating muscle in the middle of a workout, that's broscience. Don't bother wasting money on supplements unless you buy a pure whey protein isolate as a meal supplement to reach your daily protein macro nutrient goals.

[Kuniku]

Sounds like your legs are pretty solid then. I would still suggest losing weight as what little fat you have could make a big difference, one pound of fat could reduce the circumference of your thigh by an inch.



There are no sports shakes that "preserve muscle" unless they have steroids in them. Sports shakes just have protein in them, your body doesn't go catabolic and begin eating muscle in the middle of a workout, that's broscience. Don't bother wasting money on supplements unless you buy a pure whey protein isolate as a meal supplement to reach your daily protein macro nutrient goals.

thanks for the suggestions all!

regarding "suppliments" etc: I used to go to the gym for a year or so before i started training for the cycling trip, about 3-4 times a week, mostly working on strength work outs (the guy i went with was pretty fit and just wanted to bulk up, where i tbh didn't really know what i wanted, i just wanted to get healthier again i guess =p)
anyways, back then i used to use Lucozade Recovery Powder after training, as I'd been told this would reduce aching the following day, and standardlucozade sport during training to keep hydrated etc. I'll be honest in saying especially for the recovery drink, I didn't know the ins and outs of what I was drinking, just that it was carbs and protein I needed to repair muscles after a work out.

I've Joined a new gym that is opening in the next week or so, and while not 100% sure how I'm going to achieve my goals, I do have set goals and my induction should sort out a training plan etc. But is the Lucozade Recovery Powder the way to go? All I'm after is not feeling like shit the next day - not putting on muscle mass or anything, improved cardio is one of my main goals in the gym.

[jbhasban]

thanks for the suggestions all!

regarding "suppliments" etc: I used to go to the gym for a year or so before i started training for the cycling trip, about 3-4 times a week, mostly working on strength work outs (the guy i went with was pretty fit and just wanted to bulk up, where i tbh didn't really know what i wanted, i just wanted to get healthier again i guess =p)
anyways, back then i used to use Lucozade Recovery Powder after training, as I'd been told this would reduce aching the following day, and standardlucozade sport during training to keep hydrated etc. I'll be honest in saying especially for the recovery drink, I didn't know the ins and outs of what I was drinking, just that it was carbs and protein I needed to repair muscles after a work out.

I've Joined a new gym that is opening in the next week or so, and while not 100% sure how I'm going to achieve my goals, I do have set goals and my induction should sort out a training plan etc. But is the Lucozade Recovery Powder the way to go? All I'm after is not feeling like shit the next day - not putting on muscle mass or anything, improved cardio is one of my main goals in the gym.

DOMS (aching) is not based on your diet. Cramping can be helped through diet, though. The only way to reduce DOMS that has been shown is to do a warm up set before you do your heavy sets. Supplements, for the most part, are a waste of money.

[Kuniku]

DOMS (aching) is not based on your diet. Cramping can be helped through diet, though. The only way to reduce DOMS that has been shown is to do a warm up set before you do your heavy sets. Supplements, for the most part, are a waste of money.

i was under the impression that the aching was the muscles rebuilding/repairing themselves, and that adding a correct level of protein/carbs shortly after exercise helps fuel this and reduces the aches?

[jbhasban]

i was under the impression that the aching was the muscles rebuilding/repairing themselves, and that adding a correct level of protein/carbs shortly after exercise helps fuel this and reduces the aches?

no. It is proposed that eating simple carbs after a workout may reduce it, by reducing catabolism, but there is no proof of this and, in fact, the evidence tends to indicate that such a diet does nothing. The only things that have positively been shown to reduce doms are doing warmup sets and gradually increasing the intensity of workout routines instead of starting with very hard ones. In addition, simply working out while you have doms reduces soreness but the effect is temporary.