exercise and calories - question

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SkinnyJoe

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I read that walking 1 mile and running 1 mile burns roughly 100 calories (for each activity). It seems like an interesting relationship, since the two activities are done at different speeds and for a different amount of time.

I wonder if similar relationships have been calculated for swimming, cycling, and trail hiking - for 1 mile?

Thanks.
 
Errm... not sure where you read that. Burning calories is a VERY complex calculation, as it differs between everyone. You have a source on that statistic?

Warning: Long answer below. Summary: swimming definitely too hard, hiking maybe too hard, and cycling might be ok to try to quantify in such a way. If interested in detail, read it all :D.

Consider a 400 pound man running/walking a mile vs. a 140 pound long distance runner. The 400 pound man simply must expend more calories to move more mass- it's simple physics- otherwise you'd have a crazy world where a car that weighs 4000 pounds gets the same mileage as a lighter one. It would violate conservation of energy, if I remember my physics correctly (probably not).

Age and physical condition also plays a part. Someone who knows how to run is more efficient. I used to be on a swim team. I ended up using less effort and going faster when I was a good swimmer. Also factor in muscles and resting metabolic rates- when you're young/full of muscle, you burn more calories.

Swimming is a very different kettle of fish. For most people, swimming a mile will be quite a tiring activity, so you will be incredibly less efficient after a little time- if you think running a mile is bad, do a mile swim. So, if they get tired and aren't really swimming at a sprint, does it still count?Record swim for a mile in just under 15 minutes (there's a reason the olympics doesn't really feature it). Compare that to a mile, where it is closer to 3 minutes. So, a very different amount of stamina. In addition, I can tell you, water temperature makes a HUGE difference. I like it pretty cold, as I do sprints (longest I would do was 200 yard); but I can imagine if you were swimming for a much longer time warmer might be better.

Road cycling might be a good comparison, as it is a fast paced/non-fatiguing (relatively) activity. Hiking is different again, with uphill, downhill, and losing your footing being important factors in how fast you'll be comfortable moving at.

I've seen some articles that said swimming burns up to 800 calories an hour. Not sure if that's true; what I can speak to is that when I was on training trips for 2 weeks, I'd easily eat 6-8000 calories a day, and would sometimes even lose weight. We did 2 2 hour sessions; 10,000 yards generally, with sometimes some low-impact activity in the afternoon. I'd usually eat maybe 3500 a day normally, and we did 1 1/2 hour practices 5 days a week.

Sorry for the long answer, but it's rather complex.

Zero
 
Zero_Time said:
Errm... not sure where you read that. Burning calories is a VERY complex calculation, as it differs between everyone. You have a source on that statistic?


Zero
Click to expand...

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Running" 2nd edition, page 17, "The Math of Losing weight".

Oh, I can definitely see that it's complex, with dozens of factors involved (incl. technique, field conditions, weight, gender, age, BMI, metabolic rates, hydration, and whatnot), but I was just curious if some *rough* generalizations can be made.

Thanks. :)
 
The only way to know exactly how many calories YOU burn in a given activity is for you to do it in a calorimeter. Such facilities are few and far between, typically found at major university research facilities.

It's not hard to find avarage estimates. There are plenty of websites full of that information. Such estimates are helpful, but keep in mind that they are just estimates.
 
It is not true. Anyway, you'll burn more calories if you have a higher heartbeat rate ( and a higher body temperature, this is the reason why the swimming is not very good for weight loss )
 
Thanks. :)

Unrelated question (didn't want to start a new thread, though), heart rate monitors: do all of them involve a chest strap set-up? Isn't it possible to have a device that will count the beats via the distal radial artery, by vibration alone - like we can, manually?
 
I don't get the whole obcession with calories, carbs, fats, etc. Just walk/run a few miles a day or chop some wood, build a few birdhouses, sharpen a few knives, paint a tree, pretty much any hobby that causes you to stop eating junk and start doing something else will benefit your health. You'll eventually find yourself being less hungry and eating smaller portions. All this keep track of your calories and carbs talk is a bunch of nonsense designed to sell books and diet pills.
 
Very true. $$$ is a big factor in the "awareness".

For me, the ideal aerobic exercise would be climbing up 25-30 floors of stairs. Not a whole lot of those buildings where I'm at. :D
 
Biggest problem is food. Unless I'm doing my Phelps lite workouts, I don't eat Bacon explosions. Recent article sez people mostly don't lose weight when they up their exercise cuz they reward themselves. Stick with good wholesome activities and eat right- unless you're doing herculean activities, don't eat stupid.

Ideal aerobic exercise? Climbing stairs? That... makes you a different man than me. MY ideal aerobic exercise is a race in a swim. Or mountain biking. Or rock climbing. Or sparring. But maybe the best starts with a S and ends with an ex :p. Seriously though, I would be climbing stairs all the time if I thought I'd get stuck in a huge office building. The current one I'm at is only 3 stories. I always try to have my workouts feel in some way like they give an advantage to normal things I do in life- better reflexes, etc.

Seriously though, if you're having problems coming up with cardio activities where you live, we can help. Running is by far the easiest, as it's virtually possibly anywhere that isn't a tokyo subway system. If you're urban, there's road biking- especially as transit- martial arts gyms, gymnastics, swimming, racquetball, tennis- the list goes on. You're rural? Hoo-boy: how can you NOT exercise? Mountain biking, wood chopping, trail running- that list goes on too. I'm not here to make fun, but to seriously suggest activities that you may like doing more than vanilla running. I've had to run before, and it's fine, especially with a girlfriend running partner ;), but I much prefer other things. I used to mountain bike a lot, but now I'm more urban, and I'm getting a road bike, and going to hopefully mountain bike on weekends. Adapt and stay healthy.

On the heart rate thing: I believe there's watches made by suunto that do that.
 
Yes, there are several options out there.

I'm 36, 6'3", 173-175 lbs, and not a whole lot of visible fat. I like it that way.

At the present time I do fast walking, hiking, or swimming (pool) for aerobic exercise, for between 20-30 minutes every single day, including on resistance exercise days. I hate skipping exercise, and to me there is no valid reason to do it, not even weather and work-related ones.

As far as running, it makes me a little nervous, because unless I was running on soft sand, I would be really concerned about knee and ankle damage.

Did jumping jacks for a while (30-45 min at a time), until I injured my ankle. Stationary bikes are a last resort to me (pool closed during thunder and lightning) as they are mindnumbingly boring. Mountain biking, nothing really close to home, plus I prefer the seats on recumbent bikes anyway. Biking on the streets, no way. People here drive like baboons on crack. Skateboarding? I would kill myself. :D Tennis? Tried it in college, hated it.

P.S. Nice place to go swim. Classical music would have been a better choice for the video, though.

[youtube]T70ecorspEg[/youtube]
 
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