Weight lifting and calories burned: How many calories does lifting weights burn for men?

A 45 minute weight lifting session typically burns about 200 to 600 calories for men, depending on body weight, the MET level of the workout (traditional lifting around 3.5 METs vs vigorous circuits around 8 METs), and how dense the session is (rest times and transitions). Compared with a steady cardio session of the same length, many men still burn fewer calories during the lift itself. The real win is that smart programming can raise your workout’s intensity, protect muscle during fat loss, and add a small “afterburn” effect that supports long term body recomposition.

Key takeaways

• According to the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities, a strength workout of multiple exercises done for sets of 8 to 15 reps is about 3.5 METs, while vigorous circuit training with minimal rest is about 8 METs, so the circuit burns considerably more calories in the same time.^[1]
• In a small 2011 randomized crossover study, a 15 minute, one set full body session raised resting energy expenditure by about 5 percent, roughly 95 calories a day, for up to 72 hours in overweight young men.^[2] An effect of that size supports a calorie deficit but does not substitute for one.
• A 2008 study found that a very high volume, eccentric emphasized full body session (eight exercises, eight sets of six reps) kept resting energy expenditure elevated for up to 72 hours, along with marked muscle soreness.^[3] It was an aggressive protocol, and the result should not be assumed to apply to ordinary sessions.
• A 2015 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that about nine months of progressive resistance training raised resting metabolic rate by about 5 percent on average (roughly 70 calories a day), with wide variation between individuals.^[4]
• A 2022 meta-analysis of 114 trials in people with overweight or obesity found that resistance training combined with calorie restriction reduced fat mass by about 5 kg compared with no intervention, while lean mass was maintained.^[5]

Why weight lifting and calories burned matter for men

The harder the body works to move load, stabilize joints, and recover between sets, the more energy it spends. The answer to “how many calories does lifting weights burn” therefore depends on body size and on how the session is structured.

According to the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities, a strength session of multiple exercises at 8 to 15 reps is rated at about 3.5 METs.^[1] MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task, a way to express how hard an activity is compared with resting quietly. The same Compendium lists higher values for more vigorous and more continuous styles of lifting, especially circuits in which rest periods shrink and the workout starts to resemble cardio.^[1]

For men, this matters because fat loss is usually limited by total weekly energy balance, not by any single workout. Traditional lifting with long rest periods produces a modest calorie burn. Resistance training still belongs in a fat loss plan because it helps preserve lean mass during calorie restriction.^[5]

How lifting weights burns calories

Your body size sets the baseline

MET values describe relative effort, but total calories burned scale with body mass. In the Compendium’s system, one MET corresponds to roughly 1 calorie per kilogram of body weight per hour, so calories burned are approximately METs × body weight in kilograms × hours.^[1] This is one reason two men can do the same session and get very different numbers on a tracker.

A calculator that accepts METs, body weight, and time gives a practical estimate. The number will not be exact, but it offers a repeatable way to compare sessions and see whether a workout was closer to a low intensity strength day or a high output conditioning day.

Intensity is not only the weight on the bar

In strength coaching, intensity usually means how heavy the load is relative to a one repetition maximum. For calorie burn, it also means how continuously the body is working. According to the Compendium, a weights session with multiple exercises and moderate rest is about 3.5 METs, squats done slowly or explosively are about 5 METs, and vigorous circuit training with minimal rest is about 8 METs.^[1]

Circuit training moves from exercise to exercise with short transitions. This keeps heart rate and breathing elevated, so the session works as a hybrid of strength and cardio. The tradeoff is that fatigue accumulates faster, so the heaviest loads are not possible in this format.

The afterburn effect exists, but it is modest

Excess post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) is the extra oxygen the body uses after training to return to its resting state. A 2011 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research measured single sets of bench press taken to failure and found that the energy spent during recovery, along with anaerobic energy, could be significantly larger than the aerobic energy spent during the set itself.^[6]

Measured over days, the effect is modest. In a 2011 randomized crossover study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, eight overweight young men performed a one set, 10 exercise full body session that took about 15 minutes.^[2] Resting energy expenditure rose by about 5 percent, roughly 400 kJ or 95 calories per day, at 24, 48, and 72 hours, the same rise seen after a three set version that took about 35 minutes.^[2] An increase of that size does not offset a weekend of overeating.

Eccentric training can increase calorie burn after lifting, with a recovery cost

Eccentric contraction is the lowering phase of a lift, such as lowering into a squat or lowering a dumbbell curl. It tends to cause more muscle damage and soreness because it loads muscle fibers while they lengthen. A 2008 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research had 16 young adults, half resistance trained and half untrained, perform eight exercises for eight sets of six reps with a 3 second lowering phase.^[3] Resting energy expenditure was significantly elevated at 24, 48, and 72 hours afterward in both groups, and muscle soreness and creatine kinase, a marker of muscle damage, also rose.^[3]

That finding comes from a deliberately extreme protocol and should not be read as the expected result of normal training. Both this study and the one set study above were small laboratory studies in young adults, and individual response varies with training status, total volume, and how close sets are taken to failure.^{[2] [3]}

The soreness that comes with heavy eccentric volume can disrupt the rest of a training week. In the 2011 study, a single set per exercise produced a multi day rise in resting energy expenditure with far less total volume.^[2]

Muscle supports resting metabolism, but the effect is modest

Resting metabolic rate is the energy the body uses at rest to keep basic functions running. Lean mass is everything in the body that is not fat, including muscle. A 2015 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed 61 healthy adults through about nine months (96 workouts) of periodized whole body resistance training.^[4] Resting metabolic rate rose from about 1,653 to 1,726 calories per day, roughly 5 percent, with wide variation between people that was partly explained by changes in fat free mass and thyroid hormones.^[4]

Strength training can raise background energy use a little, but nutrition still determines whether fat is lost. The main value of added muscle is that it makes a fat loss plan easier to sustain.

Health issues tied to low activity and low muscle mass in men

For many men, strength training is part of preventing a gradual decline in fitness, rising body fat, and metabolic risk with age.

• Overweight and obesity: According to a 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis in Obesity Reviews, resistance training alone reduced body fat by about 1.6 percentage points and fat mass by about 1 kg compared with no training in people with overweight or obesity, with consistent results across age and sex groups.^[5] Programs that combined resistance training with calorie restriction produced the largest fat loss.^[5]
• Loss of lean mass during dieting: Aggressive dieting often costs some lean mass along with fat. In the same meta-analysis, lean mass was maintained when resistance training was combined with calorie restriction.^[5]
• Time constrained lifestyle: When time is the barrier, circuit based lifting is a practical compromise. Vigorous circuits are rated at about 8 METs compared with about 3.5 for conventional lifting, so they burn more calories per minute.^[1] Short sessions can also matter after the workout: a 15 minute one set routine raised resting energy expenditure as much as a 35 minute three set routine in one small trial.^[2]

Most calorie burn numbers for weight lifting come from laboratory estimates or averages. Actual totals depend on exercise technique, rest periods, how close sets are taken to failure, and even movement between sets. Wearables can be useful for trends, but they often struggle with resistance training because heart rate is an imperfect proxy for lifting workload.

Signals your lifting plan is not burning what you think

When fat loss is the main goal, these signs suggest a session may be too low in output to change the trend, or too aggressive to recover from.

• You finish most workouts feeling like you could repeat the whole session immediately, and your breathing never picks up.
• Your lifting sessions are dominated by long rest periods, and total “work time” is low compared with time on your phone.
• You only do isolation lifts, and you rarely train big movement patterns like squats, rows, presses, lunges, and loaded carries.
• Your weight and waist size have been stable for 4 to 6 weeks, and your daily steps and diet have not changed.
• You try eccentric focused training often, and you stay sore for several days, which reduces weekly training quality.
• You rely on a watch estimate as a license to eat more, even though your weekly trend is not moving.
• You feel persistently run down and your performance is dropping week to week, which can mean recovery is not keeping up.

Flat breathing and long rests usually mean the session’s average MET level is close to that of general lifting, so calorie burn sits at the low end. Skipping compound patterns leaves out the movements that recruit the most muscle at once. A weight trend that stays flat for weeks usually reflects weekly energy balance (food intake, steps, and training density) rather than any single workout. Soreness or fatigue that limits training to fewer than two to four hard sessions a week lowers total weekly work, and with it both calorie burn and progress. The usual fixes are shorter rest periods, more compound lifts, tracking weekly averages instead of single sessions, and less eccentric emphasis or total volume when recovery stalls.

What to do to burn more calories while lifting weights

1. Step 1: estimate your true output and pick the right target. Use a MET based calculator to estimate calories burned for your body weight and training style, and track weekly trends rather than single workouts. For fat loss, build the plan around a consistent calorie deficit from nutrition and activity, and use lifting to protect muscle and improve performance. If symptoms suggest a medical or hormonal problem (for example, persistently low libido, erectile dysfunction, loss of morning erections, unexplained low energy, or unusually poor recovery), see a clinician for evaluation. The Endocrine Society guideline recommends diagnosing hypogonadism only when symptoms occur together with consistently low testosterone, confirmed by a repeat fasting morning total testosterone measurement, and measuring free testosterone by equilibrium dialysis or an accurate formula when total testosterone is borderline or a condition alters sex hormone binding globulin.^[7] The AUA guideline calls for two separate early morning testosterone measurements before diagnosis.^[8] LH and FSH are measured alongside testosterone to tell testicular failure apart from a pituitary or hypothalamic cause, which determines the treatment options.^{[7] [8]}
2. Step 2: redesign your lifting session for higher calorie burn. A 2011 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that a single set of bench press taken to failure at about 37 to 56 percent of a one repetition maximum used more total energy (about 60 kJ) than a set to failure at 70 to 90 percent (about 43 kJ), because more total work was performed.^[6] For men focused on fat loss, a session built mostly on compound lifts with short transitions keeps output high. Practical targets:
   • Choose 4 compound exercises per circuit. Examples include squat pattern, hinge pattern, horizontal push, horizontal pull.
   • Use a load that lands around 15 to 30 reps close to failure. Stop when you feel you only have 1 to 2 good reps left.
   • Keep transitions to about 15 to 20 seconds. Rest longer only if your form breaks.
   • Repeat the circuit 3 to 5 rounds, then switch to a new circuit if time allows.

   Lighter loads do not have to cost muscle. A 2020 meta-analysis in the Journal of Human Kinetics found no significant difference in muscle fiber hypertrophy between low load and high load training when sets were taken to momentary muscular failure, although the confidence intervals were wide and the author called for more research.^[9]

3. Step 3: use “afterburn” tactics strategically, then recover and monitor. To increase EPOC, add short blocks that raise density, such as short rest circuits or brief finishers. Use eccentric emphasis sparingly. Research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research shows that very high volume eccentric work can raise resting energy expenditure for up to 72 hours, but it also increases soreness and muscle damage markers, and the results may not apply to typical workouts.^[3] A lower volume option is one set per exercise at a 10 repetition maximum, which raised resting energy expenditure over three days as much as three sets did in one small study.^[2] Monitor soreness, sleep, and performance. If lifts stall and fatigue builds, calorie burn can fall because training quality drops.

Veedma offers testing that includes total and free testosterone measured by LC-MS/MS with LH and FSH, or a review of labs a man already has. Its licensed providers can prescribe enclomiphene or a tablet combining enclomiphene with tadalafil when treatment is appropriate. Enclomiphene is not an FDA-approved drug; it is prescribed after a provider confirms the diagnosis and is compounded by a licensed U.S. pharmacy.

Myth vs fact

Myth: Lifting weights does not burn enough calories to matter.

Fact: Weight lifting burns calories during the session and can modestly raise resting energy expenditure for a day or more afterward.^[2] Over months it can raise resting metabolic rate by a few percent, and it helps preserve lean mass during calorie restriction.^{[4] [5]}

Myth: The heaviest weights always burn the most calories.

Fact: For calorie burn, workout density matters. Shorter rest periods and circuit formats push METs much higher than traditional heavy lifting with long rests.^[1] In one study, a lighter set taken to failure used more energy than a heavy set taken to failure.^[6]

Myth: EPOC means you burn hundreds of calories after every lift.

Fact: In one small randomized crossover study, a full body session raised resting energy expenditure by about 5 percent, roughly 95 calories a day, for up to 72 hours.^[2] Very high volume eccentric training also raised it for up to 72 hours, but caused marked soreness that limits how often it can be repeated.^[3]

Myth: Circuit training is only cardio and will not build muscle.

Fact: Circuits usually use moderate loads for higher reps. A 2020 meta-analysis found no significant difference in muscle fiber hypertrophy between low load and high load training when sets were taken to failure, although the evidence is still uncertain.^[9]

Myth: Doing cardio means you should skip weights if you want to lose fat.

Fact: A 2021 prospective cohort study in PLoS Medicine of 11,938 adults, mostly white men, found that resistance exercise was linked with a lower risk of developing obesity even after accounting for aerobic exercise, and that meeting both the resistance and aerobic exercise guidelines was linked with the lowest risk.^[10] As an observational study based on self reported exercise, it shows association rather than cause.^[10]

Bottom line

Using the Compendium’s MET values, a man weighing 80 to 100 kg (about 175 to 220 pounds) burns roughly 210 to 260 calories in 45 minutes of conventional lifting at about 3.5 METs, and roughly 480 to 600 calories in the same time with a vigorous circuit at about 8 METs.^[1] The exact number depends mainly on body weight, exercise selection, and rest time, so the estimate is most useful for comparing sessions and managing weekly energy balance.

References

1. Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, et al. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011;43:1575-81. PMID: 21681120
2. Heden T, Lox C, Rose P, et al. One-set resistance training elevates energy expenditure for 72 h similar to three sets. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2011;111:477-84. PMID: 20886227
3. Hackney KJ, Engels HJ, Gretebeck RJ. Resting energy expenditure and delayed-onset muscle soreness after full-body resistance training with an eccentric concentration. J Strength Cond Res. 2008;22:1602-9. PMID: 18714225
4. Aristizabal JC, Freidenreich DJ, Volk BM, et al. Effect of resistance training on resting metabolic rate and its estimation by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry metabolic map. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015;69:831-6. PMID: 25293431
5. Lopez P, Taaffe DR, Galvão DA, et al. 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. Obes Rev. 2022;23:e13428. PMID: 35191588
6. Scott CB, Leighton BH, Ahearn KJ, et al. Aerobic, anaerobic, and excess postexercise oxygen consumption energy expenditure of muscular endurance and strength: 1-set of bench press to muscular fatigue. J Strength Cond Res. 2011;25:903-8. PMID: 20703175
7. Bhasin S, Brito JP, Cunningham GR, et al. Testosterone Therapy in Men With Hypogonadism: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2018;103:1715-1744. PMID: 29562364
8. Mulhall JP, Trost LW, Brannigan RE, et al. Evaluation and Management of Testosterone Deficiency: AUA Guideline. J Urol. 2018;200:423-432. PMID: 29601923
9. Grgic J. The Effects of Low-Load Vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy: A Meta-Analysis. J Hum Kinet. 2020;74:51-58. PMID: 33312275
10. Brellenthin AG, Lee DC, Bennie JA, et al. Resistance exercise, alone and in combination with aerobic exercise, and obesity in Dallas, Texas, US: A prospective cohort study. PLoS Med. 2021;18:e1003687. PMID: 34161329