One of the biggest questions I’ve had so far doing P90X is “how many calories am I burning during the workouts”? I read various articles and blogs where people estimated they were burning 1,000 calories during plyometrics and kenpo. While that sounded promising and while plyo certainly feels like it should burn 1,000 calories, I had my doubts.
After wearing my FIT Armband for a week, I can tell you that a 5’8″ 155ish pound woman with about 35% body fat working hard during the workouts will burn around the following:
Weight Lifting Workouts: 250 calories
Kenpo: 325 – 350 calories
Yoga: 275 – 300 calories
Plyometrics: 450 – 475 calories
Core Synergistics: 325 – 350 calories
If you’re interested in starting P90X and want to know if it will meet your calorie burning needs, this should be a good guide to help you make a decision. Keep in mind that this is for a fairly average woman working at what I would consider 80% (you can’t possibly workout at 100% for an hour). If you work harder you may burn more and if you don’t work as hard you’ll burn less. But, as you can see, the cardio workouts will burn enough that you’ll only have to reduce your caloric intake by about 200 a day to lose a pound a week. 200 calories a day isn’t much, especially if your diet isn’t really fine tuned yet.
If you’re already doing P90X and you’ve been having trouble losing weight, you may be over-estimating how many you’re burning. So, this may be a better guide for you to determine how many you are burning and therefore how much you should be eating in a day.
If you really want to know how many calories you’re burning, go get an armband for yourself. It’s the coolest thing and really motivates you to workout and eat right!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wat if you are overweight and you push yoself to the 80%and sweat a lot how many calories would a person burn then?
Hi Monique – Thank you for your comment. The number of calories that people burn are dependent on many factors so I can’t estimate what an overweight person working at 80% would burn. I would recommend that instead of focusing on burning calories, you focus on getting a good workout that makes you feel better. 95% of weight loss is dietary. If you cut out sugar and flour you will lose weight. Doing P90X on top of changing your diet will help your cardiovascular system and build muscle.
hello, what type of ARM band so you recommend wearing? would love some feedback Oct heard many bad comments about some and could use something recommended!
thanks.
Hi Mandie – I used the BodyMedia FIT armband and liked it. You can learn more about it here: http://www.p90xblog.com/armband If you have any specific questions let me know and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Hi Pam,
Thanks for that. I was also told that P90X cardio X burns about 600 calories and kenpo burns about 800 but it felt too good to be true. Although it seems like a bit of work but it still didnt fell like i was buring that much. I run on the treadmill and it takes me 30 mins to burn 300 calories and by the end of it I feel really drained so i thought to burn 600/900 calories doing P90X I would really feel it more.
I dont have an armband yet, but will be getting one soon. Till then would you be able to tell me how much you think i would be bruning doing kenp X and Cardio X.
Iam about 155cm tall and weight 52kg
hope u can help. Thanks heaps.
I would estimate 300-400 calories depending on how hard you are working. Kenpo is a really fun workout so it’s easy to work hard during it without hating it! But, it’s also very easy to not punch hard and not move with purpose which would mean a much lower burn. Have fun and keep up the good work!