Does lifting weights burn calories?

Lifting weights does cause a person to burn calories. However, a typical person burns about half the calories through vigorous lifting for an hour than he would running at a crisp pace, reports Ask Men. A 220-pound man burns about 600 calories from an hour of intense lifting.

Relative to aerobic exercise, intense weightlifting may actually burn more fat. Cardio exercises cause fat burning during exercise, but heavy weightlifting causes fat burning well after the workout due to a process called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Alternating weightlifting and cardio exercise days may optimize calorie and fat burning relative to just cardio alone.