When it comes to burning calories and losing weight, the question often comes up: what exercise burns the most calories? The answer depends on a variety of factors, including the exercise duration and intensity, as well as individual physiology. However, there are certainly some workouts that tend to burn more calories than others. Here is an overview of some of the top calorie-burning exercises.
Running
Running is one of the most effective exercises for burning calories. Depending on factors like speed and body weight, running can burn over 900 calories per hour. This makes it one of the best cardio exercises for weight loss and overall fitness.
Some key factors that impact calorie burn from running include:
- Running pace – Faster paces burn more calories per minute
- Body weight – Heavier individuals burn more calories for the same pace
- Terrain – Running uphill burns more calories than running on flat ground
To maximize calories burned while running, it helps to incorporate sprints, run on hilly terrain, and maintain a vigorous pace that keeps your heart rate elevated.
Swimming
Hitting the pool is another excellent way to torch calories. Swimming workouts engage your entire body and major muscle groups. Here are some estimates on calorie burn per hour while swimming:
- Freestyle – 500+ calories
- Breaststroke – 700+ calories
- Butterfly stroke – 800+ calories
Factors like swimming speed, stroke type, and pre-existing fitness level impact exact calorie burn. But overall, swimming is one of the best fat-burning exercises due to its full-body nature.
HIIT Workouts
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a popular training style that involves short bursts of intense exercise alternated with brief rest periods. Types of HIIT workouts include:
- Sprints
- Bodyweight circuits
- Kettlebell routines
- Tabata
- Cycling intervals
These intense, fast-paced workouts can burn over 800 calories per hour. A major benefit of HIIT is the EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) effect, which causes your body to continue burning extra calories for hours after you are done working out.
Jumping Rope
Jumping rope may seem too simple to be considered a top calorie-torching workout. But this exercise actually burns over 1,000 calories per hour at a moderate pace. This makes it comparable to running in terms of calorie expenditure.
Jumping rope is a full-body workout that engages all your major muscles. Maintaining a quick, steady pace keeps your heart rate high. The impact from jumping also engages your bones, making this an excellent weight-bearing calorie burner.
CrossFit
CrossFit combines bodyweight exercises, weightlifting, gymnastics, and high-intensity cardio into a varied fitness regime. The mix of resistance and cardio is excellent for maximizing calorie burn.
A typical CrossFit workout can burn between 400-600 calories in just 30 minutes. Over the course of an hour-long workout, CrossFit can burn over 1,000 calories.
Rowing
Rowing workouts engage your arms, core, legs and back – making them a full-body exercise. Here are the approximate calorie burns per hour based on rowing intensity:
- Light rowing – 300-500 calories
- Moderate rowing – 700-800 calories
- Vigorous rowing – Over 1,000 calories
To maximize your calorie burn on the rowing machine, focus on maintaining good form and a steady, vigorous pace throughout your workout.
Stationary Cycling
Like running, the exact calorie burn from cycling depends on the intensity and speed you maintain. Cycling on a stationary bike at a vigorous pace can burn around 800 calories per hour. Here are some intensity comparisons:
| Intensity | Calories burned/hour |
|---|---|
| Light cycling | 300-400 |
| Moderate cycling | 500-600 |
| Vigorous cycling | 700-800+ |
To up your calorie burn on a stationary bike, incorporate elements like hill climbs, sprints, and resistance training.
Kettlebell Workouts
Kettlebell training engages your core and major muscle groups for an efficient, calorie-torching workout. Here are the approximate calories burned with 30 minutes of kettlebells:
- Light – 300 calories
- Moderate – 400 calories
- Vigorous – 600+ calories
You can maximize calories burned during kettlebell workouts by keeping rest periods short and performing full-body multi-joint movements like swings, cleans, and snatches.
Jumping Jacks
It may seem counterintuitive that an exercise as simple as jumping jacks could burn so many calories. But performing jumping jacks at a vigorous pace can torch nearly 800 calories per hour. The up-and-down impact engages all your major muscles and keeps your heart rate elevated.
If you maintain a quick tempo, jumping jacks are actually one of the most efficient calorie-burning bodyweight moves.
Stair Climbing
Working your way up stairs is an excellent calorie burner, engaging your largest lower body muscles. Here is the approximate calorie burn per hour from stair climbing:
- Climbing slowly – 500 calories
- Climbing briskly – 800 calories
- Sprinting up stairs – 1,000+ calories
To really rev up the burn, do your stair climbing workouts at a fast, steady pace. Mixing in intervals by sprinting up the stairs will also increase your calorie expenditure.
Conclusion
When it comes to the exercise that burns the most calories, high intensity cardio and full-body workouts top the list. Exercises like running, swimming, HIIT, CrossFit, and kettlebell circuits can burn hundreds of calories in a single workout session.
The key is to sustain an elevated heart rate and engage your muscles with challenging cardio and resistance training. Maintaining proper form and technique also ensures you maximize calorie burn efficiently and safely during your workout.