Best Exercise to Burn Calories

In this blog I want to discuss the best calorie burning exercises. We are going to rank different exercises based on the number of calories burned in 30 minutes. This blog is based on an article on Harvard.edu.

Our Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky clients constantly ask us “what is the best exercise to do to lose weight?” In my opinion, this question is flawed as losing weight is more about intake (what you eat) than expenditure (exercise). The point is valid enough, however. What exercises burn the most calories? Let’s go through some common activities and how many calories are burned in 30 minutes.

In the article they listed calories burned for a variety of exercise and broke individuals into 3 different groups based on weight. The three categories were:

• Individuals weighing 125 lbs.
• Individuals weighing 155 lbs.
• Individuals weighing 185 lbs.

The calories burned varied but generally went up as weight increased. For the following example we will keep it simple and just cite the 155 lbs. individual as the example. This will end up giving us an “average” amount of calories burned.

Workouts

First up is lifting weights in the gym. A 30-minute moderate weightlifting session will burn 108 calories for a 155 lbs. individual. If we step up the lifting to intense, we will over double the calories burned. For a 30 minutes session of vigorous lifting, you can expect to burn 216 calories.

Next is riding a stationary bike at a moderate pace. A 30-minute session on the bike will burn 252 calories. If we step up the bike riding to vigorous, we see that we don’t get the huge jump in calories burned like we did with weightlifting. A 30-minute vigorous session on the stationary bike burns only 26 more calories (278) than a moderate session.

How about rowing, another popular cardio workout? A moderate 30-minute session will burn the same number of calories as riding a stationary bike (252). What is interesting is that if we bump up to a vigorous workout on the rower, we see a much more dramatic spike in calories burned. A vigorous rower workout for 30 minutes will burn 369 calories.

Next, let’s discuss some common sports. After all, it’s always easier to burn calories when playing a sport you enjoy. Playing soccer for 30 minutes will burn 252 calories. The same goes for tennis. 30 minutes of basketball will burn 288 calories. A 30-minute game of flag football will burn 288 calories. 30 minutes of martial arts training will burn 324 calories.

They even listed some common outdoor activities. Moving the lawn for 30 minutes will burn 162 calories. Chopping wood for 30 minutes will burn 216 calories and raking the lawn will burn 144 calories.

Results

So, what is the best? What activity burns the most calories in a 30-minute time period? Based on the article, there was a clear winner. The winner was running.

Running at 6 MPH burned 360 calories in 30 minutes. If you bump up to 10 mph, you will burn 562 calories in the same 30 minutes. I understand that running that fast is not possible for most and, to be honest, I am not a big fan of running, especially for those who are heavier, due to the stain on the joints, but the facts are what they are. The answer to the question of which exercise burns the most calories is running!