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Working out has many benefits from burning fat, toning muscles, improving cardiovascular fitness, and helping mental health. However, you might wonder what exercises are the most efficient at burning calories. Check out below for the top 10 exercises with the most calories burned. In addition, to help you we have even included a calories burned calculator for each exercise.
#10. Weightlifting
Lifting weights is one of the best exercises for calories burned. While it might not burn as much calories as some of the other exercises on this list, it helps build muscles. With the additional muscles, you can increase your metabolism and burn more calories throughout the day.[1]livestrong – Calorie Burned in a 30-Minute Strength Exercise Session
If you want to help burn more calories focus on lifting heavy weights. In fact, studies show that if you just lift weights that are between 5-10% heavier, you can burn anywhere from 500 to 600 more calories per strength training workout. In addition, focus on compound exercises as they can burn more calories than isolation exercises.
#9. Circuit Training
Circuit training is a type of body conditioning exercises that combines resistance and endurance training with high intensity. A circuit consists of several exercises. You must complete all of the prescribed exercises in rapid succession with very little rest in between each one. Due to the short rest and high intensity, you can have a lot of calories burned in a short period of time.
Normally, a circuit should work each part of the body. Activities can include:
Upper body
- Inclined press up
- Back extensions
- Bench dips
- Bench lift
- Squat ups
- Medicine ball chest pass
Core
- Sit ups
- Crunches
- Back extensions
Lower body
- Compass jumps
- Squat jumps
- Bench squat
- Astride jumps
- Hopping shuttles
- Shuttle runs
- Step ups
Full body
- Squat thrusts
- Burpees
- Jogging
- Treadmills
- Skipping
#8. Kickboxing
According to Erika Hammond, founding trainer at Rumble Boxing in NYC, kickboxing and “Boxing moves mimic every up, down, and side to side movement of the body, and when done at a fast non-stop pace, that’s all the workout you need to get the same effects as someone in the boxing ring”. In addition, “because boxing moves target every single body part, there isn’t a muscle untouched, so it’s the only thing you need to do to get in shape.”[2]Women’s Health – Torch 400 Calories With This Boxing Workout You Can Literally Do Anywhere Lastly, because you have to consistently rotate your hips while working out, you are getting a great core workout at the same time.
In order to get the maximum calories burned, make sure to only take short rest between kickboxing intervals. For example, for every 90 seconds of sparring, only take 30 seconds of rest.
#7. Stationary Rowing
Stationary rowing is one of the best exercises for calories burned. In fact, not only is it good for weight loss, it also helps build muscle tone and increase stamina.
First and foremost, stationary rowing is a great cardio exercise. Not only are there a lot of calories burned, but it is also a great alternative for those with joint problems.
Secondly, stationary rowing is a great workout for your muscles. One of the biggest benefits is to your lower body. You will primary work your quads, calves, and glutes. In addition, you can work the muscles in your upper body including the rhomboids int he shoulds, traps in the upper back, and the lats in the lower back.[3]Overstock – Top 10 Benefits of Using a Rowing Machine
#6. Jump Rope
Jump rope is one of the oldest and most effective workouts for calories burned. In addition, it is very easy for anyone to start doing and costs very little money.
In addition to the great fat calories burned benefit, jump rope also is great because it helps work your muscles, improve your cardio, improve mental sharpness, and at the end of the day is just plain fun to do.[4]Crossrope – Jump Rope Benefits: The Unique Value of Jump Rope Training
One tip to great tip to help you work your arm muscles a little bit more and burn more calories is to use a weighted jump rope.
#5. Swimming
Swimming is one of the greatest full body exercises for calories burned. It is a great workout because you are consistently having to push against the resistance of the water.
In addition, a few other great health benefits include:
- It builds cardiovascular endurance and fitness
- Swimming is a low stress exercise that doesn’t put a lot of wear on your joints[5]Better Health – Swimming – health benefits
- It strengthens all of the muscles in your body
However, the calories burned can vary wildly depending on the swimming stroke you are doing. In general, butterfly will burn the most calories followed by breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle.
#4. Stationary Bike
Working out on a stationary bike is one of the best activities for calories burned. For example, it has many benefits including:
- Being a great cardio option
- Great strength training for the lower body
- Low risk, low impact exercise
- Improve joint mobility in the knees, ankles, and hips
- Easy and convenient no matter your own ability level
- Lastly, it can be done anywhere no matter the weather[7]Stylecraze – 10 Amazing Health Benefits Of Using An Exercise Cycle
#3. Rollerblading
Boredom and burnout are the two biggest enemies for workout enthusiasts looking for exercises with a lot of calories burned. Therefore, it is important to put some variety into your workouts. One of the best exercises for this is rollerblading. On top of being one of the best exercises for calories burned, it also has a host of other benefits including:
- Muscular Endurance – In fact, according to the Inline Skating Resource Center, rollerblading is even better for building muscles than running or bicycling. You can building great muscles in your upper legs, buttocks, hips, and lower back. In addition, due to having to keep balance, you work a lot of the smaller muscle groups as well.[8]livestrong – Physical Benefits of Rollerblading
- Low Impact – Due to the fact that you are rolling over the ground, you have a lot less stress due to foot to ground impact. This means it is great for your knees and joints.
- It is fun – At the end of the day, rollerblading is fun. When something is fun, you are more likely to due it and therefore more likely to get the health benefits from it.
#2. Cross-Country Skiing
Cross country skiing is one of the best workouts for calories burned. It is a great exercise to do in the winter when you might have typically not been able to workout out.
In addition, cross country skiing has many other great benefits including:
- Burning a lot of fat – In fact, cross country skiing is one of the best exercises to burn calories and fat. The best example of this is in elite female and male cross country skiers. The average elite cross country skiing female has a body fat percentage of 11% while the average elite cross country skiing male has a body fat percentage of 5%. This is very low, especially when comparing to the average athletic person (17% for females and 10% for males).
- It works a lot of muscles – Compared to other exercises such as running or stationary biking, cross country skiing is much more of a full body workout. This is because cross country skiers use poles to help propel them forward. This means that in addition to using their legs (quads, gastrocnemius) and core (pectoralis major, deltoids, and latissimus dorsi) they need to use their biceps and triceps.[9]Human Kinetics – LEARN THE BENEFITS OF CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
- Cardiovascular – Because cross country skiing requires so much of the body, you can build up a great cardiovascular system. In fact, the highest V.02 max levels (a level of cardiovascular fitness) have been found in elite cross country skiers.
#1. Running
The tried and true exercise for calories burned is running. On top of it being one of the easiest exercises to get started doing, you also burn the most calories doing it.
In addition, regular running provides many other benefits including:
- Builds strong bones
- Strengthens muscles
- Improves cardio
- Maintains healthy weight[10]Better Health – Running and jogging – health benefits
The information for the top 10 exercises with the most calories burned with calories burned calculator come from the following resources.[11]StackExchange – Energy expenditure (calorie burned) equation for running[12]Women’s Health – The 14 Best Calorie-Burning Exercises, Ranked In Order Of Effectiveness[13]livestrong – Which Cardio Workouts Burn the Most Calories?[14]2011 Compendium of Physical Activities
References