What Exercise Burns the Most Calories? We Ranked Them to Find Out

It’s no secret that burning more calories than you eat is the best way to lose weight. The best way to achieve that is to exercise regularly to increase your calorie expenditure. But not all exercises are created equal and some burn more calories than others. That means that knowing the best workout for your weight loss goals is vital. It’s no good forcing yourself onto the exercise bike every morning if it isn’t going to get the job done.

The best way to gauge calories burned is by employing an accurate heart rate monitor. Such monitors take into account your personal statistics like age, sex, weight and height. Whether you use a heart rate monitor or a different type of fitness tracker, it’s still good to have an idea of how many calories the most common exercises burn. Keep reading to find out how many calories typical exercises can burn and how to figure out your calorie burn during workouts.

What factors affect calorie burn during exercise?

Professional fitness trainer Brooke Taylor explains that the main factors that differentiate the number of calories burned during exercise include:

Heart rate training zone

You’ll want to figure out your target heart rate and your maximum heart rate zones to make sure you’re working hard enough when exercising aerobically. Knowing your target heart rate training zone gives you a tactile number instead of going by feel, and it will help you build a solid base and endurance without burning you out.

Resting heart rate

A normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Knowing your resting heart rate is important to make sure your heart is operating in a healthy manner while at rest. The higher the resting heart rate is, the more it’s indicative that your stress levels or other underlying health problems may be at play.

Weight

In general, the more you weigh, the more calories you will burn during exercise. This is because you are working with more body mass and require more energy compared to someone lighter.

Types of exercise

Cardio-based workouts burn more calories than other types of workouts like strength training or yoga.

What exercise burns the most calories?

Even though everyone is different, there are general estimates for how many calories you can burn when you exercise. The estimates below are calculated based on someone who weighs 130 pounds through the American Council on Exercise calculator. You can use that calculator to get a close estimate of how many calories you would burn daily during many common activities.

1. Running/jogging

206 calories per 30 minutes 

Running at even a slow pace burns a lot of calories for 30 minutes. On average, running burns between 10.8 to 16 calories per minute, putting it at the top of the list of workouts that burn the most calories. To up the calorie burn, increase the intensity or add in sprint intervals. 

2. Hiking 

176 calories per 30 minutes

Hiking is one of the best ways to escape to the outdoors, turn off technology and get in some movement. And because you’re not walking on a level path like down the street, navigating different terrains or hills challenges more muscles, so you burn more calories. 

3. Biking/cycling 5.5 mph

117 calories per 30 minutes

If you’re an avid biker, you may go faster than 5.5 mph but if you tend to bike at a leisurely pace, you can still burn 117 calories per 30 minutes. Note that this is different than if you do high-intensity interval training or classes on spin bikes.

4. Jump rope (fast pace)

115 calories per 10 minutes

Let out your inner kid and take up jump rope for a surprisingly fast way to burn a ton of calories. Just 10 minutes of jumping rope burns 115 calories. 

5. Walking (moderate pace)

97 calories per 30 minutes

Walking is the simplest and most accessible form of exercise. And if you’re anything like me, you rely on walks for much-needed breaks during the day. Even if you don’t walk for 30 minutes or longer on every walk, all of the short walks you take add up.

6. Weightlifting

88 calories per 30 minutes 

Although not the quickest way to burn calories, lifting weights increases strength and muscle tone and enhances metabolism. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest.

7. Stretching/Hatha yoga

73 calories per 30 minutes

While stretching or restorative yoga may not burn a ton of calories, it still warrants a well-deserved spot in your weekly workout lineup for enhanced mobility, flexibility, recovery and tension relief.

Exercises compared

Below is an example of calories burned per exercise based on the American Council on Exercise (ACE) calculator for a 130-pound person. Please keep in mind, these numbers will change based on weight, muscle mass and body composition, the type of workout, age and gender.

How to track calories burned

Although most people use smartwatches like the Apple Watch or other types of wearables that can track the number of calories they burn daily, it’s important to know that they aren’t always accurate. Research has shown that there are discrepancies with these figures, so take the information it collects as a guesstimate instead. Heart rate monitors and similar devices are more reliable for taking your heart rate reading, if that’s something you like to track as well.

However, if you’re interested in having an idea of the number of calories burned, you can do so by wearing a smartwatch or try out free trackers online like acefitness.org, calculator.net, omnicalculator.com and calories.info